Insider (Exodus End #1)(139)
Author: Olivia Cunning

Mom cupped either side of Toni’s head and pressed their foreheads together. “So you write the best damn book you can, fix the woman’s reputation, hit the best-seller list, and save the company from financial ruin.”

Toni laughed. “Well, I will write the best damn book I can. The rest is out of my hands.”

“My husband raised you right.” Mom kissed the tip of Toni’s nose and released her. “It’s getting late. I suppose you still have time to call that boyfriend of yours. You are still involved with him, I take it?”

“Logan!” Toni cried. She’d been so wrapped up in her dealings with her mom that she’d forgotten to call him.

She read through his string of text messages. They were almost identical to the cards he’d sent with the flowers. She didn’t bother to listen to his voice messages before calling him. Her call was forwarded directly to his voicemail. She checked the clock to see if he was still onstage, but as it was almost one a.m. in Phoenix, he should be on the tour bus and on his way to the next venue.

“Logan,” she spoke to his voicemail. “I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you. I didn’t get any of your messages until late and then I didn’t have my phone with me, so I couldn’t call you back until now. I really need to memorize your number.” She laughed at how frustratingly inconvenient convenience could be. “Call me when you get this. I don’t care how late it is, I promise I’ll answer. I believe you when you say you didn’t cheat, but we still have a lot to talk about. I’ve had quite a day.” That was an understatement. “I love you. Hope to hear from you soon.”

She disconnected and turned to find herself alone. Mom had apparently decided she needed privacy while she made amends with Logan. Toni trudged upstairs to her room, turned her ringer up to maximum volume, and plugged her phone into the charger. She refused to miss his call. But as she lay in bed staring up at the balloons floating overhead with no word from him, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d given up on her.

Thirty-Six

At some point, Toni must have dozed off, because an unfamiliar, low-pitched rumble pulled her from a fitful sleep. Headlights reflected off her ceiling as someone turned into the driveway. Lost and turning around, she decided, until the engine died and the lights were extinguished. She lifted her phone and glanced at the time. It was three thirty in the morning. And she’d somehow missed an hour-old text from Logan.

OMW

As far as she knew, that acronym was short for on my way, but that made absolutely no sense. He was on his way to where?

Her phone rang, startling her so badly that she tossed it onto the floor as if it had sprouted fangs and tried to strike her dead. She rolled out of bed and onto the hardwood with an oomph before crawling after the flashing device that was blaring “I’m-Too-Sexy.”

“Logan!” she answered, her heart still tripping over itself from being scared out of her wits. Or maybe the battered organ was just happy he’d finally called.

“Which room is yours?”

“What?”

“You’re home, aren’t you?” he asked with a panicked edge to his voice. “At your mother’s house?”

“Yeah.”

“Which room is yours?” he asked again.

“I don’t understand.”

“How can I crawl into bed with you and kiss you awake if I don’t know which room is yours? I don’t want to accidentally scare the living daylights out of the wrong person.”

“You’re here?” Toni scrambled off the floor and flew across the room to her floor-to-ceiling windows. She peered down the driveway at an unfamiliar muscle car and the unmistakable, shadowy shape of the man she loved standing beneath a sky dotted with billions of stars.

“When I couldn’t reach you, I panicked. So I did what any nonsensical man in love would do. I hopped on a private jet, borrowed a friend’s car, and hunted you down.”

“You’re crazy,” she said with a laugh. And thank God for that.

“When it comes to you, I don’t know how to be sane.”

She unlocked the glass door that led from her room to the enormous deck that encircled the second story of the cabin. Barefoot, she crossed the cool wood planks and leaned over the railing.

“Look up,” she said and when he did, she waved down at him.

“Ah, my Juliet,” he murmured in her ear.

“Oh. Is that her name?” she teased. “Juliet.”

“Antonia. Her name is Antonia,” he said before he disconnected the call.

She gasped as he began to scale the lower deck. Standing on the railing, he sprang upward, missing the beam below her by inches.

“What are you doing?” she whispered harshly into the darkness below.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

She couldn’t see his face in the shadows, but she heard his grunt of exertion when he jumped again, this time getting one hand on the deck near her toes. He dangled there for a moment before losing his grip and dropping back out of sight.

“Logan!” Why did he have to be such a daredevil?

“I’m all right,” he said. “I caught my fall with my face. Can you throw me a rope or something?”

“You’re going to kill yourself. I’ll come down.”

She didn’t wait for his agreement, but scurried back into her room and bounded down the stairs two at a time. Still in her short, silky nightgown, she dashed through the kitchen and mudroom before unlocking the back door. She gasped in surprise as the door flew inward and she was tugged against him. One of Logan’s hands pressed into her back to hold their bodies together, the other tangled in her hair, pulling her mouth to his as he kissed her.

“Don’t ever leave me again,” he said against her lips.

She shook her head slightly, not wanting to interrupt his deep, demanding kiss. He was the one to eventually pull away. His breathing was harsh and ragged as he cradled her head to his chest, his heart thudding against her ear in a rapid staccato.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m better than I’ve been all day, but I won’t be truly okay until I have you naked and I’m buried balls deep inside you.”

Toni shifted out of his grasp and slipped the slender straps of her nightie down her shoulders and arms. One tug pulled the garment from her breasts, and the scrap of satin fluttered down to pool at her feet. She lowered her panties next, kicking them aside impatiently, and stood before him naked. Naked and unashamed. On her mother’s back porch.