by Kadie Scott
When had he snuck up?
Logan just shook his head more. “I’m just trying to keep up at this point.”
That earned him a clap on the shoulder. “I married one like her, and I’ve been happier than a dead pig in sunshine ever since. Take the advice of this old fool, don’t be a young fool and mess it up. She’s a keeper.”
Chapter Fourteen
Carter flopped back against the pillows, spent and blissfully lethargic, and stared at her childhood bedroom ceiling as she tried to catch her breath. She never would’ve guessed phone sex would be her thing. Course, she’d rather have Logan here doing all the things he described, but once she’d got over the initial awkwardness…
Um, wow!
With an arm that felt like a wet noodle, she lifted the phone back to her ear. “My, my, my. Who knew Logan Cartez could have such a dirty way with words?”
A low chuckle floated over the line and skated over already sensitized nerves. “Me? How about you? What would your mother say?” The last question carried another chuckle along with it.
Carter grinned. It had only been words. A little strange putting voice to fantasies that had only played out in her head, but she warmed up to it quickly. No pictures. Her serious lawyer had insisted on that.
“I hope she didn’t hear,” she teased now.
“Oh, hell—”
Her snicker cut him off. “Mom would pretend to be scandalized,” Carter said breezily. “Secretly she’d be proud that I’m an independent woman who owns her own sexuality.”
“Yeah, well. As much as this did it for me, I’m looking forward to the real thing.”
Carter gave a luxurious stretch. “Mmmmm… Me too. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Her mother was well on the mend and with Will and Rusty in town, she had plenty of help. Although, her mother, who never quit moving around and doing things, might push it too hard in her frustration to get back to her normal activities. Carter planned to still come down on weekends to give her brothers and sisters-in-law breaks in the helping.
“So what have you been doing without me there?” she asked.
She tried her best not to picture Angela, wanting to believe that there was nothing there on his side, but a green-eyed monster wormed its way through her heart.
She mentally stomped on it. “Oh wait. Let me guess. Working?”
The man might have loosened up when it came to their activities on the phone, and his rules, which he still couldn’t quite believe, but he hadn’t changed who he was at his core.
“I did take on another case,” he said.
“You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.” Only she meant it.
His passion for his work, and helping others, and guarding a resource that was becoming more and more precious only aligned with her passions. Plus, she respected who he was.
“Are you calling me boring, Professor?” he drawled.
“Nope. In fact, I love your focus, Counselor.” She gave a little happy wiggle, even though he couldn’t see her. “Especially when it’s turned on me.”
His full-bodied laugh had her smiling bigger than the Texas sky. That laugh was a rare and precious thing.
“I watched some of that show you’ve been pestering me about.” He said this as though it were proof he had a life outside of work.
“I tell you about a lot of shows.”
“This is that LA detective one. You were right. It’s good.”
“I knew you’d like that one. You like solving mysteries. Like when we dig into the data and the analysis for our case. You light up like a boy at Christmas. You should read the books.”
“I do enough reading,” came his dry response.
She’d seen the boxes full of files. He wasn’t joking. “Okay. We’ll stick to TV shows. After you’re done with that, maybe we can watch that new special miniseries together.”
“The one about the nuclear meltdown?”
“I’m surprised its existence is even on your radar.”
“I’m not a total hermit. I’ve heard good things about that one. I’ll wait for you to watch it.”
Carter blinked at the words, the normality of them, like they’d been together for ages. But the thing was, they had. As friends. Their new dynamic didn’t change the solid base they’d already built. Might have shaken it a bit, put a few cracks in it trying to get here, but they were good.
Though she didn’t even know what to call him. Was he her boyfriend? He’d made it clear this was no longer just a friends-with-benefits situation. He’d been the one to say relationship. But then they’d gone their separate ways and messaging during the day, phone calls at night, but that was all.
Was it horrible that a small part of her was just waiting for the ax to drop? The anxiety fairy playing around inside her gut was sprinkling her poison all over the place, and that feeling wouldn’t ease up. Not that it had been that long.
She did her best to shake off the uneasiness and just be in the moment. Because she had to admit she could become addicted to having him in her life like this every day. Even from afar.
“I can hear you thinking Carter.”
She jumped a little at his words then bit her lip. Should she tell him what she was thinking?
“This doesn’t quite feel… Real. You know?” She held her breath and waited for his answer.
“I know.”
That was it? She couldn’t get anything from his tone. What did he actually think about that than acknowledging it existed?
She opened her mouth to prod him, but he beat her to it. “Neither of us really know what to expect here. I just know I want you in my life. Is that enough?”
Enough? If someone had asked her the morning she woke up in his bed after that first time, she would never have guessed this was where they’d be. That he’d even want to give this a chance. “It’s enough,” she said.
And hoped like hell her heart didn’t get stampeded all over if it ended.
*
The knock at his door came later than expected. Maybe that was why Logan was on edge. He’d read the same page three times in an hour of sitting in his home office after a long day at work. No question what was causing the distraction. Carter was on her way back, and he had no idea what that would look like. Thank God it was Friday, at least.
They hadn’t talked about tonight. He wasn’t even sure if she planned to go home. Except they’d both referenced seeing each other today. If she hadn’t come, he would have called.
Swinging the door open, he paused at the sight of her. He’d never considered himself a sentimental man, but he had to stop and take stock because she blew him out of the water. Also, he had no clue how to approach this. Things really were easier with women who didn’t expect anything.
“Hi, there,” Carter said, almost shy. Not his girl at all.
“Hi.”
Logan had to keep himself from smacking his forehead with his palm. Hi was the best he could do? What happened to the invincible lawyer who could talk his way in or out of any situation?
They stared at each other for a long moment, almost as though neither wanted to make the first move. Suddenly, Carter dropped the bags she was holding in either hand to the floor with a thump. A serious twinkle in her blue eyes, she launched herself into his arms.
Logan grunted, then hefted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
“About damn time,” he playfully growled.
Carter giggled. The woman actually giggled, and the sound went straight through him. He wasn’t sure which was more affected, his heart or his dick.
“Miss me?” she asked, using the lilt to her voice as she’d done so often in fun.
“Maybe.” A little tougher to shrug while holding her against him but he managed it.
Carter’s eyebrows shot up. “Maybe? Want to try again?”
“Kiss me and find out.” The words came out roughly, because Carter’s playful side had always called to the serious book nerd in him.
&
nbsp; “Challenge accepted, Counselor.”
And finally… Finally he had her exactly where he wanted her, and his arms, lips hot and pliant against his.
Somehow, not relinquishing his grip on her or the touch of her lips against his, Logan managed to kick her cases inside the door, and shut it, locking it behind them before walking them through to his bedroom.
Carter raised her head and looked around in a seeming daze, blinking like a little lost owl, her lips swollen from his kisses. “Well done, Counselor.”
She squealed as he tumbled her to the bed. But he swiftly followed, stealing the protest from her lips with yet another long, intense kiss. Apparently neither of them needed to breathe, the function taking a secondary role to touch.
It wasn’t until much, much later that they lay in bed together on their sides facing each other, their legs still a tangle. Logan propped his head upon one hand and enjoyed the novelty of being able to allow his gaze to wander wherever he wished. Her blue eyes might be his downfall, even now full of a challenging happiness that dared him to join her. Her lush mouth, pink and swollen from their lovemaking. Her stubborn little chin that he knew from experience would jut out anytime she thought he was being an ass. The dark fall of her hair, one tendril curling over a pert, pink-tipped breast.
Carter gave a contented stretch that he was more than happy to witness. “Are you hungry at all?” she asked.
The last thing he was expecting, given what they just finished doing, several times. Only now he remembered he hadn’t had dinner yet. “I could eat.”
She twisted her mouth in a moue of indecision. Then she reached out and trailed a single finger down his chest. “The problem is, I don’t want to get out of bed. But I’m starving.”
“I can take care of that.” Logan rolled over and snagged his pants off the ground where he’d dropped them during a hasty strip earlier and fished his phone out of his pocket. He pulled up his list of contacts, then rolled over to face Carter. “Thai or Italian?”
“Mmmmm… Thai. Prad Ram sounds great.”
No surprise there. Logan dialed and ordered, then hung up and dropped his phone on his bedside table. “It’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
With a happy sigh she scooted over in bed, her body up against his while she leaned on her elbows to regard him with a very un-Carter-like seriousness. “So… I’ll be in your office Monday.”
“I’m aware,” he said.
Something about her tone told him he should know where she was going with this, but he didn’t.
“How do you want to deal with this”—she waved between them—“in the office?”
He shrugged. “I don’t see it as any different from when we would spend time together as friends outside the office, do you?”
Thick eyelashes masked her expression from him, as she doodled a random pattern with a finger across his chest. “I think the professional part will be easy. Were both grown-ups.”
“But…”
“But I don’t want to be some dirty little secret.” Her lashes lifted, and he could see she was serious.
“I’m not one to talk about my personal life in the office, regardless. It has nothing to do with keeping you secret. Dirty or otherwise.”
That seemed to do it, because the shadow in her eyes disappeared. “Good, then. Although… It is going to be much harder not jumping your bones in the middle of the day. Especially when you get all lawyerly on me.” Her eyes lit up. “I’ve had this little fantasy about those windows in your office…” She waggled her eyebrows.
Logan laughed even as his body responded to the mental image. “Was this a problem before we got together?”
“That’s for me to know.” But the smile she gave him held a world of secrets. Maybe secret fantasies?
“And how would the jumping of bones go exactly?” Because now he was thinking about it, dammit.
She gave him a wide-eyed innocent look and shook her head, the tips of her hair tickling his chest. “We’re gonna be all professional and stuff. So I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Logan narrowed his eyes in mock threat. “I have ways of dealing with hostile witnesses, Ms. Hill.”
She couldn’t contain her eager grin. “Do tell, Mr. Cartez.”
In a swift move, he rolled her underneath him, settling between her legs. He had both of her hands up by her head holding her firmly, but lightly at the wrists. “So tell me, Ms. Hill, what exactly did you picture when thinking of jumping my bones?”
She wiggled provocatively underneath him and he had to hold back a groan. “You’re a smart man. I think you can guess.”
“Uh-uh.” He shook his head. “In order for the judge and jury to get a full picture, I’m afraid we need details. Graphic details.”
“Well—”
The delivery guy chose that moment to ring his doorbell and Carter burst out laughing.
He reluctantly dragged himself off her and pulled his pants on. “We’ll take a short recess. But this isn’t over, Ms. Hill. I want those details.”
As quickly as he could, he paid the delivery guy and carried the bags to the kitchen. Carter had apparently gotten dressed, because she joined him wearing nothing but his shirt, the sleeves rolled up, and a little cleavage showing. “I’m hungrier than I thought.”
“Now I see what the appeal of that look is.” If any other woman had had the temerity to pick up his clothing and try to wear it, he would’ve had her out of there in an instant. Not Carter though.
She rolled her eyes, though he didn’t miss the secret smile lingering about her lips, and dug into the food, piling her plate high.
“Didn’t Angela ever wear one of your shirts around the house?”
Carter’s question caught him unawares enough that Logan paused with his fork halfway to his mouth and stared at his noodles.
“You don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want to,” Carter said. “She just seems to have made a big imprint on your life. I was curious, that’s all.”
She went back to eating as though she hadn’t just dropped a conversation bomb right in the middle of dinner. He didn’t talk about Angela ever. When the breakup had happened, he really didn’t have anybody to talk to about her but talking wasn’t his thing when it came to his personal life anyway. Now she wanted back into his life, ignoring him when he told her no.
Something he should probably make sure Carter believed.
“I don’t know that it would’ve crossed her mind to put on one of my shirts. But we were together mostly in law school, when we were broke, and I only had one dress shirt, and it wasn’t exactly on the floor for convenience most days or nights.” He managed to take another bite of his noodles and not choke on them. So that was something.
Carter had paused to listen, now she cocked her head to the side. “So you met in law school?”
“We were in the same cohort. In our first class we were paired together for our project. I fell hard. I thought she did too.” This wasn’t so hard.
“How long were you together?”
“About five years. Law school. I proposed the day we graduated. And we were engaged for about two years before it ended.”
Part of him didn’t want her to keep digging, but as much as he hadn’t wanted to take this part of his life out and examine it in the years that it followed, maybe he had enough distance now that he could do so without pain or resentment.
“You know she wants to be friends…”
Carter stilled, then nodded.
“I’m not interested. I need you to believe me.”
She frowned. “Because she cheated?”
Logan thought about that. “I stopped being in love with her a long time ago, but yes, the cheating stole any trust I might ever have given her.”
The woman across from him, who he needed in his life more and more, considered that for a long moment. Did she believe him? “How did it end? If you don’t mind my asking.”
He shook his head. “Strangely, I don’t mind.
I found her in bed with one of the lawyers from the firm she joined.”
Carter winced. “Ouch.”
“What made it worse, is it was a friend of ours who had graduated in the same cohort. A guy I had thought I could trust.” He heard the harshness of his own voice. Okay maybe a little resentment still lingered. But not the pain, at least.
“What an idiot.” Carter gave a jerking nod as if to punctuate that statement.
“How was I to know?” he asked.
“Not you. Her. Walking away from you was a pretty stupid move in my opinion.” She shoveled a bite into her mouth, chewing as though she was a piston taking it out on the food, an adorable little frown between her eyebrows.
He’d never wanted to kiss a woman with a mouthful of noodles so much in all his life. “Like I’ve told you, I was never around. We fought about it often enough for me to know that was her driving reason. I put everything I had into my job. It wasn’t a problem in law school, because we were taking the same classes and could study for courses together, often work on projects together. But once we went to different law firms, my dedication to my career far outweighed what she was willing to put into hers. Staying together wasn’t fair to either of us.”
Carter regarded him with a searching look. “That doesn’t give her any excuse for cheating. If things were that bad, she should’ve cut things off with you and then moved on. She was a coward.”
Something in the way she said that, a ring of truth in the words, along with maybe a little bit of pain, told him she was speaking from a place of experience. “If you could have kept your career, would you have married Brian?”
She considered the question, toying with new noodles on her plate. “I don’t know. He’s a good man, a solid man, and he treated me well. I enjoyed spending time with him. But maybe the career was an excuse. Maybe I’m looking for more than that.”
More? Did she see that more than him at all? “Obviously leaving him was difficult. I don’t think I saw you smile for months.”
“You have to remember that I didn’t just lose Brian, and all the normal things that go along with that. Not having to date anymore. Not having to deal with dipshits. Knowing that my future was pretty well mapped out. But I also was walking away from a chance to remain close to my family and to keep a small hand in ranching, which I’ve always loved.”
