by James, Avery
"Like death. I shouldn't have done that last night."
"Shouldn't have done what?" Logan asked.
"Any of it. I shouldn't have gotten drunk, shouldn't have hit on you. I'm sorry. Do you have anything for a hangover? Do you have a cure for idiocy?"
"Callie, I think you're getting a little carried away. Nothing happened last night, and you were completely charming."
"Charming?"
"Yes. You were great company."
"I made a fool of myself."
"I thought you handled yourself quite well considering you could barely stand. Now have a seat, I'll get you something for your headache. Do you want some coffee?"
"I'm an adult, an adult who acted a bit like a child last night, but an adult nonetheless. I can get my own aspirin."
"Nonsense, you're my guest. Besides I know where the aspirin is, and you don't."
"Logan, I'm your father's guest. If anyone had any clue what I did last night, they'd kill me. He's one of our most prominent clients, and I shouldn't get involved with you just because you're a good kisser."
"So you think I'm a good kisser?"
"Is that the only thing you took away from that?"
"It was the only part that mattered."
"Why do you do that?"
"Kiss you? As of this moment, only one of us has kissed the other."
"No I mean why do you pretend to pick up on only one part of what I say? I know you heard all of it."
"Because, people hardly ever say what they want to say."
"And what aren't you saying?"
"Callie, we're both adults. If you don't want me to kiss you, I won't kiss you."
"I didn't say I didn't want you to. I said you shouldn’t." She walked over to him and placed her head against his shoulder. She held herself there for a moment before stepping back, just enough to stay in his personal space.
"Right now it sounds like you're saying I should."
"No, I'm saying this isn't a good idea.” She placed her hand against his neck and looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes. Her pulse throbbed in her head. She just wanted to kiss him. Why couldn’t she just kiss him?
"What isn't a good idea?" Logan said leaning in a little closer. His warm breath lingered against Callie’s cheek.
"This," Callie said as she pressed her lips against the smooth skin of Logan's neck. "And this." She kissed the stubble on his cheek, and then she pressed her lips against his and felt a rush of excitement as Logan pulled her against himself. Callie separated herself from him for a moment and asked, "Why didn't you do that last night?"
"You were drunk, and I wasn't. If you're going to kiss me, I want you to mean it."
"Is that so?" Callie asked. She locked her lips against his and felt a thrill as Logan slid his tongue against hers. The way he wrapped his arms around her and the way he held himself against her made Callie feel like the entire world had collapsed down to the two of them in that morning light. Her heart raced, and she felt a dizzying warmth rising up inside her chest. "This is a bad idea," she said. She ran one hand up Logan's back.
"I agree," Logan said. "This is a very bad idea. But like I told you before, beautiful women like you make men like me do very dumb things."
Logan started to slide his hands beneath Callie's shirt, working his way up her hips with a gentle touch. His touch sent a shiver of anticipation through Callie's body, and she let herself moan in excitement. She knew she was losing control of herself, and as much as she wanted this, she knew she shouldn't fool around with Logan. Callie placed her hands down on his. "Easy there, killer. What's the rush? It's only noon."
"It's noon?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, closer to quarter past, why?"
Logan closed his eyes as he kissed her again, slowly. With wonderful, sure pressure, he slid his hand over her back and held her against himself. The slow movement of his tongue against hers made Callie feel like Logan was stealing one last kiss before leaving. "I have a meeting with the brewery manager and one of our suppliers at noon."
"Well, maybe we can pick this back up later," Callie said. Maybe she should take this as a sign to slow things down. Kissing him was one thing, but the more she kissed him, the more she wanted. A few more minutes of this and she'd be on top of him in the bedroom.
"I think I can put off the meeting for a few minutes," Logan said. As if he were punctuating his sentence, Logan kissed her again, lightly biting her lower lip as he sealed his mouth against hers. He slid his tongue against hers again, surprising Callie Callie with his tenderness.
With each passing moment, each motion of Logan's hands and movement of his tongue, Callie gave in more and more to her desire for him. While at first she had been content to sneak in a kiss, now she wanted more. Callie pressed her hips against Logan's and could feel the heat of his arousal. She could tell he was getting hard. Callie let out a little gasp of excitement. As she ground against Logan, she listened to his hurried breaths, as frantic as her heartbeats, and she wondered if it was possible for him to want her as badly as she wanted him. She ran her fingers over his shirt and felt the ripples of his abs. Every inch of his body was perfect. She wanted nothing more than to grab him and pull him into the bedroom, or, hell, even have him right there in the kitchen, but she had to give herself one last chance. She pushed him back.
"Go take your meeting. I'll be around when you get back."
"I hadn't planned on wearing last night's clothes to the meeting. How do I look?"
Callie smiled at him. "You look like you just spent the night somewhere."
"Well, as long as no one finds out it was by myself on a couch, I'll survive," Logan said. He walked back over to her and planted another kiss on her lips. Callie felt that warmth melt through her again as Logan held himself against her. As he pulled back from the kiss, he smiled. "Try not to fall apart without me," he said with that mischievous grin back on his face.
"I only seem to fall apart when you're here," Callie said, realizing the truth of her statement only after it had passed her lips. "God forbid I actually spend my vacation relaxing."
"I'll have nothing of the sort," Logan said. He walked over to the door and took a long look at Callie before stepping outside.
What is he thinking? she wondered. As fun as this is, remember that it's all a game. A fun game but still a game. It didn't have to mean anything. She wasn't falling for him. She just wanted him the way he wanted her. There was a difference, she told herself, a difference Logan would appreciate. Although she had to keep him out of the press, she wasn't going to try to change him. In fact, she wanted him just the way he was.
Before Callie could do anything else, Logan popped back through the door. "Hey," he said, "before I go, I just wanted to say I'd love to do something later. Maybe you could come with me into town. Or we could head out to my boat. I just realized that you haven't been out there yet.
"I'm not sure I'm up to going into town today, and forget about the water. Just imagining the waves is enough to make me nauseous."
Logan laughed. "You seemed to be doing pretty well a moment ago."
"That was different. You were able to distract me from the headache. You must have some kind of go-to hangover cure."
"Yeah, I either jog or row."
"Both of those sound awful."
"It's generally not fun, but I always feel better after. The key is building up a sweat."
"I can think of better ways," Callie said.
"Should I cancel the meeting and help you with that?"
"You really do have a one-track mind. Go. I'll see you later."
"Before I do, I just wanted to know if you're going to pretend that kiss didn't happen either."
"It depends on whether or not you continue to annoy me," Callie said. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for another kiss. If he decided to stay, she wouldn’t stop him. “We can pretend that last one didn’t happen if you’d like.”
“So if I annoy you, you’ll keep kissing me? It’s a tempting
proposition.” As much as he said that, Logan knew better than to try to push his luck, and he headed out the door toward the dock.
Callie retreated to her room to find her phone and try to catch up on any messages she might have missed during her long night, but when she tried to read through the emails, she felt even worse than she had before. There was no use making herself nauseous trying to read junk mail, she thought. Callie headed to the bathroom, figuring maybe she'd feel better if she splashed some cold water on her face.
Callie placed her phone down and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a tangled mess. Her makeup had all worn off overnight, and she looked terrible. If she had noticed how bad she looked, she never would have let Logan kiss her. She wouldn't have let Logan even look at her, and yet he had kissed her anyway, and she had felt beautiful. She wondered how Logan had had that effect on her. Was it years of practice or was it something more? She sincerely doubted that Logan made a habit out of kissing hung-over women to make them feel better. From everything he had said, he was more a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. Yet he had done neither of those things.
Callie didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed with Logan. Either way, she knew she had crossed a line. The first kiss in the bar, that could be explained away. It was a bet, and she was set on winning it, besides she had kissed him and not the other way around. It wasn't that she hadn't expected Logan to try something at some point, she just hadn't expected to enjoy it so much. She had also thought she'd see it coming.
Maybe a long, warm shower would help her clear her head, she thought. There was little chance it could make her feel worse.
As Callie scrubbed and scoured her skin, trying to wipe away any lingering regrets about the night before, she couldn't stop thinking about Logan and about the way she had felt as he had run his hands over her body. His touch was electric, exhilarating, and she had wanted to feel more. That desire frightened her. She felt like she was losing control of herself, like Logan had some special sway over her. She knew if she followed that desire, she'd get both of them in a world of trouble. All she had to do was keep herself out of tempting situations.
And though her thoughts wandered, Callie couldn't deny that the shower had made her feel better. She just wanted to wash away all the stress of not knowing what to do next. Shit, what am I getting myself into?
She stayed in the shower for far longer than necessary. The warmth felt good, and the rushing water soothed her. She knew that sooner or later she'd have to get out and figure out what to do about Logan and her job and everything that seemed to be spiraling out of control, but for the moment, she was glad to bask in the simple pleasure of great water pressure. As long as she stayed in the shower, nothing could go wrong. No one would need to know about the kiss with Logan or the other one the night before that. No one would need to know about the longing she felt deep inside for something more.
Her phone buzzed. Ugh, I don't know if I can deal with this right now. Reluctantly, she turned off the water, grabbed a towel and stepped out to get the phone. She looked at the screen for a moment, just long enough to see who was calling. Shit, she had been caught.
***
Callie stared at her phone as it buzzed on the bathroom’s marble countertop. Charlotte was calling. Callie had promised to call her the night before to let her know how everything went at the bar. Maybe she had had a good night herself and wouldn't remember the missed call. There was only one way to find out.
"Hello?" Callie said. She tried to sound as cheerful and awake as possible.
"Someone had a good night last night," Charlotte said.
"Do I sound that bad?" Callie asked. She stopped trying to sound energetic.
"The only time I've heard you sound like this..." Charlotte trailed off. "Wait a second you didn't? Did you? You did! You and him!"
"I'm not sure you'll believe what I did."
"What or who?" Charlotte replied.
Callie laughed. "That is so unfunny at the moment. Yes, you're right. My head is spinning right now. I don't know if it's because I'm hung-over or because I threw myself at Logan last night."
"And he threw himself on top of you?"
"No, he was a complete gentleman."
"How disappointing," Charlotte said. "I was hoping for details."
“Did Mr. Darcy leave you wanting?” Callie joked.
“As always, but let’s not talk about my love, let’s talk about yours.”
“So I kissed him and he kissed me back and then he slept on the couch. This morning, while I looked and sounded terrible, he came over to me, told me I was beautiful and kissed me or I kissed him. It’s all blurry at the moment.”
"And, how was it?"
"Incredible. Charlotte, it was unbelievably good. It made me forget about everything else, the hangover, the job, all of it. It was so good."
"So why are you talking to me instead of kissing him some more?" Charlotte asked.
"He had to go to work. Thank God. I don't know if I would have been able to hold back if he had stayed. I need someone to talk some sense into me. If I call Amy she'll kill me, and she'll probably send herself into early labor and blame me for it for the rest of my life. Tell me that I can't let anything more happen with him. Just convince me of that."
"Ok, ok, easy there," Charlotte said. "Let's take this one step at a time. Do you like him?"
"Yeah. Remember how I thought he was cocky and self-absorbed? He's actually kind of sweet, and he's funny, and, God, that kiss was amazing."
"So what's the problem?"
"I'm not supposed to get involved with him. What if Amy found out? What if Hank found out? What if things go great with Logan, but then he finds out that I work for his father and have been lying to him this whole time? What if he ends up hating me forever?"
"Take a deep breath. You're not marrying him, Callie. You both happen to be young and attractive. If you think he's smart and funny, then he's smart and funny. You got shipped off to Newport against your will, and now you have a chance to enjoy yourself. Why not take it?"
"Because I know I shouldn't."
"It's not like you're lying to a saint here. Isn't his motto 'love 'em and leave 'em?' I'm more worried about you falling for him than I am about you hurting his feelings. Why don't you allow yourself to have a little fun? The Callie Haven I once knew loved to have fun. Then she took a job working a thousand hours a week for her older sister and forgot all about having a social life."
"Before I worked for Amy, I worked at a big law firm. I worked just as many hours."
"Yeah, but afterward you were able to go out and blow off some steam. When was the last time you went on a date, a real date and not some sting operation?"
"It's been a while," Callie said.
"And how long has it been since you've met a guy that you really liked?"
"Even longer," Callie said.
"So enjoy yourself a little. How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you aren't living your life? I think you've forgotten how this is supposed to work. Me: shy, bookish, a little bit sassy. You: pretty, outgoing, full of stories. I need a story, Callie. Amy doesn't have to know. Just as long as you and Logan aren't running naked through the streets, you'll be fine. "
"Public nudity isn't really my thing," Callie said.
"Well, if it happens to be his, feel free to send pictures," Charlotte said.
"If he does something like that. I think I'll have to handcuff him to his bed," Callie said. As soon as the words left her lips, she knew how Charlotte would twist her words.
"Now we're talking," Charlotte said. "I'm sure he has a pair of handcuffs in his bedroom anyway."
"Not how I meant it, and you know that," Callie said. She shook her head and laughed.
"Yeah, right. What was it Freud said?" Charlotte asked.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar?" Callie said. She wasn't sure she wanted to know where Charlotte was heading with this.
"Not when it belongs to Logan H
arris," Charlotte said. Before Callie could reply, she added, "Have some fun. Live a little. Kiss him again and tell me what happens. Just don't fall in love with him."
“Why does everyone keep telling me that? It’s about the last thing on my mind right now."
"Good, I'm sure you can find more interesting things to fall into with him anyway, like maybe a bed."
"Repeat this to no one," Callie said. "This conversation never happened."
"Ooh, that sounds so official," Charlotte said, "I feel like I'm on one of your secret missions. This is where I say 'What conversation?' and you reply, "Exactly,' right? Kind of like I'd say I have no recollection of any conversations about you falling for an attractive billionaire heir, right?"
"Exactly," Callie said. She listened to Charlotte giggle and end the call. Callie waited for a moment and looked at herself in the half-fogged mirror. "I am not falling for Logan Harris," she said. She gave herself a smile. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to let herself have a little fun. "Repeat after me," she said to her reflection, "No matter what happens, it didn't happen."
Exactly.
Eight
Callie stood at the island in the middle of the kitchen, leaning over a mug of ginger tea. A long nap had cured her hangover, and she had even managed to eat a full meal. After reading and lying around, she was starting to feel restless. She thought about going for a jog, but it had been raining on and off, and she didn't feel like getting stranded outside in a downpour. Besides, she had been looking out the window toward the dock every few minutes, waiting for Logan's return. She tried to tell herself that it was her job to stay close to him, to keep track of what he was doing, but she knew she wanted him to come back for other reasons.
