spring in his step. A family. He'd had a vasectomy years before. In truth, he had no interest in raising kids, but the way Chance had said that hit home and hard. This was his family. Riley and her dysfunctional chaos had become Logan's idea of perfection. The house was small, the place was cramped, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
They could've built on, adding more and more rooms. Hell, the two of them made enough now that they could've torn the place down and built something large and fancy, but neither of them wanted to. That home was filled with memories. From the bullet hole in the siding to the pictures of her parents that still hung beside the bathroom on the first floor, it was home. Her home, and now his.
And to think, it had all started with a little horse named after him. Those were their children. The foals that Riley raised, trained, and sold. The draft horses that she handled like they were nothing more than an extension of her. The puppy she'd found on her porch and had saved. Riley picked up the strays and turned them into something.
He stepped into their room, heard the shower running, and paused. He was one of those strays, and she didn't even realize it. The first time they'd fought in Eternal Combat, she'd pushed him hard. Back then, he hadn't had a match that made him work for it in far too long. That fight had gotten him excited for a tournament for the first time in years - and then she'd shown up, a challenge he couldn't resist.
Her wild hair, the dare in her gaze, and that pissed-off attitude had sucked him in like a moth to a flame. He'd intended to seduce her, put a notch in his headboard, and then forget all about her like he had with all the other women who'd walked through his life. A sexy gamer groupie who'd be thrilled to get a little attention from the famous Void, but that wasn't how Riley played. No, she'd blindsided him.
He could still remember watching the sexy little gamer girl while tearing down that base in Eternal Combat. Paradox had been there, and he'd intended to show them up and then burn out the adrenaline high from his win on the girl sitting across from him. Then she'd asked for ammo, and he'd watched someone drop it at the mech's feet in game. His heart had stopped.
The same player was destroying his entire outfit, which meant she wasn't just a groupie. No, this chick was good. And when the mech made a kill on him, the girl across the table had smiled, the timing just too coincidental. Then she'd used that damned melee hit, and all the pieces had fallen into place. The beautiful woman he couldn't keep his eyes off of was none other than QQ, and she was kicking his ass again.
When she'd left the gaming hall, he couldn't help but follow. He'd logged out without warning and chased after her. In the stairwell, she'd faced him down, proving that his celebrity status meant absolutely nothing to her. He'd intended to fuck her and forget her. Then he'd thought about recruiting her. But in that moment, Logan had realized that he had it all backwards.
Riley had the one thing he'd been searching for his entire life. She didn't care if anyone liked her. She wasn't asking for their approval. The woman staring him down defiantly had her own goals, and she was willing to fight for them. She had a purpose, and Logan longed to know what that felt like. He'd told her his real name before he'd even thought of the implications - and she'd said absolutely nothing to anyone else.
Such a stupid chain of events, but it had upended his entire view of the world. He'd gone from letting days pass him by to chasing down a future he could be proud of. Not his father, not his rich clients, but himself. She'd taught him that the only things that mattered in life were what he cared about, not some false list of milestones he was supposed to check off.
Before Riley, he'd been successful, but still so very lost. Now, his compass always pointed him toward her. That was why he wanted to marry her. Because he couldn't imagine life without her anymore. He didn't ever want to.
Chapter 43
Riley put on the body-hugging purple and black dress