Protect My Heart

Chapter 26

Clover

Mia and I returned from the motel after a week. That week was spent strolling through zoos in another city and lounging by the pool area in a motel. Mia played with the kids there, but I knew she missed Jason. Her best friend. When it hit the seventh day, my daughter looked up at me and cried that she missed her dad.

It was time to go home and face reality.

He hadn't called or texted or shown up on the doorstep. Not that I expected to. And not that I hadn't muted his number. I'd muted all notifications to catch a break. Even my friends couldn't get hold of me.

As we drove home, I thought of how I'd face him and explain the divorce, how we'd settle and divide everything. It hurt to think about, but he'd crossed the line too many times. I couldn't forgive him again.

First, he hit me. Then he hit my best friend. And third, our daughter witnessed it.

Our too young daughter who shouldn't ever have to see her father get angry. I wouldn't be my parents who let their child go through years of abuse, or even witness it.

Days after I got home and with no text from him, we decided to pay him a visit. Mia missed her father dearly. And it wasn't as if I could drag him back home to where he belonged; except, he didn't belong here anymore.

The house was too eery without him, though. It'd be better if we sold this place. Even if I loved it, it carried too many memories of him to bear.

So Mia and I rode up the elevator of his apartment complex, my stomach cramping. I already had that bump that showed, so I wore bigger clothes to hide it. I was already on the brink of divorce, so I couldn't possibly add a pregnancy to that shameful mix.

How difficult could it be to settle things with your future ex-husband?

Logan yanked open the door, panting, his hair sticking out all over the place, sweat gliding down his temples. His beautiful, sculpted shoulders and muscles, and his lean frame towering over us.

Dreadful thought filled my head, and I was about to rush out of there when – he possibly read my mind – he pointed to his gym clothes. Shorts. He wore shorts that stuck to his skin, those long, muscled legs pushing against the material. His pale skin dusted in tufts of dark hair, extending to his feet shielded by sneakers, then back up to the bulge behind his shorts.

So perfectly desirable. So perfect to admire and kiss and–

"Mommy?"

At the sound of that squeaky voice, I snapped my gaze down to find Mia already hovering behind Logan. The realization was razor-sharp that I'd been ogling him for a full minute.

With flaming cheeks, I rushed past him, my arm brushing his. My arm instinctively shot around my stomach to protect from him and his calm, sexy aura.

"Mia, I've got some toys for you in the other room. Mommy and I need to talk, so you can go play." A giggly Mia waddled off into Logan's bedroom. He smiled softly and ventured to the fridge to grab a water bottle. He handed me one. "I wanted to apologize for last week. My behaviour was irrational and unforgivable. I lost control and that's no excuse, but –"

"Mason provoked you," I said. "He knew what he was doing. And what he said wasn't right either. Now violence is never the answer, but I can understand why it triggered you to act that way. You weren't the only one in the wrong that day. And I've forgiven you for that. I just left because Mia was there, and she couldn't see you like that. She should never see anyone like that, especially her own father."

Logan faced the fridge, not daring to look at me, but I saw that tension leave his body from the way those shoulders heaved, and his posture straightened. The way his head dropped to exhale a breath. "I talked to my lawyer last night."