Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
MIRA
I woke up to a dozen text messages and several missed calls from Anya, who was seething that she’d been left behind at Slate’s house. Wrapped in Logan’s warm embrace with only the first rays of sun creeping in through all his massive windows, I stared at my screen stupidly for a moment, wondering what she was going on about until the events of yesterday slowly tumbled back into my mind.
“Everything okay?” he asked in a sleepy whisper beside me, pulling me closer with the arm draped around my waist. “It’s not Slate, is it?”
“No, but it is about him,” I responded quietly, unsure of why leaving her there was a problem.
If there was anyone in the entire world she was completely safe with, it was my brother. I burrowed into Logan’s arms and pressed my back flush against his chest, wishing we could stay right here, just like this.
“What about him?” Logan murmured against the skin between my shoulder blades, nuzzling me before he pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the spot. “Did he somehow find out you’re here?”
“No, but Anya is really, really pissed at me for leaving her there.” I closed my eyes and drank in the moment, but I didn’t waste time wondering if I would ever have anything like it again.
Logan and I were like a moth and flame. We’d be back in bed together soon enough. Even so, I wound our fingers together and squeezed his hand before lifting it and bringing to my lips to brush a kiss to his knuckles.
“I hate to have to do this, but I should get up. I have to call her and find out what’s going on.”
Logan sighed heavily, but the sound was followed closely by a chuckle before he rolled away from me. “Of course. Call her. Coffee?”
“Please.” I felt Logan inside me as I moved to sit up, and I knew I’d be feeling him there for a while. Last night had been intense in a whole different way than last week, like he’d wanted to mark me somehow. If that had been his intention, then he’d definitely succeeded. At least for now, I was certainly going to keep feeling marked with every move I made.
The thought brought a smile to my lips, and I shook my head at myself as I got up. Thankfully, Logan had already padded out of his bedroom to get the coffee, and I wrapped myself in the towel I’d discarded last night as I called Anya.
As soon as she answered, I could hear that she was furious. “Finally! God, I’ve been waiting for hours. Where have you been?”
“Sleeping,” I said lightly. “It’s damn early. You know that, right? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that I woke up and puked my guts out, and Slate was there to hold my hair, get me more water, and take care of me.”
I frowned, genuinely confused. “What’s the problem, then?”
“Your brother is too hot to see me puke, Mira. That’s the problem. Come get me please. Now!”
“Okay. I’m on my way.”
I seriously considered sending an Uber to pick her up, but ultimately, I felt too guilty about leaving her behind all of a sudden. I knew she wouldn’t spring for an Uber from the suburbs herself since she hadn’t found a new job yet, and while it sounded like Slate had taken excellent care of her, I was pretty sure I owed it to both of them to get her out of there.
Somewhere between bouts of vigorous lovemaking—and I wasn’t trying to be poetic about it—Logan and I had headed to the kitchen for a midnight snack. I’d taken my swimsuit and cover-up down there with me and he’d put them through the wash.
I vaguely remembered us putting both in the drier before he’d kissed me again, but I couldn’t remember if we’d ever taken it out. Either way, I was going to have to go get it.
As if he’d heard my mental conundrum, Logan came striding back into his cavernous bedroom with my clothes in one hand and a travel mug of coffee in the other. Somewhere along the line, he’d also put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and I grinned my thanks as he handed over my things.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I said happily. “Thank you for the coffee, but I have to go.”
“I figured. Can I give you a ride?”
I glanced at him as I dropped the towel and pulled my bathing suit back on, no idea when I’d gotten quite this comfortable around him. But it was what it was. “That would be amazing, thanks. I need to go fetch Anya from Slate’s, but if you can take me home to get my car, it would save some time.”
“Done,” he agreed easily, striding over to his closet to pull out a pair of shoes. As he slid his feet into them, he grabbed a bunch of keys from the dresser and then turned to me. “You did mean that you wanted to leave right now, right? Because I could order breakfast.”
“No, thank you, but I’d better go. Anya is in a state. Apparently, Slate is too hot to see her puke.”
Logan’s forehead crumbled into a frown before he shook his head. “If only I knew what that meant.”
“I think it means my best friend has a crush on my brother.”
Surprise flared behind his eyes. “Well, that’s an interesting development. Does that mean you get to jump on your high horse and start lecturing them now? ”
My nose wrinkled. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure it’s not reciprocated, and even if it is, it’ll never work out between those two. It would’ve been cool if there was a chance, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”
He let out a sigh, pretending to be disappointed, but then he took my hand and led me to his car. Once we were on our way out of the parking garage of his modern, fancy building, he glanced at me with a relaxed smile on his lips.
“Since I couldn’t order breakfast or have you for it, do you want me to stop at a drive-through?”
I chuckled. “No, I’ll survive for now. Thank you, but I really think it’s best if I get to her as soon as I possibly can.”
“She’s really in that much of a state?” he asked, sliding his sunglasses over his eyes as he merged with the traffic outside. “Why?”
“All I know is what I told you. Slate is too hot to see her puke, but yes. She is in that much of a state. I think she’s terribly embarrassed, which I guess makes sense. I’d hate it if you saw me puking and had to hold my hair all night.”
“Does that mean you have a crush on me?” he teased.
Why, yes. Yes, I think I might have a crush on you. I rolled my eyes though, wishing he hadn’t been wearing sunglasses so I would’ve been able to see his.
“Yes, of course that’s what it means. It can’t possibly mean that it’s just horrible for anyone to throw up in front of anyone else. I think the only people who are comfortable vomiting in front of others are babies.”
He shrugged his agreement. “Probably. I guess that makes sense, though. I also wouldn’t want anyone around when those fireworks go off.”
“Exactly.”
When we arrived at my place, he surprised me by giving me a hard kiss goodbye, his eyes burning into mine as he pulled away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” My head was still spinning slightly as I got out of the car, my fingers reaching up to brush against my lips as I replayed the kiss on my way into my building.
I still hadn’t quite gotten over it when I got into my own car after changing into different clothes. The way he’d just gone in for that kiss like he’d had every right to? Like we were together? I didn’t know what to make of it at all.
All the way back to my brother’s house, I kept daydreaming about it, doing my best not to get too lost in what it had meant. As soon I arrived though, Anya snapped me out of it, scurrying into and then hiding behind her hair in my car as I got out to say hello to my brother.
Slate gave me a suspicious look. “What took you so long?”
“I didn’t know sleeping was a crime now,” I retorted. “Thanks for taking care of her.”
“Of course.” He inclined his head, then leaned past me and waved goodbye to my friend. “See you tomorrow, Mira.”
“Yep.” I spun around and headed back to my car, twisting to face Anya as I turned over the engine. “Are you okay?”
“Other than being hungover as hell, humiliated, and needing something greasy in my stomach, I’m fine. Thanks for coming.”
“I’ll take you to brunch. My treat.”
“It should be,” she grumbled, then proceeded to spend the trip as well as most of our meal scolding me for not taking her home.
“I’m so sorry,” I said honestly as soon as she gave me a chance to get a word in edgewise. “I thought it would be better if you slept it off in his guest room rather than getting fined for throwing up in an Uber. I also didn’t know how to get you into your place once we got there.”
Anya bristled, but eventually, the humiliation burnt out of her eyes and she sighed. “Okay. Fine. But still. It was awful, and even if you were right, I’m just really embarrassed. Why the hell did I drink that much?”
I gave her a soft smile. “Because we were at a party that started early and carried on till late, and you have a rough couple months behind you. Everyone needs to let off some steam sometimes. ”
“Everyone, huh?” she asked suddenly, arching a brow at me as she searched my eyes. “Speaking of which, you have a familiar glow about you this morning. I’m guessing you didn’t spend the night having a guy holding your hair back.”
“Uh, no.” Well, he had held my hair back, but only when he’d been rinsing it in the shower—after my first mind-numbing orgasm. “I might have a problem of my own, though. But we were talking about you.”
Anya’s wide brown eyes latched on mine. “We were done talking about me. You apologized and your explanation makes sense, and I’m sorry for taking my humiliation out on you. It’s hardly your fault I pigged out on your brother’s cocktails.”
“Yeah, but still. I should’ve stayed as well. I just didn’t think about it.”
She winked at me. “That’s probably because you were drunk on cocktails too, just without any tails involved.”
I scoffed laughingly. “I was not drunk on cock.”
“No, maybe it was more the anticipation of it. If I’m right about what I think you did last night, that is.”
“You’re right about what you think I did last night,” I said on a long sigh. “I’m becoming one of those hopeless girls, aren’t I? I mean, it hasn’t been two hours since I left him, and I’m already looking forward to seeing him again. What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you,” she said in a singsong voice. “Something is finally right with you. Girls are allowed to be attracted to handsome boys, Mira. It’s about time you let yourself like someone, and now that you’ve brought it up, do you have any plans to see him again soon, or should I help you orchestrate something?”
“No, I’m good. I’m seeing him tomorrow, actually. Logan, Slate, and I are all going back out to the rig tomorrow morning to take a tour with a contracting company Logan is thinking of hiring to make it more green.”
Her eyes flared wide open and she practically gaped at me. “All three of you are going out there? Together? ”
“Yep.” I pouted at her, my heart already racing in my chest just at the thought of it. “Sounds like fun, right?”
“Well, I’d definitely have killed to be a fly on the wall, but sure. Fun.” She winked at me. “As soon as you get back to New York, you’d better call me so we can catch up. I have a feeling you’re going to have a whole lot to tell me.”