Irreplaceable (Harmony)

by Angela Graham

  I snorted. Canceled? “Yeah, didn’t happen, but thanks for the flowers, they’re beautiful.”

  He looked pleased, standing there watching me as I struggled with telling him goodbye. If Logan wanted to spend time together, he should’ve asked. I did eat lunch alone a few hours earlier, and wouldn’t have shot him down had he asked to join.

  “Luke will be here any minute, so if you don’t mind, I’ll see you around,” I said with a soft smile.

  As I began to close the door, Logan’s hand flew up, holding it open.

  “Wait, can’t I at least come in until he arrives?”

  My plans for a romance-free evening were not starting off very well.

  “Logan,” I sighed, dropping my head, staring down at the bouquet in my hand. “I’m sorry, but if you wanted to—”

  My phone ringing from the coffee table cut me off. I looked back to the table where it sat, and then to Logan.

  “You can get that,” he said, smiling a little too brightly.

  I eyed him carefully and walked over, snatching it up to see it was Luke.

  “Hey Luke, you on your way over?” I asked, grinning cheekily at Logan, who was bent down petting Scout wearing a smug smile he didn’t even attempt to hide.

  “Actually, something came up. I need to take a rain check.”

  Was he kidding? I turned away from staring at the gorgeous man looming in my doorway and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Why?”

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that…I was driving over when I saw a car on the side of the road about a mile from your house. I stopped to help, and it was Julia West.”

  I sighed. What were the chances? A quick glimpse over my shoulder told me it wasn’t a coincidence, by the raise of Logan’s brow. Damn it.

  “Long story short, her car just needed a jump, but she insisted on taking me to dinner as a thank you for helping her out.”

  “You don’t say.”

  “I hate to cancel, but it turns out she and Mark broke up, so I figured why not?”

  “Broke up?” That was news. I’d just talked to her yesterday, and she didn’t say a thing. Not that we were BFFs.

  “Yeah, she didn’t say much aside from that she hated being single on Valentine’s, so I took that to mean they weren’t together anymore. Listen, I got to go, she’s coming back from the restroom. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you. Bye.”

  Luke hung up and I did the same slowly before turning back reluctantly to face Logan, who was now strolling into the house with a paper bag in his hands that he must’ve had sitting on the porch. He shut the door behind him.

  “Hope you’re hungry, sweetheart. I plan on making you a meal you’ll never forget.”

  “If Julia’s playing with him, I swear to God, Logan, I will hurt you both!”

  “Calm down. She and that scumbag Mark broke up last week. She won’t say why, but I did happen to catch the way your little friend looked at my sister when we ran into him and Caleb the other day.” He walked toward me, his breath warm over my cheek as his voice lowered to a husky murmur. “Hate to break it you, sweetheart, but it’s not how he looks at you.”

  With a ragged breath and raging hormones, I shoved past him, annoyed at how he easily my body responded to his and that he knew it. I shook off the butterflies flittering through me.

  “I told you—Luke and I are just friends.”

  “And I believe that. It’s obvious he’s interested in my sister, and everything I’ve heard about him from Caleb tells me he’s not so bad. I figured why not help the kid out?”

  I followed him to the kitchen, where he removed his coat and began emptying the bag of food onto the counter. He had no issue making himself at home.

  “So, then, you admit to putting your sister out in the cold on the side of a backcountry road with a dead car?” I stared at him crudely, waiting for his answer.

  “No, that was all Julia.” He gave a cunning smile. “She was more than eager to help me out tonight. I merely suggested distracting your date.”

  With a shake of my head, I opened my small pantry in search of a vase for the flowers he’d brought.

  “You’re both horrible, and that better be one delicious meal, or—”

  I stopped, cut off as I stared at the rows of vases Hilary had brought home from the hospital. I knew she’d cleaned them up and put them in there, but what I hadn’t noticed was the largest vase closest to the door still had the unopened card perched on top.

  It’d taken everything in me not to open it at the hospital. That damn thing had called out to me from my bed every minute of every day since it’d been delivered with the first round of beautiful flowers Logan had sent. I spent countless hours telling myself that whatever Logan had to say, it didn’t matter. Staring at it now, I couldn’t find that reason, and my curiosity was piqued.

  I grabbed the vase and popped the small card into the pocket of my worn jeans before walking back to the table to set the vase next to the flowers.

  Logan already had pots removed from cabinets and the stove fired up as I brushed past him in the tight space by the sink, where he was rinsing a bowl of the largest shrimp I’d ever seen. My mouth watered at the sight of them, and when I glanced up, he was staring across at me with the sweetest lighthearted smile.

  “Sorry, I just need to fill the vase,” I explained.

  He turned the faucet to reach me and I held the vase as still as I could in my hands that were unsteady as his gaze bore into me.

  It was going to be a long night.

  “Thanks,” I said after it was filled, and headed back to the table.

  Carefully, I unwrapped the bundle of classic red roses. With a pair of shears from my junk drawer, I began cutting the ends off each one and arranging them in a perfect bouquet.

  “So, where’s Oliver tonight?”

  “At my mother’s with his cousin, Charlie. Jax will bring him home in the morning before school.”

  “And Natasha? How did you escape her?”

  “Thanks to your help with giving Jax the information, Natasha is halfway to Aspen right now,” he said, looking positively pleased with the thought.

  “Why, exactly?”

  “Because she believes that I was heading to my home there to stay a few days to think over my feelings. Jax tried to convince her she was wrong after a performance where he accidentally informed her of my plans the afternoon she got back from the movies with Oliver. As I expected, she purchased a ticket and left this morning in the hopes, I presume, of surprising me there.”

  “But you’re not going?” I asked, unsure what to think and still not clear what the envelope I gave Jax contained. From the weight of it, I’d assumed cash.

  “Does it look like I am?”

  I turned to focus on the flowers and he stood at the stove, our backs to each other.

  “Do you know what Caleb has planned for Hilary tonight?” I asked, breaking the silence hanging around us.

  “I do.”

  “Care to tell me?” I prompted, a smile on my lips.

  “I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” he replied, still busy at the stove.

  “Well, what time was he going to surprise her?”

  “About now.”

  “Then she’s probably already enjoying the surprise, so there’s no reason not to share now, right?”

  “Possibly.”

  I turned and chucked a piece of stem at the back of his neck.

  “Still not telling you,” he said, and I couldn’t stop the laugh I released at his nonchalance.

  Focused back on snipping another end from a beautiful rose, I felt his breath tickling my neck. I didn’t move, my entire body still as his fingertips caressed a trail back and forth under my shirt, over the bare skin at the small of my back. A chill raced up my spine, and a heated shudder wracked my body.

  “I love how you react to me.”

  “I sometimes hate it,” I replied quietly.

  “Understandable, with our history, but never again. I want
you to love it as much as I do.”

  His moist lips drew over the back of my neck, my head tilting to the side to give him better access as his tongue peeked out and ran up to the tender flesh behind my ear. Before I knew it, a sensual moan was pouring from my open mouth, my legs trembling with desire.

  “Grab some plates. It will only be another minute before dinner,” he murmured. And then he was gone, back working at the stove as though he hadn’t just worked me up and left me famished.

  I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, then let it out, my legs clenching tight to quell the heat pooling.

  Yeah, it was definitely going to be a long night.

  The flowers were set in the center of the table, with two plates on each side of the vase. However, when I looked over to Logan, he was shaking his head.

  “What were you and Luke planning on doing tonight?” he asked.

  My brow cocked up as a provocative grin played on my lips, teasing him with what could’ve been with Luke.

  “Funny, sweetheart, but you can’t fool me. Let me guess: dinner and a movie on the sofa?”

  I allowed a pout to play on my lips before answering. “Maybe. Why?”

  “Because if that was your plan, then that’s what we’ll do.”

  Did I hear him correctly? “You want to sit and watch a movie with me while we eat this amazing meal you just cooked?”

  “Yes, it not like we never did so last fall.”

  I couldn’t disagree—we had watched a few movies together before the crash, but it was at his house, with Oliver, in an enormous theatre hidden in his basement. This was different—friends territory, for sure—but then again, how long could I deny that we were already there again?

  Grabbing the plates, I took them over to the stove. He filled them both full of shrimp linguini, and I carried them out to the living room. Logan came in while I was debating which movie to watch between the two I rented, and set a glass of wine in front of my plate on the coffee table.

  “All right, we got Scary Movie 3 or the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That one was Luke’s request.”

  He raised his brows. “Was there a theme you guys had planned tonight?” he all but laughed, sitting down on the couch with his glass of wine.

  “Yes, anti-romance. Clichéd but timeless, and these movies definitely have no love story to tell. I don’t think, anyway.”

  “All right, put in whichever you’d like.”

  “Hmmm, let’s start with scary and end the night on a comedy. I hate going to bed after watching a horror flick. I need something nice in my head or else I’ll have a chainsaw freak chasing me through my dreams.”

  “I could always spend the night and help with distracting your nightmares.” He brow rose suggestively but the gleam in his eye was all humor.

  “No, but thanks,” I scoffed.

  “Anytime, Sweetheart.” He shot me a boyish smile that made my knees wobble just the slightest.

  Turning away, I glanced out the window at the setting sun casting an orange-ish hue of light through the window. It was going to be a long night.

  After loading the DVD in, I flicked off the lights and plopped down on the opposite end of the couch from Logan, watching as he slipped Scout—who was at his feet—a piece of shrimp.

  I shook my head. “You’re gonna regret that. He’ll never let you eat in peace again,” I said, lifting my plate to my lap.

  “Is that your way of saying I’ll be enjoying many more meals here in the future?”

  “Let’s not get carried away with the manys.” I shot him a teasing smile.

  The first bite of the shrimp and pasta with a creamy sauce he’d prepared from scratch was heaven, as was the closeness of Logan’s body as he set his wine glass down, lifted his plate, and moved over just the slightest bit. I fought back my smile, focusing on the dark screen as the previews began.

  An hour or so later, my plate was empty, as was my second glass of wine, and I had a terrified death grip on Logan’s shirt. I was scrunched up in a ball with my head buried in his chest, peeking out occasionally when the chainsaw stopped roaring.

  “Did he get her?” I asked, my voice trembling.

  The rumble of laughter in Logan’s chest shook through me, yet my tight grip never faltered. I was going to have it out with Luke for telling me to pick up this movie. No comedy was going to remove it from my mind, ever.

  “Not yet, she’s hiding,” Logan said, his hand stroking my back.

  I peeked out just as the chainsaw rumbled back to life on screen, followed by a blood-curdling scream from the girl who shouldn’t have been having sex in a horror movie. I shoved my head back into Logan’s chest, my feet on the couch pushing me into him as close as I could crawl until the horrible sound was gone. The room quieted.

  I glanced up to see Logan had switched off the television. I sat up with a cool shrug. “You could finish it, I don’t mind.”

  His head fell back from his boom of laughter, and I took that as my cue to crawl back to my side of the couch, slightly embarrassed at my inability to sit through the movie without having an aneurysm. However, Logan held me close—one hand around my back, the other sliding over my warm cheek, not letting me get away.

  “How about we stay away from scary movies?” he offered.

  “I guess. They really don’t bother me that much,” I lied, smiling.

  He laughed again and then stood, holding me close to stand with him. The room was dark. The only light now shining in was from the bright full moon outside.

  “I don’t like seeing you so scared, but I do love being the one you cling to.”

  My teeth caught my bottom lip to hide my embarrassment and control the spread of my smile.

  “Wait here.” Logan released his arms and walked to the kitchen, coming back a second later with something in his hand that he set on my bookshelf. He pressed buttons, and music began.

  He turned back and walked over, his dark eyes glittering in the dark.

  “Dance with me,” he said.

  I couldn’t resist. With an easy smile, I gave him my hand and allowed him to pull me into his arms. He held me close, one hand on my lower back, the other wrapped in mine but tucked between us.

  Ed Sheeran began singing “Give Me Love”, the lyrics hitting deeper than ever before. It was beautiful and easy, and by the time the song finished, I was lost in Logan. I smiled up at him as “Echo” by Jason Walker began playing. Memories of the many Christmases I’d watched my grandparents dance in that very room as music played through an old record player flashed through my mind.

  A sweet smile and tightened grasp around my waist was Logan’s response. By the time the song finished, I had tears in my eyes that were soaking through the shoulder of his T-shirt.

  “I hate this feeling,” I mumbled, more to myself than him, before angling my head a little to catch his gaze. “I just want it to be the way it was before things got—”

  “Real?” he chimed in, our bodies still swaying as one as a new song began to play.

  “I was going to say heated.” I let myself smile, relaxing further into his arms.

  “I’d never start over, even if I had the chance, but I wish you could trust me again. Give a fresh start to your confidence in me.”

  I wiped my eyes and then placed my hands on his shoulders, stretching back just enough to look into his own eyes.

  “Logan, we tried the fresh start before. You only get so many do-overs.”

  His smile faltered, not quite reaching his eyes as he processed my words, but it was only a brief second before a sinfully sexy smile broke out. “If I screw it up again, then I won’t ask for another.”

  I raised my brows, unconvinced. “Really? So if you mess things up, you’ll walk away and never ask to start over again?”

  “Oh, no.” He grinned wider, shaking his head once and running his hand up my spine. “I’m never walking away, sweetheart. I just won’t ask to start over. There are so many enjoyable ways I am sure I can think u
p to earn your forgiveness.”

  I released a breath of laughter. “Why not just try harder to begin with?”

  His brow shot up. “Hmmm, very interesting. Do tell me more about that plan.” He leaned in, bringing me closer, and chuckled softly.

  We continued to dance, no more words needed as we fell comfortably in sync with the music through another song until he dipped me down in a graceful move.

  Where my next words came from, I didn’t know—perhaps it was the sincerity in his eyes and tenderness of his hold on me as he raised me back up into an embrace that I truly believed wouldn’t ever let me go.

  “You don’t to have ask,” I breathed.

  He held me firmly, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips right before he leaned in and claimed mine.

  For song after song, we danced in the center of my living room, his lips only straying from mine to slide down over my jaw, throat, and back up to my cheek—anywhere they could reach while we danced.

  I don’t know if it was the music, the holiday atmosphere, or just good timing, but my hands were suddenly moving on their own, tugging at his shirt, pulling it over his head and going to work on the buckle of his belt.

  It was frantic, as though a ticking bomb was suddenly set and about to detonate within me if I didn’t bring him as close as possible, touch him as I only had in my dreams. I wanted him more than anything, and it wasn’t something I could deny any longer. I didn’t want to.

  “Cassandra.” His voice was a deep, strained breath against my neck as his belt fell open, and my fingers slid back and forth over his waistband.

  “Don’t stop this, please,” I begged, my lips running over his broad, rippled chest. My tongue darted out in hunger as I brushed over his nipple.

  “Tell me first,” he demanded, his finger under my chin, drawing my head back up.

  I looked up under my lashes, his eyes and dark and hooded.

  “Tell me you’re mine. Tell me you trust me again and that you’ll still be in my arms when the sun comes up. No regrets, Cassandra. I won’t take you until you’re mine.”

  His? Didn’t he already see it? Or was I that good at hiding how I felt?

  “I’ve been yours for longer than I’ve been able to admit.”

  Logan’s smile stretched so wide I couldn’t help but grin back.