Chapter 28

Veronica felt her internal alarm clock tugging her heavy eyelids open, and as she blinked several times, she took in the vaguely familiar albeit dark surroundings. The events of the night before came tumbling back, but out of sequence, like a dream. She smiled like a Cheshire cat as she arched her back and stretched. She felt absolutely delicious. Like Rip Van Winkle, her body was so recharged that she felt like she had slept away a hundred years of worry, regret, and pain.

And then she realized that off in the distance, likely in the depths of hastily discarded formalwear, the unwelcome trilling of a cell phone had been what had aroused her from her blissful slumber in the first place.

Who the hell could be calling right now? Clearly someone who doesn't respect my well-deserved need for sleep after an emotionally turbulent past few days and hours upon hours of make-up sex with Logan that should have redeemed me for the past six years, if not well into the next six.

Veronica lazily toyed with the idea of retrieving the ringing phone before it set in that the ring tone was unfamiliar. It had to be Logan's phone, which meant that she could roll over and relive the last eight hours through lucid dreaming...

Slow sultry music wafted through the confining elevator space as Logan and Veronica anchored themselves facing one another at opposite ends of the elevator car, careful not to be caught in a compromising position if the doors were to open to the scads of students and teachers who were in the midst of exiting the prom.

With their eyes locked on each other, the song playing through the speakers of the elevators tempted their self-restraint while also speaking a promise between the two of them of what was to come...

"Wait...while I see if this something I can do,

If this is something I can be...

'Cause I... have never tried to show you who I am really am,

Without telling you lies.

And don't...hesitate.

I'm standing on the edge of something;

I'm just too numb to know what it is.

If I can give it to you, you know I will.

If I can give it to you, you know I will.

I just wanna love you, I just wanna love you,

I just wanna love you, and show you things that words can't do.

Veronica was no stranger to Logan's smoldering gaze, but her skin was burning under his combustible stare. It was no mystery why she had run from him in the past; she was mesmerized by his gaze. Logan clouded her judgment. It was likely if she were asked, she wouldn't even remember her own name right now.

"Do you think," Veronica started, awkwardly breaking the silence, "I should wait and meet you at your room separately?"

"Absolutely not," Logan advised. "I'm not letting you out of my sight tonight. No repeats of our senior prom, Veronica. I don't want to give you even a millisecond to second guess this." His tone was quiet and firm but his eyes twinkled mischievously.

The bell dinged, signaling they had reached their destination, and Logan reached for her, taking her small hand within his own, leading her toward his suite. Veronica surveyed the empty hallway as Logan fumbled with the key, belying his nervousness and eagerness to get her into the privacy of suite.

Once inside, Logan shedded his tuxedo jacket, tossing it onto the couch while Veronica kicked off her too-high heels. Logan gestured welcomingly toward the fully-stocked bar, quick to play the part of aloof host. "Care for a drink? Something from room service?"

Veronica took a step toward him, closing the distance between the two of them, while unabashedly meeting his intense stare with an alluring one of her own. "I have everything I want right here." She perched up on her toes and reached her hand up to run her palm along his jaw, never breaking eye contact with him, which was gratifying as she was warmed though her core by the surprised look in his eyes. Although his expression showed a desire to fill the silence that followed with useful words, he fought the urge and brought his soft lips down onto hers.

The kiss was gentle, his lips warm and soft, like he was scared that if he didn't restrain the passion he was feeling he'd frighten her off. His tongue slowly and maddeningly began to do an erotic slow dance against her own as he gently cupped his face in his strong grasp. Veronica moaned in spite of herself as she was losing the internal battle to take things slowly and savor each moment.

In the interim of their tumultuous relationship she'd had very few lovers, and none of them had been able to affect her as Logan did. Piz had been clumsy, yet gentle and sweet. Matt had been suave but self-serving and arrogant. With Logan she felt like Goldilocks – his touch was the right combination of pain, longing and tenderness, and it was nearly her undoing.

Veronica grasped his rigid shoulders, pressing her fingers into this shirt, wishing desperately that layers of formal wear weren't keeping them from skin-on-skin contact. Were they moving too fast? Not fast enough? They had six years to make up for, and instinct told logic not to over think it. She deepened the kiss, darting her tongue further and deeper and faster in the recesses of his open and eager mouth, while savagely and desperately tugging at the stubborn buttons on his dress shirt.

"Veronica, I-"

"Shhh," she mumbled, pulling him in for another gravity-defying kiss. "Talking too much is what gets us into trouble," she murmured against his open mouth.

"No, it's just," he stammered, breaking the kiss, and then clearing his throat nervously. "it's after eleven. I should really call home and check in on Jake."

He looked at her with a combination of nervousness and sheepishness. And she knew in her heart she had never loved him more than she did in that exact moment. The combustible passion was still there between them. Their chemistry together was no different than it had been six years ago. But, he was a different man, a better man – a father.

She looked into his searching eyes and kissed him soundly on the lips. "Of course, Logan. I'll give you a little privacy," she offered, her voice shaking a little because of the power of the raw emotions she was feeling.

"Thanks," he said with relief for her understanding, but his eyes were quizzical by what he misread as sadness. "But, Veronica?" he asked when she was nearly out of sight. "Don't go too far. I have expectations of milky thighs and bobcat-like moves. I'm hoping to cause you make that sound I have been waiting six years to hear again."

"I'd expect nothing less, lover." Veronica smiled, sauntering off toward the bathroom.

Once inside the privacy of the bathroom, Veronica stared at her own complexion in the mirror. She looked nearly identical to how she had the night of Alterna-prom, and although they were in the same place as they had been years before on prom night, she sure as hell wasn't going to let it play out the same way it had when Logan poured his drunkenly honest heart out to her and she had run for the hills. She marveled at what a fool she'd been. What on earth had made her think that she could outrun her feelings for the only man who had ever made her feel truly alive? She knew that what she had misjudged then as a flame that was too hot and fiery and too easily burned out was only a flicker of what their future could hold. The night of Alterna-prom, she had been too scared by the heat of their passion and was quick to extinguish it, but Veronica resolved, as she studied herself in the mirror, she would be damned if she'd ever let another woman like Kendall Casablanca be the one to answer the door to Logan's suite in the morning for room service.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she tiptoed back toward the common room of the suite, careful to listen for signs Logan was still on the phone. Instead, she found him perched on the sofa with his bowtie loosened. He was swirling an amber colored liquid in a small tumbler, staring at it and looking lost in his thoughts, until he looked up at her.

"Hey," Logan's voice startled her, even though the one syllable he'd uttered was low-key and sweet. She looked over her shoulder at him, and he had a look of admiration mixed with incredulity, like he had expected her to sneak out while he took a less-than-five-minute phone call.

"Hey yourself," she answered back with a smile. "Everything ok?"

"Everything's fine," he said, studying her from across the room, "except for the fact that you're way over there."

Veronica moved in slow motion over to him until she was standing directly in front of him, but once she reached him, she felt shy and unsure of herself, which was unusual for her.

He took her hand in his, while they continued to stare silently at one another, their gaze like a loaded question. And then in a motion so fluid and fast, if you'd blinked you'd have missed it, he tugged her forward so she was straddling his lap with her knees bent behind her. He took a light swig from his glass and then offered it to her. She took the glass, tipped it slowly to her lips and took the daintiest of sips. It tasted horrible and burned the entire way down. Veronica set the glass behind her on the table. She didn't need bourbon or whatever the hell it was to warm her bones. Logan was doing a fine job of that, and the sheer proximity to him made her feel intoxicated enough.

He reached the pad of his thumb up to catch a bead of whiskey left on her lips, rubbing her bottom lip lightly, and she felt her jaw go completely slack. The anticipation of waiting to see what he'd do next was worse than going to bed on Christmas Eve, awaiting the fantastically intuitive Santa Claus to bestow gifts under the tree. She sighed, or moaned, and cried out slightly from the effect of his touch, because it was nearly her undoing, having him so close but still too far. Like chess, it was his move next, and just before the suspense killed her, he reached up and tangled his large hand in her messy bun, dragging her face down to crash against his parted lips.

Logan's hands and mouth were everywhere all at once – skimming her breasts, tangled in her hair, nuzzling her neck, nipping her ear lobe. She felt her dress fall around her before she even heard the zipper, and in the true spirit of letting her guard down, she tipped her head back to give him full access to her, relishing in the feeling of his soft lips finally making full contact with her achingly hot skin. She wriggled with sheer ecstasy from the feeling of his mouth all over her, and as she did, she felt his pleasure, turning her on that much more.

"I want to kiss every inch of your body, and I want you to feel every inch of mine," he murmured into her lips.

The desire to be gentle had subsided, and Logan's mouth was claiming hers so severely, her lips felt raw. As he moved to suck on her breast, he teased her lightly with his teeth, causing her to whimper. The pressure he was exerting was only just more pleasurable than painful.

Her hands rested on his pulsating biceps, and she felt his hands flex to grasp her beneath her bare thighs. All of the sudden he was lifting her up, and although he may have intended to head into the bedroom, he bumped her back into the bar, and stopped there as he didn't seem able to restrain himself another second.

Her dress which had been shimmied down to around her waist was now being pushed up in the opposite direction around her hips, as her back was angled up against the mirrored wall of the bar. He supported her with one arm anchored around her waist while the other hand worked to unzip his dress pants, which dropped in seconds, revealing a pair of black boxer briefs that hugged his taut ass in all the right places. Veronica pulled at them, in vain, but with Logan's assistance, they hit the floor swiftly, and he entered her with such as gusto, the sound that escaped her lips was nothing short of guttural.

He pounded her to the wall, and she was pretty sure with the perspiration she was letting off that she would have stayed there, even if his grip on her hips wasn't so tight. She propelled her hips forward, meeting his every thrust. He was so rock hard that she thought she might split in half. She felt herself building up so fast and she willed herself to slow down, but she knew that it was an oxymoron. She had waited forever to feel him like this again, and she came so hard and fast that she couldn't help herself.

"I love you, Logan," she cried out, agonized, her voice so foreign she wasn't even sure it was hers.

"Oh, baby," was all Logan could muster, the emotion trembling, as he came inside her. Their bodies quaked together for second in silence, before they dropped to the ground, melting together like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Veronica felt like there were entire gaps in her memory. How had they ended up on the floor, with her face firmly planted in his shoulder? Why could neither one of them catch their breath? How was it that they managed to complete each other so completely even after all of this time apart?

Logan was laughing, and it was music to her ears.

"C'mon, Ronnie," he said, scooping her up into his arms after a minute or so of resting on the cool tiled floor. "I'm taking you to bed. You need to rest up a little because the night's only just starting."

That night she'd never felt closer to any human being, physically or emotionally. Logan had explored her body with the determination of an explorer chartering unknown territories. And, at one point in her life she would've felt shy and vulnerable, but that night she gleefully wove her hand into his hair and submitted to his every seductive impulse. He brought her to the brink again and again, and she was awed by her willingness to surrender to him and was rewarded by coming an infinite number of times that night. She had no idea when sleep finally overcame them, but she was pretty damned perturbed when her well-earned rest was interrupted.

"Logan," she mumbled into his neck. Her limbs were heavy and intertwined with his. "Baby, the phone." She darted her big toe against his shin. He finally woke enough to halfheartedly fumble around to silence the ringing.

"Yeah, yeah, hello?" he answered less than charmingly. His abrupt change from the supine position to sitting straight up in bed was enough to rouse Veronica's curiosity.

"Okay, I'll be right there," he spat out tersely.

"Is it Jake?" Veronica asked full panic mode, as Logan sprang from the bed to throw on a Neptune Grand terry cloth robe.

"No, Veronica," he said, his voice full of tension. "Another girl went missing last night. After prom. That was my boss calling. Apparently your former boss, Agent Adams, wants to speak to all faculty members, so Principal Rainey called a mandatory meeting for all faculty and staff."

"I should go with you," Veronica said, throwing back the covers.

"Veronica, that's probably not the best idea," Loan said, looking at her with undeniable logic, as he buttoned his pants and quickly threw on a shirt. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything," he said, pausing for a fleeting second to kiss her before he left the cozy love nest they had built the night before, which was now threatening to crumble around them like a deck of cards.

Veronica had no choice but to acquiesce. She couldn't very well storm into a meeting that she had no business being at on the heels of Logan, but she was perturbed all the same.

She grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him soundly. "As soon as you hear anything, Logan. I'll be waiting."

"I goddamn hope so." And with that he was out the door.


The news of another missing girl was like a knife to the balloon that was Veronica's joy from the night before. Her mind was so scattered she didn't know which way was up. An immense wave of guilt washed over her because had she not been so preoccupied with her own love life and been more vigilant about watching who was leaving the dance with whom, she might have been able to prevent this. The question weighed on her mind – was a night of bliss with Logan worth another life? The fleeting thought of – don't I deserve to be happy too? – seemed like an over justification.

As Veronica tiptoed up her porch steps, she tried to assuage her guilt because it was a distracting sentiment. It had happened, and worrying about what she could have done differently wasn't going to help her solve the case any faster. She needed to focus wholeheartedly on the case, and she sensed Logan would understand that.

As she reached to grasp the door handle, she noticed a manila envelope folded neatly in with the morning paper. As she tugged at the parcel, she felt her blood run cold when she saw the all caps letters reading 'Attn: Veronica Mars' on the parcel in thick black Sharpie. She ripped the seal from the envelope, knowing that it was definitely not something cheery winning Publisher's Clearinghouse or an all-expenses paid cruise to St. Barts. And the contents of the envelope confirmed her sense of foreboding. She had thought that her world was rocked with the revelation that another girl was missing. But her fingers shook uncontrollably as she seized an 8x10 black and white photo of her and Logan in a compromising position in the front seat of his Land Rover. The picture came with a nice little caption too that read: Hot for Teacher?

I am all settled in with my 2 new jobs - teaching high school and college classes! So that means more time for writing! I really never thought I would make it to 28 chapters. I genuinely figured I would have had it wrapped up a little sooner, but I feel like there's still more of a story to tell! The delay in this chapter was my utter lack of faith in my ability to write a steamy love scene. I sure like to read them but felt writers block every time I sat down to write one. Let me know how I did? :)