“But you admit to the look?”
“What look?” she asked again.
“One of unadulterated lust.”
She bit her lip as she turned and looked up at her best friend. Five-inch black pumps or not, Abby had and would forever be shorter than Paige. Paige was five-foot-ten and like Abby had a certain obsession with tall shoes. She was sporting a pair of knee-high leather boots today that gave her an added four inches.
Abby had never been able to withhold the truth from Paige. Ever. They’d been best friends since they were five years old, and a bond over puffy Cheetos in their pretty pink Little Mermaid lunch boxes was one that couldn’t be broken.
They’d been through a lot together over the last twenty-four years, both of them losing their fathers. Though in entirely different ways. Paige’s father, Trevor Morrison, died almost three years ago. The aggressive form of pancreatic cancer never even gave him a chance. He’d been the best kind of man and the best kind of father, and he’d pretty much been Abby’s since she was ten years old.
Jim Fields walked out on Abby and her mother and didn’t even look back. Abby had seen him sporadically over the last nineteen years, and every visit was somehow even more demoralizing than the last. She’d never met a more indifferent man.
Abby had her fair share of daddy issues and they’d all spilled over to her failed romances, of which there’d been quite a few.
“Something… uh… happened last night,” Abby whispered.
“What kind of something?”
“A naked kind of something.”
Paige’s eyes got huge. “Seriously?”
Abby just nodded.
“Holy crap, woman. Good thing you’re staying the night, otherwise I’d be forced to follow your butt to Jacksonville to get the whole story. I knew something was up; you’ve been on edge all afternoon.”
“I’ll be fine when he’s on his merry way out of Mirabelle. I can’t think straight when he’s in the same room.”
“How’s that going to pan out when you have to work with him?” Paige asked seriously.
“I don’t know.” It was something Abby had been thinking about all day, especially after her very short conversation with Logan that morning. He’d barely talked to her since she’d told him it wasn’t going to happen again.
Well, he being all taciturn with her was at least one thing that was back to normal.
She couldn’t help letting her gaze wander over to the table with the guys, nor could she stop her eyes from focusing on Logan. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck, the move causing his arm to flex. Then he moved his palm up, running his fingers through his hair and causing some of the strands to stand up in a carelessly rumpled look.
He was too damn sexy for his own good. She hadn’t been this attracted to a man in well… ever. And if there’d been any thought in the back of her mind about “getting him out of her system” after one night, she’d been horribly mistaken. If anything, she just wanted him more.
Why had she said it couldn’t happen again?
It was at that moment that he looked up, his eyes landing on hers. She didn’t even take a second to register what she found in those mesmerizing green-gold depths before she pulled her gaze away.
“I… uh… can you take him?” Abby quickly handed Trevor off to Paige, not making eye contact with her friend before she made a beeline outside. She needed some fresh air.
She was just hot. That was why her palms were sweating and the scarf around her neck was suddenly suffocating. Yeah, it had absolutely nothing to do with the man she’d just run away from.
Chapter Three
The Power of Peppermint Schnapps
Logan was pretty sure Abby couldn’t have gotten out of the building faster if her pants were on fire. He was actually amazed with how quickly she’d moved, considering the heels she was wearing that day.
Yet another pair that were guaranteed to drive him out of his fucking skull.
He’d been doing a good job of not focusing on her for the last couple of hours. It wasn’t so much the “out of sight, out of mind” thing as much as he was being thoroughly entertained by the crowd around him.
Dale and his best friend Hamilton were a regular little pair of comedians. Logan was beyond impressed with Dale. The kid was ridiculously positive, and given the hand he’d been dealt both with the cancer and losing his father a few years ago, it would’ve been easy to fall into the anger and depression. Something Logan knew full well as he’d fallen into them himself.
But the community Dale had here was awesome; the group of guys around the table a shining example of how real men lived good lives. Lives that weren’t in front of a camera and dissected every single minute.
Sure, everybody had difficult things they had to deal with, but he imagined it might be just a little bit simpler if it all wasn’t in the eye of the public. And part of him longed for that.
He’d been burned more than once; it was one of the reasons he tried to keep his personal life private. His relationships weren’t any business of the public anyway, and really they were few and far between. It was hard to date considering the fact that he’d been pretty numb for almost the last decade.
But he hadn’t felt numb this morning… hadn’t felt numb when he’d woken up with Abby in his bed. Though, he was pretty sure he hadn’t ever been numb around her. She had made him hot under the collar for months now.
He noticed her the very first time he saw her, and she managed to always draw his attention whenever she was in the same room. She sparked an interest in him that he hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever.
He tried his damnedest to ignore it. To ignore her.
But he was beyond ignoring it now, especially after knowing what it was like to be set on fire.
Logan excused himself from the table, heading for the doors that Abby had just fled out of moments before. When he stepped outside, she turned at the noise and looked over at him.
Her shoulders immediately straightened and she took a deep breath.
“Things should be wrapping up soon. Then you can be on your way home,” she said as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
He had a feeling the gesture was more needing something to do than actually being cold.
“You already want me out of here?” he asked as he walked up next to her, leaning against the railing of the porch and looking out at the view. The Rigels’s house was built on stilts by a river, the dark waters rushing behind it.
“I just figured you’d want to get home and back to normal.”
“You have no idea what I want, Red.”
Her entire body tensed up more, something that he didn’t even know was possible. If she got any more rigid, her spine would probably snap. It was such a contrast, this moment compared to how pliant she’d been the night before.
What he wanted was more of that. Her beneath him… or on top. He wasn’t all that picky.
He turned to her, and she automatically moved in response, looking up at him. He reached out slowly, running his fingers down the side of her face and to her chin where he lightly pushed up.
When she didn’t pull away he lowered his mouth to hers, just a soft kiss to her lips. Her mouth opened on a sigh and her entire body seemed to relax into his. He took that as his cue and his other hand came up, sliding around her hip and to her lower back. He pulled her fully into his body as he slipped his tongue passed her lips.
“I’ve been craving that since I woke up this morning,” he whispered against her mouth before he dove back in.
This time her hands came up and were in his hair, her fingers trailing down the back of his neck. Holy hell she made him hard in an instant. As she was flush up against him, he was pretty sure she was fully aware of it, too.
He pulled away from her just enough to where he could look down into her face. Her eyes opened slowly, those startling blues more than a little bit dazed.
“I take it back,” he said as he ran his
thumb across her lips. “I do want to know why last night can’t happen again.”
Within a matter of seconds, Abby managed to get ahold of herself. His words bringing her back to reality. She dropped her hands from the back of his neck and reached for his wrists, pulling his hand from her face and the other from her lower back.
“We work together.” She took a step away from him, and despite her best efforts at composure, her breathing was still erratic.
“All right, I promise to be just as uncooperative as I was before. No one will suspect a thing.”
The side of her mouth twitched and he knew she was fighting a smile. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“How is it more complicated?”
“There’s a no fraternization policy with the Stampede.”
“What? There’s nothing like that in my contract.”
“No.” She shook her head. “There isn’t. But it’s in mine.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Truth: I want you, Red. It’s as simple as that. And I don’t think a piece of paper—”
“It’s not just a piece of paper,” she cut him off. “And it’s not simple. This is my job. Your job isn’t threatened by us fooling around.”
He hadn’t labeled what he and Abby had done, but it sure as shit hadn’t been fooling around. That was for rink bunnies, guys on the team who forgot the names of their dates the next day. He’d dabbled in it over the years, picking up a girl here or there, but that was more about scratching an itch.
Which wasn’t something he equated with Abby. She was… more than that. He had no fucking clue what she was. But he’d really like to find out.
She apparently didn’t.
“Then why weren’t you thinking about that last night?” he asked.
“I… I don’t know, Logan. I wasn’t thinking about a lot of things last night. Being alone with you like that, away from everyone and everything, I guess I just took a break from reality.”
He nodded as he looked at her. “Well, I think you should go back to that. No good ever came from overthinking something.” He took a step forward, his hands going to her hips as he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers one more time. “We aren’t back home yet. We still have one more night before we have to go back to reality.” He definitely wanted more than one night, but he got the sense that he was just going to have to take this one step at a time.
“Wh-what?” she asked, dazed.
“I’m not going home tonight. Shep invited me to stay. I can still get my night at the inn. Plus, he wanted to show me his bar and the brewery.”
“You’re staying?” Her eyes narrowed, attempting to focus on his face and his words.
“Yup. I don’t have practice until Tuesday afternoon, so you aren’t getting rid of me yet, Red. And in the honor of our game last night, I’ll keep up with the truth,” he whispered as he leaned in close to her ear. “After being inside you, I don’t know that I’ll ever return to reality. I’d like to explore this whole thing further.”
“Further?” The word fell from her mouth slowly, like she was sounding it out.
“Yes, further. It needs to be a secret? That’s fine with me. You know I don’t like my private life to be out in the public. And to be quite honest, the things I want to do when you’re around aren’t all that appropriate for the public eye, so it works for me. You just need to figure out if it works for you.”
The door behind them opened and Logan’s hands fell away from Abby’s body. He turned to see Mrs. Rigels sticking her head outside.
“Dale is about to take a nap. I think he’s had about as much excitement as he can handle for the day.”
“I’ll just say goodbye,” Logan said, heading for the door. “And finalize our plans for tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Virginia nodded before she headed back in.
“Plans for tomorrow?” Abby asked, following him across the deck.
“I’m eating breakfast with Dale and Hamilton in the morning. Apparently it’s imperative that I get a chocolate chip muffin at Café Lula.”
He held the door open for her as they stepped inside, and she looked at him as she passed by, her confusion evident by her furrowed eyebrows.
“And then we can head back to reality together,” he finished.
And just like that Abby’s look of confusion was replaced with frustration, her brows suddenly slanting down and those lips of hers bunching together.
Well, she could just join the club.
* * *
“All right woman, spill,” Paige demanded as she took a sip of hot chocolate from the mug she clutched in her hands.
They were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, their backs resting against the arms and their legs stretched out toward the middle. Abby had changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater when they’d gotten back to Paige and Brendan’s house. The fire burning in front of them was keeping her nice and toasty along with her cup of hot chocolate, topped with schnapps and whipped cream.
Brendan was in the kitchen putting something together for dinner and Trevor was taking a nap, still completely tuckered out from the day’s events.
“I don’t even know where to start,” Abby said, lifting her mug to her lips and taking a good mouthful. She wasn’t sure what warmed her more, the temperature of the liquid or the burn from the alcohol. “Holy crap, how much schnapps did you put in here?”
“I don’t know”—Paige shrugged—“I just eyeballed it.”
Well, this would be the second time in less than twenty-four hours that a little bit of alcohol was going to give her some loose lips. Though, she would’ve told Paige everything anyway. She always told her everything.
So Abby took a deep breath and just dove right on in from the beginning, from the first time she saw Logan James and knew she was in trouble, all the way through their conversations and how his resistance made her want to throttle him.
“Oh, my gosh,” Paige spluttered on her hot chocolate when Abby got to the part where he put the bottle of whiskey on the table and explained the rules of Strip, Shoot, or Truth. Though, the rules had pretty much been self-explanatory. “I can’t believe you played a drinking game with him that involved stripping.” Paige’s eyes were round as she stared across at Abby in wonder.
“It just… happened.” Abby shrugged as she started chewing on her lip.
“How does something like that just happen?” Paige’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “One second you’re talking about the weather and the next you’re showing him the color of your panties?”
“There were a few steps in between.”
“I’ll just bet there were.” Paige grinned. “Please continue.” She waved her hand in the air.
“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much.”
“Um, excuse me. I believe you were more than a little relentless getting information when it came to Brendan and me.”
“Yes, but he was your prince charming—”
“Damn right I was,” Brendan called out from the kitchen.
Abby really didn’t mind having this conversation with Brendan in earshot; if anything he’d become like a brother to her in the last couple of years. Besides, she kind of wanted his opinion on the whole thing as well.
“So was he any good?” Paige waggled her eyebrows as her grin overtook her face. “Who am I kidding? I’ve seen that man in person now. Of course he was good.”
A loud clatter came from the kitchen. It sounded like a pot being dropped on the tile floor. A second later Brendan’s head popped out from around the opening.
“You best tread lightly there, woman.”
“Oh baby, you know I only have eyes for you.” Paige batted her eyes at him as she kissed the air. He shook his head and disappeared back into the kitchen. “So on a scale of one to ten, compared to your past experiences with one being AJ Clifford and ten being Cameron Spruce, where does
Logan measure up?”
“Paige, he sets a new scale. Cameron would be a six, six and a half, and Logan would be a thirty.”
“Why the hell are you sitting across from me right now and not in that man’s bed?” Paige asked, completely deadpan.
“Be serious for a second.” Abby nudged Paige’s foot with her own.
“I am! I’ve never seen you run from anything before. You practically sprinted away from him earlier today. What was up with that?”
“I can’t think straight when he’s around.”
“No kidding.”
Abby finished the last of her drink and set it down on the table next to her. She studied the empty mug for a second, a nice little buzz calming down her spinning brain.
“He… um… he said something to me before we left the Rigels’s house,” she said as she focused on Paige again.
“About?”
“Spending another night with him… well, spending many nights with him actually. He wants to… explore this whole thing between us.”
“And you don’t? Holy crap, Abby, he wants to explore it? What are you waiting for?”
“It isn’t a game of Marco Polo, Paige. It’s complicated.”
“Sex is always complicated. But when it’s good and involves men like Logan James, one should explore the hell out of it. I’m going to repeat my earlier question: why aren’t you in that man’s bed?”
“Really? This from the girl who took months to get into Brendan’s bed?” Abby countered.
“Yes, but once I was in it, I didn’t leave it.”
“Damn right you didn’t,” Brendan called out again.
Paige rolled her eyes but the grin spread across her face counteracted the gesture. There was something about seeing Paige and Brendan together that gave Abby more than a little bit of hope when it came to love. It was something she’d lacked drastically after her father’s departure. And there was no small amount of pleasure that filled her at seeing her best friend so happy with the love of her life.
Though she wasn’t sure if that was her dormant maudlin sentimentality or the heat spreading throughout her limbs from the remainder of the drink she’d just downed.
Undressed Page 3
