*
Emma rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her body was telling her that she needed to take a break. The words on the screen were blurry and she couldn’t go more than two minutes without yawning. Her focus was shot. But none of that was going to extend her deadline, so she needed to push through. White-knuckle her way through every word she typed, if it came to that.
Really, her focus was the most frustrating. All she could think about was—wait for it—Logan. Not just the night they’d spent together, which in and of itself would drive any woman to distraction. But the thing that was really weighing on her was how he’d acted when they’d gotten the call from Amanda about Drew. More importantly, how she’d continued to act.
To sum her behavior up in one word: brat.
She’d heard herself talking, had been aware of how she was being, but she’d had something like an out-of-body experience; like she was watching herself from the outside, totally helpless to stop it.
It had started when Logan had said that she was not going out by herself at night. For some reason, that had triggered the brat in her. She’d been rude, and although she’d thanked him when they’d gotten home…well, it had been less than sincere.
Then, while she had been getting Drew settled in bed, he’d gone to the only all-night convenience store—without her even asking—and picked up Sprite, saltine crackers, Pedialyte, and stomach medicine.
When she’d seen his purchases, instead of thanking him profusely, which would’ve been the right response to his generous and kind actions, what had she done? She’d asked why he hadn’t gotten 7UP instead.
Yep. She had done that.
And had he gotten mad? Nope. He’d just looked at her strangely and offered to go back out to the store.
She’d said that it was fine and fixed the things he’d bought for Drew. The entire time she’d been at the counter in the kitchen, she’d felt him. As much as her inner voice had been screaming at her to turn around and apologize, she hadn’t. After she’d put some crackers on a paper towel with the medicine, filled a cup with ice, and made a half-Sprite, half-Pedialyte drink, she’d brushed past him to Drew’s room without saying a word.
Then, last night for dinner, he’d made chicken soup. And after almost twenty minutes of nothing on TV sounding good to Drew, Logan had performed a major magic trick and pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the form of the cinematic masterpiece, Ghostbusters.
Drew had never seen it, and not only had it taken his mind off how crappy—literally—he felt, he’d gotten so worn out from laughing that he fell asleep on the couch. Logan had then picked him up, carried him to his room, and laid him down with the expertise of someone who had his own kids.
One would think that that kind of chivalry would’ve deserved a thanks, and one would be right. But had she expressed her gratitude?
Nope, she hadn’t.
She’d simply nodded and curtly said goodnight before heading into her room and shutting the door. And in the spirit of full disclosure, she would’ve slammed it if her under-the-weather son hadn’t been sleeping in the next room.
All night, she’d tossed and turned in her bed; the bed that still had his scent on the sheets. The bed she and Logan had made love in three times. The bed that, if she was being honest, felt lonely without him in it. As self-aware as she prided herself being, she had no idea why she was acting like this.
She dismissed every possibility she came up with. So she began pacing the room, trying to come up with what was behind her behavior.
Was she scared because the sex had been so powerful and intimate?
No. She wasn’t. In fact, if anything, she was grateful to Logan for having shown her that just because Andrew had died, she hadn’t. He’d made her feel alive. Truly alive.
For so long, she’d solely identified herself as Drew’s mom. Most of the time, she felt like her only purpose on earth was to take care of him. Which was fine. Becoming that little boy’s mom was the best thing that had ever happened to her. But last night, she’d been reminded that she was also a woman. A very desired woman.
“Ugh,” she sighed as she sank back into her chair.
The answers weren’t revealing themselves and she needed to work. If she had a shot at finishing both books, she needed to quiet the noise in her head and just work. She would just try and avoid Logan until she figured out what was wrong with her and put all of her energy into her work.
Okay. Start typing.
I could feel Kade’s eyes boring into me. Not in a good way. Not in the way that made my panties wet and had my heart racing with anticipation for what he had planned next.
No. This wasn’t a sexy stare. He was pissed. Why? I had no idea. He wasn’t talking, and whenever I asked what was wrong, his answer was the same: nothing.
But he was lying. Since he’d returned from his business trip and shown up at my house for dinner an hour ago, he’d barely said two words to me. I’d tried to ignore it and enjoy the dinner I’d spent two hours cooking, but my patience was running thin. Very thin.
Sean had given me a lot to think about this weekend. He’d not only confessed his love for me two nights ago, but yesterday, he’d even mentioned marriage. Sean wanted to be with me. Not casually hook up. Really be with me.
Sean, my best friend. My first love. The first boy I’d kissed. Sure, it’d been in a game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, but still…his lips were the first ones I’d touched with mine. Sean knew me. Really knew me. He knew every secret. Every fear. Every dream.
A year ago, even a month ago, I would’ve jumped at the chance to be with him. He would’ve, in one single night, made all of my dreams come true.
But now… Now, all his confession had done was confuse the hell out of me.
I looked up at Kade. If looks could kill, they’d be taking me out in a body bag. He was seething.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I pushed the food around on my plate with my fork. The source of my confusion was giving me the silent treatment, and my irritation level was reaching its boiling point. He might not have known it, but Kade’s acting like this was making my decision a lot easier for me.
I hadn’t given Sean an answer yet. Hell, I hadn’t even slept with him. Which was really pissing me off right about now. Kade and I had never said one word about any kind of exclusivity. For all I knew, he’d hooked up with a different girl over the weekend. And if he had, there was nothing I could do about it because we didn’t have a relationship.
Well, other than going at it like bunnies on Viagra. For the last month, every time we’d seen each other, that was all we had done. Until tonight.
I didn’t understand why he’d even come over if all he was going to do was be an asshole. He could do that on his own time.
Standing up, I started clearing the table, even though neither of us had touched our food.
“What are you doing?” he asked, one cocky eyebrow raised. Like I was the crazy one.
Ugh, he was so smug. I wanted to smash this plate over his head. But I would take the high road.
“Dinner’s over.”
“I’m not done eating.” He stuck a fork in the steak I’d painstakingly prepared.
“Yes. You are.” I poured a glass of water over his food, which happened to also spill on his lap.
He deserved it.
Standing up, he brushed the water off of his crotch, and dammit if I didn’t wish I were the one cleaning him up. Why? Why did I have to be so ridiculously attracted to him?
He was a jerk. A sexy-as-sin jerk. But still a jerk.
“What is your problem?” he snapped.
“Me?” I dropped the plates on the table with a loud crash, and my hands flew up in the air. “Me? That’s priceless.” Shaking my head, I headed for the door to show my now unwanted guest out. “Look, I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, and I don’t really give a shit. You need to leave.”
My hand wrapped around the doorknob as his flattened against the door, holding it in pla
ce.
“I’m not leaving,” he said as if he were Run DMC and his word was born.
Spinning around, I glared up at him. “Yes. You are.”
The conviction in my voice slipped though. He was hovering above me, and even though my mind knew he was being an ass, my body apparently hadn’t gotten the memo.
No, I told myself. He wasn’t going to get off the hook just because he smelled like sex on a stick and his lips were so soft that, when he pressed them against mine, it was like kissing Heaven. He wasn’t going to get a free pass just because all he had to do was look at me and I ignited into flames of desire.
“I’m not leaving, Tina. Not until we talk.” His jaw was set and his eyes looked less angry and more…serious. It made my heart do backflips, and that wasn’t helping me stay mad at him.
Pushing against his chest, I yelled, “Oh, now you want to talk!?”
He didn’t even flinch. “No. Now, I want to fuck you. But we need to talk. First.”
It wasn’t a question; it was a promise. He had every intention of fucking me. I swallowed some of the saliva that had flooded my mouth, cleared my throat, and tried to hide the fact that, now, talking was the last thing I wanted to do. Asshole or not, I wanted him to take me. Up against this wall. Hard.
But I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of that knowledge. So I moved under his arm, calmly walked to the couch, and sat down.
“Fine. What do you want to talk about?”
He stayed where he was, his face unreadable as he said, “Sean.”
“What? How do you…?” I had no idea how he knew that Sean was back in town. Or why he’d even care.
“When did you plan on telling me that you got engaged this weekend?”
“Mom!” Drew called from his room. “Can I have some waffles?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right there.”
As she saved her document, all of her momentum slipped away. The bright side was that Drew was apparently feeling better. The bad news was that she had to go out into the kitchen, where there was a pretty good chance she’d have a Logan sighting.
Two days ago, she would’ve been looking forward to that possibility. Now, with how she’d been acting and not knowing why she had been acting that way, she didn’t know what to feel.
She was just as confused as Tina.
Chapter 19
‡
Logan stood back and admired his work. The bike looked good. Really good. He just had a few more finishing touches to put on it and then he would be able to take it out for a test run.
He waited for the joy that normally accompanied this final stage, but it wasn’t there. All he felt was… He didn’t even know what he felt.
Something had shifted between Emma and him. He’d gone over every second since she’d received the call about Drew, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Part of him wanted to believe that it was related to his episode. That she’d seen how fucked up he was and wanted nothing to do with him.
But every time he chalked it up as that, he remembered the way she’d wrapped her arms around him and held him, the way she’d kissed him when he’d picked her up and pinned her against the wall. That explanation, although it would’ve been totally understandable, wasn’t adding up.
Then he thought she might’ve been stressed about Drew being sick. But once she’d gotten him home and he’d told them just how much he and Noah had put down, she’d seemed to have taken it in stride—other than having a serious talk with him about why what he had done was wrong and also telling him that he was going to have to do extra work around Mountain Ridge to make up for all the food he’d eaten.
Drew wasn’t the reason she was upset.
Her attitude three-sixty was definitely directed straight at him.
He might not have known the reason she was acting the way she was, but he could pinpoint the exact moment it had started. When he’d told her that she wasn’t going out at night by herself, something in her eyes had changed. And it hadn’t changed back. From that point on, it had seemed like everything he did was wrong.
He should just let it go. She had enough on her plate without dealing with him. But it was driving him crazy. Though he could take anything she dished out, it was killing him because how she was being wasn’t her. She was the sweetest, most generous, most selfless person he knew. Her acting like this meant that something was really wrong. And he wanted to fix it.
More than anything else in the world. He wanted to shield her from any pain, any suffering. If he were the one causing it, then as much as it would kill him, he would back off. He just needed to know if that was the case.
“Hey. Glad I caught you,” Charlie called out as he made his way up the driveway.
“Hey.” Logan nodded. Lucky had no problem calling this man Dad or Pops or whatever, but Logan wasn’t there yet. “What’s up?”
“I was just stopping by to see if you wanted to go out on the boat today?” Charlie asked hopefully.
“Actually, Drew’s—”
“Drew is more than welcome to come,” Charlie interrupted, taking another step forward.
It was still odd to see the man who had wanted nothing to do with him his entire life, so eager to spend time with him now. Especially since their sharing the same DNA was very apparent. Every time he saw Charlie Dorsey, Logan was basically looking at himself in thirty years. He had no idea how to process it.
“No, he can’t. I was going to say Drew’s not feeling well. So today’s not a good day for me.”
“Oh, all right.” Charlie’s face fell, but he immediately tried to cover his reaction. “Well, you tell Drew that I hope he feels better and let me know if he, or you, need anything. I’ll just be across the street.”
“I thought you were going fishing?”
“Nah, I think I’ll stick around here.” Charlie lifted his hand then headed back down the driveway.
As his father walked across the street, his shoulders slumped, and Logan felt a moment of guilt and had the passing thought that he might’ve been too hard on him. Then the words Charlie had spoken to the lawyer at the will reading played in his head and the guilt vanished as fast as it had appeared.
“Sorry,” a small voice came from the door that led into the house.
Turning, he saw Drew standing in the doorway. He was wearing the same sweats he’d had on yesterday, and he was rocking serious bedhead, but he did have more color in his face.
“Hey, bud. You feeling better?”
“Yeah.” He nodded and then looked down at his feet. “I’m sorry that you didn’t go out on the boat because of me.”
“What? No. That’s not why I didn’t go.”
When Drew’s head rose, confusion replaced his guilt. “Yeah, it is. I heard you tell your dad that.”
Shit.
Walking across the garage, Logan tried to figure out how to explain what had just happened. Shockingly, the five seconds it took before he was standing in front of the kid didn’t afford him the opportunity.
Big, brown, trusting eyes stared up at him, and he decided to go with the truth. Yes, he’d just lied to Charlie. But that didn’t mean he was a liar. And the last thing he wanted was for this kid to carry around some misplaced guilt over a missed boat trip he had nothing to do with.
Leaning against the workbench, Logan crossed his arms. “I didn’t know Charlie growing up. I only saw him one time, when I was twelve, after my mom died. Then the next time I saw him was a couple of months ago. I didn’t go out on the boat with him today because I’m not sure I want to spend the day with him.”
Turning his head towards Charlie’s cabin, Drew seemed to ponder what Logan had just told him. Finally, after a long pause, the kid directed his attention back towards Logan.
“Did he say he was sorry?”
Logan wasn’t sure what he had expected the kid to say, but that sure as hell hadn’t been it. Nodding, he said, “Yeah. He did.”
When he’d come back into his, Levi’s, and Luck
y’s lives, not only had they received letters with seemingly sincere apologies, Charlie had also apologized in person to each of them several times.
Drew lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Then you should probably go fishing with him. I would do anything to be able to go fishing with my dad.”
And with that, the kid walked back inside, closing the door behind him.
Levi and Lucky had basically told him the same thing. They’d been encouraging Logan to give Charlie a chance for a while now. Somehow, hearing it from Drew was different.
Maybe the exchange had reminded Logan of his and Andrew’s relationship. Andrew had been a talker. Drew had definitely inherited that from his dad, but when it came to advice or serious topics, Andrew had always taken a few beats, just like Drew had, before getting to the heart of the matter.
In fact, if Andrew had been there, he would have been telling him to give Charlie a chance too. Of course, if Andrew had been there, then Drew and Emma wouldn’t have been staying at his house. He never would’ve had the night he’d spent with Emma, and he wouldn’t have had to get Drew medicine or keep his mind off his stomachache by putting Ghostbusters on.
And the thing was, as wrong as both of those things should’ve felt…they didn’t. If anything, it was the exact opposite. Being with Emma felt more right than anything ever had in his life. Taking care of Drew felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.
If that didn’t make him the world’s biggest asshole, he didn’t know what would.
*
Emma tiptoed out of Drew’s room and shut the door as quietly as possible. She’d meant to just peek her head in to make sure he was asleep, but since she couldn’t tell from across the room, she’d had to go in for further investigation.
When her eyes had adjusted to the light and she noticed the drool on his pillow, she had known she was in the clear. She’d been waiting in her room for the last hour and a half until she could know for certain that her son was really out.
Standing stock-still in the hallway, Emma had two choices. Turn to the right and go to her room or turn to the left and knock on Logan’s door. All day, she’d been telling herself that she needed to apologize for how she’d been acting, but now, she felt like she had no choice.
Magic Kiss (Hope Falls Book 11) Page 19
