Nell moved round the house like a whirlwind, dishing out orders and pulling funny faces to make me smile. She was the sole reason I hadn't killed today.
"Smile, Chlo Chlo, you'll be sleeping in your new house tonight," she said, dancing around me and bounding back towards the garage.
I did smile because she was right, all the stress of solicitors and estate agents was over, we'd packed up and all we had to do was finish getting everything in the van then unload it the other side. Tonight I could relax in my new house. And have a few hundred drinks.
***
There were about five people too many in the living room but I couldn't have cared less. All the people that meant the most to me were finishing off their fish and chips dinner in the living room of my first house, and first house with Logan, after helping us move all day. I didn't even care that after spending almost two thousand on a sofa I was sitting on the floor. Logan's arm was around me as he ate one handed so that helped me to not give a crap, too.
Daphnee had made it in time to eat which made things a little more complete. Over in the corner Nell was scowling at her phone. Last night she'd slept with Damon after holding back for over three months. Apparently, in all their wisdom they'd decided friends with benefits was a great idea again yesterday.
They could both have meaningless sex which was all well and good when you had that sort of agreement but things between them was anything but meaningless. My point being proven right now as she angrily tapped a reply to whatever he'd just said.
And she thought watching me run from Logan last year was frustrating.
She caught me shaking my head at her and glared, throwing her phone in her bag. Oh yeah, friends with benefits working out just fine.
Logan yawned loudly. "I'm tired. You tired, Chlo?"
"Very subtle, son," Daryl said.
"Nope, not tired at all," I said, grinning up at him.
"No, I'm sure you are."
Mum stood up and laughed. "I think that's our cue to leave."
"Oh, you don't have to, Bethany," Logan said, chuckling.
"I'm sure you two want a few minutes to yourself," she replied, biting her lip in amusement.
I could feel that Logan was about to bite back about lasting a lot longer than a few minutes so I slapped my hand over his mouth, earning laughs from everyone but my dad.
Logan just looked at me, all gorgeous and deep blue eyes, grinning behind my hand like a naughty child. God, I loved him.
"Yeah, we're out. You two make me sick," Nell said, turning her nose up.
I removed my hand, hoping Logan would behave and pointed to her. "We'll be talking tomorrow."
"Looking forward to it," she replied sarcastically and pulled me up for a hug.
"Come on, Nell, I'll give you a lift," Cass said as she kissed my cheek.
It couldn't have been two seconds after I closed the front door behind everyone that I was scooped up into Logan's arms. I squealed, not expecting it, and held on around his neck.
"We skipping the clean up?" I asked, pressing myself to him.
"I'll chuck the rubbish in the morning, right now I need to get you naked and horizontal in that big bed of ours."
"And what if I don't want to be horizontal?"
"Baby," he said, walking upstairs with me in his arms, "I'll take you anyway you want."
He bloody would too, the pervert.
"Hmm, that's okay, I don't mind being under you."
He put me down in our bedroom and I stopped by the bed, arching my back as Logan started his assault by kissing up my neck. "You're eager tonight," I said, gripping the muscular forearm that pinned me to his chest.
"I'm eager every night, Chlo."
Now that was true. At least now we had our own space and could make as much noise as we wanted. Although I was kind of going to miss his hand covering my mouth as I came.
I closed my eyes and my head hit his shoulder.
"Not getting into bed?" he asked.
"Enjoying this," I replied.
I was suddenly on my own and jumping as the loss of his body supporting mine almost made me fall over. He slapped my bum. "Get in bed, you."
"That was mean," I said.
"Oh, I plan on picking up where we left off the second you're laying down."
I gripped the cover and whipped it back. Something caught my eye and after taking a second to register what it was, I gasped. Sitting on the bed was an open, red velvet box with a gorgeous glistening ring nestled into it.
"Logan," I whispered. He was proposing! In an odd way but what else could I expect?
I was stunned to the spot so he reached over and picked it up. "Chloe Holland." I started crying, already, he'd only said my name and I was already bloody crying. "I've loved you for..." He gulped. His voice was thick with emotion and I could see the start of tears - his eyes had glazed. "I... Chloe..."
I smiled through my tears and gripped his shirt.
"Fuck it! Just marry me, sweetheart."
Now that was a Logan proposal. I sobbed and replied, "Of course, I will."
He picked the ring up, taking it out of the box and slipped it over my finger. Then I was in his arms, lifted off the floor and being crushed to his solid chest.
I laughed along with him, blinking through tears before his mouth found mine and he kissed me long and deep. He lowered us to the bed and taking it slow had been completely forgotten, we attacked each other like wild animals. Clothes were ripped - actually ripped off - and tossed on the floor.
My eyes rolled back into my head as he entered me sharply and quickly found a hard, fast, relentless pace. We were slick with sweat in a second. I clawed his back, moaning loudly. I could see the indecision in his face, he wanted to kiss me but he also wanted to hear me.
"Logan," I panted, fisting his hair and pulling his head down. He kissed me, tongue flicking into my mouth at the same pace he was pushing into me. Seconds later I came around him, kissing and biting him as I fell apart.
He wasn't done with me yet, he pulled out to flip me onto my stomach and everything below my waist clenched in anticipation.
"I love you," he said, entering me slowly, teasingly.
I was about to say it back when he pulled back and thrust hard, going deeper. "Shit," I hissed.
"Ahh," he whispered. "And I love hearing you." He lay down, covering my back and kissed my shoulder. His arm reached underneath me and his fingers found their goal immediately. I groaned into the pillow and fisted the sheets as Logan kissed and nipped on my neck, finding the punishing pace as before.
I was going crazy beneath him. I felt like he was everywhere. It was stimulation overload and I could barely take it. "Logan," I didn't know what I wanted to say - tell him to stop or to never stop. I was building again, so quickly. My body tightened and I fought to push back, to do something to deal with how he was making me feel.
I felt his smile against my skin. He clamped his mouth around my shoulder and bit down. I let go again, unexpectedly, and spiralled into one of the most intense orgasms I'd ever had where my body shook and my vision blurred. His fingers circled my clitoris, prolonging the torture.
He grunted behind me, moaning in my ear as he thrust hard and deep one last time.
Logan rolled me onto my back and then into his arms as I floated back to earth. We laid still, stuck together by sweat, trying to get our breath back. I snuggled against his chest, needing to be closer.
"Well," I said. "That was..." There were no words.
"I know. I don't mean to brag but I was fucking awesome."
I couldn't help laughing. I don't mean to brag my arse.
"Yeah, that definitely made up for the less than romantic proposal," I teased.
"Shit, you're right, that wasn't at all romantic, was it? I'm so sorry, Chlo, you deserved better than me swearing and demanding you marry me. God, I didn't even ask you."
"Don't," I said and kissed his soft lips. Why did I have to say that and make him feel bad? "Logan, it w
as perfect and it was very you. I love how you proposed - although when I tell my nan I'm missing out the part where you said fuck it. I wouldn't change a thing about that proposal."
He pressed me into the mattress and I wrapped my arms and legs around him. "This is going to be a short engagement. I'm getting another ring on that finger as soon as I can."
"Fine by me," I breathed just as his lips moulded to mine. "I love you," I murmured into the kiss.
He pulled back enough to see me properly but still close enough to drive me wild. His eyes had never looked so striking and so full of love. He'd never looked so content before and I was sure I had the same deliriously happy expression as he did.
He smiled and it made my heart ache. "Sweetheart, you have no fucking idea."
Coming late 2014
(book two in the chance series)
Our Chance
Nell Paisley believes that no good can come from love. Her grandparents screwed it up, her parents screwed it up, so why would it be any different for her? She would rather keep it casual and protect her heart.
Damon Masters was happy with casual through university but a couple years on and Nell is the only woman he wants.
With the aid of Nell's best friend, Chloe, Damon sets out to smash down the wall Nell's built around herself and show her that not all love is doomed to end in disaster.
More books by Natasha Preston
Out Now
Silence
(Book One in the Silence series)
Oakley Farrell stopped talking at the age of five and has remained in her own little world since. Her mum is desperate to find out what's wrong with her daughter, but does she really want to know?
Oakley's best friend, Cole has stuck by her. Their friendship is easy but as they start to become closer she is faced with a new set of issues to deal with.
Broken Silence
(Book One in the Silence series)
Four years after Oakley, her mum, and brother fled to Australia, the trial is ready to begin. Oakley makes the decision to return to England and face the people who hurt her in person.
Her love for Cole never faded, but how will he react to seeing her again? Will they be able to put everything behind them in order to get their happy ending?
Covert
After seven friends take a trip to a secluded log cabin, a drunken night ends in the tragic and brutal murder of two of them. Mackenzie and four of her friends wake in a disorientated state to find the bodies of Josh and Courtney on the kitchen floor.
With the police determining that there was no forced entry or signs of a struggle, suspicion turns to the five survivors.
Players, Bumps and Cocktail Sausages
(A companion novel to the Silence series)
Putting his player ways behind him, Jasper Dane is now strictly a one-woman man. Jasper, desperate to start a family with his wife, Abby, is devastated when she puts their baby plans on hold.
Holly has just arrived back in town for the summer, and after landing a job with Jasper, the two form an unlikely friendship.
Abby's immediate dislike of Holly and Jasper spending time together causes him to question his wife's fidelity. Broken hearted at Abby's sudden change of heart and suspicious of her reasons, Jasper takes action, sparking a chain of events that make his once well planned out life spiral out of control.
To get what he wants, he first has to lose everything.
The Cellar
Nothing ever happens in the town of Long Thorpe - that is, until sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson disappears without a trace. No family or police investigation can track her down.
Spending months inside the cellar of her kidnapper with several other girls, Summer learns of Colin's abusive past, and his thoughts of his victims being his family...his perfect, pure flowers.
But flowers can't survive long cut off from the sun, and time is running out...
Coming October 2014
Save Me
Tegan Pennells used to care about everything: family, friends, boys, school, and music. Then her dad died and that stopped.
She doesn't care about her relationship with her mum and sister. She doesn't care that she's pushed almost all of her friends away. She doesn't care that she lost my virginity to her friend's brother in the backseat of his car. She doesn't care that she uses men or what people think about her friends with benefits agreement with Kai, a guy she met in a bar.
Tegan doesn't care about the man that received my father's heart. And she doesn't want to care about that man's son.
She doesn't want to care about anything ever again.
www.natashapreston.com