Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck #3)(40)

I want her to know exactly how I feel every time she’s in my arms.

When she breaks the kiss, I try not to slide on top of her and take her again. I was way too damn eager to be inside her when I saw her in a dress. I was just going to scare her, but Hadley screamed; Lana smiled. She always surprises me.

And just like that, I had to have her.

“I want you in Greece with me too,” I tell her, kissing her cheek.

“We’ll get drunk and have entirely too much sex,” she agrees. “And of course eat. There’s always something amazing to eat in Greece. Unless that’s just a false stereotype.”

Grinning, I press my lips to her cheek. “We’ll find out one day.”

Her breath catches, and I pull back, looking into those haunted eyes that pulled me under her spell so long ago.

“What?” I ask, running my finger down her cheek, worried about that look.

She turns toward me a little more. “If you found out I wasn’t this perfect girl you want me to be, would you still love me?”

The way she asks it is like a punch to the gut. “Lana, I don’t expect you to be perfect. I think you are perfect. At least perfect for me.”

Her lip quivers, and she forces a smile. What’d I say wrong?

“But what if I wasn’t perfect?” she asks again, genuinely distressed over this.

“Then I’d love you anyway. I don’t use that word liberally. Well, at least not since high school. But everyone uses it in high school without knowing what it really means to love someone.”

That look in her eyes chills just a little. I’m trying to read her, but she’s always a mystery. Constantly doing one thing when I expect another.

“But yes,” I say again. “I’d love you regardless. In case you haven’t noticed, I go a little crazy when it’s been too long since I’ve seen you, and you give me a reason to want to live instead of just exist. You accepted every piece of me, and dealt with the scraps I could offer. And never complained.”

She starts to speak, but I go on.

“Those eyes find me when you walk into a room, like I’m the only person you’re looking for. You hold your head up when others would cower. You stand tall when others would fold in on themselves. Your strength is beyond amazing. And you always keep me guessing, which is my favorite part about you, as much as it is infuriating.”

She laughs under her breath, and I kiss the corner of her mouth before continuing.

“And you smile for me like you smile for no one else. That makes a man feel powerful. And when I’m with you, I smile like I never have before. It’s a sense of equality, a partnership even. It’s rare to find someone who matches you step for step, and you do. I love that about you. I love you.”

She kisses me before I can ramble on, assuring her in every possible way there’s nothing that could change the way I feel. Just when I decide I have time to prove it a little more thoroughly, there’s a loud knock at the door.

“Logan! We have a break!” Donny shouts.

“He has horrible timing,” Lana says on a sigh.

“They always do. One day, I’ll just throw away the phone and hide from them.”

“When we disappear to Greece,” she says, her smile not touching her eyes.

I feel like there’s more wrong than she’s telling me. I can see it in the way her gaze grows increasingly distant. I’ll fix that. Just as soon as I figure out what’s causing it.

“Yes,” I tell her, smirking and pretending as though I don’t notice the hint of sadness in her eyes.

I get dressed quickly and meet Donny outside. Then I walk back in just as Lana stands, the sheet strapped around her, and I pull her to me, kissing her long and hard.

She moans against my lips, and Donny loudly clears his throat.

“I’ll be back soon,” I tell her, then walk out, ignoring the laugh Donny lets go as I step out.

“Gotta say, never thought you’d fall so hard,” he quips. “Company men like you usually end up a ride-and-die bachelor type.”

“Things change,” I tell him as I take the driver’s seat. “Where’re we going?”

“Craig called and said a guy came up to him and told him we needed to speak to Diana Barnes. He wouldn’t say anything else, but Johnson is on a rampage. Says we’re inciting terror by posting those flyers, and demanded we tear them all down. Elise and Lisa are putting up more, while the deputies are tearing them down.”

“Unreal,” I say on long breath. “He’s not even trying to be discreet about this.”

“Just makes me wonder what we’re going to find.”

“The cryptic messages the unsub is leaving us to terrorize the town isn’t helping matters. They’re all sure a spirit has risen, but no one will speak a name aloud,” I point out.

“The Evans kids? Or Evans himself? They definitely aren’t speaking about it,” Donny says in his own unique way of agreeing.

“It’s what he wants. He wants to incite terror. He wants them huddled in a corner. The question is why? We know they were raped, but the hospital couldn’t give us anything more than that. The kids were too scared to speak.” I’m mostly just speaking aloud, hoping that hearing the words will offer something more than just knowing them.