“What did you say?” Caroline asked, blinking back surprise as her mind was going a million miles an hour.
“I said, do you want your beer in a glass or in a bottle?”
“You know what? I think I want to go out for a beer. I’ve been home all day, you know. Uhm, Aralia mentioned that she wanted me to come by and catch up with her sometime this week. Might as well go tonight, you know?” Caroline said, standing up and heading to the bedroom, looking around to find something to wear.
“Wait, I thought you wanted to just relax today? That’s why you called in sick to work this morning, you said. We were going to watch movies on the couch tonight.” Turner followed her into their bedroom and watched her slip into a wrap dress and smooth out her hair.
She quickly put on some makeup, then pulled on some heels.
“I know, but I’m feeling antsy sitting home all day and Aralia was texting me earlier about her problems with this guy. I’m worried about her, so I think I should go check on her. I won’t be long, really quick, I promise,” Caroline said, grabbing her purse and giving Turner a quick peck on the cheek before heading out the front door.
He stood there, staring at the door closing behind her and shook his head. He loved her, but sometimes she could be quite confusing.
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Caroline’s new apartment that she shared with Turner was a bit further away from her work than the apartment she had lived in when she first met Logan, so it took her a little longer to get to Java Jolt.
Of course something like this would happen on the one day I call out of work and don’t go to the coffee shop, Caroline thought to herself sarcastically.
She picked up the pace and hurried down the Manhattan blocks, finally nearing her destination. There was a crowd of people near the store, not directly surrounding it, but rather acting like stalkers, trying to spy what was going on.
There were several photographers there, snapping the occasional picture and glancing at their watch. Everyone was clearly wondering what was going on.
To the side of the shop’s front door was a figure sitting against the wall with his knees up and bent, his head leaning back against the wall. He was wearing a sweatshirt with a hood pulled up over his face, so Caroline couldn’t see if it was Logan or not. She stood at the corner of the block, shuffling her feet and trying to figure out what she wanted to do.
If she walked over to him, pictures would end up everywhere and she didn’t want her face plastered all over TV, especially since she had told Turner she was with Aralia right now.
Guilt flushed through her stomach as she thought about her lie. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind, she didn’t know what to do, but she felt this uncontrollable force pushing her toward Logan.
She knew she had to see him, even though she was involved with Turner. There was something between her and Logan still, maybe it had never left. The draw was undeniable. She took a few steps down the sidewalk and was about three storefronts down when she stopped again, standing underneath a street lamp.
Her breathing was rapid, her nerves on high alert. She stared at the figure for a moment, then her breath caught in her throat, as she saw the figure turn to look at her. She couldn’t see a face under the hooded sweatshirt, because of the shadows that it cast, but she felt it was him.
The way her core instantly heated up and her chest felt heavy could only mean Logan was there. Caroline didn’t move, her feet were glued to the sidewalk and every muscle in her body had decided to betray her.
The figure stood up and pushed his hood down, revealing Logan’s chiseled features, wavy hair, and piercing blue, intoxicating eyes now fixed on her. The crowd started making noise, reacting to the change, camera flashes went off. Locked in each other’s gaze, it felt like he was staring straight into her soul. Logan began to move, and move fast, in her direction.
She was still frozen, waiting for him with her mind completely blank, as she breathed in the excitement of seeing him again. Logan jogged toward her and reached her in only a few short seconds. He didn’t hesitate, before wrapping her up in his arms.
Caroline tipped backward at the impact of his body against hers, only to be held secure by his arms around her. He leaned down immediately and found her mouth with his, kissing her deeply and forcefully.
She was surprised for a moment, but then fell right into him, kissing him back and slipping her arms around his neck. The couple heard noise and flashing lights headed their direction. Logan turned his head around to see the paparazzi coming their way.
“We have to go,” Logan whispered quickly, grabbing Caroline’s hand and pulling her behind him.
She didn’t have time to object and just had to run to keep up with him, or he would have pulled her arm off, as he ran quickly down the block and around the corner. They ran another block and made another turn, then turned again, ducking into a small alleyway that was, at most, only three feet wide.
The two were shoved into the small nook, pressed up together, facing one another. They were silent, listening to see if they would be found, but also unsure of what to say to each other.
“You came.” Logan broke the silence softly, touching her cheek as he looked down at her face.
“You were causing quite the commotion.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Logan chuckled, pulling her even tighter against him. She leaned back and pulled away a bit, glancing out onto the street.
“I think everything is clear. Let’s get out of this hole in the wall,” Caroline said, wiggling her way out of the tight space.
Logan followed her and pushed his hood back up over his head, just in case. The two walked down the block a bit further until they came upon a small park area. It was only a few feet wide and long, but there was a very nice grassy area and park bench under a lamp, giving off a golden glow to the area in the dark night.
Caroline walked over and sat on the bench toward one end, tucking her leg up underneath her. Logan joined her, facing her, and minimizing the space between them. He reached out and touched her cheek again, she leaned her face into his hand for a moment, then glanced up at him.
“What are you doing, Logan?” Caroline asked simply.
“Staring at the beautiful face that has been in my dreams every night for the last six months,” Logan replied, dropping his hand to rest on her leg instead.
Caroline blushed at his remark and shook her head.
“No, I mean waiting for me and showing up out of nowhere. I hear about your return on the news, not from you. And with everything that happened before you left…” Caroline trailed off, a silence hung between them for a moment.
“Caroline, I thought about you every moment of every day for six months. It killed me not to be able to talk to you, hear your voice, see your face.” Logan leaned back against the bench and rested his head in his hands.
“You knew where I was. You could’ve contacted me if you really wanted to,” Caroline scoffed, rolling her eyes and feeling a bit annoyed.
“I didn’t deserve to contact you, Caroline, and you didn’t want me to,” he told her softly, hanging his head.
“Gina?” Caroline asked.
Logan sighed and nodded.
“Caroline, she’s gone now. I ended things with her when the tour ended. It took a little time to separate our lives, but it’s completely over now. I wish I could’ve done it earlier, but I couldn’t during the tour, because we had a contract. The contract is now up and we are done.” Logan hoped she could understand, she wouldn’t look at him.
“So you took her on a romantic, round the world trip and then dumped her?” Caroline asked, being difficult and stubborn.
“I swear there was nothing romantic going on during the tour, not a thing. It was only business, you know that. There hasn’t been anything romantic between Gina and I since I met you. How could I even think about her, or any other woman, after having met you?” Logan moved toward her on the bench, wrapping one arm around her back.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and he kissed her forehead. His hand caressed her hair gently.
“Logan, I am living with someone. We’ve been dating a while and he is such a sweet guy. I shouldn’t be here,” Caroline said, pulling away from him again and turning her head to look at him.
“I know, George told me.”
“You know that and you’re still here? Pulling this stunt to get me to see you? You knew that I was happy and had moved on, but you still wanted to just come throw a wrench into my life anyway?” Caroline’s voice was escalating as she stood up, stomping her foot in irritation at him.
Logan quickly stood up to face her.
“Happy? Moved on? You really believe that? Then why are you even here, why did you come?” Logan said, matching her volume.
Caroline stuttered for a moment, trying to think of a response, but coming up with nothing.
“See, you know that I’m right. Neither one of us have moved on! Caroline, you know there is something here. We can’t just let go of that and throw it away.” Logan stepped forward and grabbed her.
He leaned down and pressed his mouth firmly against hers, kissing her roughly. She put her hands against his chest and pushed him away from her.
“You had an opportunity six months ago, Logan, but you were with Gina. If you really think we have something, you would’ve left her back then and you didn’t! It’s not enough, Logan. Turner and I are a couple now. He actually puts me first and cares about me. When have I ever seen that from you?” Caroline was yelling now and walking away.
“Caroline, stop!” Logan said, grabbing her arm, but she yanked it away from him again.
“I cried for weeks, Logan. You did that. You chose to end what we had.” Caroline took a step back and lifted her chin, staring at him.
Logan lowered his head and raked his fingers through his hair. He knew that there was nothing he could say, because she was right. He had hurt her and he deserved her anger. He hated himself for causing her that pain.
She stood there for another moment, waiting for him to respond. Part of her wanted him to beg her to stay, grab her, and kiss her; but the other part felt guilty knowing her boyfriend was at home right now, in love with her and blind to what her heart was feeling. She let out a sigh, then walked away, heading back down the block.
Logan didn’t follow her, but instead sat down on the bench and put his head in his hands.
Chapter Seventeen
When Caroline let herself back into her apartment, it was pretty late into the night. She walked into the living room and found Turner asleep and snoring on the couch, with the television still on. She smiled and kissed the top of his head. How could she find any fault with a man like him?
She knew he didn’t deserve what she had done today and the guilt sat heavy in her heart. She went into the bedroom and got dressed into some sweatpants and one of Turners t-shirts, then went back out to the living room to wake him up.
“Turner,” Caroline whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek, “wake up, honey, come to bed.”
“You’re home! I missed you, babe.” Turner kissed her, then sleepily stood up and followed her into the bedroom. The two climbed into bed and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, as he yawned.
“How was Aralia?”
“Huh?” Caroline responded, confused for a moment until she remembered that Aralia had been her cover story. “Oh, she is good. Everything’s fine.”
“That’s good, you’re a good friend, babe,” Turner said, looking down at her and kissing her.
Caroline felt guilty all over again. Turner began moving his hands up and down her back, pulling her tighter against him and their kiss deepened.
“Babe, I’m tired.” Caroline pulled away slightly, feeling guilty and hoping to dissuade him.
“I can help make you more tired.” Turner grinned and winked at her, kissing her again.
She smiled at him and gave in, kissing him back and wrapping her arms around him. Turner was such a wonderful guy and she knew that he deserved better than her.
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“Caroline, I can’t say I disagree with him,” Aralia told her, sitting across from her at the restaurant table. She and Aralia were having lunch together two days after her run in with Logan.
“What’re you talking about?” Caroline asked, with a tone of irritation and disbelief.
“Hey, it’s just my opinion, but you’ve never talked about Turner the way you talk about Logan. Even when you’re angry with Logan, there is still more passion there, then with Turner. Don’t get me wrong, I like Turner a lot. He is such a great guy, but you and Logan… I don’t know, there’s just something indescribable there.” Aralia shrugged and took a few bites of her salmon salad.
Caroline was quiet and ate her chicken wrap. She knew Aralia had a point, but she just didn’t want to accept that. Turner didn’t deserve to be hurt from her or anyone. On top of that, Logan had picked Gina over her and then left for six months. That wasn’t a fact that she could just forget and ignore.
He had just up and left her, without a word, without any contact. Then he just pops back into her life and expects her to drop everything for him?
“I don’t think he is going to give up, Caroline,” Aralia said.
“Who? Logan? I know, I don’t think he will either. I don’t know if I want him to give up either.”
“Have you seen the news about his career change?” Aralia asked Caroline. She shook her head that she didn’t know and look inquisitively at Aralia.
“Well his new PR rep- not Gina by the way- spun his coffee shop stunt into a promotion for his new art gallery. It opens up next Friday night with a huge grand opening party. I think it’s a combination of his own paintings, as well as some other up and coming city artists,” Aralia explained.
“How was sitting in front of a coffee shop, waiting for me, a promotion for an art gallery?” Caroline chuckled and took another bite of her lunch.
Aralia shrugged.
“I don’t know, but she spun the crap out of that story. It is on every magazine cover in the grocery store line. Apparently, he is taking a break from music to work on his artistic side. Have you seen any of his paintings?” Aralia asked her.
Caroline nodded and thought of the painting she had received from him.
It was hidden in a carefully wrapped box beneath her bed, so Turner wouldn’t see it. It was private and she didn’t want Turner to see that part of her, but she also didn’t want to explain why she kept it even though she was with him now.
“He is very talented.”
“Well, maybe we should go check out the gallery once it opens,” Aralia suggested to her.
“Seriously? Because that won’t be awkward at all. How would I explain that to Turner? Hey, babe, want to go see my ex-boyfriend’s or ex-whatever-we-were’s art gallery? Sounds like the perfect date night.” Caroline chuckled sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
Aralia just smiled and shook her head.
“Turner and I have a date night tonight, he says he wants it to be special. It’s our six month anniversary. So, I really can’t be dwelling on Logan right now,” Caroline said, motioning to the waitress for their check.
“Turner is a good guy.” Aralia nodded in agreement.
The two girls finished paying for their lunch and said their goodbyes, before Caroline headed back to work and Aralia headed to the bar.
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“Babe, do we have to go out tonight?” Caroline called from the bathroom, looking into her makeup bag and rummaging around.
Turner popped his head around the corner to look at her.
“What are you talking about? We already have the reservations and everything’s planned. Plus, it’s our anniversary.” Turner said, walking into the bathroom and hugging her from behind. She looked back at him in the mirror in front of them.
Caroline sighed. “I know, I’m just tired. It’s been a long week.”
>
“Babe, I promise you will enjoy tonight. Just give it a chance.” Turner kissed her cheek and then left the room.
Caroline sighed and began putting on her makeup.
About an hour later, the couple was dressed and ready to go. Turner had been waiting for Caroline for at least half that time, but she was finally ready to head out. They decided to take a taxi and Turner handed the address to the cab driver on a piece of paper, so Caroline wouldn’t know where they were going.
He had planned a surprise date night, which Caroline thought was sweet, but she wasn’t always the biggest fan of surprises. They finally reached their destination at an upscale restaurant by Central Park that Caroline had mentioned a few times. Turner must have remembered and tucked it away for a night like tonight.
The hostess led them to their assigned table, which had been decorated ahead of time with small votive candles and scattered red rose petals on a white linen tablecloth, with white china plate settings. There was a sterling champagne bucket, filled with ice, next to the table, containing a pricey bottle of champagne. Caroline squeezed Turner’s arm and smiled at him.
“Sweetheart, this is beautiful! Did you call ahead to set this up for us?” Caroline beamed at him.
“Of course, babe. This is a special day for us!” Turner gave her a quick peck and then pulled out her chair.
She sat down and he seated himself across from her.
“Thank you, Turner. You always make me feel very special.” Caroline smiled and reached across the table for his hand, which he placed in hers.
Caroline’s thoughts drifted momentarily to Logan, but she quickly pulled back. Turner made her happy and he loved her. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be in relationships? The couple enjoyed their entrees, and the wines that they paired with it, over the next hour together.
Conversation was minimal though, because Caroline couldn’t seem to untangle herself from her thoughts. Turner seemed quieter than usual, although there was no apparent reason as to why. Finally, their waitress brought them dessert to share which was a delicious chocolate, multi-layered cake with raspberry drizzle over it.
Logan Clay: A Forbidden Rockers Box Set Page 21