He flicked me a wary look. “I hope we’re just talking about my ego and not other parts of me.”

I frowned, teasing him. “I didn’t know there were any other parts worth stroking.”

“One huge fucking part that was inside you not too long ago.”

He made my cheeks flare hot again, but I was getting used to his frankness. “Oh, that part,” I murmured, my voice a little husky with the memory. “Hmm, I do rather enjoying stroking that part.”

Logan’s eyes warmed with delight at my flirting, and I couldn’t stem my own pleased smile.

Oh, this was not good – that overwhelming feeling of contentment I felt whenever I made him happy.

I felt a momentary stir of panic.

As if he sensed it, Logan wrapped a hand around my ankle and squeezed. “This is going to be great, Grace. It’s going to be better than great.”

I nodded slowly, letting his touch soothe the tension that had crept so quickly over me.

We were silent a moment as his thumb brushed over my skin. When he finally felt like I’d come back from my fear, he let go to continue eating.

“So Maia is at Shannon’s?” he said.

I thought about the two little matchmakers. “Yes. You did a wonderful job inviting all the women in your life to play matchmaker.”

He grunted. “Believe me, it didn’t take much. Apparently, they’ve had their eye on you for me since Shannon told them that was what she wanted.” He cut me a dry look.

I laughed. “I bet it just sticks in your craw that you’re giving her exactly what she wants.”

Logan shook his head. “Honestly, not really. I couldn’t be happier that Shannon likes you so much. She’s my only real family now. I want you two to get on well.”

At the mention of his family, I felt a burn in my blood. “Your parents still haven’t come around to the idea of Maia?”

“It’s worse than that.” His eyes flew over to the wall with the photographs on them. “My parents take their good old time coming around about things. It took them ages to come around to the fact that Shannon wasn’t making a mistake by getting engaged to Cole. It took them ages to come around to even forgiving her for my prison time when it wasn’t even her damn fault. And it has taken them all this time to come around to the fact that it isn’t my fault or Maia’s that she wasn’t a part of my life until now.” Anger tightened his expression. “They want to meet her.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to tell them to fuck off.” His plate clattered onto the coffee table, appetite clearly destroyed by the topic. “They’ve never been the best parents, and they’ve pissed me off a million times with their treatment of Shannon… and they’ve done it again. To my kid. A kid who has been through a fucking war… a kid whose feelings you can’t play with because her feelings have already been crushed to hell by her own mother. They knew this. I told them this and still they held out on her as grandparents. Now because they’re ready they think they can just waltz into her life?”

I sat up, putting my own plate down so I could scoot closer to him. I rested my hand on his thigh, drawing his gaze. Our eyes locked, and like always, my whole body zinged pleasantly in reaction to our connection. “I understand you’re pissed off at them, and honestly, I am too. I don’t want them in Maia’s life. But that’s not my decision, and it may be yours… However, you have a very smart girl on your hands, and she’s already lost out on so much. Perhaps you should give her the choice. Be honest with her about them, about their attitude and about the possibility that they could hurt her… and then let her decide for herself.”

He stared at me a moment before leaning in to brush his mouth over mine. My lips tingled as they parted under the sweet kiss. When he pulled back, he cupped my face and brushed his thumb against my lower lip. “I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

My breathing stuttered at the confession, and I felt that happiness swamp me again.

Just as quickly the panic set in.

Logan was filling my head and my heart and my body with him.

What happened if he walked away again?

Suddenly I was jerked toward him, my hands fluttering against his chest to catch myself. I stared, wide-eyed, into his face, which was now but inches from mine. “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, his voice gruff. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to make you trust me so I never have to see that fear in your eyes ever again.”

I closed my eyes at his sweet promise and leaned my forehead against his jaw. “I’ll try too. It’s just going to take time.”

“I’ve got all the time in the world, Grace. All the time in the world for you.”

The sun felt wonderful on my skin. The waves were crashing to shore. I had no worries, no responsibilities, just never-ending white sands.

Life was perfectly, gloriously cliché in its utter heavenliness.

“Grace.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter against the sound of the masculine voice in my ear.

“Grace.” The voice became more insistent. “Grace, wake up.”

Suddenly my sun lounger was flipped on its side and I awoke with a jolt. Breathing hard, I blinked against the darkness of my bedroom, and as my eyes adjusted to the light, my heart only started to hammer harder against my chest. Logan was sitting on my bed.

“What?” I whispered in worry, leaning over to switch my bedside light on. Logan was sitting on my bed wearing nothing but a pair of faded old jeans. I forced my gaze to his face. “What’s wrong? Has something happened?”