Page 59 of Annika's Aurora

“Two years,” he admitted.

Her eyes widened, stunned. She turned on the bed to face him, just out of reach. He fought hard to keep his eyes on hers and not wander down to her gorgeous tits. “Two years! You’ve been talking with her for two years? Why her and not me?” The hurt in her voice twisted his heart.

“I don’t know. She emailed me. I hadn’t heard from her in probably twelve years. And suddenly, there it was. Mama Jo was not happy with me.”

“Good.”

Logan smiled. “She yelled at me. I could practically hear her voice berating me through the computer. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was time to stop being a toad-spotted barnacle and get my white-livered punk-self home.”

Annika laughed. “That sounds like her.”

“I bit the bullet and responded. I don’t know why. Something just told me to do it.”

“Jamie.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I told her I was sorry, but I didn’t know how.”

“Did you really think she was going to leave it at that?”

He shrugged again. “In a way, she kind of did. She didn’t ask questions. She didn’t put any pressure on me. We exchanged numbers, and she became just another contact on my list. She would text every now and then, just to say hi, ask how I was doing. She never mentioned Jamie. Or you. Nothing from the past.”

Annika seemed to ruminate on that. “That sounds so unlike her.”

“When I asked her if I could stay at the lake house, I had no idea she had an ulterior motive.”

“Yeah,thatsounds more like her,” she quipped.

“I’m glad she did. My only regret is that she didn’t meddle sooner.”

“She was working with a scared little critter. She didn’t want you to bolt again. Slow and steady. That’s how you deal with an animal that’s full of fear.”

He reached for her and pulled her back into his embrace, tickling her sides, where he knew she was most ticklish. She giggled and thrashed until she was out of breath. He took pity on her as she gasped for air and settled her body into his arms again. She went willingly with a deep sigh. “You and your words, Sunfire. They slay me.”

A few days after their trip to Annandale, Jansen asked Logan if he could have a tour of the Nighthawk facilities. So, the two men left the women to fend for themselves. Annika decided she needed a run to work out her wonderfully sore muscles from the previous night spent with Logan, blushing even now as she remembered the things he’d done to her. After tightening her shoelaces, she went into the great room, finding her mother in the chair by the window reading a book.

“Have a nice run, Sweetie. Stay away from dogs on the bluff,” she teased.

“Very funny, Mom.” She thumbed through her playlist after placing her earbuds in her ears and went out the front door. Feeling nostalgic, she found some Foreigner and took off down the road. After a mile or so into her run, she paused to take a sip of water from the bottle she remembered to grab this time. She was feeling good and loose and was thinking of doing another mile before turning to head back. She thought again of Logan and the lovemaking they’d shared. He made her feel things she never even thought possible, and her body still tingled in certain spots. But beyond how he made her feel physically, he made her happy. They were building something good between them and she couldn’t wait to discover how far they could go.

Distracted by her thoughts of Logan, she didn’t hear the man approaching until he had her locked in a chokehold, a strong arm wrapped around her throat. “Let’s see how that Nighthawk feels when he loses his bitch,” he hissed. Annika felt something stick her in the neck; then a warm lethargy floated through her body. The dizziness hit as the man dragged her backward towards his truck. The water bottle slipped from her fingers as blackness closed in around her.

Logan was nearly done with the tour of Nighthawk when Jansen’s phone rang, and he answered it. “Hey, Johanna. We’re nearly done … What?” Logan was instantly alerted by the note of panic he heard in Jansen’s voice. “Hold on.” He lowered the phone and put it on speaker. “Say that again.”

Logan could hear Johanna’s equally panicked voice. “She’s not home yet?”

“What do you mean?” Jansen asked.

“Annika went out for a run hours ago. She’s still not back. I can’t find her anywhere. I drove around to see if I could spot her. She’s just gone!”

“You know how sometimes she can lose track of time on her runs.”

“Yes, but this feels different,” she insisted. “It’s been four hours. She’s never been out that long before. And after that man the other night … I’m worried.” Logan pulled out his own phone, dialing for Graham.

“Annika’s missing,” Logan said as soon as Graham answered his phone. “Four hours.” He paused, listening to Graham. “I’ll text you the address.” He hung up and hit the messaging app to give Graham the address to the lake house.

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