Never Look Back (Redemption Hills 3)

I tugged her again.

Her heels dug in. “Logan.”

I edged forward, inhaled her scent, her beauty, her bravery, and I slipped my arm around her waist and tucked her firmly against me. I crossed that invisible barrier we’d been treading for the better part of a week.

She shivered and shook.

My cheek brushed hers, and my mouth went to her ear. “My rules, Aster.”

I didn’t give a fuck if I was playing dirty. Using our agreement to my advantage. Some things just needed to be done.

I soothed the sting by stepping back, taking her hand, and dragging her toward the walkway with a playful smirk lighting my mouth. “Besides, it’s my birthday. You wouldn’t want to go and hurt my feelings by missing my big surprise party, would you? Especially after all the work you put into creating that epic invitation with my niece and nephew?”

“Never.” She almost smiled, almost got swept up in the feeling.

The tease and the play.

The hope and the joy.

Because I could already feel it radiating from the walls of the simple house as Aster hustled along a step behind me as I hauled her toward the door, then I felt it explode when I opened it to the crush of people gathered in the cramped space.

I felt it to my soul when a chorus of voices went up with a loud, “Happy birthday!”

I grinned, pulled my girl up to my side, and slung my arm over her shoulder. “That’s right, the one you’ve all been waiting for is here. Let’s get this party started, baby.”

By the streak of excitement that impaled me right then?

I was sure I was stepping into the best night of my life.

I grinned back at Aster, then I pulled her in with me.

TWENTY-ONE

ASTER

If it had beenchaotic back at Logan’s apartment earlier, it was madness inside Eden and Trent’s home.

A home filled with smiling faces, warm welcomes, and genuine embraces.

People were crammed into the small space, although no one seemed to mind the close quarters.

The entry room was a tiny square with a couch and a loveseat in the middle facing a TV against one wall. Bookshelves filled with pictures and trinkets and at least a gazillion pieces of artwork that clearly had come from Gage’s precious little hands were proudly displayed on every other flat surface.

An archway on the left opened to a kitchen with a breakfast nook where a ton of people were hanging out, and there was a hall on the opposite far side of the room that I assumed led to the bedrooms.

It was simple and modest and felt like falling into my favorite dream. A dream I’d cached away, where I’d buried it beneath my family name and my father’s expectations. A dream I craved to slip into but was terrified to take the first step.

Logan did it for me.

He grabbed my hand again and, with a gentle tug, he pulled me deeper into the fray.

Juni and Gage came streaking through the crowd. “You’re here! You’re here! You’re here!”

Gage got there first, and Logan picked him up the way he had earlier, his smile so free as he hugged the child to his chest. He scooped up Juni in his other arm. His joy became profound, all the rigid hardness that seeped from his pores giving way to an easiness I’d almost forgotten existed.

Close to how it was that first night at the recital.

But different.