by Kadie Scott
Carter hugged Brian back, then released him and stepped closer to Logan. He put a hand at her lower back, intending it as a show of support. The way Brian’s glance took in the gesture though, maybe a little bit staking a claim.
Shit. One he had no right to.
Carter cleared her throat and waved at him. “This is Logan Cartez from the—”
“The lawyer.” Brian nodded.
Logan wasn’t entirely sure he meant that in a good way but held out a hand to shake anyway. “The ex. Nice to put a face with a name finally.”
Get lost.
Brian gave him a firm shake and stepped back, gaze still bouncing between them.
“Well…” Brian glanced between them again. “If there’s anything we can do to help, just give us a call.”
“Thanks. Oh! Congrats on the engagement,” Carter said. “I hear only wonderful things about Maggie.”
Logan got neck strain keeping himself from whipping his head around to stare at her. Her expression appeared sincere and happy. But she’d been upset last night. No way would she have ended up in his bed, otherwise.
Brian offered a real smile in return. “Thank you.” He shifted on his boots. “I better get going.” He pointed at his cart full of already bagged groceries.
“Sure. See you later.” Carter did an odd little wave that wasn’t her at all.
As soon as Brian disappeared outside, she dropped her head into her hands and gave a groan. “I guess that just happened.”
Logan waited until Brian was out of earshot then pinned her with a questioning look. “So that was your ex?”
Carter lifted her head and turned a brittle smile on him. “Yup. I’d rather not talk about it.”
Then she grabbed a cart, which she had to shake several times to get it unhooked from the cart in front and started pushing it through the grocery story. Logan walked beside her in silent contemplation—none of what he was thinking all that good. And none of it was he going to ask her about in a damn grocery store.
Despite having to stop several times to talk to people Carter knew, they were quickly back to his car. As they loaded his trunk with bags of food, Logan flicked the silent women working beside him a searching glance, not liking the brooding version of her. Nothing ever bothered Carter.
“Was sleeping with me about Brian?”
Damn. He hadn’t meant to ask that.
She jerked her head around to stare at him, blinking her big blue eyes, then bit her lip. “I hope I wouldn’t be like that.”
Which was not an answer.
Chapter Five
Jeez, what a lame response. Carter hid a cringe.
The thing was, she’d just been thinking about that. Not only about that, but about how, coming face-to-face with the man she’d thought she’d marry, after just hearing about his engagement, that it had been a different man—the man with his hand at her back—who’d held her attention.
That man in question was now scowling at the groceries like he hated food. He clearly didn’t like her response.
He shut the trunk with an angry sounding thud. “What does that mean?”
Carter glanced around. Luckily, no one was in the parking lot with them. She let out a low breath. “It means, I’d just found out last night that he was engaged. I was feeling lonely, and…” She shrugged.
“And decided sleeping with that bartender was the way to fix it,” Logan said in a low, silky voice she didn’t quite trust.
“I doubt I would’ve gone through with it.”
His dark eyes narrowed, and Logan moved closer, not touching, but backing her up against his car just the same. “Then why go through with it with me?”
The question hit way too close to the one she’d been asking herself ever since. One she still didn’t have an answer for.
Carter tipped her chin up, staring him down. “Does it matter? It was just a one-off, like we agreed?”
Except now she knew what it felt like to kiss him, to press against him, to have him inside her.
“A one-off,” he murmured, gaze skating over her face, pausing at her lips, which she had to restrain herself from licking.
“Yes,” she managed to force out in a relatively normal voice. “We agreed. Back to business. Back to friends-only. No harm. No foul. That was the deal. Right?”
How was it possible for a gaze to feel like a touch? Like his skin against hers, his body against hers again.
“Just friends,” Logan said, his voice a low rasp.
Then dipped his head to capture her lips in a long, slow kiss that curled her toes in her boots. He didn’t touch any other part of her, but she felt it in every nerve just the same. Coming to pulsating life as he lazily explored her mouth, his tongue a sumptuous sweep of sensation against hers until she was trembling with the same need that had overwhelmed her last night.
He raised his head to stare at her with heat, and want, and something like male satisfaction in his eyes. “Does that feel like business to you?”
“Get a room!” a teenaged voice shouted from the main road, and reality crashed through the sensual haze she’d been floating in.
How could she forget they were standing in such a public place? In her hometown, where everyone knew everyone else.
Carter straightened with a gasp, bumping into Logan who stepped back with a low curse. “This is not the time or place,” he said.
Then, cooler than a Popsicle while she was still all hot and bothered, he moved to open the passenger door, holding it for her.
“How far to the ranch?” he asked as they passed the outskirts of town.
“A ways,” she answered. Then frowned at him. “Shouldn’t we talk about what just happened?”
No way would Autry and Beth not sense the tension between them.
Logan gripped the wheel tighter. “Sorry about that. It shouldn’t have happened.” He grimaced. “Again.”
While part of her agreed, Carter still had to tamp down the sudden disappointment that sprang up like a newly tapped oil well.
“I don’t know what it is about you lately.” He shook his head. “I can’t seem to keep my hands off.”
Lately? As in longer than just last night. “Yeah, well, you aren’t the only one,” she muttered.
He stiffened beside her, tension practically coming off him in heat waves. “Let’s just focus on your mom and this case and try to stay out of each other’s way otherwise. Okay?”
There went that disappointed zing again, but Carter ignored it and nodded. Maybe a little too eagerly. “This is just some sort of proximity thing. It’ll go away when things get back to normal.”
She pretended not to notice the searching glance he sent her way before he gave a grunt that she assumed was agreement.
“So… tell me more about this case.”
“It appears to be a case of over pumping by the larger property to the north of my client.”
Carter nodded. Not uncommon.
Texas had an antiquated water rights system that was in no way accounting for a combination of an exploding population and the impact of climate change on the severity of both droughts and floods. The laws concerning groundwater that most ranches pumped to the surface with wells was basically first come, first served. That water was governed by the rule of capture, which granted landowners the right to capture the water beneath their property, regardless of the effects of that pumping on neighboring properties.
“Are we talking malicious intent or negligence?”
“My client claims the neighboring ranch has been trying to buy him out for ten years and is using this method now to force him out.”
“Have fun proving that,” Carter said dryly. Was it just her, or had talking about a case visibly relaxed Logan?
“With your help I might.”
She crossed her arms. “My job is to assess both properties, the wells, and the water usage and provide you the data.”
Logan nodded. “True.”
“But?”
He shot her a sideways look. “How’d you know there was a but?”
“I heard it in your voice.”
“Hmmm… You’re not wrong, though I’m pretty sure my voice was neutral.”
“You tap your forefinger when you’re thinking of a rebuttal to any argument. I’ve seen you do it in court.” She grinned. “And when you don’t want to watch the movie I picked.”
Immediately, he stopped tapping his finger and she stuffed her grin back inside.
“But…” He paused and silently dared her to giggle. “I’ve talked to the owner of the ranch taking the water, and I believe my client. It’s a gut instinct for now. I intend to prove it with your help.”
If Carter had learned anything working with this man, it was that his instincts were spot-on. “I’ll do my best to find evidence of that in my analysis.”
The data would do what it was going to do. What made her a great witness in these cases wasn’t just her expertise, but the fact that she tried to analyze the data from both sides. Logan knew that.
“Mom won’t be home for another day or two,” she said. “Why don’t we take the opportunity to visit both ranches together while we have the time?”
“Sounds good.”
They drove in silence for several miles. Carter’s thoughts centered entirely on the man beside her, though she doubted he’d say the same. He was probably already planning his next steps for the case. She’d bet her bank account that the second they got in the house, he’d disappear to work.
Had he always been like this? Even as a little boy? She’d always admired his drive, but now he seemed almost… lonely.
“How old were you when your mother died?” she asked. Then winced. Way to ease into it.
Instead of stiffening up, like she expected, Logan raised a single eyebrow at her. “Subtle as always, Professor.”
Carter tried to ignore the little bolt of warmth at his use of the quasi-nickname. She was a PhD, after all. “I never found subtlety to be all that effective.”
He grunted. “Good thing you aren’t a lawyer.”
She snickered at his deadpan tone. “I’m too much of a softie to be a lawyer.”
He nodded his agreement. Then more silence. Not uncomfortable, just quiet. Assuming he wouldn’t answer her question, Carter turned to look out her window at the familiar land passing by in a blur of greens blanketed in yellows and reds. The bluebonnets had gone, replaced by Indian blankets and Mexican hats.
“I had just left for college.”
His deep voice brought her head back around. Based on his thoughtful expression, she guessed there was more. And he rewarded her patience.
“I didn’t want to go. We were in the middle of a horrible drought, and the ranch was on the verge of failing, but my parents insisted.”
“Hold the phone,” Carter burst in. “You grew up on a ranch?” The last word squeaked out. But no way could she imagine city boy Logan Cartez working a ranch.
He flashed her a genuinely amused grin, and suddenly she was gasping for a totally different reason. Holy cow, when used appropriately, that smile of his could be downright dangerous.
“Yes, a small one. We ran cattle mostly. I was the first in my family to attend college. Generations had worked that ranch.”
She was still trying to overcome her shock and shake off the effect of his smile. Generations? Like her.
“I know how that is,” Carter murmured. “The generations thing, I mean. My family is proud of our heritage and history.”
“Mine was, too.”
Was? “What happened?”
The fine lines at the edges of his eyes faded as his expression grew serious. “Car accident. My dad wrapped his truck around a tree. He was killed instantly. Mom took… longer.”
“Logan,” she whispered. And here she’d had him meet her at the hospital after her mother had essentially done the same thing. “I wish you’d said something.”
The mere thought of losing her own parents constricted her heart like a ten-ton bull sat on top of her. She couldn’t imagine. And he’d been young.
Eyes on the road, he just shrugged one shoulder. “I’m fine.” He paused, almost seemed to take a breath, except he didn’t move or give anything away with his expression. “Anyway, given the state of the ranch, I ended up selling to one of our neighbors.”
Something about the way he said that sat funnily with her. There’d been a tone to his voice, an odd sort of distance swirling through a deep anger, all of which he tried to disguise with an indifference she didn’t believe.
She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hug the boy he had been. Was that why the man he was now was so… closed off? “That had to be hard, losing your parents and your home. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Logan.”
He sent her a sideways glance, mouth tilting at one corner in a sarcastic smile. “You want to hug me right now, don’t you?”
Damn. He really could read her too easily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Logan snorted. “You can’t fool me. You’re a hugger.”
Carter sighed. “Everyone needs hugs.”
“I don’t.”
“Especially you. Maybe with enough hugs your heart will grow three sizes.” She grinned to soften the impact of the words.
“You calling me a grinch?”
“If the scowl fits.”
Before he could comment further, she pointed at a dirt road. “Turn there.”
*
So, Carter thought he was a stick in the mud grump, did she?
Rarely had a conversation about his parents gone the way that one just had. Sure, she’d gone the usual pity route, but then she’d redeemed herself by calling him a grinch to his face. He’d never figure the woman out. She tended to zig when he expected her to zag. Worse, he found himself liking that she wasn’t predictable.
With a shake of his head, Logan put away his luggage and pulled out his computer. He had every intention of settling in to get some work done. Except the second he turned it on, he could hear Carter’s voice in his head. His own personal ghost. Mental Carter kept singing, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.”
He tried to ignore it, only the voice was on repeat and wouldn’t leave him alone.
With a growl of irritation at himself, Logan closed the lid of his computer with a snap and took it with him into the hall. Then paused, cocking his head to listen.
Singing.
Not in his head this time. He was pretty sure. He made his way down two doors and paused. Then grinned. Sure enough, Carter was in what he had to assume was her bedroom, singing away. The exact song that had been in his head.
Not wanting to get caught loitering, Logan headed down the hall. The click of a door had him turning to find her exiting her room.
At the sight of him, her eyebrows flew up. “I expected you to be cracking the whip and getting work done.”
Hiding a smirk of triumph that he’d proven her wrong, sort of, he held up his computer. “I will but figured I could be sociable at the same time.”
“Will wonders never cease.”
He waited as she made her way down the long hall. Carter’s childhood home was set up as a long, single story, ranch-style house. From the outside, it appeared to be a sprawling structure. From the inside, while the transitions were seamless, the way it rambled told Logan that generations had added on to the original home. Probably as the family grew.
According to Carter, when they’d arrived, only Autry and Beth lived here now. Their parents had bought a house halfway between town and the ranch. Will and Rusty, stayed at the main house when they weren’t in Wyoming. Cash and Holly lived in town. Jennings had built a house on another part of the ranch where he and Ashley lived.
As an only child, Logan couldn’t quite picture growing up with so many siblings. And now their spouses and children. It sounded… loud. Given his brief encounter with her brothers, he’d also hazard a guess that it wasn’t exactly private either.
“Whoa. Carter—”
“Everybody needs hugs, Logan.” Her voice was muffled in his chest.
It became patently obvious that she intended to hold on until he accepted the hug.
So he lowered the arm he was holding awkwardly out and patted her back. Except she didn’t let go. With a sigh, he settled that same arm around her and gave himself up to the hug. After a moment, he relaxed into her, like his body knew when to give even if his mind still insisted he didn’t need this.
She smiled against him. “See.”
He didn’t want to admit to anything. Only, behind the give came a whole host of other emotions. Like giving in just that little bit opened a door inside him. His heart ached, because she was giving him the comfort that no one had been around to give when his parents had died. Fifteen years ago and he suddenly felt it like they’d hit that tree yesterday.
Slowly, he moved his hand up to tangle it in her hair, cupping the back of her head to hold her to him. Then lowered his chin to the top of her head and just breathed.
He had no idea how long they stood like that, in the quiet hallway in her childhood home, surrounded by pictures of her and her brothers growing up and the scents of lemon and bleach and flowers.
He did know the instant it turned from comfort to… something else. For both of them.
The floral scent of her wrapped around his senses, the warm softness of her against him making him think of how her body had felt under his last night and against him in the grocery store parking lot. In his arms, Carter stiffened. But she didn’t back away. Instead she lifted her head, her blue eyes a swirling vortex of confusion and need. The color darkened as she took in his own strained expression.
“We shouldn’t,” she whispered.
“I know,” he mumbled.
“I don’t think you can handle it,” she said next. Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
And, God above, he wanted to let go of the tight control he used to hold his life in check and just relax into her. Take her up on the silent challenge she was issuing.
