Break (Lakefield Book 3)

by Jennifer Vester

  “Stubborn and bossy? I’ve already figured that one out.”

  He chuckled again. “Yes, a lot of that, but only with you. You bring it out in me in the most animalistic way.”

  I wasn’t ready to say I missed him too. I had, I realized, but it was too soon for me.

  He had given me a lot to process and it wasn’t going to be easy to admit anything to him. I thought about the baby and what that may mean in this whole equation. Until I had more evidence I would keep it to myself.

  My head tilted up and looked at him. He had sad eyes that roamed over my face. I gave him a tentative kiss on his lip and pulled back. That was all I could give him right now.

  “I have to go to work Logan.”

  He nodded. “Good thing, or I might drag you into the bedroom and show you how much I missed you. You drive me crazy, like no other woman has before or ever will.”

  He had no idea how much the same was true for me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We drove into town with his big Jeep. There were a few people that turned to look. In a small place like this, everyone was familiar, if only subconsciously, of the familiar vehicles owned by residents.

  It was also very distinctive. It was one of the security firm’s vehicles that they used in the area according to Logan. For what exactly, I didn’t know and was probably better off remaining ignorant on that point. Holden managed that group, and above him was Aiden, so I assumed that Logan’s entire group of friends knew he was here. I also knew that if that were true, he wouldn’t be here if they thought it was a bad idea.

  They had punched him. That thought made me smirk for some reason.

  He helped me out of the vehicle when we pulled up in front of Dr. Fuller’s office. I didn’t consider myself that short but compared to Logan’s lanky body I truly was. He slid in and out of the vehicle with ease and I had to get some help. I didn’t mind though with the amount of snow on the ground. I was likely to tumble in it face first if I attempted it on my own.

  We walked into the office and Becca’s eyes immediately drifted to Logan. She threw a smile on her face and greeted him like he was meat on a platter just for her.

  “Hello there! I’m Becca, what can I do for you?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Becca, this is Dr. Logan Matthews. He’s in town visiting for a while.”

  Logan seemed to take exception to that and put a hand on the middle of my lower back.

  “Yes, a very long while. I’ll be moving here. Nice to meet you Becca.”

  Becca blinked at him like she hadn’t heard a word he had said. “Oh, great. That would be lovely. I’m sure you’ll find the residents more than friendly.”

  I took a deep breath and walked around the counter. “When is Dr. Fuller’s last appointment today Becca?”

  She blinked, as if coming out of some fantasy in her head. The thought of her anywhere near Logan brought on feelings of jealousy.

  I need to just chill out. Don’t think about it.

  “Uhm, sorry Kate,” she smiled. “Here fairly soon. I think he may have rescheduled due to the forecast.”

  I nodded and gathered the files on the desk.

  “Oh, hey, I heard about your news, I—”

  I cut her off immediately.

  “We’ll talk about it girl to girl later.” I smiled and winked at her. I faked a conspiratorial look, hoping she would think I wanted to divulge all the details to her gossip group later. The last thing I needed right now was for her to blurt that out in front of Logan.

  “Absolutely! Can’t wait!” she clapped her hands together and got her purse. “I’ll be over at the diner. You should come. I’m telling you, totally worth it. Plus all those law enforcement officers. Yummy!”

  “Hmm, maybe.”

  “Okay see you later! She bounced around the counter and gave Logan a once over that raised my hackles. Then as she was about to leave she looked back at his ass and mouthed “holy shit” before leaving.

  I wanted to scratch her eyes out for absolutely no reason.

  “She seems…nice?” Logan said.

  “Uh-huh. Like a cat in heat. She’s also lazy and runs the local gossip group. Anything you say can and will get around town.”

  He laughed. “Why did she want you to go to the diner?”

  I cleared my throat and didn’t look at him. “She and her friends like to sit over there and ogle the guys. She said that there have been a few law enforcement people around and there’s some good-looking plow driver that they’ve been stalking.”

  Logan tapped his fingers on the counter. “Do you think he’s good-looking?”

  My eyes looked over at him. He was staring down at me as if he was getting angry about something.

  “He may be but I’ve never seen him. I don’t hang out with them.”

  He seemed to relax. It was in the way his shoulders eased just slightly. Enough that I noticed but I’m not sure anyone else would have.

  “And the law enforcement people?”

  I shook my head. “I have no idea. Becca said something about a body being found on the highway.”

  Logan’s eyebrows drew together in a frown.

  He opened his mouth to say something but Dr. Fuller came into the office. “Hello Kate my darling!”

  I smiled at him.

  He immediately went over to Logan and stuck his hand out. “I’m Dr. Fuller. How can we help you?”

  Logan took his hand and shook it. “Doc, I’m not sure if you have anything for this, but I’m suffering from a broken heart, anything to fix that?”

  Dr. Fuller looked surprised then played along. He looked like he was thinking hard about it. “A good woman, chocolate or a lobotomy. Kate is single, try that first.”

  Logan laughed. “Hmm, I will. I’m Dr. Matthews back home. Logan to my friends. I’m likely going to be moving here soon. I have licenses in both states. Can you tell me about the local medical facilities? I’m afraid I haven’t looked around yet.”

  “Oh! Family medicine?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Well come with me, I have options.”

  Logan followed him out of the room and turned back to give me a smirk.

  He was such trouble. Maybe he really was thinking about moving here.

  I knew Dr. Fuller would keep my “news” to himself. He wouldn’t breach the patient, doctor, confidentiality rule. Becca was going to be a problem though. If she knew, then half the town would know within a couple of days. It was forcing my decision to tell Logan and I didn’t like it at all. I needed to see where our strange relationship went without interference.

  I worked on the files Becca had left and was wrapping up when Dr. Fuller’s patient walked in forty-five minutes later. She had a check-up that was due about on a toe injury she had sustained while hiking a few weeks ago.

  I buzzed Dr. Fuller’s office. He and Logan walked out and shook hands.

  “We’ll be seeing you very shortly Dr. Matthews, I have no doubt.”

  Logan chuckled, “You’ve given me a lot to think about, thank you sir.”

  When the patient walked to the back office, Logan turned to me. “Dr. Fuller said this is the last one for today and we can head out afterward.”

  I eyed him. “I’ve only been here about an hour and he never shuts down early.”

  He shrugged. “He’s making an exception today. Besides, I want to take you to the diner for a late lunch. Hopefully we won’t run into Becca.”

  I looked around. “Uhm, maybe we can save that for another day.”

  “Okay. Whatever you want.”

  His phone rang and he looked at it. “Hmm, I have to take this.”

  “No problem.”

  He answered. “Hey man.”

  He moved toward the door and looked out through the window.

  “Yeah, go ahead. Bad news or good news?”

  He listened for a while. A long while and then stiffened. “Can you repeat that? I think I heard you wrong.”

  He listened
again and then ran a hand through his hair. “No, I’m still here. I’m just—I don’t know. Shocked.”

  I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation because Dr. Fuller’s patient walked out and made another appointment for the next month.

  I entered the information into the computer like I did for all patients. We kept meticulous records on everyone, both electronically and in paper form. After she left I breached protocol and looked at my own records. There it was in black and while staring at me from the screen. “Patient is pregnant. 8-10 weeks on assessment. Sending bloodwork to lab. Appointment pending.”

  I clicked off the screen and noticed Logan was suddenly at the counter.

  He gave me a tight smile. “Ready?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled. “You okay?”

  He nodded slowly, just looking at me. “Good. Really good.”

  Whatever it was, he wasn’t sharing. It might have been a call from the clinic in Lakefield in which case it was confidential.

  I gathered my purse and told the doctor goodbye.

  We loaded up in the Jeep. Logan easily, but I had to have help again. He was very gentle about it and even buckled me in. He double checked it twice.

  “It’s fine Logan. I’m sure I won’t fall out anytime soon.”

  He got into the driver’s seat, started it and waited for a moment while it warmed up.

  “Did you say there was a used book store in town?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  He was still looking through the front window and turned to me to smile. “Excellent, where is it at?”

  I gave him directions and we pulled up out front. Once again, he came over to help me out of the truck. This time he slid me against him as he lowered me to the ground.

  He had a mischievous look on his face and chuckled when I shivered.

  Hmm.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. He had done it on purpose, knowing what kind of reaction I would have. I briefly wondered what he was playing at before he picked me up.

  “Oh! Logan put me down.”

  “Just making sure you don’t fall. It’s going to be getting icy soon.”

  I hit his arm once and he laughed. There was that laugh I had been dreaming about for over a month. That smile that radiated out of him. The one that made me want to smile with him because I could feel his happiness deep within me.

  “I can walk by myself. I’ve been doing it for a while.”

  He put a hand on my hip and turned me toward the door to the shop.

  We walked in and I wondered why we were here. He was whistling to himself then flashed a smile at the clerk. She nearly fell over the counter gazing at him.

  “Non-fiction?”

  She pointed, obviously unable to speak. My strange jealousy resurfaced and I grimaced. Unfortunately, Logan was looking at me when I did.

  He laughed again. “You kill me. Deny all you want babe but you still like me.”

  I growled at him and turned toward the fiction section. “I’m going to look for a book.”

  “Okay, make it a steamy romance. We can act it out later.”

  I stiffened and turned back to him. He gave me a wink and walked off. The clerk was still looking at him as we went. She turned to me in a state of pure lust.

  This was getting worse. We would probably have half the town’s single women knocking on the door to the cabin by nightfall.

  I browsed through the selections in the romance section. I hovered over a book that I knew was definitely steamy and debated with myself. If I was going to purchase it, it was a decision toward furthering things with him. In fact, it was willingly admitting that things were going to progress.

  My phone beeped. Probably Andi, no one else knew this number for the most part.

  I opened it.

  Incoming picture from Logan. Ahh gawd. This again. How the hell did he even get his name and number programmed in my phone so fast?

  Taking a deep breath, I opened it.

  He was sticking his tongue out at me in front of an alien conspiracy book. I laughed.

  I sent him one back.

  Several minutes passed as I continued to look. I had the steamy book in my hand, still debating.

  My phone beeped again.

  I grinned and opened it up. Incoming picture from Logan.

  My mouth dropped open and I froze.

  He was clearly in the bathroom. He had his coat off and his jeans unbuckled. I could see the bottom of his grey shirt. The shocking part was he had his cock in his hand and he was hard as a rock.

  Logan: Get something steamy Kaitlyn.

  My hand went out to steady myself against a bookcase and I dismissed the picture. What was it with him and pictures?

  My phone beeped again.

  Logan: Want to show me yours?

  I shook my head like he could see me. I looked at the book in my hand and turned to put it back, then paused.

  I could hear him whistling across the store

  Evil man.

  Book. Yes or no. It seemed like he was giving me the choice. Would he care if I didn’t get it right now? Maybe not, given our earlier conversation. He seemed to be making plans to stay.

  I walked up to the counter with my book and purchased it.

  My cheeks burned as she slipped it into a bag. Rather than waiting at the counter in embarrassment, I walked over toward the windows and looked out. The snow was getting thicker. We needed to head home.

  I heard Logan purchasing his own books. He placed a hand on my back when he was ready to go and steered us out the door.

  Again, he helped me into the Jeep and again, he double checked the belt. I was beginning to wonder if he was OCD.

  He climbed in whistling to himself and put his bag in the back. When he was done he leaned over and brushed his lips against my neck.

  I shivered. Even that small touch was enough to send chills through my body.

  “I think we need to get something to eat. I’m starving,” he said, while he played with the hair on the side of my face.

  The thought of going to the diner was a little scary. I didn’t really want to deal with Becca and her friends if they were still there, but there were really no other choices. Brock was right when he said that it was a very small town.

  “Uhm.”

  “Just humor me, you’re probably starving and I’m going to be if we don’t get something soon. You need to eat, you’re too small.”

  He backed out of the parking space and headed down the street.

  I looked at him questioningly. “Too small? I thought you said to wear baggy nurse’s scrubs because my thighs were big. It was the day you came into the PT room and I was wearing yoga pants.”

  He smiled, “Ahh, no. I told you to put on those pants so that half the men you worked with wouldn’t stare at your ass. It drove me nuts thinking someone was looking at you.”

  “But we weren’t together. I mean, you were acting like I was the last person you wanted to see half the time.”

  “No, I just—I don’t know. It was a fucked-up time for me. Like I said, I wanted you the moment I saw you Kate, but you’re really young and I was not in a good place. It just seemed like leaving you alone was the best thing for both of us. Problem was, every time I saw you I got hard as a rock and didn’t want to temp myself. Then you bumped into me and all I thought about was being with you. It was like torture half the time watching you talk to other guys.”

  I frowned and looked through the window for a moment. “Yeah but that’s the job.”

  He shook his head. “It sucked. I know it was your job, I just didn’t want anyone to get near you. Then I saw you out a few times and it drove me crazy. That dress you wore to Julia’s concert, the pink one you wore to Aiden’s wedding, and that fucking black one you wore to the bar. I swear, all three times I just wanted to throw you over my shoulder and lock you in my room.”

  I bit my lip. That explained some of his strange behavior back in Lakefield. I hadn’t really thought of it that w
ay because I was too busy thinking he hated me. Maybe the girls had caught on a little better than I had and that’s why they were always laughing about it. It wasn’t me, it was that he was trying not to get near me because he was attracted.

  He turned into the parking lot at the diner. There were thankfully not that many cars out front. Becca and her friends might have gone home for the evening.

  Logan shut off the engine and turned to me.

  “Kate, I know I fucked up with you. I don’t know how to explain what I did or why. I can only tell you how I felt. It was hard not to be near you, even when I knew I shouldn’t be. I didn’t want you to be with anyone else but I didn’t want you to see what I had become either. I honestly thought I could handle it. I thought maybe if you got some boyfriend or something I could step away but that was never going to happen. I just didn’t see it at the time.”

  I blinked at him, thinking. “Okay. But you pushed me away.”

  He sighed. “Worst mistake of my life and one I won’t be repeating again.”

  “Where did you go the next morning?”

  He ran a hand through his hair and opened his mouth to answer, then promptly shut it again.

  His eyes looked into mine. “It’s the past Kaitlyn. I’m not like that anymore but I’ll tell you. I went to go pick up some more Oxycontin from one of those reps I had been dating. She had it and I thought I was out. I couldn’t find any in the house the night we had sex. I felt like shit and I was coming down from some of the effects. I got up in the morning and went to go get some more. She knew I needed it, we had a couple of shots while I was waiting for that skank to get it for me. I got a bottle and she wanted more.”

  I inhaled sharply and put a hand to my chest.

  Logan leaned over and slid an arm around me. He pulled me forward so that our faces were close together. I was trying to breathe.

  “Sweetheart, I didn’t do anything with her. I couldn’t. The moment she even suggested it I felt repulsed. I knew I wanted you. All I could think about was getting home to you and crawling into bed beside you. I wanted to touch you again so badly and I wanted inside of you again. That woman might have gotten what she wanted if I hadn’t touched you the night before, but after I had one taste of you, it was all over. All I wanted to do was bury myself inside of you for days.”