“Of course. That makes perfect sense. He’s been through a lot of upheaval.”
“Thanks for getting it. And we’ll be out of your hair ASAP. I’m job searching every day, and either way we’ll be out in January.” He grimaced. “You’re sure it’s okay to be here over the holidays? You probably have plans.”
That would require having a life. “No, actually. I’m not really big on Christmas.”
“Oh.” His brow furrowed.
“What?” Seth shifted uneasily, trying to smile.
“You just seem like you’d be into all that wholesome holiday stuff.”
He probably finds me incredibly lame. Seth admitted, “I was, but…”
Understanding seemed to wash over Logan’s stubbly, handsome face. “Right. The family thing.”
“Yeah. Will you and Connor be with Jenna on Christmas? I know she loves it.” Poor Connor. His first Christmas without his mother, and he didn’t have a proper home.
“On Christmas Eve, I guess. She’ll be with her husband’s family on Christmas Day.” He waved a hand. “But we’ll do our best to stay out of your way. Thanks again for this.” Logan clapped a calloused hand on Seth’s shoulder, and Seth tried to ignore the tingle that spread through him at the strong, warm touch.
They went back to work, taking the rest of Connor’s boxes upstairs. The pizza arrived, and they all sat on the couch in the great room, the pizza sitting on the iron and wood coffee table on top of tea towels Seth spread so the grease didn’t seep through. He realized he was out of napkins, but they didn’t seem fazed by using paper towels.
He and Logan let Connor pick something on the TV, and he went for Mythbusters on one of the streaming channels, complimenting Seth on the surround sound from the home theater speakers he’d had installed. Seth sipped a Sprite and put a coaster under Connor’s cola.
He’d ordered a six-pack of soda since he realized he only had water, coffee, and tea on hand. He should make a list of what they liked and stock up, especially for Logan since Connor would still be at school before the family retreat.
Seth had to choke down his bite of pizza at the reminder of the retreat, the extra cheese almost lodging in his throat. Could he and Logan really fool everyone—and Angela in particular—into believing they were a couple? Was Connor going to behave? Would he even agree to go?
Maybe it was best if he didn’t, but Angela was so keen on families that it would probably help if he did. Assuming he didn’t blow their cover, of course. Seth wasn’t above bribing him handsomely.
They ate and watched a segment about whether drifting a car around a corner was faster than just slowing down and re-accelerating. It turned out to be a myth that drifting was faster. Seth said, “Guess no one gave Vin Diesel the memo.”
Logan chuckled, wiping his mouth with a paper towel. “To be fair, that’s the only Fast and the Furious movie he’s not in.”
Connor huffed. “He is too. He has a scene at the end.” He shook his head as if Logan was a complete idiot, and it set Seth’s teeth on edge.
But Logan only shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
Seth supposed Logan had learned to pick his battles, but Connor’s bursts of hostility just seemed so…unnecessary. Seth knew the boy was grieving and hurt, but it was a shame he was dedicated to regarding Logan as the enemy.
After they ate, they drove in tandem to drop Connor off at school, where he slouched away without a wave goodbye, and then to Jenna’s to drop off her SUV. Seth had gotten a bit behind when he was caught at a yellow light, and he was surprised to see Logan waiting for him on the curb. Jenna’s modest house was alight with golden Christmas lights and Santa decorations beyond him.
And if Seth’s gut tightened with a spark of lust as the headlights caught Logan’s tall, muscular frame, that was no big deal. So Logan was hot and looked like a classic bad boy in his leather jacket and combat boots. Nothing wrong with Seth enjoying the view. Yes, Logan was a widower, but looking was harmless.
I’m allowed to be attracted to other men even if I’m not in love with them!
Yet no matter how many times he told himself that, guilt lingered. With Brandon, Seth had assured himself it wasn’t sinful because they’d loved each other. But now Brandon was long gone, and Seth should be able to admire another guy without feeling like he was doing something wrong. It was… Well, it was a work in progress.
Logan climbed into the passenger side. He opened his mouth, but then his rough face creased. “You okay?”
“What? Oh, yes! I’m fine.” Seth’s cheeks flamed hot, and he was glad it was relatively dark in the SUV. “Uh-huh.”
“I gave the keys to Jun. Jenna’s busy getting the kids down, and I don’t feel like talking to her right now.”
“Oh. Sure.” Seth headed down the street. Truthfully, it was getting late, and he didn’t much feel like talking to her either.
“Not that I don’t love my sister. She’s amazing. But sometimes she’s…”
“A little exhausting?”
Logan smirked. “Damn right.” He quickly added, “But she’s the best.”
“Absolutely! She’s been so kind and supportive of me since I moved here.” Seth stopped for a red light, glad the snow had tapered off. “I don’t know what I would have done without her last year after Brandon… After we split.”
“Right.”
Silence fell, and Seth was about to flick on the radio when Logan asked, “It was only a few months after you moved here that you broke up?”
Seth’s fingers tightened on the wheel before he fiddled with the wipers even though the windshield was clear. “Yes. Four months. The renovation had been dragging on, and it was stressful for both of us on top of moving across the country, but it was almost finished. Things hadn’t been great, but I thought the light was at the end of the tunnel. We’d been together so many years.”
He sprayed fluid on the windshield, the wipers thumping across before he turned them off and tried to laugh. “Turns out he’d blasted a hole through the side of the tunnel and made his escape with some guy he met at the gym who’s not even thirty yet.” Seth winced at how bitter he sounded.
“Fuck. That’s brutal.”
“Yeah.” Seth did flip on the radio then, scanning past endless Christmas songs until he found someone talking about global warming. “This okay?”
“Whatever you want.”
The planet’s doom should have been more depressing than his failed relationship with Brandon, but Seth decided it was a tie. It was strange to be with Jenna’s brother driving back to the house—which wasn’t really home the way Seth had dreamed it would be when he’d planned the renovation.
He should have known back then that Brandon had one foot out the door. Brandon had let Seth make all the decisions, like he’d known deep down he wouldn’t be around to live in the final product.
As the people on the radio talked about islands of plastic in the ocean, Seth turned onto the 87, careful of the slush that was accumulating. He peeked at Logan from the corner of his eye. Odd to think that Logan would be staying at the house.
Odder still to think that they’d be posing as loving partners. How were they going to pull it off? He supposed they should come up with a plan, but he stayed silent.
How much PDA do we need to make it look real?
Heat flowed through Seth, very much in a southerly direction. Logan was like his secret young fantasies about Dylan McKay come to life, but minus the nineties hair and sideburns.
Seth swallowed through the pang of hurt as he remembered huddling late at night with his big sister, Christine, the volume down low on their secretly recorded VHS episodes of 90210 after everyone had gone to bed.
Now she won’t even acknowledge I’m alive.
He exhaled sharply, annoyed at himself for thinking about Logan and PDAs and teen fantasies in the first place. This was a deal he and Logan had made, and he had to stay…professional, for lack of a better word. Logan was going to be sleeping in his house. Se
th had a responsibility to be a good host.
Does he sleep in underwear or pajamas? Or maybe in nothing at all… And what kind of underwear does he wear? Is he hairy?
No. It was wrong for Seth to be thinking about that, even if it was only in his screwed-up head. He shifted, blowing out a long breath. Yes, Logan was handsome—fine, incredibly gorgeous and sexy—
“You okay?” Logan asked.
“Huh?” Seth said too loudly. “Oh, yeah. Just frustrated about all this plastic in the environment. It’s terrible.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Seth turned up the volume and put all thoughts of Logan, leather jackets, and especially underwear firmly out of his mind.
Boxer briefs.
Black and clinging to a spectacular rear and meaty thighs. Seth stood frozen atop the two steps down into the sunken great room, gripping the mug of coffee he was bringing Logan.
Logan was sprawled on his belly on the couch at the far end, his left arm stretched out on the chaise, the sheet twisted beneath him and duvet pushed down to his feet. He’d asked about putting on the gas fireplace, and Seth had told him to feel free. Now it was overly warm, condensation glistening on the windows.
“Need to set the maximum temperature so it shuts off and doesn’t get too hot.” Seth realized a second later that he’d said the words aloud. His heart raced as he tried to focus on anything but the lust sizzling through him at the sight of Logan’s half-naked—more like three-quarters—and splayed body.
Jenna was right. Seth was ridiculously pent-up and needed to try dating before he humiliated himself and tented his slacks in front of his guest.
Grunting, Logan pushed himself up. “Huh? What?” He peered around in a daze, his sexy voice sleep-scratchy.
Yep. Hairy chest. Would it feel rough under Seth’s fingers? He tore his gaze back up to Logan’s bleary face. “Sorry! I’m so used to talking to myself I apparently don’t even realize I’m doing it.” He waved a hand around at the fogged windows. “It got too hot, huh? I can set the fireplace so it turns off after it hits a certain temp.” His other hand was still gripping the mug, which he thrust forward. “Coffee? This is black, but I have milk and sugar if you want?”
“Black’s great. Thanks.”
Seth crossed to the couch, concentrating on breathing. He put the mug on the table, afraid he’d spill it on all that exposed skin if he tried to pass it to Logan directly.
Mmm, hair on his legs and arms too.
Standing upright, Seth backed away. What was the matter with him? He encountered attractive men all the time and kept his libido in check. Was it that he’d been alone and celibate so long now that he was cracking under the pressure? Or was it that there was something undeniably intimate about having Logan sleeping under his roof? In his boxer briefs?
As Matt would say: Little bit from column A, little bit from column B.
“I’d better get to work. Have a good day! Make yourself at home. Oh, let me get you some towels.” He spun to escape before Logan could reply and tried not to think of Logan naked and wet in the shower.
He failed badly, but at least he tried.
Chapter Five
“I’ll pay you back.”
Expertly balancing the car seat with a sleeping Noah inside, Jenna opened her front door and called, “Hi, Pop!” To Logan, she said, “I know. I heard you the first three times.”
Logan nodded and kicked the door shut behind him, his hands occupied with canvas grocery bags. He’d had to borrow the money from Jenna to pay for the repair on his truck. The garage had been impatient for him to pick it up right away, and if Logan was going to be staying out in Saratoga Springs, he needed wheels.
Friday was Jenna’s temporary day off until she went back to work full time in the new year, so she’d picked him up at Seth’s and taken him to the garage.
He took off his boots and leather jacket and followed her through into the kitchen. Noah was somehow still fast asleep in the car seat, which Jenna put on the kitchen table. Logan took things out of the bags and put them on the island for her.
“Seth’s house is so beautiful,” she said for the hundredth time, tightening her ponytail. She wore sweats with a dark stain of something that had dripped down her chest. Peering around her beige and pink kitchen with a miserable expression, she sighed. “God, this is so nineties. All this laminate. Ugh.”
“It’s nice.”
Jenna narrowed her gaze. “Don’t shit a shitter. I’m dying for a new kitchen, but these kids keep wanting to eat and stuff, so.” Her face lit up again. “But wow, Seth’s great room looks incredible now. I only saw it once, back before Brandon sleazed off and I’d shamelessly invited myself over. It’s gorgeous now.”
“Yeah. Slept like a baby on that couch.” The wide leather had been soft, yet firm, and Seth had given him a pillow with cool foam in it. Logan had gotten more sleep than he had in weeks even though it had gotten too hot with the fireplace on.
He was a jobless loser who couldn’t afford rent, but Seth had brought him a steaming mug of coffee and acted like he was a real guest, not just a freeloader. They’d made a deal, but Logan was sure as hell getting more out of it.
He’d found himself thinking about Seth a lot. Seth wasn’t like most people he knew. He was…fancier. Not arrogant, though. But the way he didn’t swear, and how he did everything so neat and orderly…
For some weird reason it reminded Logan of his grandma’s sitting room, with fake flowers in vases and plastic on the couches. Which probably sounded like an insult even though he didn’t mean it that way. He’d always wanted to rip the plastic off those couches and bounce on them.
Logan asked, “He’s a good boss?”
“Oh yeah, the best. I mean, he’s technically not my boss, but he should be. Will be after this caper.” She grinned, waggling her eyebrows and adding fresh bananas to the fruit bowl by the toaster. “I still can’t believe you’re doing this.”
He snorted. “Me either. Not a lot of options.”
Her face softened. “I know. But Seth really is so great. Kind, generous, patient. He deserves this promotion so much. I’m really glad you’re helping each other. I can’t tell you how many times he covered for me when I was pregnant and puking. Picked up so much of my slack. I just wish he wasn’t so tough on himself. I think it’s because of his upbringing.”
“Right. Crazy religious parents?”
Jenna grimaced. “Yup. I mean, we grew up with standard-issue Catholic guilt, but his family’s evangelical church took it to a whole new level. Seth’s always been a bit reserved, but when Brandon dumped him, it was a big shock. Really did a number on him.”
“What happened there?” Logan had already decided this Brandon was a fucking idiot.
“Ugh.” She opened the fridge and loaded up the crisper drawer. “I guess Brandon was already having doubts before they moved, but he thought the change of scenery would fix their problems or something. Like a fresh start would make him fall back in love with Seth. That’s apparently what he told Seth when he was leaving. Obviously that never works, so when he met another guy at the gym, he bailed. That was over a year ago now, and Seth seems…stuck.”
She opened a cupboard and pulled out a jar of natural peanut butter, taking a spoonful and saying through it, “I think this caper will do wonders for him. At least he’ll finish his house.” She held out the jar, the spoon inside.
Logan filled his mouth with the sticky peanut butter, pondering what Jenna had told him. When he swallowed, his tongue still coated with thick residue, he asked, “Seth’s not seeing anyone else?”
“Not that I know of. Of course, I don’t want to pry.”
“Of course not,” Logan said dryly.
She smirked. “Shut up. But as far as I can tell, he hasn’t dated at all the past year. He’s such a catch! Handsome and sweet. Don’t you think?”
Shrugging, Logan said, “Sure.” He didn’t usually think of men’s looks or personalities that way since that st
uff didn’t matter when it came to simply getting off.
But yeah, Seth was in good shape and had a nice smile and blue eyes. And a lot of people would have backed the hell out of the deal after Logan and Connor started going at it, but Seth had been patient with them.
“I’m sure he could get laid easy,” Logan said.
Jenna sighed. “He could if he wanted to, but I think he’s got some hang-ups about casual sex. When I suggested he try Grindr, he almost choked on his tongue.”
Logan had to laugh. “Do you ever mind your own business?”
“Nope.”
“You know, I was wondering about the house. Seth said he bought it, not they bought it.”
“Yeah, apparently Brandon’s never been good with money.” She swirled the spoon around the peanut butter jar. “It’s a blessing that Seth was smart enough not to put the house in both their names. Honestly makes me think he had his doubts too, even if he hadn’t admitted it to himself.”
“I guess.” Logan thought of that voice that had told him marrying Veronica was nuts and that they barely even knew each other. But his life had been garbage, and there she was, beautiful and kind and taking care of him.
“Do you think Connor’s going to agree to go on the retreat next weekend?” Jenna asked. “And, more importantly, that he’ll behave?”
“Maybe. Guess he won’t have much choice. And he’ll be stuck with me all the time if he doesn’t get in line at school.” Logan hesitated. Might as well just spit it out. “He’s getting kicked out if he doesn’t.”
The spoon clattered to the counter. “Shit.”
“Yup.”
“But he’s a genius. I remember Veronica saying he practically had a photographic memory.”
“Yeah, but he’s been skipping class and blowing off assignments. Being an asshole to other kids. Acting reckless. He has to do good on his exams next week, or else.”
The Christmas Deal Page 6