Control the Burn (Hearts & Horsepower Book 1) Read online

  I lifted my cheek from his chest and replied, “Pardon?”

  Not making any assumptions, he asked, “Is something on your mind?”

  Telling him that I was relieved he hadn’t just used me and kicked me out didn’t seem like a wise choice. What did that say about my decision-making skills if I’d gone home with a guy thinking he could do that?

  The truth was, at the time, that thought never crossed my mind.

  But it did now, and I was grateful that my instincts hadn’t been wrong.

  “You didn’t strike me as the type who likes cuddling,” I answered. While I hadn’t given him the full truth of what was on my mind, I still wasn’t lying.

  “Why is that?”

  I managed a shrug before I said, “I don’t know. I just didn’t think you were the type.”

  Logan sat with that for a moment before he admitted, “You aren’t wrong.”

  My brows shot up, a mix of shock and confusion washing over me. Shock because I hadn’t expected him to tell me I was right. Confusion because I didn’t understand why he was doing it now.

  Thankfully, Logan explained, “Normally, I’m not big on it. But something is different about you.”

  “Different?” I repeated.

  “You know what I’m talking about, Kendall,” he insisted.

  I did.

  I knew exactly what he was talking about.

  And the confirmation from him that he felt the same as I did was all that it took. Suddenly, I was no longer afraid to be the one who took charge. Or, at least, until Logan took over. Because the man he was, there was no way he wouldn’t take over.

  I cocked a knee, pressed it into the mattress, and lifted my body slightly from his. Swinging the opposite leg over his body, I lowered my mouth to his and whispered, “I’ve recuperated.”

  Logan showed me a hint of a grin before he returned quietly, “Kitten.”

  I touched my mouth to his, instigating our second round. Logan took over shortly afterward.

  “What’s this for?”

  I looked into the curious face of the woman who knocked me off my feet last night in the best way possible. I was still slightly thrown off kilter by all of it. She was stunning. Gorgeous. And the best woman I’d ever taken to bed.

  But she was so much more than that.

  The moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew I wanted her. In just the little conversation we had last night, I went from wanting her to needing her.

  Kissing her at Lou’s had only been the start. The spark between us almost instantly combusted. The connection between us was a wild blazing inferno before I even had the chance to stop it.

  Not that I would have.

  She was everything I’d been searching for. Everything.

  And yet something was lingering in the back of my mind. Was it going to be this easy? I wasn’t complaining, but I wasn’t the kind of man who ever expected to get something without putting in a lot of work.

  Nothing about what happened with Kendall was particularly challenging. And that’s what worried me.

  But I was going to ignore it. Because right now, standing on the opposite side of the kitchen counter from her, it was hard to have any negative thoughts.

  “I need you to write down your number,” I told her.

  She glanced down at the piece of paper and the pen I’d set down in front of her a moment ago. We had woken up a little bit ago, commenced another round of sex, and had breakfast. When Kendall said she needed to get going, I wanted to spend the last few minutes I had with her actually being with her. So, instead of walking back upstairs to my bedroom to grab my phone, I decided to have her write her number down.

  I watched as she picked up the pen and began scribbling on the paper. While she did that, I rounded the counter and made my way to her side. Once I was there, she had finished writing and looked up at me.

  Slipping my arm around the front of her waist, my hand landed on her opposite hip. I tugged her toward me. Kendall willingly leaned her body into mine, her palms pressing into my chest.

  “I hope you had a great birthday, Logan,” she said.

  “I had a fantastic birthday,” I assured her.

  “Well, I enjoyed it, too.”

  I let out a laugh. It wasn’t hard to figure out that we’d both had a great night.

  Kendall smiled before she moved her face close and brushed her lips against mine. After teasing me a bit there, she gave me a closed-mouth kiss that felt unlike any kiss she’d given me up to that point. There was something about it that made me commit the memory of the way it felt to my mind.

  When she pulled back, she rasped, “I should really get going.”

  As I squeezed her hip, I gave her a nod. “Okay.”

  With my hand at the small of her back, I walked Kendall to the door. Opening the front door, I followed her outside.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Walking you to your car, kitten.”

  “Oh.”

  Once we were standing beside her open car door, she gave me a look before she asked, “Are you going to call me?”

  I wasn’t sure why she asked me that considering that asking for her phone number should have told her all that she needed to know. Even still, I replied, “I promise I’ll call you, Kendall.”

  Her features softened. “Then I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “You will.”

  She got in her car and put the key in the ignition.

  “See you later, Logan.”

  “Bye.”

  I closed her door and waited there until she backed out of the driveway. As she drove off down the road, I stood there thinking how much I liked Kendall and how easy things were with her.

  If only I hadn’t been so naïve to assume it would always be that way.

  “I finally get it,” I declared.

  “Get what?” my sister asked.

  As I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, I smiled and rolled to my side with the phone pressed to my ear. The sweetest memory had filtered into my mind.

  “I’m finally beginning to understand why I’ve been single for so long,” I said.

  Jolie laughed. “Considering you seemed to be nice and cozy with Logan last night before I left Big Lou’s, I’m not sure how to take that. Either he pointed out something that makes you think there’s something wrong with you or things went really well with Logan. And while I know that you’re perfect, I’m inclined to believe it’s the former that happened since you’re calling me so early this morning. Something tells me that if things went well with Logan, you wouldn’t be calling me this early in the morning.”

  “It’s close to eleven o’clock. It’s not that early,” I argued. “And you’re wrong because things went really well with Logan.”

  “Well if that’s the case, why are you saying you understand why you’ve been single for so long? Tell me what happened,” she demanded.

  “After you left, he walked me to the back of the saloon and pinned me against the wall. Then he kissed me senseless,” I shared.

  “I knew it. I knew he was seriously into you,” my sister stated.

  My belly fluttered as I recalled Logan pressing his big body into mine. This is what I’d been missing. Any time I’d tried to find someone, I always felt that something was lacking. Unable to pinpoint what it was, I assumed I was just being picky. Now, I knew differently.

  When I didn’t respond immediately, Jojo said, “I’m still confused. This seems like a good thing. And you said things went really well with Logan.”

  “They did,” I assured her. “And I think the reason I’ve been single so long is so that I’d be able to appreciate last night for everything that it was. If it hadn’t been so long, I might have gone through with what my mind was telling me to do.”

  “Which was?”

  “To stop it. To turn Logan down when he asked me to go back to his place with him,” I replied.

  “Why would you stop that from happening?!” Jolie sh
rieked, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear.

  Once I was certain she wasn’t going to yell at me again, I rolled to my back and held the phone up to the side of my head.

  “Because it wasn’t me,” I confessed. “I’ve never had a one-night stand. It’s not something I think I can handle.”

  “But you did it anyway?” she asked. There wasn’t any judgment in her tone. She was simply confirming the details of last night.

  “Yes, and I can honestly say the only reason I could was because it was Logan,” I said. “As much as I struggled with going through with it, I also couldn’t deny myself. And I’m glad I didn’t. He’s incredible, sissy. I’ve never felt anything like this with anyone else.”

  “What do you mean you haven’t felt like this with anyone?” she wondered.

  This was the reason I originally called my sister. Not only was she family, she was my best friend. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to call my sister. And considering she’d just recently found love herself after having been in a similar mindset as I had been in not more than twelve hours ago, I knew she would understand and appreciate what I was feeling right now.

  “I don’t quite understand it myself,” I started. “But there’s something about him that’s different. I feel this spark with him. It’s almost as though everything else fades away. Does that make sense?”

  “It makes complete sense, Kendall,” she assured me.

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I’m so happy for you.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. “I thought I was crazy because even though I knew that Logan and I were in Big Lou’s with tons of people around, it was like none of them existed. In those moments when he was kissing me, it was just the two of us.”

  Immediately, Jojo asked, “So how did you leave things between the two of you? Did you leave his place last night?”

  This is where I was hoping my sister would be able to offer me some reassurance. “I spent the night with him. And after we woke up this morning, we had breakfast together before I gave him my number and he promised to call.”

  “Oh, this is so exciting,” Jolie bubbled. “I can’t wait to see you get your happy ending.”

  “Slow down, Jojo. We spent one night together. What if he doesn’t call?”

  “Was he the one who asked for your number or did you offer it?”

  “He asked for it,” I shared. “That means he’s serious, right?”

  There was a long stretch of silence after that. I started to worry that maybe I’d made a mistake.

  “Why do you think he’s not?” she finally asked.

  I didn’t have any reason in particular, but this was unfamiliar territory for me. I didn’t exactly know how it worked.

  “I’m not saying he isn’t,” I began. “It’s just that… well, I don’t know how this all works. I want to think that him asking for my number is a good sign, but is that just proper etiquette for a one-night stand? I mean, I really hope that’s not all this was for him.”

  Jolie let out a laugh and said, “I don’t think there’s such a thing as proper etiquette for a one-night stand. But if he asked for your number, promised to call, and he’s a smart man, he won’t risk letting you get away. He’ll definitely call you, Kendall. I’m sure of it.”

  From what I could gather during my conversation I had with Logan last night, he was a smart man. He’d opened his own business, and he made mention of how much it had grown in recent years. I couldn’t imagine him being able to accomplish that if he weren’t a man of his word or if he were a fool.

  So, I took that to mean that Jolie was right. Logan was the kind of guy who did what he said he was going to do, and he was too smart to let me get away.

  On the same note, I had to admit that my reasons for wanting to hope for the best were partly because I’d hadn’t had much luck recently in the dating scene. The other reason I secretly hoped my assumptions were correct was because of what it meant if I’d been wrong about what I felt with him. And that was… Logan just wasn’t into me the same way I was into him.

  “I hope you’re right,” I sighed.

  “I am.”

  Jojo and I talked with one another for a little longer, but she eventually had to go and have brunch with her man.

  “Tell Lorenzo hello from me,” I said before we disconnected.

  “I will. Keep me posted on things with you and Logan.”

  At that, we said goodbye and hung up. I enjoyed the rest of my day off, silently willing the phone to ring all day long.

  When I went to bed that night, I had to admit I was a bit disappointed. But I had to be reasonable. It had been Logan’s birthday. I’m sure he had plans to spend time with his family and friends all weekend long.

  I woke up the next morning and got myself ready for work. As I drove to Rising Sun Medical, I did my best to push my thoughts about Logan and the weekend with him out of my mind. I had a day of standing beside women, caring for them while simultaneously instructing and encouraging them as they worked hard to welcome their babies into the world.

  Arriving at the hospital, I parked and grabbed my bag. Despite how hard I’d tried not to think about Logan, I was failing. Something still burned inside me for him… something that made me think living dangerously a few nights ago was for a much bigger reason. I could only hope things would work out in the end the way I hoped.

  I continued to walk through the parking lot as I dug through my purse searching for my phone. When I couldn’t find it by simply feeling around, I dropped my gaze inside the bag and continued moving forward.

  The moment I spotted it, I collided with something solid and fell backward, landing flat on my ass.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  I looked up and saw one of the doctors standing over me. He was staring at me with a look of genuine concern as he reached out to help me up.

  I placed my hand in his and stood. “It’s okay, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I said.

  Letting out a small laugh, he replied, “Yeah, me too. Are you sure you’re alright? That was quite a fall you took.”

  Nodding, I brushed my hands down the front of my body in an attempt to fix my clothes and assured him, “Yes, honestly. I’m totally okay.”

  He eyed me a moment before he introduced himself. “I’m Owen Davis,” he said as he held his hand out to me a second time.

  “Kendall Moore,” I returned, extending mine to his.

  “Coming in to work, I presume?” he asked.

  “Yeah. And you’re heading out, right?” I questioned him.

  Dr. Davis gave me a nod. “What floor do you work on?” he wondered.

  Smiling, I answered, “Third. L&D.”

  “Ah, I see. That’s why you look so happy. All those babies make it difficult not to have something to smile about,” he noted.

  “You’re not wrong about that,” I agreed. “And you? Where do you spend your nights?”

  “Typically, in the thick of chaos. I’m an emergency room doctor.”

  I returned a nod of understanding. Just as I was about to excuse myself so I could get in and get to work, Dr. Davis asked, “Well, Kendall, would I be able to take you out some time for a cup of coffee?”

  My eyes narrowed at him. “Isn’t that against the rules?” I asked.

  He shot me a guilty look before he argued, “Technically, fraternizing is frowned upon; however, we just met. I just want to do the right thing for knocking you over. It’s the least I can do to say I’m sorry. Now, if something comes of that…”

  He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders playfully. There was a clear indication in Dr. Davis’ motives. I believed it was all harmless, and in any other situation, I probably would have taken him up on it. I mean, he was tall, very handsome, and clearly a smart man. But this wasn’t any other situation.

  I directed a sympathetic look his way. “I’m sorry,” I lamented. “I’m very flattered, and I appreciate your concern for
my physical well-being after the fall. But the truth is that I kind of just started seeing someone.”

  “Damn,” he muttered, clearly disappointed. “I should have done this sooner.”

  “What?”

  “Sorry. That came out wrong. Um, the truth is, I’ve seen you walking in here for the last few months. I honestly did not mean to walk into you this morning and knock you down, but then it happened, and I figured it was a sign that I should just ask you out like I’ve been wanting to ever since I first saw you.”

  My lips parted in shock. “Really?”

  Dr. Davis gave me a simple nod.

  I didn’t know what to say. I felt awful. But I really liked Logan, and I didn’t want to screw it up.

  I’m not sure if Dr. Davis could read my thoughts or not, but he was a perfect gentleman and said, “Well, I’ll let you get in to work, Kendall. It was nice finally meeting you. And if it ends up not working out between you and the guy you just started seeing, you know where I’ll be. I’d love to have the chance to get to know you better.”

  I offered him a friendly smile and replied, “Thank you. It was nice meeting you, too, Dr. Davis.”

  “Please. Call me Owen.”

  “Okay. Then, I guess I’ll see you around Owen.”

  At that, Owen sidestepped and allowed me to pass by him. As I moved to the elevator, I shook my head in disbelief. It figures that I’d go from having nobody interested in me to suddenly having several promising prospects. The reality of my new situation combined with the fact that I spent my day around a bunch of babies made it nearly impossible to wipe the smile off my face.

  “I screwed up.”

  My sister stared at me with a worried expression from her spot on the opposite end of the couch. It was late afternoon on Friday, two weeks after our girls’ night out when I met Logan. I had the weekend off from work and had come to my sister’s place for some bonding time and advice.

  “Did something happen at work?” she asked.

  I shook my head, feeling despondent.

  Tipping her head to the side, Jolie grew concerned. “Kendall, what is it?” she pressed.

  “I got it all wrong, Jojo,” I started. “I thought I felt a spark with Logan, but I was evidently mistaken.”