Silk Scarves and Seduction

by Shiloh Walker

  “Bo…”

  Her voice broke as she screamed, “Damn it, let me up!”

  Logan’s face went blank and he slowly withdrew. Bo scrambled out from under him and climbed from the bed. With stiff, jerky motions, she grabbed a shirt from the foot of the bed and shoved her arms into it. She groaned as his scent surrounded her. Her hands shook as she tried to button it. Shaking too badly to manage it, she ended up just overlapping the edges and crossing her arms over her chest to keep it closed.

  “Bo? Look at me.” She jumped as Logan moved closer and when her eyes met his, she had that deer-in-the-headlights look.

  He reached for her and she backed away so fast, she tripped over her feet. Logan tried to catch her but she smacked at his hands. She stumbled away a little bit and said, “This is insane.”

  “No.” He kept his voice soft as he closed the distance between them. “This is the sanest thing I’ve done in quite a while. I love you.”

  She flinched a little and hugged herself even tighter when he reached out for her. But oddly enough, that made him feel a little bit better. He knew Bo—better than she knew herself. He knew that look in her eyes. He’d seen it before.

  She was scared. Bo didn’t handle scared very well.

  Had she looked like that when she’d run away from him four years ago? He captured her face in his hands and used his thumbs to arch her face upward. Still her eyes wouldn’t meet his. Nervous too. “Why did you run away, Bo?”

  “I didn’t run.” Finally, her eyes met his and her chin went up stubbornly. “I had an assignment.”

  “Yeah, good excuse. And was part the assignment refusing to take my calls? Refusing to call me back? Hanging up on me? Was that part of your assignment too?” Logan asked. “What about coming back home and hooking up with my cousin? Was that an assignment?”

  He wasn’t mad, though. It was the first time he hadn’t gotten mad when he thought about her with David. “No answer for me, Bo?” He rubbed a thumb over her lower lip. She jerked back and ended up hitting the wall. Logan followed her, pinning her there.

  Her face was hotly flushed and her eyes glittered up at him. “What do you want me to say? Fine. I ran away from you. So what?”

  “I already know you ran,” he muttered. He dipped his head and licked her lips, tracing the outline of them with his tongue. “I’ve known that since it happened. Now I want you to tell me why. Although I think I already know.”

  If she could have melted into the wall, she would have done so, Logan mused. She had already pressed herself hard and flat up against it, holding herself completely rigid. He didn’t have to ask anything else—he knew.

  Bo didn’t handle deep emotions well. They scared the hell out of her. She had closed herself off when she’d lost her mother and even though she might let people matter to her, she still kept them at a careful distance. That was why she was marrying David. She wouldn’t have to worry about completely falling in love with him.

  That was why she’d run from him—she didn’t want to let Logan in. She loved him just as much as he loved her. Knowing how badly she handled any kind of serious commitment, he knew love terrified her. “You want to know why I think you ran?” he murmured against her ear. “I’ll tell you.”

  Bo simply closed her eyes and dropped her head. Logan laughed and slid his arms around her waist. He nuzzled her neck and said, “I’m starting to figure it out but why don’t you tell me?”

  She muttered softly, “This whole mess is insane, Logan, you know that?”

  “Answer me, Bo. Tell me why you ran.”

  Bo lifted her head a little and glared at him from under her lashes. He kissed her nose and continued trying to cajole it out of her.

  Logan didn’t do playful much and it was a good thing. That charming smile, his whispered demands were just a little too endearing. She was trying to remember what he’d done—kidnapped her, hauled her off to some cabin by a lake—and she still wasn’t sure she completely understood the reasons.

  Liar. She remembered the look in his eyes when she had put her ring on. Fury. Possession. Jealousy. Yeah, possessiveness was definitely one of the reasons he’d done this but not because of some weird competition thing. He really did love her. Suddenly, her throat went tight and she had to struggle to get air in.

  Love. The real thing. It was something Bo had avoided most of her life, even if she didn’t like to admit it. His hand pressed against her cheek and he eased her face back up to his. “Look at me, Bo. Don’t be afraid.”

  Afraid? She wheezed out a harsh breath of air and blinked, trying to focus on his face. Afraid didn’t really cover it. Terrified did. Yeah, terrified was good.

  “You and me, we can do this. Hell, we’ve been handling it most of our lives. Doing it together can’t be any harder than doing it apart.”

  His lips touched hers and she mumbled against his mouth, “Wanna bet?”

  Logan laughed. His other arm wrapped around her waist and he pulled her tight against him. He’d managed to slip his hand inside her shirt so his arm was pressed against her naked back and her breasts were crushed against his chest. “Yeah, why not? I’ve been going without you for years, Bo, and it’s hell. I don’t want to do it anymore.” He bit her earlobe gently and then muttered, “Come on, Bo. Tell me.”

  She turned her head and murmured into his ear, so softly, so quietly, she wasn’t sure he could even hear her. But by the look on his face when he looked down at her, he’d heard her.

  He bent his head and whispered against her lips, “That will work for now. But sooner or later, I’m going to make you scream it.”

  Epilogue

  “Ouch.”

  David looked up from the ring in his hand to find Dusty staring at him from the doorway. Outside, he could hear a car door slam. From the window, he could see the drive and he couldn’t resist moving to watch as Logan held the door open for Bo.

  His right hand was throbbing and his knuckles looked a little swollen. That pain was nothing to what he felt inside though, as he watched Logan drive away with Bo at his side. As much as it hurt, David couldn’t say he was too surprised.

  “You eavesdrop too much,” he said tiredly to his cousin as Dusty walked into the room and joined David at the window.

  Dusty just shrugged. “Bad habit.” They watched until neither of them could see the car anymore. Dusty was the first to move. He turned and braced his back against the wall next to the window, staring at David with sympathetic eyes.

  “Neither of them wanted to hurt you,” Dusty said softly. “Logan’s always loved her, though.”

  David cocked a brow. “So have I.”

  “But she doesn’t love you. Not like she loves him.” He glanced back out the window and sighed, a deep, hard sigh that made his shoulders rise and fall. “Got to admit, though, you’re handling it better than I would have. I would have done more than punch him.”

  Flexing his fingers, David said, “He’s still got a jaw like a rock.”

  “Goes well with his head.” Dusty pushed off the wall and shifted back and forth on his feet. “You okay with this?”

  Now David laughed. “Okay?” he repeated. He smiled bitterly and shook his head. “No. I’m not okay. But what can I do?” Now his smile turned sad. He went back to contemplating the ring in his hand. “Like you said, she doesn’t love me. And I guess I always knew that. Doesn’t mean I’m okay with it. Or that I have to like it.”

  “This love crap totally bites, if you ask me,” Dusty said.

  David just smiled. “I’ll drink to that.”

  Suddenly Dusty grinned. “Hey, why don’t we do just that? Logan’s got a bottle of scotch stashed away that he’s been saving. Why don’t we drink to the happy couple?”

  David started to say no. Then he stopped and thought about what he’d just lost to Logan. The least Logan owed him was a good stiff drink. He tucked the ring away in his pocket and said, “Yeah, let’s do that.”

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