Hurray for car washing and a shirtless Logan. My day was definitely looking up.
“Heard anything about the house you wanted?”
“Hm?” I jerked my eyes away from his abs, hoping he hadn’t noticed my ogling. He stepped back to scan the hood of my car. “Oh, yeah. Looks like it’s a go. The owner’s eager to sell, so Dad was able to talk him down a little more.”
“Great. How long before you move in?”
“I don’t know. Maybe another month or so. There’s a lot of paperwork to it.”
“We appreciate you putting us in contact with Rita. She’s already been a huge help.” Logan stretched over the hood to swipe the towel at a few spots. I tried to avoid staring and found myself doing it anyway, because of the way his jeans clung to his rear and thighs.
“Oh, good.” My gosh, what was wrong with me? Too weak to finish washing my car, but not to drool all over a friend? Still needed to have that talk with myself about priorities and being shallow.
Said friend was pretty damn hot, and hotness wasn’t remotely his best quality. Nope, there was compassion, his willingness to help others, strength, how he never freaked out about anything...a whole laundry list of great qualities, plus he liked to read.
“When you move, I’m available to do any heavy lifting you need done.”
“Sure, if you’ll do it shirtless too.” My eyes widened. Holy crap. “Um, did I just say that out loud?”
“Yeah.” Logan began furiously buffing a headlight. “I can go shirtless if you want me to.”
“What I want right now is for the ground to open up and swallow me, because I can’t believe I said that. And to you, of all people.”
“I don’t mind.”
“It was rude and pretty wrong considering I haven’t been broken up with Nick for even a month yet. You know, I kind of jumped into things with him and look how that turned out.” Oh my God, Cordi, just shut up! “I mean, at least we’ve known each other for a while.”
Logan wasn’t buffing anymore. He’d straightened and turned to look at me, the towel dangling from his hand. Brow lightly furrowed, he said, “Yes, we have.”
“But I’m in the rebound zone right now, so really, really shouldn’t be noticing how hot you are.” Holy crap, why couldn’t I stop talking? “And you are. Very.”
“Thanks.”
There was me, being all shallow again. “Not that being hot is all you’ve got going. You’re a good person, and,” Shut up, shut up, shut up! “You like to read too.”
Logan held up his hand before I could blurt anything else out, and my teeth clicked as I forced my traitorous mouth shut. “I’m not sure what’s going on right now.”
Right. It wasn’t as though all he’d said was he’d go shirtless if I wanted him to. That wasn’t exactly an invitation to anything, and here I’d gone off, babbling like I thought he wanted...something. Heat suffused my face and I looked down. “Um, I’m still goofy from the blood loss and maybe a little delusional?”
“Oh, because I thought it sounded like you might be saying you find me attractive.”
“The ground can open any time now,” I muttered.
“If that was the case, then it’d be okay for me to mention the attraction’s mutual, right?”
What did he just say? I peeked at his face. “It is?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Uh,” I floundered for something to say, my mouth not cooperating. “Um, cool.”
Logan softly chuckled. “Unless I’m really wrong, it also sounds like you don’t want to date anyone for a while.”
Had I said that? Wait, yeah, I’d mentioned something about “rebound zone” and wasn’t even sure it applied to me, since I was the one who’d done the breaking up. Yet...“Yeah. Need a little time to clear my head and stuff. You know, need to move and settle in too.”
He nodded. “Right. But just to be clear, in a month or two, if I asked you to dinner....”
“I’ll say yes.” Way to sound desperate, Cordi. “I mean, if you do feel like asking me to dinner sometime. In the future.”
“Good. In the meantime, we’ll see each other anyway, since we’re friends and clan.”
“Yes.”
His smile caused my heart to skip a beat. “Okay. Sounds good.”
“Yeah.” My palms were sweating and I had no way to dry them. “It does. Hey, do you want something to drink? We have lemonade, tea, and beer.”
“Thanks, but I should get back. Just wanted to drop by, see how you were doing.” He flapped the towel at my car. “And this is done.”
“Thank you. It looks great.”
“No problem.” He looked around. “Want me to put this stuff away?”
Oh, yes, so I can watch you some more. Fortunately, those words didn’t make it past my lips. “I’ll get it here in a few.”
“All right.” Logan tossed the towel into the pile with the others, collected his shirt off the grass, and took one step toward me before freezing. “Ah...Sure you don’t need any help?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” To my disappointment, he half-turned toward his truck.
“Okay. I should get going. Bye.”
“Bye.” No cheeking and kiss for me.
I returned his wave as he drove off, and giggled like a maniac for a few minutes.
Logan liked me. Wanted to date me.
Nick had been right. The thought of my ex-boyfriend curdled my excitement. Why, I had no clue. I hadn’t lied to him. Logan had played no part in my decision to break things off. And it wasn’t as though I’d ever gone spelunking in Logan’s mind to find out whether he liked me more than as a friend.
Did it matter what Nick would think? We weren’t going to get back together, and he’d quit the agency. He wasn’t a part of my life anymore. I couldn’t live my life making decisions based on whether I’d be hurting Nick’s feelings or not. “Oh, crap.”
Nope, I needed to worry about what Danielle would do, because she certainly wasn’t going to be happy if Logan and I started seeing each other.
For that matter, Logan was nearly thirty. What if he was ready to settle down, wanted kids, and stuff? “Double crap.”
Levering myself out of my chair, I began picking up the car washing things. It appeared borrowing trouble was a habit of mine. One I needed to break.
After all, I was alive, had a new home, friends, a job I loved, and now, a date with Logan to look forward to.
Not too shabby.
About the Author
About the Author
Gayla (or if you prefer, G. L.) loves to write and entertain people. She writes scifi as G. L. Drummond, urban fantasy and other things as Gayla Drummond.
One of her favorite pursuits is working to rescue animals, and as a result, a pack of five has become part of her family. She loves to ride, and is happy to have two awesome horses. On the human side, two teens claim her as 'Mom', and her life partner is a storm-chasing veteran of twenty-odd years.
Read more at Gayla Drummond’s site.
Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3) Page 19