A/N: Surprise! It's another one. Listen, I started this story when I was 15, but I said I wouldn't abandon it. The beginning is rough, but hopefully it gets better with each update. Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the wait and my eternal gratitude for your readership with this tasty little chapter.

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Lara sat in fascination, listening to Logan describe his long, bloodied history. In her time, she had encountered what some might call supernatural beings, entities who had once been human but now lingered in the living realm for one purpose or another. But she had never met anyone like Logan. A human. A person like any other and yet like no one at all.

"And that's why I can speak Japanese."

Lara shook her head, the potent fog of admiration difficult to dismiss. "Heh, sou nan desu ka? Sono hanashi wo ittekurete arigatou ne."

Logan blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, don't worry about it. It was a long time ago. Not important anymore."

"But you went to Japan to find peace. It's made you the man you are today."

"A lot of things have made me the man I am today. Not all of 'em that great."

"Maa, zenryou na otoko to omou."

He flushed for the second time but didn't back down. "Lady Croft, are you hitting on me?"

A sly grin slid across her face. "Sou kana?" She tilted her head at him, the cute act a thinly veiled assault.

'Oh, two can play this game, Croft,' thought the Wolverine. He closed the distance between them on the bench, slightly cocking his head in the opposite direction.

"Yeah," he rasped, "I definitely think you are."

"You're awfully slow on the uptake," the tomb raider said, smile widening. She wondered if he had noticed how heavy her breathing had become. Could he also sense the blood pounding in her ears?

"Would you like me to go faster?" he asked, eyes flicking to her lips then back to her warm, hazel eyes. In moments of joviality, they were greener. In this moment, staring at his dark form, absorbing the intensity between them, they were almost gray.

"And here I thought there were only two telepaths on the X-Men," she teased.

Logan chuckled, a seductively low rumble. He leaned closer. "I don't need to read your mind, Lady Croft. Your eyes tell me you're hungry."

"It's the eyes that give it away, is it?" she purred. Her left hand began lightly traveling up his knee, tickling the top of his thigh. She found his own hand there and gently guided it toward her.

"It's not the thrill in my voice?"

She brushed his fingertips across her lips.

"Nor the hammering of my heart?"

His rough hands traced the curve of her chin, dropping to the low neckline of her top.

"I didn't think I had a tell," she whispered, leading his hand between the valley of her breasts, then lower still to rest on her taught stomach. Logan, who had been eagerly watching the journey of his hand down Lara's body now locked eyes with her, anticipation of her next words filling him to the brim with desire. "I could have sworn it was just a gut feeling."

With that, Logan tightened his grip around her abdomen and evaporated the distance between them. Their lips crashed together, eliciting a surprised moan from Lara. His solid body pressed against hers, pulled her into him. It was too easy to lose herself in the voracity of him. So she succumbed.

One moment they were on the bench. The next, he had lifted her effortlessly and tossed her onto the bed, following her in an instant, the massive shape of him hiding her from the world. He had been right about her. She had accepted death for the first time, which is why she now needed so desperately to feel alive.

Every kiss he planted on her body set her aflame. In the blink of an eye, her top was gone, the fabric replaced with a roving tongue and eager host. She arched into him, digging her nails in for the ride she hoped would never stop.

He gripped her hands in his and threw her arms back to the bed, pinning her in exquisite defenselessness. For fun, she pushed back, only to be easily overpowered. He grinned at her before planting a kiss on her lips, releasing her hands to allow her to peel the tight shirt off him. She took the newfound freedom to loosen his belt, tightening it further before letting it fully go slack. His breath hitched, and he laughed. She grinned at him, loving how everything she did seemed to amplify the wild look in his eyes. She tried to unbutton his jeans when he shrunk from her grasp, waving a finger.

It seemed he had other plans, which didn't take much to discover as her pants sailed across the room. She tensed briefly, sucking in a gasp of air as his warm mouth made contact with her. One hand in his hair and one clutching the bedsheets for dear life, Lara called out Logan's name for the first of many times that night.