Ranelle sighed, her head tipping back as the heat of his lips and breath caressed her skin. "Are you sure?" she breathed, her fingers moving to grip his shirt.

"I've never been more sure in my life," he answered. He kissed her on the mouth again as his hands left her hair and began to run down her body, pulling it tightly into his. He could feel her shiver, and he ran his hands up and down her back in slow strokes. Her soft skin felt almost foreign, and yet, it seemed it was the only thing his hands could ever remember touching. It had taken much too long to enjoy it again.

Ranelle returned his kiss, her mouth opening slightly when his tongue touched her bottom lip. When he reached for the hem of her camisole, she let go of his body to allow him to take it off. She raised her hands up slowly as it slipped up her torso and over her breasts before sliding free. She looked up at him to meet his green eyes.

Logan took his turn to sigh, looking at her. Unable to stop, he leaned forward to kiss her again. As it deepened, he let his hands wander, gripping her bottom for a moment as he pulled her into his torso.

She inhaled sharply again, feeling him beneath his sweatpants. Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly, one hand gripping the back of his head. She went up on tip-toe to reach his mouth better, her body pressing into him.

He held the back of her neck, the other hand wrapping around her bottom to hold her body to his. He turned them slowly so her thighs hit the mattress. Without breaking their kiss, he leaned his weight into her, feeling her fold beneath him as she drifted down onto the dark comforter. Once her body had settled with him hovering above her, he left her lips and began to trail his mouth down her cheek and chin to her neck, his tongue brushing over the scar from her Turning before finding her collarbone. He let his hands trail down her sides, dipping into the modest curves at her waist to her hips. When his fingers touched a spot on the flat of her lower stomach, he paused.

Logan lifted himself up some, his eyes opening as he took in her torso with its milky white skin. He frowned as he realized what his fingers had touched: a scar ran across her abdomen from the bottom of her rib to nearly her belly button. His hand traced the uneven skin slowly, his touch gentle. He lowered his gaze some to her thighs, noticing similar markings from wounds that hadn't healed properly despite her vampire abilities.

Ranelle's eyes opened when she realized what he was looking at. "It's nothing," she whispered, her voice weak. She gripped his wrist when he didn't look at her.

"He did this," he said slowly, meaning Hadrian.

"It was a long time ago," she said.

Logan shook his head, remembering the last time he had caught the grand elder abusing his fledgling. The image of Hadrian wiping blood from his mouth as she lay half-naked on the floor, covered in bruises with an open wound on her neck, was forever burned in his memory. He should have put an end to the Winslow elder then and there before more damage could be done to her body and soul.

"I'm sorry," he said at last.

Ranelle inhaled a deep breath, pulling on his arm. He complied with her strength and she pulled him back down atop her. She kissed him, her hands gripping the back of his shoulders. Her knees rested against his hips. When she arched her body up against his, she could feel him shudder. He needed this as much as she did. "You're here now," she said in between kisses as if knowing where his thoughts went, "and he's gone."

Logan nodded and began to kiss her neck again as his fingers played with the waistband of her underwear. He slipped them down over her hipbones and pelvis, past her scarred thighs to her knees. She moved her legs so he could slide them off the rest of the way, leaving her completely bare beneath him. He leaned down, kissing her thighs, his hands gripping her knees. When she whimpered, he sighed in relief. It had been so long since he'd seen her this way, heard her sounds of satisfaction.

She arched her lower body again, her hands gripping the material of his shirt. She pulled at it and he allowed her to strip it off. She pushed it to the side and immediately ran her hands down his well-muscled chest and biceps as he moved to kiss her stomach and the scar there. His mouth, his arms, his eyes, his voice, his soul were all still the same. And she found comfort in that as she gave in to him for the first time in over three hundred years.

Logan sat up more and he took her in again, remembering what she had looked like before and now as his memories stirred in him the same feelings he had never truly gotten over. He stared at her alabaster skin that was flushed pink with desire, her thin waist and perfect hips, her petite curves and graceful limbs.

It hadn't mattered how many years or decades that had ticked by; she was still the same temple he had worshipped then. And he wanted to be taken back to church again.

He dipped his head back down to continue kissing her stomach and then her hipbones before he kissed the insides of her thighs again. He heard her breath hitch in her throat before she was able to moan softly when his mouth kissed her there.

Ranelle whimpered, her head dropping back onto the plush comforter. It had been so long since she had felt such a delicate, sensitive touch and she had to bite down on her bottom lip. "Oh, god," she whispered when her breath came back to her lungs.

Logan smiled as he kissed his way up to her waiting mouth, locking his lips over hers in another deep kiss. He pressed his hips against hers, feeling her knees grip his thighs. He continued to kiss her for several minutes, her hands grabbing at the back of his neck as she fought to keep her body pushed against his. He used one hand to reach down between them and push his sweatpants and underwear down.

She reached down to help rid him of the last layers that kept them separated. Once she had them down over his thighs, Logan stood to slide out of them and leave them on the ground. She slid back further onto the bed, giving him plenty of room to join her. "Please," she whispered.

He crawled back across the mattress to her, balancing himself above her as he began to kiss her neck again. He rested his body atop hers, careful not to put too much weight on her smaller frame. He balanced on the flat of his forearm, the other hand gripping her neck as he lifted her face to his and kissed her again. He then reached down between them and placed himself against her. He pulled back from their kiss to watch her face, seeing the torrent of emotions that swept over her.

Ranelle let out a soft sound and her eyes opened to look up at him. A tear rolled free and trickled down the side of her face. When he moved again, another quiet gasp left her. Her body fought to adjust as her muscles tensed. She stared into his gaze as he repeated his movement, trying not to look away. A second tear followed the first and he reached forward with one hand to stroke his thumb over it.

Logan leaned down, kissing her again as he slowed his rhythm. He could feel her trembling beneath him and he sighed heavily, rubbing his nose against hers as he broke their kiss to catch his breath. His mouth found her neck and he kissed the tender skin. He could feel her heartbeat against his lips as her pulse raced. He inhaled a short breath as he took in her familiar scent and the feeling of her body touching his. Memories of the first time he'd heard her heart beating, of the first time she had been beneath him, flooded through his mind. He remembered watching her walk away from him the century before their current present, of watching her waiting for him in Paris only sixty years previous. And he remembered how much he had wanted her every single time, of how he wanted to tell her he loved her every time his eyes laid upon her.

Ranelle made a soft, strangled sound when her whole body tightened with tension as he applied pressure at the right angle. She gripped his back with her smaller hands, her torso arching into his.

Logan groaned quietly, pressing his face into her neck. "I still love you, Anna Faire," he breathed into her hair. "In a thousand lifetimes, I have always loved you," he added, kissing her neck before finding her lips with his again.

She whimpered again between their mouths, inhaling a jagged breath through her nose. "And I love you," she whispered.