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The heat of summer comes to the valley and brings its usual joys. Caroline’s always wished her birthday was in the summer, instead of the fringes of winter. Her favorite foods grow in the summer, and her favorite flower, too. Pierre is always busier than he needs to be in the summer, getting things ready for the fall. Even in the first days, he’s thinking about his grange display, or new seeds he’ll be adding to the library. Fall is Pierre’s favorite season, the time of year when he seems to be truly at his best. In the fall he’s more romantic, more attentive.
In the summer, Caroline may as well be invisible.
Logan had moved into that abandoned land north of Marnie’s the year before, and while he’d been rather secluded those first few weeks, he’d really come out of his shell that summer, joining everyone in the saloon on Friday and Saturday nights, coming by the shop to buy things for his new kitchen. Pierre says casually one afternoon that Caroline bakes, and Logan begins dropping by for recipes and tips a bit more often. He brings his first loaf of bread to her and the bottom is black and the center is doughy, but he tried, is the point.
He tries all the time.
So in the middle of summer, during Logan’s second year in the valley, while Pierre is in the city, and Abigail is at the beach and Jodi is enjoying Kent’s first summer home in a while -- Caroline spots Logan in the square and inquires about his baking adventures.
“Ah.” He rubs the back of his neck. The third button on his shirt’s come undone, revealing dark hair over brown skin that Caroline pointedly does not look at. For longer than a few seconds. “It’s not really an adventure anymore. I had the kitchen built and now I don’t do much. I try to watch those cooking shows, you know? The queen of sauce, or whatever it is?”
Caroline nods. She’d watched those as a young girl. “It’s hard to get a lot from those on the fly.”
“Exactly!” Logan gestures wildly with one hand, nearly tossing the sack of spice berries he’s collected, dropping a few on the cobblestones. He picks them up quickly. “Anyway. A few hands-on lessons would probably do me a world of good, but Yoba knows no one in town’s got the time to teach me.”
“I could,” Caroline says, without thinking.
Logan raises a brow. “Really? I know it’s a lot--”
“It’s not a lot. I think it’s important.” God, what is she getting herself into? “Are you free this afternoon?”
Logan grins. “Yeah! Yeah, absolutely. Caroline, thank you. Um, you like fish tacos, right? I’ve got cabbage and I just went fishing this morning. I’ve been trying to master them for a while, to give to you, but I just can’t get it right.”
She doesn’t mean to blush, but a quick heat crawls up her neck and she nods. “I do love them. Very much.”
“Does two work?” Caroline nods. “Great. We’ll work on getting that down.” He hauls the sack of spice berries over his shoulder. “You’re okay if we cook at my place, right?”
“Of course, Logan. I’m eager to see the work you’ve had done.”
He nods and gives her a wave, heading up the path to his farm.
Caroline really wishes Jodi wasn’t busy. She has no idea how to contain the crush she’s developed on this farmer, who isn’t much older than Penny, she’s fairly sure. She spends the next hour dressing and undressing, trying not to give herself away, trying to keep her composure in check. At one point she hears Abigail come in, get something from the fridge, and then go to her room. That’s good. She’ll be there for a while. At least until dinner. Caroline can’t let this venture take up her day.
She cannot let this get away from her.
Logan is sitting on the steps leading to his renovated cabin when she finally arrives, a tote with a handful of ingredients slung over her shoulder.
“Tah-dah!” He gestures toward the house and Caroline smiles.
“It looks wonderful.”
“Thank you. Well, thank Robin, I suppose. She does amazing work.”
Caroline nods, looking at the finishes and the new door. “She really does.”
Logan leads her inside. He has a little record player going in the corner and starts the album up from the beginning as Caroline sets her bag on the kitchen table.
“So.” Logan gets out a few things, with less confidence than before. “I, uh. Get food from Gus a lot.”
“That’s alright. We’ll debone the fish, first.”
“Okay.”
And after that, the afternoon goes much easier. Caroline had thought she’d struggle with her feelings, but Logan is very easy to be around. He’s...like a friend, really. And she’d never thought of him that way, if she’s honest with herself. But the daisies he’d given her last spring had sort of collected over the days in a jar on the kitchen counter, and she knows he’s growing summer spangle in the garden for some reason, so maybe it’s for her, maybe it’s for the same reason he bakes Abigail a cobbler on her birthday, or buys Demetrius an ice cream cone as summer is waning fast.
Logan is kind. Of course Caroline likes being around him. She feels ashamed, now, for her desire. Embarrassed of the way she’d looked at him earlier today. But if she’s telegraphing any of those emotions, Logan doesn’t pick up on them. He happily chops fresh cabbage and shows her the tortillas he made, with their messy edges, but baked well throughout.
After, she leaves feeling invigorated, refreshed. She feels like she’s...added something to her life. The desire isn’t so great. The attraction isn’t so strange.
It isn’t gone.
But the guilt certainly is.
“Logan, I don’t see how you can’t understand this, we’ve gone over it three times.”
“Maybe I’m just a slow learner today,” he says, grinning. They’re working on rolling out pie dough, but the heat is melting the butter faster than they can keep it from tearing.
Caroline sighs. “Let’s chill it one last time,” she suggests, and Logan nods, wrapping it up and putting it in the freezer. “I think it just might be too hot for pie.”
“Fall dish?”
“Maybe…” Caroline realizes fall is coming quicker than usual. Pierre is mad with it, rushing from place to place, buying seeds, going to talks and meetings. She hasn’t seen him in a few days, and she and Abigail have more than once just gone to the saloon for dinner. It’s been a bit of a treat, really. They both love Pierre, of course, but his view on the world can get...oppressive, in their home sometimes. Caroline’s enjoyed the private moments with her daughter.
“--okay?” Logan’s voice cuts through the fog. Caroline starts.
“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about how much work there’ll be around the shop next seasons.”
“Ah.” Logan sits down next to her. “I guess we’ll have to save our cooking lessons for winter.”
“Maybe so.”
He nods. “That’s a shame. It’s been the best parts of my weeks, really.”
Caroline smiles. “Mine, too.”
It’s true they’ve been spending time together. Jodi had asked what she did at Logan’s farm earlier in the season, and Caroline had told her the truth.
“Is that all?”
“Of course that’s all. He’s really come into his own with his cooking. Come fall, he’ll be able to tangle with the likes of you.”
That had been enough for Jodi. And Caroline had, in fact, not really lied to her friend.
But things were...changing. Logan would sometimes linger close, and Caroline would sometimes mess something up on purpose so she could spend just a bit longer. Last week she’d left with an armful of spangles.
They’re still in her kitchen. Pierre still hasn’t noticed them.
Caroline moves closer. “Maybe we’ll just...have to find the time, this fall.”
Logan nods. “I’m sure a few hours of the week could be spared.”
She laughs. “You’d do that for me?”
Logan’s expression shifts. Not to anything bad, per se, but one of...surprise. Like he doesn’t know how she hasn’t figured it all out yet. “Caroline--” He takes her hand. “I...I’d do anything for you.”
And with those words, the energy of the room shifts. Caroline surges forward, capturing his lips with her own as his broad hands press to the small of her back, clutching her close. It is easy to climb into his lap -- she is slight and he is big, his legs built and strong from his months on the farm. One hand slides up and his fingers thread through her hair, gripping it tight and holding her to him.
For a moment, he pulls back. “I’m sorry, I don’t--”
“Shut up.”
“But Pierre--”
“Just...just don’t mention. That. Him.” Caroline closes her eyes, grounds herself. God, she needs. It’s all she can think about, all she can fathom.
Logan’s hand comes up and cups her cheek. “...Alright,” he says. “It’s just you and me, then.”
Caroline opens her eyes, and he’s smiling. She kisses him, softer now. “Yes,” she murmurs against his mouth. “Just us.”
His hands press her hips in the mattress as his tongue presses against her cunt. Caroline bucks up into his mouth, tries to get more friction, more force on herself. She pants in the heady summer air of the cabin, sweat dripping down her temple already. “Yes, yes--” One of Logan’s hands moves from her hip and he slides two fingers inside her, fucking her open.
He kisses her thigh, smearing wet lips against her skin as his eyes flick up to her and he holds her gaze while he slides a third finger into her cunt. “More?” he asks.
“God, yes.”
Logan laughs. “So needy.” He kisses her thigh. “I like it.”
“Please--”
“I’ll give you whatever you want,” he says, earnestly, and now he really fucks her. One thumb brushes against her clit, but not really at the right angle. Caroline brings to fingers down to show him how she likes it, and he mimics her, sending her reeling.
“Fuck, yes, yes, yes--”
“That’s right,” he murmurs. “That’s my girl.”
Caroline grinds against him. “Oh god, I’m--”
“You can come,” he says. “And I’m gonna feel it. Come on fingers, it’s okay. It’s good, I want you to.”
“Yeah, yeah--” Caroline throws one arm over her head and keens against him, crying out as she comes, feeling herself clench around his fingers that still move with her climax. He touches her clit, swollen and sensitive, and she gasps, ears ringing in the aftermath.
Logan finally pulls out his fingers, licking them clean before he moves up her body, kissing her stomach and breasts, before he licks his way into her mouth and lets Caroline taste herself.
“Good?” he asks. She swats him in response and he laughs. “Yeah, I thought so.”
“Show off,” she murmurs.
He hums and dips his head to kiss her neck and shoulders. She can feel his stiff cock flagging against her, and she reaches down to wrap her hand around him, to give him a taste. Logan groans, bucking into her touch, eyes fluttering closed. Caroline knows how to handle him. Pierre had been a virgin when she met him, but Caroline certainly wasn’t. She enjoyed sex in her younger years. To her, it was a skill. Something she could practice at and improve her technique.
Pierre had been blown away the first time they’d fucked. She knows Logan’s slept around. She knows he’s been with Leah, and maybe Alex. She knows because he’d just made her come harder than she has in years.
But he’s never been with anyone like her before.
She self-conscious of her body, of course, but she knows he’s been admiring her. With a quick push, she rolls him onto his back and straddles his waist, teasing the head of his cock with her wet cunt.
“Are you ready?” she asks, and he laughs.
“Will I ever be?”
“No,” she says cooly, and takes all of him.
He’s a good size, stretching her better than his fingers did. Caroline loves the feeling of fullness, of having this weight and heat inside her. She relishes in it for a moment, clenching around him as Logan pitches up, groaning from the feel of her.
“Fuck--”
Caroline laughs. “Good?”
“Shit, shit, shit--”
“Easy, boy.”
Logan manages a huff and a weak smile. “Boy, huh? I’m older than your daughter.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” she says, before lifting up and taking him again.
For a few thrusts, he just lays there, letting her fuck herself on his cock, watching her. Caroline lets her head fall back as she just...enjoys this. Fucking someone. Getting fucked. It’s carnal and necessary. For her. Her desire for Logan has been a fuse all summer, and now the match has just been struck. She has no idea when it will run out -- this isn’t sustainable, after all. This isn’t something they can do forever.
But she can do it right now. She can do it just for a bit. One afternoon, maybe another, before she needs to go back to reality.
And in the middle of that thought, he starts moving, fucking up into her gently, at first, before she drops down hard to let him know exactly how he can treat her.
“Like that, huh?”
“Like you mean it,” she says.
Logan laughs and pulls her close to him. She moves her hips and he moves his. Skin smacks against skin and she tries to kill him, but only manages to make desperate, pathetic noises against his mouth while he groans louder and louder.
“Fuck yeah, fuck yeah--”
“You like it?” she asks.
“So fucking good.” He thrusts hard and Caroline cries out. He puts a hand in her hair and pulls, which forces a wild noise from her throat. “You want it like that, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“On your knees.”
She nods, manages to get his cock out of her -- empty she doesn’t like it -- and gets on her hands and knees while he gets behind her, shoves her into the bed, and gets a hand firmly in her hair. He thrusts his cock back into her and pounds her from behind, one hand pulling her hair and head back, the other keeping her pressed into the bed, completely at his mercy.
“Fuck yes,” he mutters. “Take it. Come on, take it--”
“Yes, yes--”
“He doesn’t fuck you like this, does he?”
“No--”
“He never gives you his cock like this. Fucking expects you to just lay there until he gets tired. Never asks if you want a little bit of pain, or if you want your fucking cunt eaten out.”
“Never, he never--”
Logan leans down, his cock buried deep inside her, his hand on her neck now, not choking, but god is it close. “Will he ever? Is it him, Caroline? Or are you just afraid to ask?”
“I don’t know.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he says, and pulls back, resuming his brutal pace. His hand comes off her, but the other stays in her hair. Caroline rises, grips the headboard, and relishes in this new angle that strikes her deep.
“God you feel good,” he mutters. “I’m gonna come on you. Are you gonna come on my cock or what?”
Caroline nods, reaching down and frantically circling her clit. She’s almost too sensitive, and she can reach down and feel the steady thrust of him in and out of her. God she belongs to him, right now. And he belongs to her. She knows she could drive him crazy. She knows she could make him beg. And maybe some afternoon, before the fuse runs out -- she will. Maybe even later today.
But right now, she just wants to come. She just wants to scream and feel because she deserves to get fucked senseless, like she’s been wanting for so long.
She deserves this feeling, she thinks, as she comes and clenches around his cock.
Logan pulls out and she drops down onto her chest again, closing her eyes as he comes with a shout onto her back, panting and gasping over her.
“Fuck,” he says, and collapses beside her. Caroline doesn’t move, and after a minute he gets out of bed and comes back with something to clean her, kissing down her spine before he reaches the swell of her ass and kisses her there, too.
“Beautiful.”
Caroline groans and rolls onto her back, admiring him as he stands in the middle of the room, light streaming in and casting flattering shadows over his form.
“Back at ya.”
Logan laughs and tosses the towel away before crawling into bed with her.
“That was good,” he says.
“It was.” She cups his cheek and kisses his nose. “Next time, I make you scream.”
“Oh, I believe you could.” Then: “Next time?”
“Sure. We could manage a few more times before summer ends.”
Logan grins. “I’d really like that.”
“But I can’t...do this forever.”
He nods. “I know.”
“I mean, I’ll feel guilty about it later, I’m sure, I just…”
I’ve done this before.
“It’s fine.” He stretches and puts his hands behind his head. “I’m a big boy, my feelings won’t get hurt. I mean, we don’t even have to do it ever again--”
Caroline cuts him off with a kiss. “That’s enough of that quitter talk,” she says, before getting up to get her clothes. “I’ll trust you to finish that pie.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good.” She puts on her bra and underwear before pulling her sundress over her head. Logan hasn’t moved. He looks tired, though she can see he’s getting hard again. She goes over to him and taps his leg. “Someone’s ready for round two?”
“I can take care of that on my own.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” He sits up and pulls her in for a kiss.
Which is mistake because it’s how she winds up with her underwear shoved to the side and her dress hiked up as she rides him for the second time, watching him pitch and moan underneath her as she pulls off and makes him beg for her to let him come.
“So,” Jodi says that Tuesday, after their workout. “Another cooking lesson?”
Caroline nods. “We made a pie.”
“Ugh, in this heat?”
Caroline shrugs. “Well, it took a bit of doing, but eventually we worked it out.”
Jodi doesn’t pick up on her tone. It’ll be the first secret she’s ever kept from Jodi. She’d even told her about the wizard, of all things.
But this -- her summer afternoons with a young farmer -- it belongs to her.
Come winter, she will remember the way he cried out, the way he pleaded with her for more in those final trysts. The way he held her close and called her beautiful and told her he adored her.
She’ll stand under the warmth of the shower and come with hand bracing herself against the cool tiles of the shower, and she’ll know that it’s just their secret. It’s just their season.
It’s just their summer.