Chapter 21

"So, I guess this is good night," Logan said, his hands tucked into his pockets. He appeared withheld to Rory. On his defense he did have a lot on his mind. He was relieved that Rory had stayed for what had turned into wine and snacks though, somehow it made this a little better.

After having witnessed few sparse sightings of his daughter during the evening as well, Logan had a sense that she was going to be fine, despite the unnecessarily embarrassing ordeal Logan still felt guilty about. It had been him who'd dragged her to that boat trip, not thinking things through for such situations. He'd also already considered the easy fix for such situations - i.e. getting a bigger boat with an actual bathroom, but that felt somehow too obvious and too convenient.

"I was hoping you could come in. At least for a little bit," Rory chimed, feeling a little disappointed he was suggesting saying 'good night' already.

Rory understood that the day had been rough on Logan, testing many of his other roles. Maybe he really wasn't up for anything more adult than what the first half of his day had already included? She knew asking something like this in the voice that she was asking might've made her come off needy, but she hoped it didn't, rather she hoped that he would look well upon the seductiveness of it. After all, he'd always enjoyed her flirty banter before as far as she'd understood, both the live and the virtual kind.

Rory glanced briefly towards Logan's house, making sure no-one was watching them, and reached for his cheek, brushing it with her fingers, hoping to break through his shell by engaging in some more intimate contact that she'd been missing since morning.

But seeing him just look at her, frozen in the moment like that. His eyes just looked different.

Rory got a sense that her move might've been a mistake. Maybe this was his way of saying that friends were all they could be? That he'd made a mistake earlier?

Rory felt a sense of panic rise, and her chest tightened, making it harder to catch a good breath.

Thankfully, Logan corrected his stance, having indeed been feeling a little down. His right hand emerged from his pocket and went around her waist with determination, and pulled her in for a kiss as if correcting a mistake.

The kiss was slow and gentle. With a hint of passion but at the same time - withheld, a little melancholic even.

"I'm not sure I should," Logan admitted, regretfully.

"Not tonight or…?" Rory began. She was sad to hear those words, and even more to speculate on his reason or how final those words really were.

Suddenly Logan realized how Rory must've interpreted him, despite the past few hours having been spent nothing but pleasantly. It was not the idea he wanted her to get, but it took him a moment longer than ideal to form a coherent response.

The evening had been largely uneventful, but Logan had enjoyed having Rory in his space immensely. More so in his space, with his people - his children, or at least the majority of them. They hadn't really done anything too meaningful, just hung out and exchanged words on an occasional casual topic, at times Rory even engaged in some short conversations with his sons. It was evident to Logan how Rory got along with teenagers, her occupational traits as a teacher shining through at times.

To Rory, however, the night had been interesting. Of course, spending any kind of time with Logan was great. But after tonight there was an underlying theme that kept going around her brain, and if she were to be honest - it wasn't all positive. Logan did have negative traits, or at least properties that she was curious to understand better - but she knew that she was in no position to call him out on all the things she'd noticed. Everything was just too fresh between the two. And with Corinne coming back in less than three days, Rory really didn't want to rock that boat if she could help it.

"Not tonight," he confirmed.

"Because you're tired?" Rory tried to offer an explanation to this that would make the most sense.

"That too. But I'd never be too tired for that… with you," Logan smirked, slipping his thumb underneath the he of her blouse where he held her, and gave her another little peck on the lips.

"Because you're worried about what your kids think?" Rory guessed right on the second try.

"I guess. It all seems kind of… fragile right now," Logan explained, taking a moment to search for the right word.

"I guess I can understand that," Rory said, despite feeling reluctant to completely agree with his reason.

"So, we're okay?" Logan asked, a hint of worry in the back of his mind, knowing Rory had been looking forward to an evening together.

"We're fine," Rory inhaled, trying to sort out what she was feeling.

Rory generally saw Logan through fairly pink glasses, wanting to think he was at the very least the near-perfect man. Handsome, smart, funny, a true gentleman, clearly business savvy, a family man, sporty, well-read and well-spoken, exciting - just to name a few. But tonight, she had put many things aside, that a part of her wanted to debate. Some of them included his inclination to give his children what they wanted. And at times it was the contrary - not treating them like equals. At the very least there were cracks in her pink glasses by now. It wasn't enough to want her to end whatever this was… but mostly it was just about coming to terms with not saying what was on her mind, feeling it wasn't her place, and understanding what it meant to her in the grand scheme of things if she hold on to that information.

"Good night then," Rory said, trying to accept this. She tried to form a smile, but the best she could master under the circumstances was a thin-lipped one.

"I'll see you around," Logan said, adding an apologetic smile.

He worried she would take this the wrong way, or at the very least thought of this as something she'd done wrong or how his feelings, however indecipherable to him, had cooled for her. They hadn't. But he couldn't deny that a part of his smile now too was just his charm, his ability to put up a good face and make everything seem fine while he really wasn't.

Logan took a few steps back before he turned and walked back towards his house, tucking his hands back in his pockets. His chest felt heavy, causing him to take several deep tactical breaths as if that would somehow help him come to terms with his decision.

Once in his downstairs suite Logan showered, and decided to go to bed relatively early, considering that for several nights he'd stayed up late, texting with Rory. Tonight, texting just didn't seem fitting, however.

But no matter how hard he tried; the sleep just wouldn't come. The body was tired, but the mind was going through a lot. He was putting himself down for having not been able to deal with parenting issues better than he had, for not managing to deal with them himself. He was very much feeling guilty for persuading her to deal with his daughter. God, how he was embarrassed of what she'd said to Rory when they'd been up in that room. It was safe to say, Logan had heard more than she'd been aware of.

He was also regretful for disappointing Rory, having known she'd been looking forward to an evening together. Certainly, there were a number of times in his life he'd said 'no' to beautiful women who'd invited him in. But not once had his reasons been his children. Mostly these types of situations had included gold-diggers, or people after a good story, fame or career success instead of the real him. Sure, there'd been some other less than admirable situations, some that he thankfully barely remembered. There was also that one time he'd said 'no' to Odette when she'd begged on her knees with her mascara smeared all over her cheeks, looking like she'd slept under the bridge somewhere, hardly making sense of time and place. He liked to think that had been her low point, but he was certain there had been situations far worse than that that she'd been in, even if Logan only knew about a handful of them through the PI he'd put on her to get full custody. Knowing what he knew now, however, he didn't regret it though, knowing that had he known earlier how bad things had been with Odette, both for reasons beyond and within her control, he really should've done something way earlier than he had.

But telling Rory 'no' hadn't felt logical, even if on some level it had felt like the right thing to do. If he didn't go to her tonight, would that mean he was similarly supposed to pay less attention to her in the future? For the sake of his children. One was supposed to make sacrifices for one's children, right? Logan wanted that to sound like a sacrifice he'd be ready to make, one that he would be proud to make. But it just didn't.

It seemed there was no winner in this. His soul was tortured, trying to figure out a point system in his head to grade the numerous layers of guilt. The work-dork in him, like Whitney had once called him, jokingly, would've probably compiled a spreadsheet for it.

It was as he heard through the walls, his two sons making their way from the basement rec room to their bedrooms upstairs, saying a casual almost British sounding 'g'nite' as they did, Logan realized that it was only the thing that they knew about, that they had a problem with. Logan felt cheeky in that moment, kind of like he had over the years a number of times, when he'd put his hedonistic side first. That was certainly one thing he considered him truly good at.

He lifted his head off the pillow and glanced at his phone, hoping to see that little green light next to Rory's profile picture.

Maybe just for a little while?

"Any hope you'd still let me in, if I'd sneak over in 15 min?" Logan typed, seeing Rory active, even if just for a brief moment. She might've just been putting her phone away, closing all the apps or something. But he wanted to try, as in this moment in time, disappointing Rory felt a fraction worse than potentially upsetting the boys.

Rory put her table lamp back on, having just a second ago switched it off at the sound of her phone pinging. When Logan glanced up from his bed he could see the glow from Rory's window. It made him smile, giving him some hope.

Rory typed and retracted, deciding the best wording a number of times. And Logan definitely felt nervous watching her do that.

"I'd say there's a good possibility," Rory typed, cheekily, despite being eager to ask him what had changed. Somehow, inviting him over herself had felt better than being his booty call right now. It was a fragile balance most women had to thread unfortunately.

As promised, fifteen minutes later, Logan slipped in through Rory's front door, not having to knock because Rory had already been waiting for him.

She was dressed in her robe, and despite having had a short window to make herself look like she hadn't already been in bed, her hair was a little messier than it would've otherwise been and she'd already taken the time to do her nighttime skin care regime, leaving it with a slight metallic scent from the vitamin C.

For a moment Rory just looked at him, not knowing what stance to take.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come?" Logan hesitated, not knowing what he'd been thinking, assuming he'd be welcomed with open arms. He should've known better that when a woman said 'fine' it hardly ever meant that, not that the majority of assumptions he'd ever made about women had applied in Rory's case so far.

"Why did you come?" Rory asked, her voice slightly broken, leaning back against her kitchen counter. Truthfully, she was more worried that she'd just mistaken this for a booty call, but rather it was him wanting to have a 'talk' which would not end well.

"I didn't like how we left things," Logan replied and sighed.

Rory nodded, understandingly.

"And I missed you," he added, taking a careful but determined step closer to her.

From Rory's body language Logan could tell she was feeling a little rejected from before.

Rory met his forward step by reaching for his hand. First one, then also the other one, and encouraged him to take another step towards her and wrap his hands around her, pinning her between his hips and the kitchen counter. The relief of close contact washed over them, assuring this bond was not yet broken.

"I missed you too," Rory chimed quietly, feeling his slightly trembling breath on her lips.

His closeness was intoxicating. His light brown eyes were looking straight at her without straying, causing Rory to lick the inside of her lips.

Logan didn't want to go into this whole thing concerning his kids again. He just didn't have any answers. But he was here, wasn't he? So, his agenda really wasn't to give explanations or go into lengthy discussions, he'd just craved her closeness like nothing else in the world. And he wished for nothing more in this moment that she would just give him some credit and accept that things were complicated with him. He wished that him being here would've assured her enough that he was here to be healed by her.

Logan slowly moved closer to her, letting the tension to their kiss build by first touching her neck and hair. The tip of his nose gently brushed against her cheek as he tilted his head. His lips met hers, as if it was the first time they'd kissed. Somehow, each time when they'd been apart, even if just for a little while, the first kiss always gave them the kind of butterflies one generally just felt the very first time. Fear of their feelings, excitement, relief and euphoria - all mixed into one.

Kissing Logan felt like extinguishing a thirst of some kind, and Rory honestly just wanted to drink him all up, and from the few hesitant moves her lips gathered courage quickly, allowing the new-found courage of their eager open-mouthed kiss to find its way through her veins to every part of her body. Her one hand caressed his upper arm, and the palms of her other hand embraced the firmness of his chest. Unknowingly her legs moved apart a little, from a slightly defensive stance to an opening one, his intensity making her melt already.

It didn't take long until Logan too had gathered up his courage, and his kisses had intensified, feeding from Rory's thirst.

Without even trying, Rory's robe became undone, exposing the loose-fitting linen nightgown she'd worn a few times in front of him already. The gown really didn't hide much - her nipples showed through its thin-washed fabric, and the shoulder straps had a tendency to fall off at the gentlest tug. As Logan's lips trailed to her neck, one of those straps did just that, exposing her left breast, causing him to moan through his kiss as the skin of his palm met the delicate skin of her breast.

Logan could feel her hip bones press against his hips, and there was no doubt that the way she felt as he kissed him was waking the cheekiness in him that generally came with a forming, wanted, erection.

"Ah, you feel so good," Logan murmured, his hips pushed against her, kissing her… feeling her… it all made it worthwhile to him to have snuck over here at this hour. Even if it was essentially a show of the weakness of his character.

Rory just moaned into his mouth, being unable to argue with him, and let her hands wander over his upper body.

There was definitely something about him that was different compared to just anyone Rory had ever slept with. But neither Rory or Logan were by their age people who'd maintained their belief in one perfect true love. If anything, in their minds, they explained it rationally, with exceptional chemistry. Chemical reactions in their brains. Flood of hormones - testosterone and estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin. Not too much but just right. Increased blood flow to the necessary parts of the body. And another thing that came with their age was knowing that when all those reactions happened - one was stupid to not act on them as one never really knew when they could happen again. Sex was easy to come by, exceptional sex wasn't.

Rory allowed Logan to nudge the other shoulder strap of her dress to drop down her shoulder, as he was kissing his way from her ear to her clavicle and from there with a clear path down to her breast.

Rory's head fell back at his little nibbles, and she loved how his hands grabbed her sides with a hint of possessiveness. Her dress soon fell onto the floor around her legs, leaving her smiling at the ease of the process.

"Someone's overdressed," Rory hummed to his ear, with a gentle puff of hot air.

Logan felt goosebumps right then.

Rory decided to give him a hand, and ran her palm over the front of his linen trousers, causing him to positively hiss at her touch. She wanted to feel his warmth between her thighs so badly, she almost considered just taking a chance.

But for now, she just continued to stroke him, while his lips returned to her mouth, dipping his tongue inside her mouth.

Logan unbuttoned his shirt, and Rory was sure to take advantage of it and slipped her hand between the elastic of his pants and headed down, not needing to go far at all. She'd dreamt about that cock of his these past few days as she'd been doing random things, still remembering the feel of him inside of her. Instinctively she shoved her dress away from her feet and opened her legs wider, craving for his touch.

Logan didn't just shove his hand into her panties though as one might've expected or even hoped, but first traced the thin silky fabric of her underwear, teasing him.

Rory swallowed hard, her concentration fading as he did that. A number of her muscles contracted just at the brief touch he was giving her, urging him to continue. Her own hand stopped moving for a while, but maintained a steady hold on him.

"You wanna take this upstairs?" Logan asked, wanting to be respectful and hide his urgency.

"Uh-uh," Rory shook her head, continuing to gasp each time Logan approached her clit through her underwear. "I don't think I can wait that long," she added, saying the magic words.

Logan kissed her fiercely again, feeling ready to burst if he could have her right now.

It was Rory who surprised him though, as she turned around in the narrow space between him and the counter, presenting her behind to him, wordlessly telling him what to do.

Logan reached forward, kissing her neck and shoulder some more, while he was busy ridding himself of his pants and underwear. Rory reached her own hand between herself and the counter, moving her thong aside for his easy access. Her lower lips looked gorgeously puffy already, and Logan wanted nothing more than to delve his member deep inside of her.

"Ah crap," Logan cursed.

"What?" Rory asked, for a second being taken out of the moment, her fingers still fondling her clit.

"I forgot the condom," Logan replied, having not brought his wallet with him.

Rory had a couple of condoms in a drawer upstairs, but at this moment she didn't even know why she did what she did.

Rory reached back for his arousal, and pointed it directly at her puffy lips touching them gently with his hardness. She glanced back over her shoulder, giving him her silent permission. She just needed him so badly.

Logan was still looking at her eyes as she was checking on him over her shoulder as he thrust, and he watched her mouth open on impact letting out a delicious moan. That just didn't get old. And now, feeling the wetness and the warmth of her insides for the very first time with his most sensitive part.

Honestly, he couldn't believe he'd just risked that, having always been such a careful guy. But if their age was convenient for something, it was the low odds for getting her pregnant at least. Safe sex was sexy, but the risky, the slightly irresponsible kind with this person, was also pretty damn exciting.

"Oh, yeah," Rory gasped, having not expected to feel his every vein and curve as he continued to thrust, slamming her hips against the counter each time. The warmth of him was doing wonders too, making this risk so worth its while.

Rory met his thrusts by curving her back, feeling like she was on the receiving end of something magnificent. Each thrust at the time, she was pushed closer to her edge, her fingers making sure every last pleasure spot was pushed just right.

But Logan wanted to see her, to kiss her and he slipped out of her, leaving gaping for a second. Rory let out a little whine, which to his ears was the cutest thing ever.

He turned her around, and raised her to the top of the counter, which Rory yelped at, having not anticipated him to do that. Her arms rested on his shoulder, and they paused to kiss. Her core was sloppy with her juices and to Logan also impossibly inviting. Hence despite having initially wanted to take things slowly, he now found himself entering again and hissing at the sweet sensation, Rory's forehead still touching to his. Each hiss, moan or whimper at close proximity was incredibly sexy to hear, see and feel.

The scent of sex filled their nostrils as they sailed closer and closer to the point of no return, encouraging the other on. Their profile view would've made them screen worthy of a high class porn - the way Logan's legs moved as he fucked her, the way her legs bent around her hips, her arms making all the right angles, an occasional neck kiss, all the signs of giving in to their pleasure.

By the time their orgasms hit them, one not long after the other, they were so far gone into their bodily needs they'd nearly lost all track of time and place. It was only as things began to make sense again, as Logan found himself chuckling, only now realizing they'd had sex right in front of the window that had been facing his house. There were no lights on there, nor did he believe any of the kids had been walking outside and caught them in the act. But still, it just made him laugh, considering how dominant his need for her had been compared to his guilty feelings and earlier caution.

"What are you laughing about?" Rory asked, finding him amusing, refusing to let go of him as they stood there, his body wrapped between her legs.