A Man Worth Shaving For: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

by Michelle Pennington

  Madi clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “That’s just what I hoped. It’s girl time. I brought seafood alfredo and fried calamari and that wicked chocolate torte from that place on Main Street. Why are you washing your hands for so long?”

  “Honestly, the hot water feels good. My fingers are kind of frozen.” How in the world was I going to get out of this situation? “Don’t you have a date tonight?”

  “No. You were right about Taylor. I was using him, so I broke things off with him. Besides, I’d much rather spend the night hanging out with my bestie. Let’s eat before this gets cold.”

  As she talked, she moved back over to the table to unpack her spoils, which gave me a chance to look down at Logan. Well, glare down at him. He just grinned back up at me, completely shameless, and tickled the back of my knee.

  I kicked him in the ankle.

  He clenched his lips shut to keep from crying out and lost his balance. As he fell over in a slump, I turned the water off and flicked my wet hands at him before making a shooing motion toward the hallway. Any second now, Madi was going to walk around this counter and see him.

  As I went over to help her unpack her bags, I purposefully angled myself to block her view of the narrow strip of floor space between the counter and hallway, where Logan wouldn’t have any cover, and tried to keep her focus directed away. “Sparkling grape juice?”

  “Yeah. Since I still have to be to work at four A.M., I decided to be responsible.”

  “Hey, it’s good stuff. I’m excited. And what kind of chocolate did you get?”

  As Madi reached for the bag, I glanced over my shoulder, but I had no idea if Logan had made it to safety.

  “… you like peanut butter, but I’m a caramel girl, so I grabbed both,” Madi said.

  I had no idea what she’d said before that, so I just nodded and smiled. “Perfect.”

  All at once, Madi pulled me in for a hug. “Thanks so much for forgiving me, Tessa. I don’t deserve it, but I knew you would. You’re such an amazing person.”

  The sincerity in her voice refocused me. I pulled back and looked down into her face. For the first time I noticed the dark smudges under her eyes and the tense, hopeful look in her eyes. If it weren’t for the fact that I—hopefully—had a man hiding in my bedroom that I was supposed to be eating dinner with, I would have welcomed this chance to make up with her.

  What was happening to my life?

  “I’m going to get some plates and glasses,” Madi said, stepping back and heading for the kitchen.

  “Um…” I followed her with my heart in my throat, terrified that she’d go around the corner of the kitchen counter and find Logan there.

  But when she didn’t react to anything and merely opened the cabinet where we kept our drinking glasses, I let out a breath of relief. He’d made it.

  “We should probably chill the juice for a while, huh?”

  “What? Oh, definitely.” I rushed back over to the table and grabbed it. After putting it in the fridge, I stepped backward toward the hallway. “I’m going to go change my clothes.”

  “Okay. I’ll get a show going. There’s a K-drama I’ve been dying to watch, but I was saving it to watch with you.” She put two glasses down on the counter. “Do you want water for now or a soda?”

  “Water’s fine. Be back in a second.”

  “Hurry so the food doesn’t get cold.”

  “Yep,” I called back over my shoulder.

  When I opened to door to my room, I looked around frantically for Logan. He stood by the overstuffed chair in front of my window, his overcoat already draped across it, shrugging out of his suit coat. “What are you doing?” I asked in a loud, tense whisper.

  He draped his suit loosened his tie. “Getting comfortable. It looks like I’m going to be here for a while.”

  “Shhhh. Keep your voice down. And you can’t undress in my bedroom.”

  “Seems like the perfect place to me.” As my face bloomed with heat, he laid his tie over his jacket and unbuttoned the top button and moved on to his cuffs. “You’ve got a comfortable, lived-in sort of vibe going on in here.”

  I followed the direction of his eyes, taking in the pile of clean clothes on the end of my bed, the giant teddy bear flopped across my pillows, the shoes tossed haphazardly around the floor near the closet, and the bras I had hanging to dry from hooks on the closet door. That was when I squealed. After warning him to be quiet, I was the one who drew attention to my room. Brilliant, Tessa.

  “Are you okay in there?” Madi called.

  “Fine. I just…thought I saw a spider,” I called back. Then, just to be safe, I locked my door.

  By this time, Logan had rolled up his sleeves and kicked off his shoes before sitting down on my bed. Scrambling to clean up my mess, I grabbed the clothes and dropped them in a heap on the chair even though Logan’s coats hung over the back of it. Then I stared at it, wondering how a simple thing like his clothes and mine being next to each other could look so scandalous. But there wasn’t time to worry about it. I still had my 38 DDD bras hanging in full view. Kill. Me. Now.

  I tugged them down and stuffed them in one of my drawers, then kicked all my shoes into the closet and shut the door. As I turned around and leaned against it in relief, my gaze snagged on Logan’s eyes, which gleamed with amusement. He wasn’t even bothering to hide his smile as he laid stretched out on my floral bedding and used my teddy bear for a pillow.

  “Enjoying this?”

  “Immensely.”

  How was it possible to feel both thoroughly annoyed and somehow…effervescent at the same time?

  Now, somehow, I had to change my clothes with him in here. Madi would think it was totally weird if I went to the bathroom to do it, and she was probably already getting frustrated with waiting so long for me.

  “I have to change my clothes.”

  His brows rose. “Oh. Well, don’t worry. I’ll close my eyes.”

  Yeah. That wasn’t going to work for me.

  I walked around the bed to my nightstand and pulled a sleep mask out of my drawer. It was purple and had cupped eye covers so it didn’t press against your eyes while you slept. It was going to have to do. “Put this on.”

  He took it from me but let it hang from one finger, staring at it with a perplexed and terrified expression. “What is it?”

  “Seriously? It’s a sleep mask.”

  He looked up, still not convinced. “It looks like a smaller version of one of your bras. A much smaller version.”

  “For heaven’s sake.” I took it from him and forced it down over his head. After I’d adjusted it to make sure it completely covered his eyes, I said, “Touch that, and I’ll break your fingers.”

  “I had no idea you were so violent.”

  “Neither did I.”

  Even though I was sure he couldn’t see me, I moved to the far end of the room to change, after digging a pair of leggings and a T-shirt out of my clean clothes pile. Even then, my pulse must have been racing at twice its normal speed as I changed my clothes as quickly as possible.

  As I pulled my leggings on, I remembered the question I’d been dying to ask Logan. “Hey, why did you rub my leg in the kitchen?”

  “Because it was right there in front of my face, and with all this talk about you shaving them, I wanted to see if they were as smooth as they look. And they were. I kind of wondered if you’d shaved them because you were going to see me today.”

  The fact that I had irritated me as much as his assumption, so I grabbed a throw pillow off the floor and threw it at him.

  “Ugh. I can’t believe you threw something at me when I couldn’t see to defend myself.”

  “That’s what you get,” I said as I gathered up my dirty clothes and tossed them into the hamper I kept in my closet. Then just to be safe, I stepped in front of the long mirror on my wall to make sure everything was where it should be, i.e. that my shirt was covering my butt.

  “I’m done,” I said. “You ca
n take it off.”

  “Okay,” he said, his whisper coming out more like a choking rasp. He pulled the sleep mask off and tossed it onto my bedside table as he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. Since he faced away from me now, I couldn’t see his expression, but I could see the tense set of his shoulders.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. You’d better get out there. Don’t forget to bring me something to eat later.”

  “Yes. I’ll get her to go to bed as soon as I can so you can sneak out.”

  He turned, shifting on the bed to face me, and nodded.

  “What are you going to do while I’m gone?”

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and shook it at me. “Something that keeps my thoughts from wondering too much. Emails might work. Or maybe I’ll read some business news.”

  I bit my lip. “Sorry this is how the night turned out.”

  Our eyes met for a long, potent moment. “I’m not worried,” he said at last. “It’s not over yet.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  How could he say something like that? While lying on my bed?

  It’s not over yet.

  Focusing on the television was impossible. Eating more than a few bites of my pasta was impossible. Just sitting still was impossible because I felt jumpy and unsettled and buzzy. At least Madi was completely lost in the show we were watching. Maybe I could just sort of leave her out here on her own for a while. I really did feel terrible about Logan starving in my bedroom, unable to leave just because my roommate was psycho about him.

  Yes. I felt bad for him. That’s why I was so anxious to take him dinner.

  “Hey, Madi?”

  “Huh?” she asked, her eyes never budging from the screen.

  “I really appreciate everything you did tonight, but I’m actually super tired. Would you mind if I go to bed?”

  She turned to look at me then and smiled. “No. It’s fine. But I’m going to keep watching. This is too good.”

  Great. I just prayed that she’d be able to resist clicking next episode in time to go to bed at a decent hour. But it was only 7:30 now, so it might be hours.

  Me and Logan trapped in my room together for… hours.

  Before I went back to my room, I grabbed the takeout box with my chocolate torte and carried it into the kitchen and then put the rest of my pasta on a plate and stuck it in the microwave to heat up.

  “I thought you were going to bed?” Madi asked.

  “Oh, I am. But when I realized that I’m actually hungry now. Weird, huh?”

  “Just don’t leave your dishes in your room again. Remember what happened last time. My favorite bowl went missing for a month.”

  “I won’t.”

  The microwave beeped, so I took the plate out, practically searing the skin off my hands. “Hot, hot,” I whispered in pain, setting the plate down on the counter as fast as I could. This time I picked it up with a hot pad, grabbed the torte, two forks, and the half-empty bottle of grape juice. “Mind if I finish this?” I asked.

  “Help yourself. I think it gave me indigestion.”

  I scurried off to the bedroom with my arms full and only then realized I couldn’t open the door. Closing my eyes and sighing in frustration, I stood still a moment. I needed Logan to open it, so I leaned forward and rapped softly on the door. I held my breath as I waited. A few seconds later, my straining ears caught the sound of soft footsteps on the carpet right before the door swung open. I looked up into Logan’s face, most of it hidden in shadow, and reflected that maybe this night hadn’t gone so wrong after all.

  He stepped back to let me through and shut the door softly behind me.

  “Dinner is served,” I said, keeping my voice soft. We wouldn’t have to whisper anymore now that Madi had her show going in the living room.

  “At last. I could smell it all the way in here, and I was about to start digging through your drawers for snack stashes.”

  “You better not have.”

  He picked up the plate of pasta. “I said I was about to. I didn’t.”

  I handed him a fork. “Then what have you been doing while I was in here?”

  As he sat on the bed, he looked around the room. “Well, I like that lotion you keep by the bed. Very moisturizing, and it smells good too. Your perfume smelled very familiar and sort of made my brain malfunction for a minute. Our reading tastes are completely different, you look a lot like your mom, and you have a big collection of dry shampoo—whatever the heck that is. Oh, and I fixed your broken sunglass.”

  My eyebrow twitched. “Well, that was quite…thorough.”

  “But, as you’ll notice, none of that included any drawers.”

  “I hope you’re taking notes.”

  With a wicked grin, he pointed at his notebook at the end of the bed before turning back to his plate. “Are those scallops?”

  “Oh man. Don’t tell me you’re allergic. If I go out there and make more food, Madi is going to notice for sure.”

  He laughed and took a bite. “Relax. I was just asking. It’s delicious. Especially since I’m starving.”

  I handed him the juice bottle and sat down on the other end of the bed. He examined the bottle and looked surprised for a second but opened it and took a long swig.

  My toes were cold, so I tucked them underneath me as I grabbed my dessert.

  “I hope you’re going to save me part of that.”

  I took my time and savored the first bite. “Probably, but only because it’s really rich.”

  We ate in silence for a minute with the distant sound of crashing and pulsating background music coming from the living room. “We’re going to be in here a while,” I said.

  Logan looked at his watch. “How long?”

  My smile turned out more like a wince. “I don’t know. Three hours?”

  Logan nodded his head thoughtfully and set his empty plate on the bedside table. He looked at his watch and then at me as I licked the chocolate off my fork. “Okay. Then we’re going to have to do something besides sit here on this bed while you tempt me like that.”

  I dropped my fork. “Like what?”

  “How about a movie? You could even put on one of those Korean shows you like so I can figure out what you find so fascinating about them?”

  “Really? We’d have to watch it on a phone.”

  “I’m game. Let’s do it.” He paused then laughed. Loudly.

  I dove across the bed and pressed my hand over his mouth to muffle the sound. “Are you crazy? Be quiet.”

  He pulled my hand away, wrapped his arms around my waist, and flipped me over onto the pillow so that he hovered over me. His eyes were full of laughter as he said, “Sorry. Somehow everything I’m saying is just coming out wrong. Or maybe it just seems like it because of where we are.”

  Being this close to him, his lips only inches from mine and his strong arms and shoulders trapping me against the bed, I knew what he meant. “And here I thought you were such a straight arrow.”

  “Even though you’re teasing me, I do try. But I’m still a man, and you are incredibly tempting. Which is why I definitely should not kiss you right now.”

  I nodded and tried to control my breathing. “Agreed.”

  “Maybe just a little kiss?”

  Apparently, hearts can stop without you dying. “Okay,” I whispered. And not because I was worried Madi would hear.

  There were only inches from his lips to mine, but it felt like an eternity as he slowly bent his head. With his eyes boring into mine and then sweeping down to my lips, he closed them at last and my own fluttered shut as he finally kissed me.

  So. Softly.

  Just as he promised, he pulled back much too soon, and from the way his chest heaved over mine, it had been shattering for him as it was for me.

  “That was a mistake,” he said.

  “Who cares?” I asked, putting my arms around his neck and pulling him down again.

  Kissing in the elevator had been…
amazing. This? There were no words. Barely any thought. Just sensation as he kissed me over and over again, each one more demanding. His fingers swept across my cheek, brushing back my hair as he cupped the back of my head, angling it as he took the kiss deeper.

  One moment there was nothing in my world but him—his kiss, his scent, his touch, his weight resting over me—and the next I was alone, blinking up at the ceiling as the air cooled around me.

  I sat up, touching my fingers to my pulsing lips, and found him standing at the side of the bed, facing away from me with his back and shoulders betraying his labored breathing.

  “Logan?”

  He didn’t look back, just pointed a finger at me. “Start a movie. Please.”

  “Do you…want me to leave?”

  “No.” His tone came out rough but insistent. He turned partially toward me, looking over at me as he took a deep breath. “Sorry. You…pack a punch. I just…” He paused again and scratched his head. “We got more than enough data from that, don’t you think? We should wait for anything else until we’ve done a full analysis and made a decision. Don’t you agree?”

  I smiled at how cute he was. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”

  “Yeah?” He huffed as he began pacing at the end of the bed. “You have a small room.”

  Truly, I was trying not to laugh at him. I was just as rattled as he was over the chemistry and emotions we’d just unleashed. But I didn’t quite hold back a soft giggle. “Maybe you should open the window.”

  He straightened and strode across the room, pushing back my floral curtains. I heard the click of the window latch and the rattle of the internal spring as he threw it open. A flood of frigid air swept through my room. It made my heated face prickle and sent goosebumps up my arms. “That’s too cold.”

  But Logan just stood at the window, breathing it in, slowly relaxing.

  I got off the bed and combed my tangled hair with my fingers as I grabbed my phone from the dresser. Since my room was quickly turning into a deep freeze, I pulled back the duvet and got under it. In less than a minute, I’d pulled up a Korean action movie I thought Logan would like more than a romantic comedy—besides, we didn’t need any more of that right now—and propped myself up against the pillows.