A Girl After His Own Heart

A Girl After His Own Heart – Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything but the story idea.

A/N: This is still rated R for a reason. Language and sex are coming up straight ahead so if it’s not your cup of tea, don’t read it, okay? Everyone else, enjoy. Or not. Leave a review and tell me if this totally sucks.

~~

As she moved toward the living room and flung her leather jacket onto a chair, she heard him sheath his claws. Her tee shirt was coming untucked in the back and he saw that he’d been mistaken before when he’d assumed that it was dark-colored. In fact, he saw that it had once been white, but was now was covered in dirt and dried blood. Now that they were standing he saw that her jeans and the long sleeves of her long underwear were similarly soiled.

“I thought you said they didn’t go to work on you,” he asked indicating the state of her clothing.

She turned toward him and said blankly, “They didn’t.” She hadn’t thought about her own clothing and didn’t understand what he was getting at.

Logan moved closer to her and tugged on the waist of her bloodied tee. “What’s this, then?”

She glanced down and her eyes widened in recognition. “The blood is yours,” she explained. “I did tell you you’re one heavy motherfucker, didn’t I?” she continued trying to make a joke. “You leaked all over me.”

That’s why she smelled familiar. He recognized the metallic tang of his own blood on her clothing and body. “Sorry,” he offered, raising one hand, palm outward.

She shook her head as if to tell him to forget it led him past the couch and into the kitchen area. With one finger pointed, she said, “Bathroom’s there. Help yourself. I’m gonna find us something to eat.”

Logan walked past her into the small bathroom and closed the door behind him. One look in the mirror on the back of the door and he could tell that she was telling the truth when she said she’d dragged him out of that hellhole. His clothes and body were a bloody mess. His dark blue jeans could be washed and salvaged, but the wife-beater he wore wasn’t even close to its original color, rather, it was heavily stained with blood and what looked to be mud. He remembered that the floor of the cell wasn’t concrete, but earth. He realized that with enough blood on the ground, it could have easily turned into a muddy paste. No wonder he’d been passed out for so long. With enough blood loss, even he was susceptible to weakness.

Grimacing at the broken memories, he quickly stripped, turned the shower on and stepped in. Logan closed his eyes as he allowed the hot water to penetrate his tired muscles.

~~

Out in the kitchen, the woman watched her unexpected guest close the bathroom door before moving to her bedroom. Pulling her hair out of the knot, she scrubbed her fingers against her scalp and unlaced her boots. Fuck, she was exhausted. The drive had taken out of her what the actual ordeal hadn’t. After making sure all the blinds in the house were closed, she began to cautiously turn lights on. She truly believed that no one would be able to track them down, but it never hurt to be a little paranoid.

She heard the water turn on in the shower and she pulled her tee shirt and long underwear top completely out of her low-slung jeans, and tugged them over her head. Pulling her hair into a loose ponytail, she trudged back into the kitchen for food in just her jeans and black sports bra, tossing the shirts into the kitchen garbage on her way.

~~

When Logan opened the bathroom door a few minutes later, the woman was facing away from him, bent at the waste in front of the open door of the oven. She heard his movements and said, “I laid out sweats for you in the bedroom. Help yourself.”

Steam swirled into the kitchen and played on her pale skin still stained from blood that had seeped through the shirts in places. He noticed a purplish bruise on her lower back and guessed that Sabertooth hadn’t made their escape an easy one. She righted herself and turned around. He was still in the doorway, hair damp and towel knotted around his waist, drinking her in.

“Take a picture,” she groused at him.

“You often take strange men into your house and then prance around half naked?” he wondered aloud.

“Don’t matter how I’m dressed,” she told him. “It’s my house and I do what I want.”

Logan walked toward her, his movements slow and deliberate. “That so?” he asked when he was standing in front of her.

The heat from his body wafted onto her bare skin and although her mouth went dry, she refused to back down. “Yeah,” she replied. “That’s so.”

Hoping to distract herself, she tore her eyes away from his and focused on his clean, damp chest. Her eyes immediately widened. “You don’t have a mark on you,” she murmured, raising a hand to touch him but stopping short and pulling back.

“Healing factor,” he explained silkily. “My mutation is that my body heals itself.”

She nodded, trying to understand and not quite believing that she was actually in a room with another mutant. “Then why…?”

“Why were they doing to town on me?” he finished her question. “It wasn’t for information, if that’s what you think. I assume they were just enjoying themselves,” he replied darkly.

“Jesus Christ,” she answered, staring at him.

“Yeah,” Logan replied with a nod. “What I don’t get, though, is how they got you there.”

“I wish I knew,” she told him, shaking her head. “I was hiking up in the Canadian Rockies when something fell on me or someone hit me over the head and I blacked out. I woke up in that cell,” she explained.

“You were in Alberta, Canada?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Yeah,” she said.

“That’s where I was when they got me,” he said, realization creeping into his voice.

“Why, though?”

“Dunno,” he admitted, drawing her gaze back to his.

Unsure how to proceed, she shook her head as if to clear it, then turned her back on him and pulled open the door of the refrigerator.

“Go put on the sweats. I’ve got a frozen pizza in the oven.”

“Yum-yum,” Logan answered sarcastically as he obeyed.

“I don’t think the bad guys were going to offer you filet mignon, so why don’t you just shut it?” she snapped as she tried to maintain control over her nerves. She turned around and glared at him for good measure.

He dropped the towel and pulled on the sweat pants and tee shirt she’d laid out for him. She immediately swiveled her body around and swallowed hard. The man was built like a brick shit house, but goddamn if she didn’t want it.

“When the timer goes off, pull the pizza out of the oven,” she choked out before disappearing into the bathroom for her own shower.

~~

Logan watched the door close and heard the shower turn on a few minutes later. He’d left his soiled clothes on the bathroom floor and now wished he’d picked up after himself. “Fuck it,” he said, suddenly not caring what she thought of him.

With his hostess occupied he took the opportunity to explore his new surroundings. The house wasn’t big, but it looked worn and comfortable. The living room held one small couch, one chair, and a TV. The kitchen held a small oven with a stove, fridge, some cupboards, a pantry, a small table and two chairs. The bedroom had a double bed, a dresser, a nightstand and a closet, most of which were nearly empty. The sheets and blankets on the bed looked ancient. There was a door in the kitchen that revealed stairs that went down to what was probably a basement.

The biggest thing he noticed was that there were no distinguishing pieces of memorabilia. No framed pictures of her or anyone who looked like her. No knickknacks. No books. Not even a calendar on the wall. The cupboards were stocked with lots of canned goods. A quick look in the refrigerator showed no fruits and vegetables. He wondered how long she’d been living here. Not long enough to have made her mark, although each room smelled of her and no one else. He wondered where here was. He quickly went through the kitchen drawers looking for any maps of the area and found none.

He was about to make a more thorough search of her bedroom when the timer went off. Grimacing, he pulled on an oven mitt and took the pizza out of the oven. As he did so, the water shut off in the bathroom and a few minutes later, the woman emerged in a towel of her own. Before he could comment on her lack of clothing, she bit out, “Ever hear of a little thing called a hamper? There’s one behind the door here? It’s a receptacle used to store dirty clothes. They’re all the rage now.”

“Woman, are you nagging me already?” he asked with an arched brow and a playful leer.

“Fuck you,” she snapped, tense over how good he looked in her house, and disappeared behind the closed bedroom door.

Logan chuckled. She was so easy to rile and it was so entertaining.

When she came out of the bedroom a few minutes later dressed in pajama pants and a white tank top, she had to pause for a moment as she watched him move about her kitchen. He was huge compared to her and the room was small. Too close for comfort, she thought and decided that she’d drive him into town tomorrow, disappear the truck, and hike back here when she was done. The last thing she needed was some guy who would attract attention staying here for any period of time.

Glad to have made the decision, she moved to cut the pizza and got out plates. Opening the fridge, she got out two beers and after they were seated across from one another at the small table and they’d each taken a few bites, Logan asked her, “So you gonna tell me the story or do I hafta guess?”

“There’s no story here,” she lied uneasily.

“You know as well as I do that that’s bullshit,” he commented pleasantly.

Rolling her eyes, she remarked, “Bullshit or not, you’re gonna be waiting a long time before I tell you jack.”

“Not even your name?” he pried.

“You can call me Val,” she said grudgingly.

“As in Valerie?” he ribbed her girly name.

“No,” she answered him shortly.

“Fine,” he accepted, ignoring her tone of voice. “Val. Are we in the states or Canada?”

“States.”

“Which one?”

“Montana.”

Logan tried to process this. The last thing he remembered before waking up in that cell was hiking in the hills up by Alkali Lake. It had been close to eight months since Jean’s death and he couldn’t help but head up there whenever he had some free time on his hands.

“When I woke up in that hole in the ground I knew I wasn’t alone,” he remembered. “You were the other person?”

“Yeah,” she responded tightly, not wishing to think about it.

“Were you conscious the whole time?”

She shook her head and said, “I woke up there, too, but I got the feeling that it was a pretty small base. Only one cell with one table, which is why they put us in together.”

He nodded, agreeing with her analysis.

“I woke up on the floor, you were already tied down to the table. The lighting was bad so they couldn’t really tell what all I could see, but I sure as shit wasn’t aboo tao take the chance that I’d be next up there.”

Logan nodded again, encouraging her to keep talking as they ate.

“I don’t know what the hell they wanted with me,” she confessed, not caring anymore that she was telling him what he wanted to know.

“Maybe they knew you were a mutant, too,” he suggested with a soft voice.

“Maybe…but it don’t add up,” she murmured trying to think of a reason for her presence in that cell. “I don’t use my ‘gifts.’ Not ever. No one around here knows anything about ‘em. If they did know, I’d sure like to find out how.”

“Strength, right?” guessed Logan.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and snarled, immediately defensive, “The fuck is it to you?”

“Nothing,” he responded with a low voice, answering her challenge, but making sure she knew that it made no difference to him and he was no threat. “Just taking a guess. I figure it’s the only way you could have beaten Sabertooth, dragged me out of that place and into the truck before blowing the hell out of it.” Then he leaned in toward her as he finished with a playful leer, “Not to mention the fact that you don’t seem too worried that you’re a woman alone in a house in the middle of nowhere with a strange man.” He marveled at the contradiction. She was literally half his size, but she clearly was able to handle herself if she’d taken out Sabertooth and managed to drag his own dead weight around.

“That’s right,” she said, “I could kick your ass from here to China if I wanted, but so far you haven’t posed a big enough threat.”

“So far,” he repeated, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Keep dreamin’,” she scoffed.

Logan licked the grease from his fingers, finished his beer and said, “So what now?”

“What now, what?” she answered.

The pizza was gone and she felt tired and dull. Her hair was in damp ringlets reaching the middle of her back and she nervously ran a hand through them. Logan propped his elbows up on the table and said, “It’s close to two in the morning. I’m tired. What now?”

“I’d offer you the couch, but it isn’t very comfortable,” she replied slowly. “After what you’ve been through, you should at least get to sleep in a bed.”

“Thanks,” Logan replied with sincerity. “So you’ll take the couch.”

“Hell, no,” she replied. “It’s uncomfortable. We can share the bed and I’ll just beat you senseless if you’re stupid enough to try anything.”

“Sounds fair,” Logan answered, intrigued.

She cleared the table and turned the lights off in the house. He followed her into the bedroom and she moved to the side closest to the door and pulled the blanket back. He rounded the corner of the bed and did the same. The dim light emanating from the bedside lamp created a soft glow in the room.

Swiftly, Val slid between the sheets and Logan did the same. She turned off the light and they each adjusted a little bit.

After a few moments, she felt him turn over onto his side so that he faced her and say, “So if you live here alone how come you’ve got clothes that’ll fit me?”

“Long story,” she answered quickly. Dammit, she thought, this was a bad idea. Try to be the tough girl and see where it gets you. She could bench press him, sure, but lying there in the dark beside him was making her think things she’d knew would lead to trouble. He sensed her discomfort and enjoyed it. Wanting to continue the conversation, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dark and then propped himself up on an elbow before he purred softly, “Why do you live alone?”

“I like living alone,” she answered, feeling her skin grow hot at the rasp of his voice. He picked up her scent immediately. He was turning her on and he loved it. The predator in him came to the fore and he couldn’t help but notice her soft, heavy breasts under the thin material of her tank top. Closing his eyes he felt himself respond. Bad idea, he thought. A one-night stand with some strange woman was a bad idea. Giving up on his game he fell back onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

“You’ve got a lot of long stories,” he observed quietly.

She took a shaky breath and said, “Everybody’s gotta past.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“Long enough,” she growled softly, wishing he’d just the hell up.

“You’ve got some anger issues, you know that?” he mocked.

“Fuck off,” she replied firmly.

“Why’d you get me outta there if all your gonna do is tell me to fuck off?”

He felt her stiffen as she remembered the things they’d done to him…the screams and the smell of all that blood. “I told you. I took you with me because it was the only thing I could do. I can’t explain it.”

He heard the shift in her voice and he was glad he’d changed the subject, but uneasy, too. She had saved his life. True, he couldn’t actually die, but if the rest of his days were spent strapped to a table while Magneto tortured him, he couldn’t exactly call that a life. Some acknowledgement was due.

Turning onto his side again, Logan took her wrist in his hand and said, “I know I said this earlier, but I wanna tell you again how grateful I am.”

“Forget it,” Val replied, thrown by his physical contact.

Logan’s heightened senses again picked up on her obvious arousal and again he wondered how long she’d been here alone.

“Val,” he said softly. “What’s that short for?”

“Valens. It’s Latin for strong,” she answered him quietly.

“So it’s not the name you were born with,” he guessed.

“That name is gone forever,” she nodded bitterly, trying to remove her arm from his grasp.

Tightening his grip, Logan said, “Along with the rest of your life before the ‘gifts’ started to kick in?” It was a story he was all-too familiar with.

Her heart rate had increased at his touch and again she tried to pull away. “I appreciate you trying to feel my pain, but I got no time for this. I’m tired. Good night.” Her sarcasm made him smile and again he refused to release her arm. Instead, he began to move his thumb in slow circles around the pulse at her wrist. If she really did have superhuman strength, she’d be able to toss him on his ass with little effort. The fact that she was allowing his touch meant that she liked it…wanted it.

“Is that why you’re so ornery?” he asked playfully.

“The first thing you did in the truck was put your knives to my throat,” Val noted dryly. “I wouldn’t exactly call that friendly.”

“And you weren’t surprised,” he said remembering.

“You had ‘em out when you first woke up on the table,” she reminded him in a tight voice, wishing he’d stop with his goddamn thumb.

“So I guess we’re both ornery,” he said conversationally as he maintained his grip on her. Her scent was going to his head. He closed his eyes again and savored it as he waited for her to answer. One-nighters are a bad idea, Logan, told himself again. Maybe he’d be doing her a favor, though.

“Guess so,” she whispered.

“Val,” he murmured as he moved closer to her in the dark.

“What,” she grated as she felt him drawing nearer.

“Are you gonna kick my ass from here to China?” he asked slowly as he grazed the tip of his nose against her temple.

“Maybe,” she answered, squirming at the heat she felt between her legs.

Get a grip, Val, she thought. Who the fuck did this prick think he was? Yeah, maybe she was hard up, but that didn’t mean she’d fuck just anybody. Finally, she pulled her wrist out of his grip and used her momentum to punch him squarely in the ribs. He landed on the floor with a grunt.

“Fuck, baby, I like it rough but you gotta warn a guy,” Logan said good-naturedly as he stood up.

“I told you to keep your hands to yourself,” she said as he got back in bed.

“No,” he replied. “Actually you said you’d kick my ass if I was stupid enough to try anything.”

“What’s your point?”

“No point,” he answered as he settled in again. “I just think it’s been a long time for you and I know it’s been a long time for me, so maybe we could do each other a favor.”

Immediately Logan noticed her heart rate increase again. “That’s none of your business,” Val answered stiffly.

“’Course not, but that don’t mean it’s not true. We could…take care of each other.” He heard her breathing turn shallow and he felt dizzy as her scent permeated the air around him.

“Take care of each other?” Val’s brain was on sensory overload. Those chest muscles and broad back, narrow waist, tight ass…she couldn’t help but notice it all when he’d come out of the shower and dropped the towel to get a rise out of her. The truth was that it had been long time, longer than she cared to admit, in fact.

“Mmm hmm,” he murmured.

“After what they did to your body, how can you possibly want that?” she asked trying to distract him with reason.

“Healing factor,” he reminded her softly. “I’m all better now.”

“Oh,” she said. She felt paralyzed, pinned to the bed with indecision. She knew if she had to fight him the very worst that would happen was a stalemate, but it had been so long for her that she wasn’t sure how to behave in situations like this, anymore. Did she make the first move? Did she allow him to seduce her? What was the signal for telling him she wanted him? Fuck, it was all so confusing that she felt like hanging her head in shame and going to sleep on the couch herself.

The pressing heat between her legs begged for attention, though, and she was reminded of the expression, ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth.’ They would almost certainly part ways tomorrow. What the hell did it matter if they fucked tonight?

“All right,” she said, defeated by her body. “But we’re just doing each other a favor. I’m taking you into town tomorrow and leaving you there. You can hitch a ride to Helena and from there you can get to wherever you need to be. Don’t ever come back here,” she demanded. “Deal?”

“Deal,” he agreed before pulling her on top of him and grinding his mouth against hers. She kissed him back hard and tentatively allowed her fingers to explore his face and neck, enjoying the stubble. Growing bolder, she moved her hands down his broad shoulders andoss oss his chest muscles. Unable to resist, she let out a low moan into his mouth as she squeezed his flat nipples through the borrowed tee shirt.

Logan answered her moan with one of his own as he trailed his hands down her back to her ass and pressed her hard against him. Flipping them over so that he was on top, he broke away from her to leave hot, wet kisses down her neck to her breasts. As he took one hardened nub into his mouth to suckle through her tank top, he used his fingers to pet her inner thighs. The friction of the rough fabric against her sensitive nipples made Val gasp with need.

“Goddammit!” she moaned as she writhed beneath him.

“I know, baby. I know,” he rasped as he lifted her up and in one swift motion tore her tank top up and over her head. Her hot skin felt the rush of cool air and she immediately pressed close to him, seeking his warmth. Quickly doffing his own shirt, he pressed against her again and continued his attentions to her swollen breasts.

Val thought her body was going to explode. Every single part of her hummed with excitement. He felt so good…thas eas exactly what she needed. Even a modern woman needs a good fuck every once in a while.

“Fuck,” she groaned and he laughed a little from deep inside his chest.

“Exactly,” he ground out as he pushed her pajama bottoms down her full hips toward the foot of the bed. Still using his tongue to alternate between nipples, he put one hand on the wet fabric of her panties and groaned at the hot flesh he felt beneath his fingers.

“God, you are so wet,” he growled. “I can’t wait to taste you.”

At the mental image his words conjured, Val instinctively thrust her hips up. “That’s right,” he gasped as she continued her thrusting against his fingers. “Jesus you feel good.”

Quickly pulling her panties down, Logan used his legs to push hers apart as he slid down to put his face near her wet body. Taking one long slow taste nearly made him climax and he fought for control. She tasted hot and tart, the way he’d often imagined Jean might taste.

Val was panting in earnest now, clawing at the mattress and moaning loudly. “Fuck!” she cried out. “Fuck me!”

Logan lifted his head and said in a tight, barely controlled voice, “You got it.”

Pushing his sweats down past his knees and ankles, he kicked them aside and pressed the tip of his hardness against her soft, wet opening. Still panting wildly, Val moaned, “Please.”

Logan fought for control. It was insane, really. He’d had goodks bks before, but this was incredible. He thought he might come just listening to her beg him to fuck her. Closing his eyes, he entered her in one swift motion. Val was so wet that he didn’t have to stop and allow for adjustments in her body. She just took him in, all the way, and he again had to fight to maintain his control over his body. It had been so long that she had her first orgasm as soon as he was completely sheathed in her. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her as her silky walls spasmed around him. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her nails scraped his shoulders.

Gasping for breath he waited a moment for her to finish before he began to thrust, slowly at first and then, at her insistence, more urgently. She wrapped her legs around his and rocked against him in time. Again and again he felt her climax until he knew he couldn’t hold off any longer.

As he felt himself explode within her, Logan’s last coherent thought was one of tremendous disappointment that they’d only have this one night.