AT LONG LAST (The Playas Series - Book 4)

by Brenda Jackson

  4

  Not fair. You have at least seven years on me. Where on earth does all your energy come from?”

  Logan grinned at Claire over the rim of his wine glass. He would admit today had been a busy day, but he had enjoyed it. And he had definitely liked spending it with her. They’d shared breakfast before heading out to the African-American Museum. They had made an entire day of it and there was still a lot left to check out, which made him glad they intended to stretch it over three days. The exhibits they’d seen had drained them, which worried him, since Claire’s emotions were already taut. Being at the museum made him realize just what sacrifices others had made for him to enjoy the freedom he had today.

  Breaking periodically for snacks and enjoying lunch at one of the museum’s cafes had helped to lessen the emotional overload. Now, they were back at her place, enjoying a glass of wine and the pizza they’d ordered.

  “Haven’t you heard that you can find the energy to do the things you want to do?” he replied, helping himself to another slice of pizza. They liked the same kind—thin-crusted, with pepperoni, plenty of cheese, peppers, mushrooms and onions. One day, he would have to treat her to his homemade pizza.

  Claire shook her head and grinned back at him. “Yes, but finding the energy to do the things I want to do never works for me. I need more factual data, Doctor Montgomery.”

  “Umm, factual data,” he said, licking off a string of cheese that was hanging from his lips. “I recall that eating certain foods helps. Especially those with magnesium.”

  He thought whatever she normally ate couldn’t be too bad for her. Not with the body she had. When she had opened the door to him this morning, she’d been fully dressed in a pair of snug-fitting jeans and a pullover sweater. He’d never seen a woman fill out a pair of jeans the way she did, and he’d had a hard time keeping his eyes off her today.

  “Name a few,” she said, sliding another slice of pizza onto her plate.

  “A balanced meal for starters,” he said.

  “Now you tell me, after stuffing me with this pizza,” she said jokingly.

  “I’m not shoving it down your throat, Claire.”

  “I know. I’m enjoying it. I rarely eat pizza. I’m normally a grilled chicken and salad girl, but I have a feeling that at some point this week, five pounds is going to come bite me on the butt.”

  Now why did she have to say that? he wondered, taking another sip of his wine. If he had his way, the only bite marks made on her cute little tush would come from him. “That means you’ll need to walk more. That’s more factual data for energy. Walking helps.”

  She squinted up her nose in what he thought was a cute little frown. “We walked a lot today, thank you very much.”

  A bubble of laughter escaped from his throat. “What I mean is that you should consider making walking part of your regular routine, Claire, and not just on days like today.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Take more naps. And you might not want to hear this, especially now, but more water and less wine helps.”

  She chuckled then held up her wine glass. “Cheers.”

  He held up his, as well. “Cheers.” He licked his lips before saying, “There is another way a person can obtain more energy.”

  “Oh? How?”

  “Having more sex.”

  Claire bit into her pizza, wondering how to take Logan’s words. She’d heard the whole ‘sex gives you energy’ thing before, but just couldn’t buy into it. The way she saw it, sex drained you of energy. Sure, you enjoyed it, but still… Of all the things to discuss with a man while eating pizza and drinking wine. Especially if the man looked like Logan, and if you had a zany friend who’d put crazy ideas about looking at him as something other than a friend into your head.

  Claire would admit that the first time she’d met Logan, she’d thought he was gorgeous. After all, she was a woman who noticed such things. However, at the same time…at least, at that particular time…she’d been too busy enjoying her success at getting Lance and Asia together. She’d been too preoccupied to consider finding a man for herself. And then there was that little issue of her living abroad. She’d heard that some couples did okay with long-distance relationships, but she didn’t know of any.

  She recalled how hard it had been when Walter had joined the military. He had been three years older than her. He’d thought it would be a good idea to serve his country while waiting for her to finish college, so they could marry and start a family. He’d decided to put a life in the military under his belt.

  Neither of them had considered the loneliness they would endure being apart. She would go weeks without hearing from him and when she did get letters, they would be dated a month earlier. And what she hadn’t counted on was having him sent to Afghanistan on his first tour of duty. It had been his first and his last.

  “No comment on what I just said about having more sex? Come on. I’m disappointed in you,” he teased.

  She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What did you want me to say? You’re the doctor, so I guess you’d know about such things, although I can’t see how you can gain energy from it. I would think too much sex would leave a person exhausted.”

  “Don’t you know?”

  She dismissed the suspicion that he was fishing for information. Why would he? “No. I can’t say I’ve ever engaged in a sex marathon before, so how would I know? What about you?” Now why had she asked him such a thing? Did she really want to know? On the other hand, hadn’t he just asked the same thing of her?

  “I can’t say that I have engaged in a sex marathon before, either.”

  Claire took a sip of her wine. He couldn’t say…or he wouldn’t say? Was there a difference? And why was she wondering about it? The topic of sex, even with a guy who was only a friend, wasn’t a good idea. Deciding to quickly change the subject, she asked, “Did you talk to Asia or Lance last night?”

  “No.”

  Maybe she hadn’t heard him right. “No?”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “No. Was I supposed to?”

  Of course, he was. What a silly question. “Yes, I would think so, since they encouraged you to come here.”

  “They didn’t encourage me to come.”

  A frown touched Claire’s features. “Sure, they did. You said as much yesterday.”

  He lifted a brow. “Did I?”

  Her frown deepened. Didn’t he? Was Logan trying to confuse her. “Yes, you did.”

  “No, you did.”

  “Then why did you come?”

  “Because you’re my friend, and when I found out what happened in Algiers, I was concerned about you. I needed a break, and so I decided to kick off my vacation by coming to see you.”

  “Oh. That was sweet.”

  “I did talk to Pop last night and he asked how you were doing. He’s been worried about you.”

  “That’s nice of him. I hope you told him I was okay.”

  “I did.”

  She watched Logan finish off the last of the pizza. “I’m glad you’re doing that. I don’t like leftovers.”

  “Neither do I.”

  Claire wondered if there was anything else they had in common and decided it didn’t matter. “So, what do you think of your new nephew?”

  She thought the smile that spread across Logan’s face said it all, yet she wanted to hear the words directly from him. He leaned back in his chair. “I honestly never thought about what it would be like to be an uncle. Lyle was married to his career, Carrie was being Carrie, and Lance was anti-marriage. Even when I found out about Asia’s pregnancy, the magnitude of what it meant didn’t hit me. I expressed the normal congratulations and that was it. However, that wasn’t it, really. I got a good dose of reality when I saw Leland for the first time.”

  “I remember that day, and wondered how you were feeling about it,” she said. Unlike Logan, she’d been there for the delivery. Lance and Asia hadn’t taken any chances about their child being delivered
on Paradise. The island was gorgeous, but it was also really remote. So, they had returned temporarily to their place in Chicago that had a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. Claire had flown back to the States a week ahead of time to assist Asia anyway she could. Logan had arrived the day after Leland was born.

  Claire had been there when Logan had seen his nephew for the first time, when Lance had placed the baby in Logan’s arms. She’d watched him stare down at his nephew with awe in his eyes, but she’d wondered about the true emotions he’d felt that day. Had they been similar to hers? What dose of reality had he gotten?

  “When I first held Leland, I couldn’t get over just how tiny he was.”

  “Tiny?” Claire said chuckling. “That kid weighed close to nine pounds.”

  “I know, but to me, he still looked small. I’m not around many babies. I honestly don’t have many memories of Carrie as a baby, since Mom took off with her.”

  Claire had heard the story of how Logan’s mother had deserted his father and brothers by running off with another man. She’d taken six-week-old baby Carrie with her, leaving everyone speculating if their mother’s lover was Carrie’s real father. It had been almost sixteen years later when they’d discovered the whereabouts of their sister.

  “I could only sit there and stare down at Leland, absorbing the wonder of it all. The thought that Lance could produce something so beautiful, when he’d had such an ugly past when it came to women, was unbelievable. We knew the reason Lance had been such an asshole was because of our mother’s desertion. He had deep-rooted issues.”

  And they had been issues Claire knew Lance had finally found a way to resolve before he’d stepped up to fight for Asia’s love. “What was the first thing you thought when you saw the baby?”

  Logan smiled. “I thought he looked like both Asia and Lance. Funny what happens when a sperm and egg get together. You never know what part of which one will be dominant. For instance, Leland has Asia’s eyes, but the rest of his facial features are Lance’s.”

  Claire had to agree. “That’s the first thing I thought, too,” she said.

  “And while looking at him, I also thought what a blessed kid he was to have a mother and father who had a solid marriage. No matter what happens, they’ll make sure he has a good life.”

  Everything Logan said was true, but he’d omitted a couple of things. “And he also has good grandparents and a nice set of uncles and two wonderful aunts,” she couldn’t help but add.

  “And speaking of one of those wonderful aunts,” he said, pouring more wine into both of their glasses. “Think you’ll ever marry and have children of your own?”

  So, Logan thought, he’d rendered Claire speechless for a moment. Perfect. While she was sitting there trying to gather her thoughts, he would try to gain some control over his libido that threatened to get away from him every time his gaze landed on her lips. They were the kind of lips that could make a man’s tongue throb relentlessly until he was able to slide between them. The kind of lips that sent pulsating urges through his body, just from looking at them.

  “I honestly don’t know, Logan. I guess at some point, I’d want to settle down and marry. But right now, my career comes first.”

  He nodded. “Has it always been that way with you? Your preference for a career, instead of marriage and family?” he asked, although he already knew the answer. He’d heard it from both Lance and Asia. And he’d heard it from her before, when they’d first met. But he wanted to hear it again, to see if there was any shift in her mindset. And he wanted her to tell him about the guy she was supposed to marry, the soldier who’d gotten killed in the war. The man who, even dead, was his competition.

  “No. I wanted marriage and family and was lucky enough to meet a guy who’d wanted them as well. Walter was my first love, my only love, and we had plans and dreams.” She paused a minute and then added, “A tour of duty in Afghanistan destroyed all of it.”

  “And you never risked your heart again,” he said, not presenting it as a question, but expressing it as the statement it was.

  “I’ve never risked my heart again,” she confirmed. Then she drew in a deep breath and asked, “I’ve told you my story now, Logan. What’s yours?”

  Logan wondered what he could say, without making it obvious that she was his story. “No heartbreak in my past, if that’s what you’re asking about. I just never had time to think about starting a family. Once we found Carrie and she came to live with me after finishing high school in Gary, she became my responsibility.”

  “Umm, that “big brother” syndrome strikes again.”

  “Yes, it sure did.”

  “And now that Carrie is married and has a baby on the way, what’s your excuse?”

  He smiled over at her. “I don’t have one. I’ll be turning forty-one soon, but I’m willing to take things one day at a time. When it happens, it will happen. And when it does, I’ll be ready.”

  “So, you don’t have a problem with getting seriously involved with someone?” she asked him.

  “None. I didn’t have the issues Lance did. I guess the fact that I was a bit older helped me see things differently. Although I was there to witness what my mother put my father through, it didn’t cloud my opinion about love or marriage. What it did though, was make me cautious about selecting the woman I want in my life. Even though all my siblings are happily married, I don’t feel any need to rush into anything. I want to enjoy my life. And for starters, I want to experience what it’s like to be lazy, with nothing to do. Please take pity on me, Claire, and say you’ll be lazy right along with me.”

  5

  Four days later, Claire was still struggling to decide whether she should accept Logan’s invitation to travel with him, or not. They were places she’d never been before, and had always wanted to see. If nothing else, the time spent with him over the past three days had shown her he was someone whose company she enjoyed, and who she could have fun with.

  She also discovered that he was a good listener, and they’d had a lot to talk about. He’d stood by her side at the memorial services at the Pentagon that had been given for all the government officials killed in the Algiers bombing, silently supporting her, offering her his strength.

  It had been so comforting to have him with her when she’d said her final goodbyes to her friends and saw their families again, all in one place. She was still sometimes overwhelmed by her feelings of guilt, but Logan was even helping her with that. At least he was trying to, by reminding her she was still living for a reason. She wanted to believe that and hoped that, at some point, the reason would be revealed to her. What was her purpose in life? She had to have one. If not, why hadn’t she died with her friends?

  The sound of her cell phone almost startled her. She smiled when she recognized the ring tone. It was Asia. At least her sister had given her six days before calling. Claire was actually surprised she’d gotten that much. She clicked on her phone. “Yes, Asia?”

  “Are you ready to fly to Paradise yet?”

  Claire couldn’t help but grin. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t bother me for at least a week.”

  “Umm, did we?”

  “Yes, we did.”

  “Well, what’s one day? I would think that by now, you’d want to hear your nephew make some noise.”

  Claire chuckled at the sound of Leland jabbering in the background. “Ohh, I love it! And I love him.”

  “And you’re ready to see him, right? So, when can we expect you?”

  Claire didn’t say anything for a moment, then admitted, “I’m not sure. I still have a few issues to deal with, Asia. The memorial services were held yesterday.”

  “I know. Lance and I watched it on television. It was hard for us to see, so I can only imagine how heartbreaking it was for you.”

  “I got through it…thanks to Logan.”

  “Logan?”

  “Yes, and don’t pretend you didn’t know he was here.”

  “I have no reason to
pretend anything. He told me and Lance he planned to stop in to check on you. I just didn’t know he was still there.”

  “Yes, he’s still here.” There was no need to tell her sister that they’d spent the last six days enjoying each other’s company, as friends. She wasn’t worried about Asia thinking there was more to it than that. Her sister knew how traumatic losing Walter had been for her. Even though it had been almost ten years ago, Claire still hadn’t been able to move beyond it.

  “Logan even asked me to join him for the rest of his vacation.” She rattled off all the places Logan had mentioned.

  “Hey, aren’t a number of those on your bucket list?” Asia asked.

  “Yes, they are.” She paused for a moment. Her sister was right. She hadn’t made that connection, although it was obvious. “I thought maybe I would introduce Logan to Mindy Highgrove.”

  “Why?”

  “Logan mentioned that he’s ready to settle down and Mindy has been looking for Mr. Right for a while now. I thought they might hit it off.”

  “But you don’t now?”

  “I still do, but Mindy has already met someone. It sounds serious.”

  “I’m glad,” Asia said.

  “Why?”

  “Because there is someone I want Logan to meet.”

  Claire wasn’t prepared for the sudden sharp pounding in her chest. “Who?”

  “The sister of one of my clients. She accompanied her sister here last week and I liked her immediately. Both Lance and I did.”

  Claire knew just what type of clients the Montgomery Marriage Institute catered to. “You would introduce Logan to one of your clients?”

  “Susan isn’t one of my clients. She’s the sister of one of them. She flew here with her sister for support. Susan’s sister and her husband are trying to work out a difficult marriage.”

  “But do you think it’s a good idea to get Logan involved in the situation?”

  “What situation? Susan isn’t the client. In fact, she’s never been married. I figured they had something in common, since they both know how to fly a plane. She’s an active-duty military pilot.”