Chapter 3
LOGAN
“What do you want? I have things to do.”
My best friend, the traitor, acts as if I didn’t say anything and falls into the seat across from my desk, steepling his hands together at his chest. “You still hate me?”
I open my mouth to say yes, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Zach and I have been through some shit together through the years, and he was always someone I could depend on. Yeah, I’m pissed at him, but I don’t hate him. “I want to see this contract.”
”What contract?” he asks, perplexed.
I grit my teeth, not wanting to even say her name. “The contract you signed with Bree. I’m sure there’s some kind of loophole.”
He ignores me and looks around my office. “What do you think of your office? Hell, I should have had Bree decorate mine. This is nice.”
I just grunt. Yeah, the office is nice, but there’s no way I’m going to give her any credit for anything. “What do you want, Zach?”
He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “I thought after last night, we were okay. I mean, you seemed okay last night.”
I glare at him. “You were asking my baby sister to marry you. What was I supposed to do? Challenge you to a fight in the front yard? Or hell, maybe I could have punched you in that pretty boy face for the camera.”
Zach nods. “I know. You’re mad, and I get it. Thank you for not ruining last night. It’s killing Sky that you’re pissed at me. She wants us all to get along.”
I move to the edge of my seat. “First, she’s my baby sister, and I’d rather cut off a limb than have her upset. You can tell her that we’re good, but you need to know that what you did is fucked. I mean, so fucked. If you knew… if you knew what she did, you wouldn’t have hired her.”
He doesn’t seem surprised. Calmly, he nods his head. “I know what she did. She told me.“
My mouth falls open. “And you still hired her? You hired her knowing that she…” I let my voice trail off because I can’t even say the words.
Zach clears his throat. “I hired her without knowing anything. I knew you loved her, and then I knew you broke up. That’s all you told me. I didn’t know… until after I hired her.”
I glare at him. “And what? She just give you a sob story and you forgave her?” I hold my hand up.
“You know what? Forget it. I don’t want to hear it.
I don’t even want to talk about her.” I point between Zach and me.
“We are not going to talk about Bree Banks any more. Not now, not ever. I’m going to look at this contract, and if there isn’t a loophole, at the end of the nine months, she’s gone. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
He opens his mouth to say something but stops suddenly. “Fine. I did what I thought was best, and just so you know, after talking to her and hearing her side, I knew it was the right thing—”
”We’re not talking about her, Zach.”
He blows out a breath in frustration. “Fine. Well, I came in here to let you know that I’m taking some time off. I’m going to work from home, so you and”—he points toward the door—“she are going to hold the fort down.”
I lift my chin. I want to argue, but I pretty much deserted him these last three months, and I don’t blame him for taking some time off. He deserves it. “Fine. What about the party or whatever the hell you have planned?”
He laughs. “You mean the sponsorship we did for the community center? It’s next Friday night, and we bought three tables.”
I look at him blankly until he continues. “We’re all going. That was a big job for us, and King is a good connection to have. We all need to show up.”
I scowl at him. “Black tie?”
He nods and is smiling even though I know he feels the same way. He doesn’t like to dress up either. “Yes, black tie. I can’t wait to twirl Skyler around the dance floor.”
I scrunch my nose at him. “Who the hell are you and what did you do to my best friend?”
Before he can answer, I ask him another question. “What about Bree? She going?”
Zach gives me an exasperated look. “Yes, she’s part of Stronghold. She’s going.”
We stare at each other. There’s so much I want to say to him, but I don’t dare open my mouth.
There’s something going on here, and I don’t know what it is.
If Zach knows that Bree cheated on me, he wouldn’t have kept her around.
Hell, contract or not, he would have gotten rid of her. Something is not adding up.
Without another word, Zach gets up, but before he gets to the door, I say his name. “Zach.”
He turns with a smile on his face.
“Thank you.”
He raises his eyebrows in surprise. “What are you thanking me for?”
I stand up and walk around my desk. I should have done this last night, but there was so much happening that I didn’t.
Now I can’t let another second go by without saying it.
If anything, with my history in the military and working for the Ghost Team, I know you don’t leave things unsaid.
“Thank you for loving my sister. I know you will always protect her, and she couldn’t ask for a better man than you. ”
He opens his mouth but then closes it as I continue. “You’ve always been like a brother to me. Now it’s going to be official. Welcome to the family, brother.”
He pulls me into a hug, and I chuckle, knowing that years of sleeping in deserts, jungles, or on the ground in makeshift beds has brought us to this moment. Zach and I have been through a lot together, and sometimes I question how we made it through some of the things we did. But here we are.
Zach tightens his arms around me as if he knows what he’s about to say is going to set me off. “Listen to her, brother. Really, listen to her. You deserve happiness too.”
He releases me and slaps me on the back. “I’ll see you. I’m going to grab my laptop and some files. Sky and I are going to some beach for a few days, and then we’ll be back.”
I nod and grimace, not wanting any details of what he’s going to be doing with my sister. “Have fun and take care. I’ll deal with this,” I tell him, waving my hand around.
He nods, opens his mouth, and then closes it. He seems to think about it and then shrugs as if he’s saying fuck it. “Look, I’m not saying you have to be nice, but Bree’s been beat down and well… all I’m saying is I don’t know how much more she can take.”
My eyebrows lift in surprise. What the hell does he mean she’s been beat down? I forget my rule of not talking about her. “What do you mean—”
He cuts me off by holding his hands up. “It’s not my story to tell, Logan, but maybe you should ask her.”
I want to argue with him, but I simply cross my arms over my chest and nod. “Okay. See you. Call if you need anything.”
He nods. “You too.”
As soon as he walks out of my office and closes the door behind him, I want to jerk it open and demand answers.
But instead of going off half-cocked, I stalk over to my chair and sit down.
It doesn’t take long before I figure it out.
Whatever Bree told Zach was a lie. That’s the only thing I can think of.
There’s no way if she told him the truth that Zach would just accept it.
Yeah, that was it. She lied to him. And now Zach thinks I overreacted or something.
Hell, it’s impossible to guess what she told him.
I turn my chair to look out the window. The sun is up, and the streets of downtown Whiskey Run are busy with people going to Red’s Diner or Sugar Glaze Bakery for their breakfast. People are off to meetings, or taking their kids to school, or whatever.
As I stare at the passersby, I get lost in the memory of the third date I had with Bree.
By that point, I knew I was going to marry her. I had already told my brothers and my sister that I’d found the woman I was going to marry. I knew it was too soon, and I was biting the bullet, holding back until a decent amount of time had passed before I asked her. But by that third date, I knew.
My mission was over. I should have been back at headquarters, but I had requested some time off. Walker gave it to me. Hell, I’d never had a vacation, so I was due.
Bree was wearing a long red dress that hugged her curves in every way. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. To the point where she stopped right on the middle of the sidewalk in Brooklyn. She glared up at me and crossed her arms over her chest. “All right, spill it.”
She looked mad, and my smile got even bigger. “Spill what?”
She lifted a hand and touched my chest. I reached for her, holding her palm right over my heart, loving the feel of her soft skin. She rolled her eyes. “You’re being quiet, and you just keep staring at me.”
I licked my lips, wanting to kiss her right there on the street. When I didn’t say anything, she stomped her foot, and I remember thinking how adorable she was. ”Logan… what is this?” She frowned and shook her head. “I mean, if you’re ending this, then just do it.”
I grabbed both her hands and tugged her against my chest. “Ending this? Honey, you and me, we’re just getting started.”
She let out a little sigh. “Then why are you just staring at me?”
I leaned down so that our mouths were just inches apart. “You really want to know?”
She nodded, her eyes soft.
I brought a hand up and wrapped it around the side of her neck. Her pulse was racing, beating against my thumb, and I caressed her there. “I can’t stop staring at you because you’re beautiful. Because I can’t believe you’re here with me. Because I want you so much that I can barely hold back.”
She let out a little whimper. “Well then, what are we doing here?”
I shook my head in confusion, and she tugged at my shirt as she looked up and down the street. “We’re closer to your hotel than to my apartment. Want to go there?”
My heart literally flipped in my chest. “You want to go back to my hotel with me?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I do. I know it’s crazy. I know we just met three days ago and that we should wait, but I don’t want to.” Her big green eyes flickered up at me. “I want you as much as you want me, Lo.”
I couldn’t resist. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers.
We had kissed before but nothing like this.
This kiss was everything. I put everything I was feeling, everything I was wanting into that kiss and as our lips meshed against each other, I knew that by the end of the night I was going to tell her I loved her.
It might have been insane, but everything about us just felt right.
She whimpered, and I broke off the kiss. With her wide eyes looking up at me, I asked her, “You sure?”
She smiled, and it lit up her whole face. “You have to ask me after that kiss? Yeah, I’m sure.”
I picked her up in my arms and swung her around, and then she pulled from my hold, grabbed my hand, and started pulling me in the direction of the hotel. That was a night I’ll never forget. Never.
The ringing of my phone draws me out of my daze, and I pick it up. “This is Logan.”
”Line two is for you.”
Bree. I didn’t even think about her being on the other end of the line, and after thinking about that first night together, my half-hard manhood goes full mast. “Thanks,” I grunt before hanging up and pushing the button.
I clench my eyes shut as I listen to the caller ask about our services.
I schedule a meeting for the afternoon, and all the while, I sit here not even thinking about Stronghold or the client on the phone.
Nope, I’m thinking about the curvy brown-haired woman in the other room that still has a hold on my heart.
It’s obvious that no matter what, she’s going to have a hold on me. There’s no escaping it.