by Jill Sanders
It surprised her to see that there was only one piece left by the time their bottle of wine was gone. She’d lost track of time while he joked about a few jobs he’d had in high school.
“So, that’s why I chose to be a Realtor.”
“Because you couldn’t flip burgers?” she joked.
“And, because I decided I couldn’t stand to know what happened to my food before it reached my table.”
She cringed. “Don’t remind me. I spent a summer waiting tables at the Mexican place down the street.”
“Something else we have in common.”
Her smile fell away and she frowned down at her empty wine glass. What was she doing? She’d let her guard down for a moment. This was Logan Miller. Her lifelong nemesis. The boy who had caused her more pain than all her ex-boyfriends combined.
For the remaining time in the restaurant, she sat back and listened to his stories, trying to figure out what his game was.
She thought of a few ways to test him, to see if he was pulling something but didn’t know if she had enough nerve to try any of them. That was until he brought up the Lufts. Then she had no problem testing the waters.
She listened to him explain how he’d sent the email out with her contact information, but it didn’t negate the fact that he’d gone behind her back.
Her opportunity arrived as they were walking out the door. Heather Kurtz happened to be walking into Bono’s on the arm of a man twice her age. Since graduating from college, Heather had been gold digging. Trying to find anyone who could keep her in her Versace and Valentino. So far, she’d gone through every man in town near her own age and had begun to move on to men twice her age. She was slowly making her way through the seniors and was currently wooing Mr. Wilkens, a local jewelry store owner, who for his part, seemed to be enjoying the extra attention he got by dating a younger woman.
“Heather.” Amy stopped just outside the doors. Normally, she wouldn’t have paused to hold the door open for the woman, but with Logan in tow, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see how he would react. She knew she would be outing herself, but at this point, the game was starting to get old. Heather glanced at her. No hint of recognition crossed the blonde’s eyes. “It’s me, Amy Wa—er, Amelia Craig.”
“Oh, yes.” She could still see the girl didn’t know who she was. Even after they had spent years together in the same school and even at one point played volleyball together. “How nice to see you again.”
“You remember Logan Miller?” Heather’s eyes traveled to Logan, who had just stepped out the door. Instantly, Amy regretted her actions when she saw Heather’s eyes heat and recognition spark.
“Logan!” The woman squealed before tossing herself into his arms. “When did you get back?”
Logan’s eyes moved over to Amy’s and Amy thought she saw fear behind the blueness.
“Last month. I’m working for my uncle over at . . .”
“Oh, that’s simply wonderful.” She glanced at Mr. Wilkens quickly. Then she leaned forward and whispered loud enough for Amy to hear. “We’ll definitely have to get together sometime. Call me.” She purred the last words as she looked directly at Amy. Then she turned and wrapped an arm through the older man’s and walked into the building.
“You did that on purpose,” Logan growled at her after the door shut.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She bit her bottom lip to hide the slight smile from him. It had felt good to see him squirm as he’d caused her to do over the last few weeks.
His eyes narrowed as he took her hand in his. Instead of heading back to his car, Logan started down the street.
CHAPTER NINE
With Amy’s hand in his own, Logan walked toward the river that ran directly through town. So much had actually changed in Golden that he hadn’t noticed before. They had resurfaced the streets and had new road signs hanging on every streetlight. Some of the old buildings had been remodeled and housed new shops, while others had simply been torn down.
He kept her hand in his as they walked down the stairs to the edge of the water. It was now early August, and even with the sun gone over the mountains for the night, the temperatures were still warm enough that there was a bead of sweat rolling down his back.
They were in luck when he spotted an empty bench positioned along the edge of the rushing water. When they sat down, he gently placed his arm over her shoulders.
“There, this is nice.” He glanced her way. When he turned toward her, she avoided him by turning her head in the opposite direction. “Do you want to tell me why you tried to get me smothered by Heather Hurtz?”
He watched her fight the smile as he used Heather’s school nickname.
“You know why?” She turned and faced him. “I don’t like playing games.”
He nodded. “I remember that about you,” he added as he pulled her closer.
“So, you do remember?” She pushed him away as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, a frown forming on her lips.
“I remember lots of things.” He brushed his hand through her hair as she tried to swat him away. “I remember the summer you wore those silk shorts that used to be in style. They always drove every boy in the neighborhood crazy. Including me.”
Her frown grew, but for a moment, he thought he heard her breath hitch.
“I remember the first day you showed up at school wearing a bra.” He smiled as he remembered how she’d fiddled with the straps most of the day. “I never knew simple white cotton could be so sexy.” His hand cupped the back of her head and drew her closer.
“I remember doing this for the first time . . .” He leaned closer and placed his lips on hers softly.
When he pulled back after the kiss, he grabbed hold of her hands. “I also remember what came afterward. You’re not going to slug me again, are you?”
“You deserved it, since you were dared.”
“What?” He kept hold of her hands, just in case.
“Taylor Franklin dared you to kiss me on the bus.” She almost growled it out.
“No, no one dared me.” He watched her struggle with the new knowledge.
“Why did you then?” she whispered.
“Because you were sitting in the back seat, all by yourself, pouting.” His smile grew when her lips turned down in the cute pout he remembered so well. “Yeah, just like that.” He brushed his thumb over her soft bottom lip and started to lean closer to her. “Drove me crazy back then.” He ran his lips over the sweet curve once more.
“I . . . I don’t understand.” She shook her head slightly.
“You never did.” He felt like there was too much ground for him to cover with her. Besides, he wasn’t sure he was ready to admit anything more that evening. He wasn’t ready and he was pretty sure she wasn’t either.
Leaning back, he knew that any further discussion on why he’d acted the way he had would cause problems, and he didn’t want to start a fight. He could see the frown on her lips increasing. So he decided to change the subject.
“What do you say to hitting the water tomorrow?” He glanced over to the rushing water. “I’m in the mood to get wet.”
“What?” she asked.
“Canoeing. You did say you liked to go?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, but . . .”
“Good. I’ll pick you up around eight tomorrow morning.” He reached down and took her hand in his again and stood up, pulling her with him.
“Logan?”
He stopped all the questions by placing his lips over hers again. “Later.” He smiled. “I’ll take you home. I’ve got to go find all my gear in my uncle’s garage. That is if we’re going to hit the water tomorrow . . .”
She nodded.
By the time he finally made it over to his uncle’s house, it was after dark. He had a key to the place, but still chose to knock on the front door. When his uncle answered in a pair of basketball shorts and T-shirt, he knew he wouldn’t get out of shooting some hoops with t
he older man before he could finally dig through the garage to get his canoe and paddles.
The man was an ox, except when it came to basketball. Then he was a short and heavy white version of Michael Jordan. Even Logan, who was easily half the man’s age, couldn’t keep up with him. After the first ten minutes, Logan felt his lungs start to burn. Fifteen minutes later, his back and thighs stung.
“I don’t know how you do it,” he wheezed out as he leaned his hands on his knees, more than forty minutes later. “I mean, you’ve got to be close to a hundred.” He looked up at his uncle, who just laughed at him.
“You’re just out of shape and slow.” His uncle wasn’t even winded.
“Okay, now that you’ve sufficiently beaten me, I’ve got to go hunt down my gear. I’m hitting the water with Amy tomorrow.” He walked over and reached down to pull open the garage door they’d been playing in front of.
When he looked back, he watched his uncle’s face sober. “Are you sure about what you’re doing with that girl?”
Logan laughed. “You’re one to talk.” He’d done little else than think of Amy and the game they had been playing.
He flipped on the garage light and started looking through the mess of junk he’d stored in his uncle’s garage almost a month ago.
“What do you mean?” His uncle was beside him.
He glanced at his uncle’s face. “Leah? How long have you been seeing that one and keeping it a secret?”
His uncle removed his ball cap and wiped his forehead while avoiding eye contact.
“Yeah, thought so.” Logan turned back to the mess in the garage. He spotted his canoe. Now all he needed was the paddle and life vest.
“It’s complicated, son.”
“What relationship isn’t?” He moved a box and jumped a little when he heard a small noise come from under the pile.
“What’s that? A rat?” His uncle reached over and took hold of a baseball bat that was leaning by the door.
“I don’t think so. It yelped.” Logan carefully moved a few items until he could see a dark shadow curled up on an old shirt of his in the bottom of a box. “Did you leave the garage door open in the last few days?”
“Shoot. Yes, it was open for a couple of days, but I closed it last night. Why?” his uncle asked from behind him.
“Because there’s a dog curled up here and it looks to be in pretty bad shape.”
“A dog?” His uncle moved to his side.
“You probably sealed him in when you shut the garage door.”
“The poor thing.” His uncle started to reach for the small animal.
“I’d hang on if I were you. Just to be safe. Do you have a flashlight?”
“Sure.” His uncle rushed over to his toolbox and dug in the bottom drawer, then came back and shone it in the bottom of the box.
The dog couldn’t have been older than a few weeks, and he was surprised to discover there were actually three of them in there.
He glanced around. “Do you have any meat in the house?”
“Meat?” His uncle frowned. “I’ve got some leftover steak.”
“Perfect, go get it.” Logan took the box from the pile and gently set it near the entrance of the garage to wait for his uncle to return.
“Here you go,” his uncle said as he walked out the front door and then handed Logan the plate of meat. It was still pink in the middle and smelled wonderful.
“This will work. I’m betting mama isn’t far away and is waiting for her chance to rescue them . . .” He set the plate down in front of the box and pulled his uncle over to sit on the front porch.
It took less than five minutes of listening to those pups cry for a small black dog to slowly come out of the brush near the side of the house. Her fur was so matted with mud, it was hard to tell what type of dog she was.
They watched her wolf down the steak, then jump into the box with her pups. They could hear the three pups sucking down their own meal.
“Poor things. I can’t believe I locked them in here. I’ve been in and out of the garage a few times, but never knew about them or the mama.”
“I’m going to try something.” He stood up. “You hang back a bit, we don’t want to spook her.”
His uncle nodded and Logan made his way slowly toward the box.
When he got within a few feet, the mother’s head popped up and he could hear a low growl. He smiled and started talking to her softly as he continued to move forward.
When he was within a few feet of the box, the mother laid her head down on the side of the box and he watched her tail thump every time he spoke. Ten minutes later, he sat with the dogs in his lap. It didn’t take long for him to fall helplessly in love with them all. He wondered how he was going to persuade his landlord to let him keep the dogs.
Amy sat on her sofa in her shorts and tank top and waited for the knock on her door. By a quarter past eight, she was beginning to wonder if Logan had decided to call the whole day off.
He’d known all along who she was and had been playing with her. Why? What did he mean when he said that she’d never understood him? They had talked briefly about it, but so far she still didn’t know his reasons for acting like he hadn’t known her. Nor had he asked her why she’d acted the same way to him. So many questions, yet the attraction was drawing her closer to him.
Just as she was thinking of a million reasons why it was a good thing he hadn’t shown up, there was a brisk knock on her door.
Sighing, she got up and walked over. When she opened the door, she noticed he was a little winded.
“Sorry.” He brushed a quick kiss on her lips before she had a chance to dodge him or say anything. “Daisy and her girls kept me up all night.” He walked into the room without her invitation.
“Daisy?” She blinked a few times, images of exotic girls hanging all over Logan flashing through her mind.
“Yeah.” He turned toward her and held up his cell phone. “I found her last night at my uncle’s. Can you believe how cute they are? All three of the pups are girls! Can you imagine?”
She walked over and took the phone from his hands. Looking down at the image on the screen, she smiled. A small black dog with a white mark on her forehead looked up at the camera, while three little dark puppies hung on her tits having a meal.
“I named her Daisy, because the mark looks like one,” Logan said.
“What are you going to do with them?” she asked, handing the phone back to him.
“Keep them.”
“All of them?” she asked.
“Well, sure, at least until the pups are bigger. Besides, you can’t break up a new family.”
She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Where are they now?”
“I’m hoping my landlady doesn’t get wind of them hiding in my bathroom. At least, until I can see if she’ll make an exception to the no pets rule.”
She thought about it. She had always wanted a dog and had actually spent time at the local shelter trying to pick one out. She had plenty of room and having the extra company would be an added bonus. “You can bring them over here.” She wondered why she had such a soft spot for animals, and Logan.
“Really?” His eyes lit up.
She nodded. “I own this place and there’s no rule against pets.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He walked back to the front door and opened it, then reached down and picked up a large box sitting just outside and carried it in.
“You brought them along?” She should have known she’d walked right into another one of his traps. “Of course you did.”
But when she saw the dark head and brown eyes pop up from the box, she realized she didn’t care.
“Oh, aren’t you sweet?” She rushed over and picked up the mama. “And you smell so good.” She snuggled her face into the soft fur as the dog tried to lick her everywhere.
“I gave her a bath last night. And they’re all fed.” He dropped a bag of dog food next to the box. “I�
��m going to get a vet appointment for them all later this week.”
She smiled over at him as she picked up the smallest puppy.
Her eyes weren’t even opened yet. “I bet these aren’t even two weeks old.”
“My uncle thinks Daisy had them in his garage last week sometime, when he left the door open for a couple of days. She must have come and gone for a while, but he locked her out overnight last night.”
“Well, we can set them up in the spare room for now.” She glanced down at the mama. “I’ve got some newspaper to lay down for her, until we know if she’s trained.”
“She is, at least she barked last night to be let out and didn’t have any accidents all night.”
“Good, then we should get along just fine.”
They spent a few minutes setting the family up in her spare room, which doubled as a home office. She made sure to put anything of value up high enough that a dog bent on chewing couldn’t get to it.
“Come on, let’s hit the water.” He took her hand and shut the door to the room, leaving the mama with a full bowl of food and water. Not to mention a pile of newspapers, just in case.
“I stopped off and got the racks this morning.” He pointed toward his new SUV, where a two-person canoe was strapped to the top. “Course, I had to get the bike rack too.” He nodded to the back rack, which was empty.
“I have one for my Jeep. There’re so many extras you can buy for Jeeps.” She sighed. “It’s so hard not to go overboard.”
“I’m a little jealous of the Jeep.”
“Oh?” she said, as he opened the passenger door for her.
“Yeah, but I needed something clients would feel comfortable riding in, if needed.”
“I never let anyone ride with me. Actually, it’s against RMR policy.”
“Yeah?” He shut her door, and when he got behind the wheel, he glanced at her. “Why?”
“A few years back, Carol—you’ve met her?” She waited until he nodded. “Well, she was taking an older man to a showing and was basically assaulted.”
He stopped backing up and looked at her. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say your uncle paid to have everyone take self-defense classes and we’re all required to carry Tasers now.”