Two Times as Hot

by Cat Johnson

Tyler’s brows rose. “Uh, we were eating breakfast?”

  “I know that.” Sometimes Logan had to wonder if this young smart ass who joked about everything was really Tuck’s brother. They were such opposites. “What else? Why was everyone acting so strange and staring at me and Emma? And why is it so important to Tuck and Becca that I take Emma to the store with me?”

  “Uh, I don’t know.” The way Tyler avoided eye contact with Logan now was in direct opposition to his casual shrug.

  “Tyler. You know something. Spill it.” Logan employed the no-nonsense tone he used to reprimand his troops and his cadets.

  “Oh, no.” Tyler shook his head. “I’m very happily a civilian so you can’t pull that army officer shit on me. You can frown at me all you want, Logan, but I can’t tell you.”

  “You can’t tell me because you don’t know? Or you won’t tell me, which means you do know something?”

  “Stop trying to trick me.” Tyler’s frown deepened. “That’s it. Discussion closed. I mean it, Logan. Drop it or I’m out of here. I love your father like he’s my own, but if you don’t ease up, you can finish this ramp your own damn self.”

  Wow. Logan had never seen the smooth talking, easygoing Tyler so agitated. There was something going on, and judging by Tyler’s reaction to his questioning, it had to be bigger than just a bunch of interfering friends and relations sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

  Tyler whipped out one end of a tape measure. He shot Logan a glance over his shoulder. “Don’t you have a grab bar to install or something?”

  Maybe Tyler wasn’t the easiest target to pick off after all. Logan cocked a brow at Tyler’s attitude. “Yeah, I do.”

  And he would get to it right after he interrogated Tuck. Logan spun toward the garage and stalked his way to his next victim. By the time he reached Tuck, Logan found him frowning down at his cell phone. When Logan walked farther into the garage, Tuck shoved the cell into his pocket and turned back to the board on the workbench.

  “What’s up?” Tuck asked the question without looking at Logan. Instead, he concentrated solely on the wood.

  “You tell me.” Logan folded his arms across his chest.

  “Just measuring.” Tuck shot Logan a glance over his shoulder and then went back to focusing on his work. “You know what they say. Measure twice, cut once.”

  “Yes, so I’ve heard.” Logan drew in a breath and moved closer. “Now, put that pencil and tape measure down, turn around, and tell me why you and Tyler and Becca are throwing me and Emma together.”

  One brow cocked high, Tuck asked, “Is that an order, sir?”

  “No. You know damn well it’s not, so stop with the attitude.” Logan blew out a breath filled with frustration. “Tyler wouldn’t spill. Now you won’t. Do I have to go to Becca next? Is that what you want me to do?”

  “Logan, leave Becca out of this.”

  “Fine. You tell me what’s up and I will.”

  Tuck turned to face Logan. “Here’s a suggestion. Go talk to Emma and leave the rest of us out of it.”

  “Emma. Why? What can she tell me?” All this time Logan had assumed he and Emma were in the same boat. Both in the dark as to why everyone was acting so strangely. But here Tuck was insinuating Emma was the key to getting the answers to Logan’s questions.

  “That’s all I’m going to say.” Tuck shook his head, and then leaned again over the board.

  “All right. If that’s the way you want to play this.” Resigned, Logan let out a huff. “I’ll talk to Emma right after I finish what I have to do to get the bathroom ready for Dad.”

  Tuck glanced up from beneath the brim of his hat. “Tyler and I will handle all of that. You go find Emma.”

  What the hell?

  “Fine.” Logan turned on his boot heel and headed next door to find Emma and, hopefully, the end of this mystery.

  After the short walk, which felt inordinately long today, Logan crossed the back yard and found Emma in the Jenkins kitchen. She’d covered the kitchen table with newspaper, and held a paintbrush poised over the barn wood.

  She looked up at the sound of the door opening, and smiled when she saw him. “Hi. I’m just finishing this one. Are you done already at your house?”

  “No, they’re still working over there. Um, can we talk?”

  As Logan asked the question of Emma, Becca walked into the room. She stopped just inside the doorway, wide-eyed. “Uh, I just remembered, I forgot something.”

  Turning, Becca fled the room as if her life depended on it. There was definitely something going on here.

  Emma watched her sister leave. She turned to Logan and put down her paintbrush. “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Can we sit?” Logan pulled out a chair for Emma. She’d been standing to work on the sign.

  “All right.” Looking baffled, Emma perched in the chair, watching him.

  Logan pulled out a chair for himself, sat and leaned forward. “This may seem crazy, but there’s something going on around here. It feels like everyone knows something I don’t and—” The expression that crossed Emma’s face made Logan cut his sentence short. She was hiding something. He took both of her hands in his. “Emma. What’s going on?”

  She swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “I heard that you were engaged once. I know it’s none of my business, but what happened? How come you didn’t get married?”

  That’s what this was about? An engagement that had lasted a week? Just long enough for his mother to announce it to the neighborhood and in church before he had to go through the embarrassment of telling everyone it was off? “Emma, that was years ago. Like twenty years. I was just out of high school. I hadn’t even left for boot camp yet.”

  “Okay.” She nodded. “What happened?”

  Logan had to wonder why it mattered. To her, it obviously did. Maybe she was so traumatized by Jace acting the ass with his ex-girlfriend that she needed to know Logan wouldn’t do the same thing? But the situations were so different, it was almost laughable.

  “It’s not something I talk about. Tuck and Layne don’t even know all of it. I was only eighteen, which made them about eight or nine at the time.”

  Emma shook her head. “Logan, I don’t need to know. I was foolish to even ask. It was so long ago, it doesn’t matter—”

  “No. You’re concerned enough that you asked, so I want to tell you. This girl and I were young and stupid, and careless. And she got pregnant.”

  All of the color drained from Emma’s face. Concerned, Logan squeezed her hand in his. “Emma. You okay?”

  She swallowed again, looking a bit ill. “Go on. What happened?”

  He shrugged. “I guess she got scared. She and her friend drove to a clinic an hour away, and when she came back she told me there was no more baby. I was angry. Sad.” Logan let out a short laugh. “And relieved. We weren’t in love. Hell, we weren’t even dating, which made it extra stupid we weren’t more careful.”

  It had felt as if his life had been turned on end, not once but twice in a week’s time. First, when he’d learned he was going to be a husband and a father when he was about to leave for basic training. Then again when he learned that without his knowledge, she’d made the decision to change all that. She gave him his life back, but at a cost he wouldn’t have condoned had he known. And it all happened just weeks before he turned nineteen.

  “Is this what’s been bothering you? Why everyone’s been acting nuts?”

  “I think Tyler always acts a little crazy, so . . .” Emma’s smile looked forced as she sat up straighter in the chair. She reached over and gave his hand a little squeeze. “Everything is fine, Logan. I apologize for asking about your past.”

  “It’s all right. I want you to be able to ask me anything at any time, especially if it’s something that’s bothering you.”

  “I’ll remember that.” She withdrew her hands from his. “Now go f
inish your work so I can do the same.”

  He watched as she picked up the paintbrush again. Their talk had only made the mystery murkier than it had been before. Logan had infiltrated enemy strongholds with less effort than he was expending to get this family to tell him the complete truth. Logan wasn’t used to being defeated. He didn’t like it. But right now, it seemed as if he’d have to wait them out, and get ready for his father’s homecoming.

  Something was very wrong when war seemed so much simpler than his home life.

  Chapter Twenty

  The back door hadn’t been closed two seconds when Becca skidded into the kitchen. “What happened with Logan? Did you tell him?”

  “You mean you don’t know? You weren’t listening from the hall?” Emma realized she was shaking. She put down the paintbrush and buried her face in her hands, ignoring the fact that she had paint on her fingers.

  “You two were talking too softly. I couldn’t hear.”

  At least Becca admitted she was eavesdropping. That was something. Emma blew out a breath and lowered her hands. “I didn’t tell him.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he told me he was engaged all those years ago because he got the girl pregnant, and even though he didn’t love her, he was going to marry her because of the baby.”

  “And you’re afraid he’ll do the same with you.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Becca knew too well how Emma felt.

  “Yes.” Emma blinked back the tears. “I want the fairy tale, Becs. What you found with Tuck. A man who wants to be with me, not who feels like he has to.”

  “What are you going to do now? Em, you have to tell him.”

  Anger replaced Emma’s sadness. “I know I have to tell him, Becca. Stop saying that. And stop throwing me at him. All of you. That’s why he came to talk. He’s noticed something’s up.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know. ” Emma let out a sigh. “And I know you’re right. I’ll tell him later today. After his father is home and settled. He doesn’t need the stress before that.”

  “I think that’s a good idea.”

  Emma reached for the paintbrush, then let her hand drop to her lap. “I’m shaking so badly I can’t finish this damn sign.”

  Becca stood. “Move over. I’ll do it.”

  “You can paint?”

  “Em, you outlined the letters in pencil. All I have to do is paint over them. A child could do it.” Becca took the brush in one hand and hovered over the board.

  “Keep the edges straight.” Emma stood, too, trying to look over Becca’s arm. “And try to keep the thickness uniform.”

  “Emma, stop. Go make yourself a cup of tea and let me finish this so it’s ready when Logan comes back to take you to the shop.”

  The shop, where they’d be alone together. Where she’d have to pretend that nothing was wrong. That she wasn’t waiting for the time when she would give him the news that would change both of their lives.

  She wouldn’t show for a couple of months yet. Maybe she could put this off a little longer.

  As Emma waffled on her plan, Becca’s motions caught her eye. “Thin, Becca. Thin letters. Here, give it to me.”

  She would finish this sign and worry about the rest later. She blew out a breath, steadied her hand, and went to work.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  The jingling of the bell announced an arrival. The shop door swung open, held by Logan’s mother as Tuck pushed Logan’s father inside.

  Logan put down the hammer he’d been holding in his hand and strode toward the group. “Dad, I thought someone would have called if you were coming.”

  Tuck shrugged. “We wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, you sure did.”

  “Logan, the store looks wonderful.” His mom moved to stand next to the wheelchair.

  Watching his father’s face, Logan asked, “You really like it?”

  “I love it.” She looked around her, one hand resting on Logan’s father’s shoulder. “Honey, do you see what Logan’s done?”

  Emma had been in the back, sorting through more boxes of dusty old stuff, looking for additional display items. It seemed to be her favorite pastime. She came through the door of the workroom now and stopped, probably waiting as anxiously as Logan for some sort of reaction from his father.

  Finally, it came, in the form of a jerky nod. “Good.” His father’s eyes looked misty as he repeated, “Good.”

  Logan glanced at Emma. She was biting her lip and looking a bit teary-eyed herself. He motioned her forward, then turned back to his parents. “I can’t take credit for any of it. Emma did everything. The new layout and displays. The signs.”

  She came to stand next to Logan. “Mr. Hunt, I’m glad to see you looking so well.”

  “Thank . . . you.” His father nodded again, speech and movement still hard for him, but so much better than before.

  Logan’s mother smiled at Emma. “You did a lovely job.”

  “Thank you.” Emma shot Logan a glance. “I was worried I’d overstepped.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Logan laid an arm around her shoulders and watched three sets of eyes follow the motion—his mom’s, his dad’s and Tuck’s. This was ridiculous. “Emma has been spending a lot of time helping out around here.”

  Why did he feel the need to explain? And why was it so hard to do?

  Maybe because they hadn’t defined what they were to each other. It felt like they were dating, even if they had yet to go out on an actual date. Sunset sex at the cabin didn’t count. Neither did dancing at Tuck and Becca’s wedding, since she had been officially Jace’s date for that. Logan would have to remedy the situation. Take Emma out on a real date and soon.

  “So you’re from New York?” Logan’s mother asked her.

  “Yes, ma’am. Born and raised. But now that my sister is settled in Oklahoma, I’ve been thinking that I might want to move here myself.”

  Logan swiveled to stare at Emma. “You have?”

  “Yeah.” Her eyes searched his. If she were waiting to see what he thought about the idea, she wouldn’t need to ask. Logan had a feeling the happiness he felt at the news was written all over his face.

  “Um, want a little tour before we head home?” Tuck leaned down and spoke directly to Logan’s father. “Wait until you see what Emma did with that old lumber you had stashed at the cabin.”

  Logan’s mom clapped her hands together. “Oh, I see the signs. They’re perfect.”

  After Tuck had not so subtly moved their audience to the back of the store, Logan turned to take Emma’s hand in his. “You’d really consider moving? When did this come about?”

  “Recently. The past few days.” Emma shrugged. “I guess being around Becca, and everyone else here, made me realize how much I missed having her nearby.”

  “But your job—”

  “I can find work in my field anywhere.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “I can visit them. My dad’s retired now. They love to travel, so they can visit me and Becca here.” Emma’s gaze held his as she watched him.

  “So you’d look for work in Stillwater near Becca?” The thought of having Emma around on a permanent basis had Logan’s heart pounding.

  “Yeah, probably. Stillwater or somewhere close. Or I could work from home for a while. I can probably get plenty of freelance jobs online.”

  “You’d really be okay with leaving New York?”

  “Yes.” Emma bit her lower lip. “Would you be okay with having me around?”

  Was she really worried about that? The question explained her nervous behavior but not why in the world she would be concerned he wouldn’t want her around.

  “Are you crazy?” Logan rested his hands on her shoulders, letting his thumbs cup her face. “I’d love it.”

  “So I guess we should be heading home now.” Tuck announced the return of the group a little louder than was necessary, probably to warn Logan that he and Emma were a
bout to be interrupted.

  “I’ll go home with you.” Logan dropped his hold on Emma, just as a customer walked into the store.

  “You open? The sign says Closed, but I saw customers.”

  Crap. He needed to keep that door locked. “Actually—”

  “Logan, stay and help this gentleman. We’re okay on our own. Really.” His mom dismissed the offer and turned to the man hovering in the doorway, looking uncertain. “Come on in. Look around. Let us know if we can help you with anything.”

  Logan waited for the customer to move to the back of the store, then moved closer to his mother and father. “I want to be home to help with the wheelchair—”

  Tuck held up a hand to stop Logan. “We’re good. I had a lesson with the physical therapist on how to best get both him and the chair in and out of the car. I’ve got it covered. And the ramp is ready at the house. We’re good. He’ll be there inside waiting for you when you can get away.”

  “We’re fine, dear. We’ll see you at dinner.” Logan’s mother turned toward Emma. “Both of you. I’d love it if you could join us, Emma.”

  “I’d like that. Thank you.” Emma smiled.

  “Good. We’ll see you later.” Logan’s mother pushed open the door and held it wide.

  Tuck sent Logan a satisfied nod. “See ya.”

  A customer, an ongoing mystery, and now, possibly, a girlfriend living right in his town—Logan had trouble keeping up with it all.

  Once their sole customer had left, promising to be back again soon, with his wife next time, Logan was left alone again with Emma.

  He moved to the door and turned the key in the lock. He turned to see Emma had followed him.

  She glanced at the key in his hand. “You’re not going to get any more business like that.”

  “Maybe I don’t want any more business today.” His head had been spinning with plans since Emma’s revelation about moving.

  “I understand. You want to get home to your dad.”

  “I do. Soon. But right now, I want some time alone with you.” He tugged on her hand. “Come on in back. I don’t want any more customers seeing us through the windows. I’m not going to attack you. I promise.”