“Will they let me stay here with you?” he asked, his voice rough with emotion. Logan couldn’t reach out to her, true, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay by her side.
“I’m sure they will.” She paused, her gaze searching his. “But you don’t have to. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m concerned about the baby,” he said. “I want to stay.”
Her face clouded and as she looked away, he realized that she had mistaken his words. “Of course,” she murmured, clasping her hands tightly in her lap. “Stay then.”
“I want to make sure you’re okay too,” he stressed, not wanting her to think his sole concern was the baby.
Claire looked up, her eyes snapping. “You don’t have to pretend. I know that—oh!”
“What is it?” A lead stone sank, settling in the pit of his stomach.
“I think it was another contraction,” she murmured, rubbing her stomach.
“I’ll get the doctor.”
“No.” She reached out, grabbed his hand. “Please. I want you to stay with me.”
“Anything,” he said hoarsely. “Anything you want, sweetheart.”
“I just want you here with me.” She clung to his hand as though she feared he would disappear if she released it.
Warmth seeped through his chest. Without thinking, he raised her hand to his lips. “Stay strong for me, sweetheart. We’ll get through this together.”
She nodded, worrying her lower lip with her teeth again. “Together,” she repeated.
Damn if Logan didn’t like the sound of that one word. Together. Maybe he liked it a little too much for his own good.
Claire watched Logan sleeping, mesmerized by the sight of him hunched over her bed, his head resting on his arms. He had stayed by her side, stubbornly refusing to budge even an inch. Light filtered in through the window of her mercifully private room, glinting off his dark hair. She couldn’t help it. She reached out and began gently sifting her fingers through the short, crisp locks. His face was turned to her, relaxed and less harsh in sleep. He looked, even to her sleep-deprived eyes, excruciatingly gorgeous. It made her heart twist in her chest.
Stubble covered his jaw in a sexy five o’clock shadow. Her fingers slid lightly across it, abraded by the coarse texture. At her touch, Logan stirred a bit, but still didn’t wake. She liked being with him like this. She liked having the freedom to touch him and look her fill. While he slept, she could almost pretend they were a normal couple, two people in love, rather than two people who made each other miserable.
How was it that he could be so cold, so remote, and yet so heart-stoppingly wonderful? He’d been amazing through the night. She sighed. The much-used adage “life isn’t fair” had proven itself to her over and over again. She wanted so desperately for things to be different between them. Of course, whether that was a crazy, hormone-induced want remained uncertain. If it was, then Claire would have something to blame all this insanity on.
Her marriage with Garrett had never been so emotionally charged. In fact, if she were brutally honest with herself, her marriage had been ho-hum, a quiet routine, until Garrett’s affair. Then it had been marked by hurt and betrayal.
Her fingers skimmed over Logan’s cheek in an idle path, then lower, caressing the side of his neck. They came to rest at the back of his collar, where the locks of his hair curled against the stiff white fabric.
The door to the room clicked open, effectively ending Claire’s idyll. She snatched her hand back as Sophie stepped hesitantly into the room. “Are you up for a visitor?”
“Absolutely,” Claire said with a smile. “But keep your voice down because I don’t want to wake Logan.”
Sophie raised a brow. “Gives perfect meaning to the phrase ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.”
Claire shot her sister a semi-reproachful glance. “He was up all night.”
“And you weren’t?” Sophie reached Claire’s bedside and dropped her sleek little designer bag on the table. “Anyway, let’s not argue about him. Fill me in on everything. I came as soon as I knew there were visiting hours.”
“They finally were able to stop the contractions and the baby’s heart rate returned to normal,” Claire murmured. “Thank God.”
“So what happens next?”
“Bed rest,” Claire said with disgust. “For the next two weeks, at least. They’re going to monitor me for the rest of the morning, and if everything goes well, I’ll be able to be home tonight.”
Sophie frowned. “Obviously not home. You’re going to have to stay with Trevor and me until you have the baby.”
If there was one thing Claire didn’t want, it was to be the third wheel. Or the fifth wheel, or however the phrase went. “No, Soph. You and Trevor just moved into your new place together. I don’t want to come barging in on you guys.”
Sophie smiled and gave her hand a sisterly pat. “You’ll be in bed, sweetie. You won’t be able to barge anywhere. Besides, Trevor and I want you to come move in with us. We were talking about it last night after I got home from the hospital.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. I don’t want to be in your way. The two of you need privacy. I don’t want to spoil your newlywed bliss by playing invalid at your house.”
“You wouldn’t spoil anything. You’re my sister, for heaven’s sake.” Sophie gave her a meaningful look. “You were there for me when I needed you most. You made me realize how precious life is. You even set me up with Trevor. The least I can do is play nursemaid for the next little while. I’m home painting anyway. We’ve got a spare room with its own private bath. What more do you need?”
Hmm. Sophie was doing her darnedest to make Claire change her mind and she was half succeeding too. Still, she was determined not to interrupt Sophie and Trevor’s new time together. They both deserved every second of their mutual happiness. Even if Claire couldn’t help but feel a tiny twinge of jealousy every time she saw them together.
Okay, a big twinge.
Claire shook her head. “I can stay at Mom and Dad’s.” That gave her pause, not because she didn’t want to stay with her parents—which she didn’t—but because she realized she hadn’t spoken to either one of them since checking into the hospital last night.
A comical expression of horror broke on Sophie’s face. “Oh my God. Mom and Dad. I completely forgot to call them and tell them about this.”
“It’s okay.” Claire was actually relieved that Sophie hadn’t. The last thing she would have needed was an argument between Logan and her mother. “Besides, it’s not like Mom and I are currently on speaking terms. And Dad is just, well, Dad.”
“Kind of oblivious,” they both said at the same time.
“Stop saying the same thing as me,” Sophie said with a laugh, reverting to an old argument they’d shared as teenagers.
“I came first,” Claire reminded her just as she had done dozens of time before. Of course, that had been what felt like dozens of years ago now.
“It’s been ages since we had that fight.”
“I know.” Claire smiled a bit wistfully. Ages and a lifetime.
Sophie squeezed her hand. “I really want you to stay with me and Trevor.”
“I’ll consider it.”
Logan shifted against her, blinking and focusing immediately on her. He shot up in his seat, his eyes suddenly lucid, cleared of all sleep-induced cobwebs.
“What’s going on?” he demanded, his voice like gruff velvet from sleeping. “Why did you let me fall asleep, damn it?”
“Because you needed it,” Claire said simply. “And nothing’s going on, which is why I’m allowed to go home this afternoon.”
“On bed rest,” Sophie clarified, ever the helpful sister. Though her tone was polite, her eyes shone brightly with dislike. “The doctors are concerned that if she’s up and about too much, she’ll go into labor early.”
Logan kept his gaze trained on Claire. “So what does that mean?”
She opened her mouth to f
ill him in, but Sophie beat her to it. “It means that she has to stay in bed for the next two weeks at least.”
“Hell.” Logan raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. “That means she’ll have to stay with someone.”
“She is,” Sophie said, giving Claire a don’t-you-dare-argue-with-me look. “She’s staying with me and Trevor.”
Logan appeared a bit like a disgruntled bear upon hearing Sophie’s declaration. His eyes swung back to Claire. “The hell you are. You can stay with me.”
“She doesn’t want to,” Sophie cut in, crossing her arms over her chest in a familiarly stubborn posture. The action exaggerated her already huge belly, pulling her maternity shirt taut over the hard mound.
Claire had to bite back a grin. Her sister really did make an adorable warrior, so short and petite, with her tremendous belly almost dwarfing the rest of her body.
“Why don’t you want to stay with me?” Logan asked curtly, drawing her attention back to him.
The disgruntled bear now looked distinctly like a pissed bear. She chalked it up to lack of sleep.
“Well?”
“It makes sense to stay with Sophie,” Claire told him hesitantly, even though she had been arguing against that very same thing only a few minutes ago. She hated the thought of being Logan’s burden. Really, she wasn’t certain that she could live with him without either killing him or completely losing her heart to him.
Okay, so it was really only the latter that she feared. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t mind knocking him on the head every once in a while when he was being especially difficult. Which was, when she thought about it, almost all the time.
“Why?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet.
She heard the undertones of steel but took her chances anyway. “Why what?”
He set his jaw on edge. “Why is it a better idea to stay with your sister than with the father of your baby? Didn’t it occur to you that I might want to look after your welfare?”
Actually, no, but she had a feeling that saying so would only enrage him more. She sent Sophie an imploring look.
Her sister took the cue. “I’m home all day. I could be there for Claire whenever she needed me. Trevor and I have a guestroom that would work perfectly.”
“I could work from home,” Logan returned. “I could be there for her too.”
“Well, you haven’t been so far, have you?” Sophie asked rather pointedly.
“Sophie,” Claire couldn’t help but protest. She knew her sister was only being protective of her.
Logan gave Sophie a look Claire couldn’t quite interpret. “She’s right. I haven’t been there for you the way I should have been, but I can make it up to you. Stay with me and let me take care of you.”
Why did he have to choose this moment, when her nerves were ragged from all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours? Why now, when she felt so suddenly vulnerable to him? She wanted to be strong and tell him his new effort was too little, too late, but she couldn’t. Not when he was looking at her that way, so expectantly, so pleadingly.
“Claire.” Sophie, aware that Claire was softening, gave her The Look.
She needed to explain some things to her sister. Heck, at this point, she probably even needed to explain some things to herself. She turned to Logan. “Could you give my sister and me a few minutes to talk?”
“Yeah.” He stood, looking like all his muscles were stiff from a night spent sleeping in the uncomfortable hospital chair. A wry smile curved his lips. “I’ll go get a coffee. You two want anything?”
Sophie and Claire declined and Logan left, his gait a little less smooth than normal. The moment the door closed on him, Sophie started in.
“You’re about to cave. What are you thinking, Claire? The two of you can’t even stand each other half the time. Do you really want to be trapped with him until the baby’s born?”
“He’s my baby’s daddy. Besides, no one said I have to stay there until the baby’s born. Just two weeks for starters. I can leave whenever I want.”
“That’s not a good enough reason,” Sophie said firmly, her eyes serious. “This isn’t just about the baby. It’s about you too.”
“I know that.” Claire toyed with the white sheet pooled at her waist, not really wanting to meet her sister’s eyes. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“What?” Sophie sounded incredulous.
Claire kept her eyes glued to the sheet. She didn’t know what to say. “Well, Logan and I will have to have some sort of relationship for the rest of our lives. It might as well be an amicable one.”
“This isn’t just about that. Why won’t you look at me? Claire, do you still have feelings for him?”
Claire shrugged, glancing up at last. “Define feelings.”
Sophie gasped. “After the way he’s treated you over the last few weeks?”
“I know, I know. Maybe it’s some kind of crazy pregnancy hormone thing, but I can’t help it. Despite everything, I still want things to work out between the two of us.”
Sophie raised a brow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that I really care about him. Even though I shouldn’t.”
“Oh sweetie.” Sophie’s eyes swam with sudden tears—the pregnancy thing, Claire knew. She gave Claire a half-hug, made slightly awkward by their large bellies and the bed. “I know you want to do what’s best for the baby and I know you want to give Logan a second chance. Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay? I’m still not convinced that he’s not just love ’em and leave ’em material.”
Neither was Claire. She smiled for Sophie’s benefit. “You told me that I should take a chance on him.”
Sophie made a face. “That was before. Besides, you did give him a chance. He’s the one who blew it.”
“They say everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I think that’s a little too generous,” Sophie grumbled. “But if this is what you truly want, I’ll respect your decision.”
She looked like she hoped Claire would suddenly back down and change her mind. Claire didn’t.
“Thanks, Soph. You’re the world’s best sister.”
“Hmm.” Sophie turned and retrieved her purse. “I have to call Mom and Dad now or they’ll kill me. My cell doesn’t get reception in here, so I have to run outside. I see him out in the hallway with his coffee. I’ll send him in to you.”
Claire watched her sister go, finding secret amusement in the way Sophie had called Logan him, as though his name was a four-letter word. Logan ducked in the doorway, steaming coffee in hand. Even in his rumpled clothes, with his disheveled hair, he looked delicious. Like she could eat him up.
Eat him up?
God, she thought with a grimace, that had to be a byproduct of the whole crazy hormone pregnancy phenomenon. It was the only explanation.
“Why do you have such a strange expression on your face?” Logan asked, instantly hovering at her side. Worry clouded his face, carving lines into his forehead. “What is it? You’re not having contractions again, are you?”
“No,” she assured him, “just a strange thought.” Reading the curiosity in his gaze, she decided to change the conversation to a safer topic. “Are you sure you want me to move in with you?”
“Absolutely,” he said without a second thought or even a moment’s hesitation.
“Then it’s official. You’ve got yourself a live-in invalid.” She made a stab at wry humor to cover up the very real emotions coursing through her. The last thing she wanted was to start crying because he’d invited her to stay with him for a few weeks. She wasn’t that pathetic.
Okay, so maybe she was that pathetic, but that didn’t mean she had to let Logan know it.
Her inner battle didn’t matter. It was lost the second he reached out and caressed her face. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he murmured, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. “You won’t regret this.”
Claire had been settled in Logan’s house for less th
an an hour and her makeshift room was already flooded with visitors. Sophie, Trevor, Marcus, Derek and her parents hovered at her bedside. Logan stood in the doorway, scowling in typical Logan fashion.
“Do you need me to get you anything to drink?” Sophie asked.
It was the second time she’d asked in five minutes.
“No thanks,” Claire responded, overwhelmed by so much attention.
“How about some tea?” her mother chimed in. “I could make you a nice, hot cup. Logan, you do have tea, don’t you?” She turned to look at him.
Logan crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope. Sorry.”
He didn’t sound apologetic. Claire was well aware that there was no love lost between her mother and Logan. Anne had not been pleased to learn where her daughter would be spending the next two weeks.
“You’ll have to get some then,” Anne informed him coolly. “Decaffeinated, of course. Claire loves hot tea, don’t you, Claire?”
“I do,” she confirmed, sending an apologetic glance to Logan. Her mother, as predicted, wasn’t exactly making things easy.
“Why don’t you run to the store and get some now?” Anne suggested. “We’ll be here to keep Claire company.”
“Mom,” Claire protested, dismayed by her mother’s rudeness. “I don’t really want tea right now. I’m actually a little tired.”
It was a lie, but she really wanted everyone to go away. Especially her mother.
Her father got the hint. “Why don’t we go, Anne?” he suggested. “We can visit with Claire again tomorrow after she’s more settled in.”
Anne didn’t look very pleased with his suggestion, but she relented, leaning down to give Claire a kiss on the cheek. “You call me if you need anything.”
Claire nodded dutifully. “I will, Mom.”
“I don’t like the idea of you staying with that man, you know,” she whispered.
“I know, but I’ll be fine,” Claire assured her. At least she hoped she would be fine. Whether or not she would remained to be seen.
“I’m not so sure.” Anne frowned at her, but her husband gave her a not-so-subtle nudge. “Well.” She straightened, still looking reluctant. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t forget to call me if—”
Perfect Persuasion (Love's Second Chance Book 2) Page 21