19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
LOGAN
My phone chiming loudly stirred me from sleep, and I grabbed it from my nightstand. Was it really past midnight? I clicked on the text notification from Izzy.
Izzy: Home now. You awake?
Me: Yeah. Thought maybe I'd hear you when Jay dropped you back off at your car.
Izzy: He didn't. I was exhausted so he brought me back to the apartment. He said he'll drop me off at your place on his way in tomorrow.
Me: Oh. How's your mom?
Izzy: In pain. Hip definitely broken. She's going to need PT.
Me: Sorry to hear.
Me: Did Maggie tell you the plan for tomorrow night?
Izzy: Yeah. The donuts with grown-ups thing. I'll take the girls, she'll meet me there.
Me: Yes. and I'm going to try to swing by if I can.
Tomorrow night was supposed to continue my five-day stretch with the twins, but as I wasn't sure I could make the donut thing work with my schedule, we planned for Maggie to take them and then keep them overnight. Although we’d decided this before hiring Izzy, we agreed to stick to it since it made the most sense. We had a set parenting schedule, but since we got along well, it made making changes and adjustments easy.
Izzy: Ok. Why do they do donuts at 6:30 in the evening?
Me: No idea. I think it used to be in the morning and then everyone complained so now they kept the name and moved it to the evening.
Me: I don't eat the donuts.
Izzy: Of course you don't.
Me: What's that supposed to mean?
Izzy: Pretty sure you don't have all those muscles from eating donuts.
Me: You’ve been checking out my muscles?
Izzy: Kinda hard not to when you wear those skintight shirts all the time.
Me: Hmm. You like those?
Izzy: Maybe. Shirtless was nice too. ;)
Me: You blushing and flustered was adorable.
Izzy: What? I wasn’t flustered. And I didn’t blush.
Me: Totally did. But I liked it. The way you looked at me and how cute you were. Even more of a motivation now to get my workouts in. I typically try to stay away from carbs and sugars. But then you made me really delicious cookies and I ate the entire container.
Izzy: The girls made you cookies.
Me: Hmm. They tell a slightly different story.
Izzy: Traitors. All I did was ask if they wanted to make some for their dad too.
Izzy: It's late. 6am is going to come quickly. We should probably get to bed.
Me: Yeah...
Izzy: Goodnight, Logan.
Me: Night.
I put my phone down and fell back on the pillow. My eyes drifted closed, and images of her balanced on the edge of the counter last night, lips pink and swollen from my kiss, ran through my mind. I wasn't sure what my next move was, but Adam's advice echoed through my thoughts. I'd crossed that line, and I had no intention of going back. Now, it was all about minimizing the fallout.
Sleep eluded me most of the night. I finally got up at five and headed to the basement to work out, needing to burn off this tension that plagued me. But it didn't do much to help, and when Izzy walked in at six thirty in cutoffs and another crop top, I was right back to feeling like a tightrope.
“Ooh.” A smirk pulled at her lips. “Are we back to growly papa bear?”
I stalked toward her, causing her to take a few steps back, and caged her in with my hands braced on the wall. She angled her head back and I locked on her lips, pink and glistening.
“How many crop tops do you own?”
“So many.” Her tongue ran along her bottom lip and she reached up, tracing the outline of my pec through my T-shirt. “How many of these insanely tight T-shirts do you own?”
My muscle twitched under her touch. “A lot.” I closed my eyes as she trailed her finger up to my shoulder and down over my bicep. Her touch felt so good. I never wanted her to stop.
“Logan.” My name was a breathy whisper on her lips.
I opened my eyes and stared at her. Her green eyes had darkened and were focused on my mouth. I knew what she wanted. The same thing I wanted. I removed one hand from the wall and threaded my fingers through her long, silky locks. I leaned down, tightening my hold on her hair and pulling her mouth to meet mine. Our lips brushed. Once, twice, and then... Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
I smiled against her lips before breaking the kiss and untangling my hand from her hair. The girls rounded the bottom of the steps, and I turned to face them as they barreled into the kitchen.
“Slow down, speed racers,” I teased. I grabbed my duffle and slung the strap over my head. “Izzy will drive you guys to the donut thing tonight, and Mom will meet you there.”
“And you too?” Nikki climbed up on her stool at the counter.
“I am going to try. But no promises.” Sometimes I hated that my job didn't allow me to fully commit to things. But at least the girls were good about understanding.
Izzy brushed past me, heading further into the kitchen. “Pancakes again, girls?”
“Yes!” they exclaimed.
My lips lifted into a smile as I took a minute to watch Izzy move around the kitchen. As if she could sense my appraisal, she glanced over at me and tilted her head, her long blonde hair falling down over her shoulder.
I still wasn't sure what I had to offer, but there was no denying I wanted the chance to show her.