“If you don’t mind—”
“No, go. Shaw is already eating.”
“Okay.” He dropped his hand from the small of my back and headed for the table of food. When I looked back across the room to where Logan had stood moments ago, he was gone. I scanned the room, skipping over the dozen or so people mingling. Some standing, some sitting. He was gone. But then so was Pepper and Rachel. She must be giving them the tour of the house.
“Not hungry?” Emerson asked.
I shook my head.
“Well, that guacamole is calling my name. I’ll be back.”
I stood there by myself for a moment. An old Johnny Cash song played low on the air. Connor’s gaze met mine as he listened to something Shaw was saying. He sent me a nod and angled his body as though he was on the verge of breaking away to join me. Like a good date should do. Only I realized I didn’t want to get trapped in small talk with him just yet.
Before he could reach me, I moved out of the living room and stepped into the hall that led to the guest bathroom. It was past the study with the French doors and guest room. I heard footsteps behind me and hurried, half-afraid it was Connor following to check up on me. Fortunately, the bathroom was unoccupied. I slipped inside, but didn’t have a chance to shut the door all the way behind me.
It swung inward, and Logan slid inside before I fully realized what was happening. He locked the door behind him and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. He loomed there, staring at me almost expectantly.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You can’t be in here with me!”
“What are you doing with that tool?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me, Pearls. Did you bring him to make me jealous?”
I laughed, but the sound rang brittle, so I cut it short and just stared at him in my best imitation of my mother’s cool, principal glare.
“Hardly.” Studying his face, I could see that he was serious. For once that mocking humor was nowhere in evidence. “There is no reason for you to be jealous. We’re not a thing.”
He said nothing, just stared at me with those bitter-hard eyes. The blue was like some kind of frozen marble.
“Not a thing,” he echoed, his lips unsmiling. He usually always smiled. Even on those rare occasions when he was serious, he had that derisive smile on his lips. But not tonight. Not now.
Suddenly the bathroom felt claustrophobic. “Look. We don’t really know each other. And you agreed to back off—”
“Maybe I changed my mind.”
That made me take a step back. I laughed nervously. “Don’t be ridiculous. I have a date out there. You have . . . Rachel.” So they were just friends, but she had come here with him. “Nothing is happening here.” I motioned between us. “Nothing is going to happen here. You need to step away from the door.”
“Don’t pretend like there isn’t something here. Like we haven’t been dancing around it for weeks now, Georgia.” He jabbed a finger toward me, coming off the door, advancing. “You started this.”
I backed up, swallowing, miserable. Yeah. That night at the kink club. That kiss. And then I showed up at his baseball game like some kind of groupie.
I sucked in a deep breath. “I admit we have chemistry, but that’s not anything either one of us can’t find with someone else. Someone more appropriate.”
He tossed his head back and let loose a harsh laugh. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
I blinked, itchy heat flooding my face like swarming ants. I didn’t like being laughed at. Not like that.
He lowered his gaze back to me. “You’re fooling yourself if you think chemistry is an automatic thing you can find with anyone . . . It’s not something you can find with that asshat out there.” He looked me up and down. “I doubt you had it with your last boyfriend either. You always looked too bored when you were with him.”
I looked too bored? That was an interesting description considering Harris dumped me because he claimed I was boring.
“You have chemistry with me,” he added, “because we’d be good together.”
The air fairly crackled around us, jammed full of his provocative words.
I shook my head, marveling, “Where do you get off being so arrogant? How do you know I don’t feel it with Connor out there—”
“Because you’re in here having this conversation with me. You haven’t walked away.”
Damn. Good point. I hadn’t even tried to leave the bathroom.
“I didn’t want to cause a scene.”
“I’m not stopping you from leaving.” He waved a hand past himself.
“You want to see me walk away?” Bravado rang out in my voice and my chin went up a notch. “Watch. I know it might be a new experience for you . . . girls giving you their backs but here goes.”
I strode right past him, dodging around him, my wedge heels biting hard into the floor.
I felt as much as heard him come after me. The rush of movement sparked the air all around us like electricity, and my heart actually hurt for a second in my chest, squeezing so tightly with awareness, anxiety, and I don’t know . . . something else.
When he grabbed me and whirled me around, I started to tell him just what I thought about his inability to keep his hands to himself, but I didn’t get very far before he released my shoulder and grabbed my face. Words died in a sputtering choke as I stared into those dark blue eyes inches from mine, his big hands holding my face.
“You’re right.”
“About what?” I said distractedly, focusing way too much on that mouth of his with the deep indentation right there in the center of his top lip. God. I had tasted that mouth. I ached to do it again, only this time I wanted to run my tongue over the indentation. I didn’t do that last time. I wanted to lick and savor and nibble at it. Need for him strangled me and I knotted my hands at my sides.
“I’m not used to girls turning their backs on me.” He studied me in the hazy orange glow of the bathroom’s light.
“B-but you said I’d have to ask for this . . . for it from you. You said you wouldn’t touch me,” I reminded him, needing him to keep that promise now more than ever.
“Sometimes plans change. They have to . . .”
He brought his mouth close, his nose the barest brush on my cheek, our lips not touching, but I felt the puff of his breath as he spoke. “Do you know what you do to me, Georgia?”
“No, go. Shaw is already eating.”
“Okay.” He dropped his hand from the small of my back and headed for the table of food. When I looked back across the room to where Logan had stood moments ago, he was gone. I scanned the room, skipping over the dozen or so people mingling. Some standing, some sitting. He was gone. But then so was Pepper and Rachel. She must be giving them the tour of the house.
“Not hungry?” Emerson asked.
I shook my head.
“Well, that guacamole is calling my name. I’ll be back.”
I stood there by myself for a moment. An old Johnny Cash song played low on the air. Connor’s gaze met mine as he listened to something Shaw was saying. He sent me a nod and angled his body as though he was on the verge of breaking away to join me. Like a good date should do. Only I realized I didn’t want to get trapped in small talk with him just yet.
Before he could reach me, I moved out of the living room and stepped into the hall that led to the guest bathroom. It was past the study with the French doors and guest room. I heard footsteps behind me and hurried, half-afraid it was Connor following to check up on me. Fortunately, the bathroom was unoccupied. I slipped inside, but didn’t have a chance to shut the door all the way behind me.
It swung inward, and Logan slid inside before I fully realized what was happening. He locked the door behind him and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest. He loomed there, staring at me almost expectantly.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You can’t be in here with me!”
“What are you doing with that tool?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me, Pearls. Did you bring him to make me jealous?”
I laughed, but the sound rang brittle, so I cut it short and just stared at him in my best imitation of my mother’s cool, principal glare.
“Hardly.” Studying his face, I could see that he was serious. For once that mocking humor was nowhere in evidence. “There is no reason for you to be jealous. We’re not a thing.”
He said nothing, just stared at me with those bitter-hard eyes. The blue was like some kind of frozen marble.
“Not a thing,” he echoed, his lips unsmiling. He usually always smiled. Even on those rare occasions when he was serious, he had that derisive smile on his lips. But not tonight. Not now.
Suddenly the bathroom felt claustrophobic. “Look. We don’t really know each other. And you agreed to back off—”
“Maybe I changed my mind.”
That made me take a step back. I laughed nervously. “Don’t be ridiculous. I have a date out there. You have . . . Rachel.” So they were just friends, but she had come here with him. “Nothing is happening here.” I motioned between us. “Nothing is going to happen here. You need to step away from the door.”
“Don’t pretend like there isn’t something here. Like we haven’t been dancing around it for weeks now, Georgia.” He jabbed a finger toward me, coming off the door, advancing. “You started this.”
I backed up, swallowing, miserable. Yeah. That night at the kink club. That kiss. And then I showed up at his baseball game like some kind of groupie.
I sucked in a deep breath. “I admit we have chemistry, but that’s not anything either one of us can’t find with someone else. Someone more appropriate.”
He tossed his head back and let loose a harsh laugh. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
I blinked, itchy heat flooding my face like swarming ants. I didn’t like being laughed at. Not like that.
He lowered his gaze back to me. “You’re fooling yourself if you think chemistry is an automatic thing you can find with anyone . . . It’s not something you can find with that asshat out there.” He looked me up and down. “I doubt you had it with your last boyfriend either. You always looked too bored when you were with him.”
I looked too bored? That was an interesting description considering Harris dumped me because he claimed I was boring.
“You have chemistry with me,” he added, “because we’d be good together.”
The air fairly crackled around us, jammed full of his provocative words.
I shook my head, marveling, “Where do you get off being so arrogant? How do you know I don’t feel it with Connor out there—”
“Because you’re in here having this conversation with me. You haven’t walked away.”
Damn. Good point. I hadn’t even tried to leave the bathroom.
“I didn’t want to cause a scene.”
“I’m not stopping you from leaving.” He waved a hand past himself.
“You want to see me walk away?” Bravado rang out in my voice and my chin went up a notch. “Watch. I know it might be a new experience for you . . . girls giving you their backs but here goes.”
I strode right past him, dodging around him, my wedge heels biting hard into the floor.
I felt as much as heard him come after me. The rush of movement sparked the air all around us like electricity, and my heart actually hurt for a second in my chest, squeezing so tightly with awareness, anxiety, and I don’t know . . . something else.
When he grabbed me and whirled me around, I started to tell him just what I thought about his inability to keep his hands to himself, but I didn’t get very far before he released my shoulder and grabbed my face. Words died in a sputtering choke as I stared into those dark blue eyes inches from mine, his big hands holding my face.
“You’re right.”
“About what?” I said distractedly, focusing way too much on that mouth of his with the deep indentation right there in the center of his top lip. God. I had tasted that mouth. I ached to do it again, only this time I wanted to run my tongue over the indentation. I didn’t do that last time. I wanted to lick and savor and nibble at it. Need for him strangled me and I knotted my hands at my sides.
“I’m not used to girls turning their backs on me.” He studied me in the hazy orange glow of the bathroom’s light.
“B-but you said I’d have to ask for this . . . for it from you. You said you wouldn’t touch me,” I reminded him, needing him to keep that promise now more than ever.
“Sometimes plans change. They have to . . .”
He brought his mouth close, his nose the barest brush on my cheek, our lips not touching, but I felt the puff of his breath as he spoke. “Do you know what you do to me, Georgia?”
