It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels 3)

“Yes!”

“Okay. Finish eating what’s on your plate while I pack.”

“You can ride with us. I’ll drop you off in the morning when I take her to daycare,” I say and he nods before heading down the hallway. While he’s packing, I start cleaning up a little. Savannah only had three pieces of pork chop left, so it doesn’t take long before they’re gone. By the time I’m done, Logan is coming down the hallway with a backpack on his back.

“Let’s ride.”

Back home, after Savannah has changed for bed, the three of us sit on the couch to watch Savannah’s favorite movie. Logan sings every song as if he’s in the damn movie, but my kid eats it up. She falls asleep at some point. Once it’s over, Logan changes and I make them a makeshift bed on the floor because when Savannah has a sleepover, she wants everyone to sleep in the same room. Lucky for me, she’s only expecting Logan to sleep in here tonight.

When he comes back, he sits down and pats the space next to him.

“So,” he starts, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “How is my sister really doing?” Logan stopped calling me his stepsister what feels like forever ago. It always makes me feel a little guilty whenever I refer to him as my stepbrother, even though I see him as a true brother. That’s what happens when I feel the need to be correct at all times.

“I feel like I’m dreaming and at any moment I’m going to wake up to find out that it’s not real or as good as it seems.”

“That makes sense. Are you glad you’re taking the chance he’s giving you?”

“Yeah. I think we could make us last. Before, it always seemed like it was bad timing or things just weren’t like they should be for us to be together. Now, I think everything is lined up and we can do it as long as we don’t fuck it up.”

“Hope y’all can because I’m done finding you dates.”

I laugh. “Good to know. I’m heading to bed. I don’t know if Ian is going to try to call or not. I think he said they were flying home tonight, so if you hear someone come in, it’s him.”

“Good to know. Wouldn’t want to attack him with a crutch.” He picks up one of them and waves it around, causing me to laugh and shake my head.

“Night, Lo-Lo.”

“Night, Syd.”

“Babe, what’s Logan doing here?”

Ugh. It’s too early for questions. I roll toward the sound of Ian’s voice, keeping my eyes closed as I reach for him. Eek! My fingers touch a chilled chest. He’s not toasty and warm like the cocoon of warmth surrounding me.

“Babe.” If I felt like mocking him, I would. He’s annoyed with me for not answering his question? It’s who knows what hour in the morning, he woke me up from a dead sleep, I’m now cuddled against him, and the only thing he’s concerned about is Logan and why he’s here?

The hell with that. I pucker my lips. If he wants me to talk, he can kiss me. That’s the kind of hello I want. I wait at least ten seconds before he sighs, his breath hitting my chest, and his hand diving into my hair. A moment later, his mouth is pressed against mine in a chaste, polite kiss.

“That’s pathetic,” I say when he pulls away not two seconds later. My eyes are finally open and I’m not enjoying the fact that he has a smirk on his face. “What in the hell kind of kiss is that?”

“An obligatory one. Why are Logan and Savannah asleep on the living room floor?”

“Seriously? That’s more important to you than kissing me after you’ve been on the road? Especially when you rudely woke me up.”

“Just tell me and I’ll give you the kiss you want.”

“I don’t want the damn kiss now.” I roll back over and close my eyes to go back to sleep. I would be curious as to why he was here too if the roles were reversed, but I wouldn’t make that my first priority. If it wasn’t the middle of the night and if I wasn’t still half-asleep, then maybe I wouldn’t be so grouchy, but that’s not the case.

Ian grabs my hip and gives it a squeeze. “Okay, gorgeous. Turn around, so I can kiss you.”

I scoff.

But you see, the problem with having a professional athlete as your boyfriend is he’s in good shape. Ian has no problems using his body to his advantage. What’s worse is it doesn’t even take much to weaken my resolve. He presses that solid, six-pack show-off of a torso against my back. Puts that strong arm around my waist. Slips one of those large, all-muscle thighs between my thighs and nestles it against the very center of me.

“Babe.” This time, his voice is soft as his fingers dance across the waistband of my pajama bottoms. “Please.”

Damn Ian and his rare pleases.

I turn to face him. He captures my mouth the second he can, the pressure from his lips hard and his tongue thrusting in. It’s an all-consuming kiss that makes you forget your own name, much less anything unimportant. This is the kiss I was wanting.