Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
“I like you, kid. Really, I do. But this is not the time for you to linger and give me some long life story. This is more of a cut-to-the-point-and-then-get-the-hell-out situation.” He’d let Jake into the suite.
Just as far as the den. His voice held bite, and Logan knew it because Jake stared at him all wide-eyed.
Not like Logan could help his tone. No getting around the bite.
Every cell in Logan’s body wanted him to be someplace else, with someone else.
Back in the bedroom, fucking my wife.
“I got it,” Jake finally stopped his long, rambling talk to get to business. “I got picked up by the team.” A lop-sided smile split his face.
Then he was charging at Logan. Hugging him.
Hell. Logan wrapped an arm around the kid. “Of course, you did. They would have been idiots not to grab you immediately.”
Jake hugged him harder. “You did this.” He eased back. Gazed up at Logan. Logan had the kid in height by about five inches. “I know you did. You got them to pick me up—”
“I didn’t do a damn thing but get you the tryout shot.
You earned the spot yourself. Just like you will earn everything else that comes your way.
Get that in your head. You don’t owe me.
You don’t owe anyone.” Jake needed to understand this to his core.
“You’re making your own way in this world, and if anyone ever tries to guilt you—if your old man comes calling one day, demanding some of the fortune that you will make when you hit the majors, you don’t give him a dime, understand?
You send him back to me. I’ll take care of him. ”
Jake’s lower lip trembled.
The kid’s eyes were filling with tears. Logan hated dealing with tears. “What in the hell?”
Jake hugged him again. “You’re a better father to me than he could ever be.”
Oh, shit. But Logan hugged him, too. “Get out of here, punk. Go throw some balls or something.” He pushed the guy away.
“I need to spend time with my new wife.” Just how many times could he say that and enjoy it?
Oh, a million. Easy. “My wife is waiting on me.” Look, he’d done it again.
For shits and giggles, he would be using that “my wife” phrase as often as humanly possible.
Jake retreated. “You really got married?”
“Damn straight.” Though did it count as really married if he had not gotten around to the consummation part yet?
“You don’t have a ring.”
Leave it to the kid to notice that important fact. “She does. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I’ll get a ring today.” Or tomorrow. Or just—soon.
“If it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, then how did you have a ring ready for her?”
Because…
Forget the because. “I just did. I’m cool that way.”
I had pulled it out of my safe before we went to the meeting with Ares.
After I spent one night in my suite with Charlotte, I pulled out the ring.
One single night. Not fucking. Just being with her.
After that one night, I pulled out my grandmother’s ring, and I looked at it for too long, and I just shoved it into one of the hidden pockets in my tux without even thinking about it.
Sometimes, it wasn’t about thinking. It was about feeling.
“I could tell the way you looked at her,” Jake blurted. “In your office that day. I knew she was more than just some PA.”
“When you see opportunities in life, you grab them. You don’t let them go. That’s life lesson number forty-eight for you.” He’d been giving Jake life lessons for years.
“Yes, sir.” Jake lingered.
Had he missed the part about Logan’s wife, waiting?
“I, um, heard you sent word that you wanted to know everything that happened in the kitchens yesterday. Kitchens, all the restaurants. The hotel’s main kitchen for room service delivery, everything.” Jake rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. “Also heard that your wife went to the hospital.”
Logan didn’t even blink. “What do you know?” Leave it to Jake. That kid—as a side effect of working so many odd jobs for Logan, Jake had friends all over the hotel and the casino.
“I know two things.” His shoulders straightened. “First, I saw someone in the room service area that shouldn’t have been there. This was, um, the night after you moved your lady into your suite.”
Of course, Jake would be aware of when Charlotte had first spent the night with him. If Jake hadn’t picked up that gossip, Logan would have been disappointed in the kid.
“Name,” Logan barked. He needed a name so he could rip the bastard apart.
“It was your friend, so I didn’t think much about it at the time. He’s always coming and going at the hotel.”
Logan’s body tightened. “Name,” he ordered again.
“That guy…Sebastian Shay. He was at your private game. He comes to most of your games, and you seem to like him. He was wandering around the evening after you stayed with her up here. I saw him snagging some food, so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.
He was chatting with the cooks. Seemed to just be goofing. ”
Sebastian Shay never goofed.
“And I wanted you to know that one of the servers missed his shift. Doyle Hardway, he’s pretty new. Started about a month ago. He didn’t call in. Didn’t answer when his manager tried to get him. Manager said the guy is fired now.”
If Doyle Hardway had been involved in the attack on Charlotte, he’d been more than fired. “You are always good at getting me news. You delivered me these details faster than Evans.”
Jake’s chin lifted. “See, this is why I’m telling you. I could have a killer career in hotel management.”
“Yeah, well, if you blow out that arm, you’ll have a job waiting.”
Jake blinked. “Really?”
“First, don’t blow out the arm. Also, don’t look so damn surprised. You know you’ll always have a home here.”
Jake bounded toward him.
“Shit, you’re hugging me again, aren’t you?”
Yes, Jake was.
But, two minutes later, he was gone. Logan yanked out his phone and texted Jezebel with the news he’d just learned.
Two more for our suspect list.
Evans was supposed to be interviewing every single person who’d had contact with the food that Logan and Charlotte had been served while at his place.
Before she’d wound up unconscious. He also had a team reviewing video footage from the hotel.
Hell, even Meredith Reece was on the case, doing her own investigation.
The tox screen results weren’t back yet.
They were waiting. Searching. Hunting.
And…
He was finally alone with his wife. His steps were a bit too fast as he hurried back to the bedroom. Practically running. Eager much?
Yeah, he was.
But when he threw open the bedroom door, Charlotte wasn’t there.
Alarm flared through him. And what could have been panic. Then he heard the shower. The flow of water just beyond the closed bathroom door. His body turned. With fast steps, he headed straight for that door.
Anticipation filled him. Need poured through his blood. Desire beat in his veins.
He’d fucked plenty of women during his life. Sex was great. He always made sure his partner had one hell of a good time. But this…
As he reached out and fully pushed open the bathroom door, he knew this time would be different. Because it wasn’t just about fucking.
It was about claiming his wife.
The shower stopped. The thunder of water turned into a quick drip, drip, drip.
She stood beyond the slightly open glass door, steam on the surface, but as he froze in the entranceway, captivated by her to his soul, her delicate hand reached out. She grabbed a white, fluffy towel. Brought it inside the shower.
Logan could see the outline of her body. That perfect, beautiful body.
The one she’d revealed to him moments before when she’d dropped the freaking sheet. Clumsy, his ass. More like…tempting. Taunting. Seducing.
The shower door opened fully. Her wet hair clung to her cheeks. She’d wrapped the towel around her body, but Charlotte drew up short when she saw him.
Speak. Say something charming. Normally, he had plenty to say. Too much.
“Oh.” Pink tinted her cheeks. From the heat of the shower? Or from the fact that he was probably staring at her like a man who was about to pounce? “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Should have knocked.” Damn that had been growly.
She shook her head. One hand still held the towel to her chest. “I wouldn’t have heard a knock. The water was too loud.”
He should probably back away. That would have been the gentlemanly thing to do. Instead, Logan took a step forward.
“Is your company gone?” A quick, rushed question from her.
“Jake is gone. Gave me some leads before he cut out.”
“Leads?” Her golden eyes widened. “What kind of leads?”
Did she seriously expect a full discussion right then? “You’re in a towel, sweetheart.”
Her grip tightened on the towel. “I am aware.”
“I can’t explain leads while you are in a towel and all I want with every breath I take is for that towel to drop.”
She wet her lips. “You mean, like this?” Her fingers pulled on the section of the towel that had been tucked between her full, pert breasts. The towel slid down, and it fell to her feet. “Oops. Guess I was clumsy again.”
His gaze dropped to the floor. Stared at the discarded towel.
He was highly conscious of every single beat of his heart.
And of the hard dick that shoved against the front of his pants.
Slowly, very, very slowly, his gaze moved from the towel to her cute feet.
Pretty little toes with bright red polish. His gaze tracked up. Slender calves.
Higher.
Nice knees. He’d never really paid much attention to knees before, but hers were nice.
Higher.
Sexy thighs. Supple. He knew they’d be silken, too, and they would feel incredible wrapped around his hips as he plunged deep into her or as they hung over his shoulders as he put his mouth right on her core and drove his tongue inside of her.
Higher.
A growl broke from him. Her sex was bare. Waiting. Her thighs slightly parted. He was pretty sure that he was drooling because he wanted her so badly.
Keep going. Take her all in.
But his gaze just wouldn’t move, even when he told himself…