“Someone who had just left practice,” Logan quipped. “And it was hot.”
“Bullshit,” Robin whispered, then kissed him on the cheek. “I tell you what, I’ll put these boxes together if you want to go work your magic in the kitchen.”
“Wow. You just want me in the kitchen chained to a stove?”
“Not chained—that’s for the bed,” she said with a wink. Logan rose to his feet and wiped his hands on his pant legs.
“Don’t promise me a good time.” Logan headed for the kitchen and Robin turned the local news on.
“This is a CBS 6 news exclusive. A local nurse speaks out about a culture of sexual harassment and assault at the hospital where she works.”
Kamrie’s face popped up on the TV. “What the hell?” Robin grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. As the blond news anchor gave the background on the exclusive, Robin called Logan into the living room.
“What’s going on?” he asked, then looked at the screen. “Ah, shit. Why is she on TV?”
“Shh,” Robin said as the interview began.
“Kamrie Bazal is a surgical nurse at Richmond Medical Center and she said she moved here from Atlanta because of the hospital’s stellar reputation. But what she found when she arrived was something totally different.”
The camera cut to a crying Kamrie. “This has turned out to be the worst decision of my life,” she said, then wiped her eyes.
“Crocodile tears,” Robin muttered.
“She’s a good actress.”
They focused in on her interview. “There is one doctor on staff who thought he was untouchable. He would flirt with me and I ignored it. We were oftentimes partnered on serious surgeries together. But when the hurricane hit the city last year and we all had to stay at the hospital for a twenty-four-hour shift, he took things to another level.”
The reporter’s voice-over began. “Bazal said that she was sexually assaulted that night in the doctor’s office. Because there haven’t been any charges, we aren’t naming the surgeon. But according to Bazal, he has been suspended from the hospital while her allegations are investigated.”
“I’m going to sue them for this slander!” Robin shouted.
“Calm down, babe,” Logan said as he stroked her arm.
“Bazal said she was sexually assaulted by the surgeon during last year’s hurricane that shut down the city and that assault led to pregnancy.”
The camera cut back to Kamrie and her son, whose face was hidden. “My son is the best thing that has come out of this situation. I love him so much.”
“Has the doctor taken responsibility for his son?” the reporter asked.
“No. He denies this is his son. Despite what the DNA test says.”
Robin grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “I can’t wait to take her down. Why would she do this now?”
Logan shook his head. “It doesn’t make much sense, but nothing about this whole situation has made sense.”
“Logan, have you thought about accepting the offer from the hospital and walking away from all of this?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t be putting patients’ lives in danger, I’d do it. If I knew for sure that she was going to disappear and stop trying to ruin my reputation, I would. But this is not something I can come back from. They’ve checked every box.”
“But there is one thing they forgot: You have people who love you, who will work for you to get the truth out there. What she’s saying right now is full of lies and we have to make her stop.”
“Thank you for being here for me.”
Robin stroked his cheek. “I wish I had been there from the start. I feel like I’m one of those people who let you down.”
“I was hurt more than anything, Rob. But I understand where you were coming from and how thinking I had an affair and a child was a knife that cut deep.”
“But had she told this story from the beginning, there is no way I would’ve believed it. What’s made her switch things up now?”
Logan rose from the sofa and shrugged. “I’m going to cook. You put these boxes together.”
Robin blew him a kiss as he headed for the kitchen. But inside she was seething with anger. Now it’s one thing to try to destroy a marriage, but to try to ruin everything that Logan had built and label him a rapist?
It was taking everything in her not to get in her car and drive to that witch’s house. She wished she had Yolanda’s moxie and Nina’s spunk. If she did, she would be at Kamrie’s house with that woman in a headlock.
She couldn’t do that, though. There were legal actions pending, and going after her would allow people to figure out the doctor she was talking about. Besides, Kamrie would get served with those papers tomorrow and have to come to court.
Once the real DNA test results came out, she was going to have to come up with a new story. And Logan would be able to clear his name before more dirt was thrown on it. Robin finished taping the boxes together and started wrapping up her books on the bookshelves. Then she decided to dust the shelves she had cleared and try not to think about the lies that the city of Richmond just heard about her man.
And this story was going to go viral. As soon as it did, people would start digging and this was going to hurt Logan.
Robin shook her head and reached for another box. How many books had she brought here?
She was about to reach for some books on the top shelf and her foot slipped from the stool underneath her. Before she could hit the floor, Logan was there to break her fall. “I knew you were doing too much,” he said as they leaned against the sofa.
“I had all this angry energy. Guess it got the best of me.”
Logan ran his fingers through her hair. “Yeah, you always clean angry.”
Robin turned to face him. “Maybe I was daydreaming about knocking her out and my almost fall was the universe telling me to chill out.”
“Or you’re clumsy.”
“Ha,” she said, then kissed the end of his nose.
“I could tell stories about all the falls I’ve saved you from, but I won’t.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And I appreciate that. Keep in mind, you aren’t always the star athlete.”
“Nah, you just made me nervous and I’d trip over myself.”
Robin brushed her lips against his. “I made you nervous? I find that hard to believe.”
Logan rubbed her back. “I know I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, and when I thought I’d lost you, I didn’t know how I was going to go forward.”
“Thank God you won’t have to find out. I’m never going to let you go—ever again.”
Logan nibbled on her bottom lip. “You know what, we’ve got quite a bit of time before the jambalaya is ready. How do you want to kill the time, without falling down and hitting your head?”
“Um, you can take the books off the top shelves and I will make us some of that famous Richardson Bed and Breakfast iced tea. Alex brought me a care basket.”
“With cookies?”
Robin shrugged. “That may be a good possibility, but I haven’t decided if I’m sharing yet.”
Logan crossed over to the bookshelf and started removing the books. “You’re going to give me some cookies,” he said.
“Aren’t you just being a little presumptuous? Do you know how hard it is for me to get those cookies?”
“All you have to do is call Alex.”
“And that’s the hard part.”
Logan shook his head as Robin walked into the kitchen.
Logan had gotten all of the books off the top shelves of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. How did this woman have the time to buy all of these books and the shelves in the time they were apart? Fun fact, he was going to donate half of these boxes to a woman’s shelter.
By the time he got to the third bookshelf, he decided that more than half of these books had to go. And he’d let Robin know that this was the right thing to do.
“Wow,” Robin said whe
n she walked into the living room with a tray holding a pitcher of iced tea and cookies.
“Oh, you do love me,” he said as he crossed over to her, then took the tray from her hands and set it on one of the empty shelves. “Can we talk about these books?”
“I needed something to do to occupy my time this summer,” she said with a shrug.
“You read all of these books?” He pointed to the three full boxes.
“Most of them. I started with self-help and moved down to women’s fiction. Then I was depressed and needed to read romance to get happy and stop thinking about shooting you every other day.”
“Well, at least you’re honest. How about we keep the books that brought you joy and donate the others.”
She nodded in agreement, then reached for a cookie and handed it to him. Logan broke the cookie in half and took a bite. “These are amazing.”
“I know,” Robin said as she munched on her half of the cookie. “When we were little, Dad would bring twelve cookies home and tell us we could only have a cookie if we were really good. Of course, Mom would give us the cookies anyway. Alex and I learned that telling Mom we had a bad day at school meant we would get cookies. And whatever sweet talk she gave Dad at the end of the day must have worked because we never ran out of cookies.”
“You have a lot of your mom in you, don’t you?”
“That’s what Dad says, but Nina is more like our mother than any of us. And she never got a chance to know her.”
Logan stroked her cheek. “At least you had a chance to know your parents when you were younger. That’s important.”
She took his hand in hers. “Are we going to start crying now?”
“No. We’re going to drink that amazing tea.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Then I’m going to make dinner.”
Robin handed him a glass of tea. “It’s really good.” She winked at him as she took a sip. Logan took a sip and nodded in agreement.
“Delicious.”
“Almost as good as that jambalaya,” she said with a smile.
“It’s not ready and I knew you were in the kitchen too long.”
She took his glass from his hand and set it on the empty shelf. Then she grabbed the remote for the stereo and turned it on. The smooth sounds of Marvin Gaye filled the town house and the couple swayed together. Robin leaned her head against his chest and Logan almost forgot that there was a world outside of this living room or that there was going to be hell to pay real soon. Did he really want Robin to be in the center of it?
Damn, she smelled so good.
“Logan,” she moaned.
“Yes, baby?”
“Um, I think you need to go into the kitchen.”
“Shit,” he said as he let her go. He ran into the kitchen to check on their dinner. It was only a little scorched, which was a good thing. After moving the pot from the heat, he stirred it and added a few splashes of hot sauce to finish the meal off. Moments later, Robin skipped into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Logan’s waist.
“Can we eat now?”
“A little bit longer, babe, got to get all of the flavors to come together.”
She kissed him on the back of his neck. “Okay then. I’ll get the tea and set the table.”
Before Logan could respond, his phone rang. Robin reached into his back pocket and handed it to him. He glanced at the screen and didn’t know who the caller was. He hit ignore and handed the phone back to Robin.
“Who was that?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I didn’t answer. Shit, no cornbread.”
“Well, you made enough for us to have some tomorrow. And I’ll make the cornbread.”
“Cornbread or that cakey cornbread?”
“Here we go. You know you love my cornbread.”
“All that’s missing from your cornbread is buttercream icing and candles. It’s a cake.”
“And that crispy flat thing you make with the tang is not cornbread. It’s almost a potato chip with too much pepper.”
“You should be used to it by now and you love it more than you want to admit.”
“Okay, then. Looks like you’re going to be making the cornbread tomorrow.”
“I knew this was a setup.” Logan dipped a spoon into the pot and took a taste. Before he could tell Robin it was time to eat, his phone rang again. She pulled it from his pocket and handed it to him again. Logan shook his head when he looked at the screen. “Same strange number.”
“Maybe you should answer it.”
He hit the ignore button. “We’re going to eat a peaceful dinner first.”
Robin crossed over to the cabinet, where he assumed she kept the bowls. “Let’s eat.” She passed the bowls over to Logan.
After he filled them with the jambalaya, Logan headed into the dining room and set the bowls on the table. Then he reached his hand out to Robin so that they could say a prayer before eating. Once they said, “Amen,” Logan kissed the back of Robin’s hand.
“What if we move to Florida when all of this is over?” Logan asked.
“That was the retirement plan.”
“True, but we could always retire early, become beach bums, and do charity work.”
“Yeah, I’m not ready to slide into retirement life right now. Don’t you have a friend who owns a business in Miami?”
“Man, I haven’t talked to Jon in years. He is the gaming master these days.”
“Maybe he has a campus like Google and needs a doctor on staff. Because I know you and that whole retired mentality is going to last a good week.”
Logan laughed. “They say you’re supposed to marry someone smarter than you and clearly I did that.”
Chapter 20
Robin was stuffed and wanted nothing more than to leave the dishes for later. But her inner child, who had to wash dishes after dinner every night, wouldn’t let her. Logan followed her into the kitchen to help with the dishes, since he’d messed up the kitchen anyway. She couldn’t help but think back to the early days of their marriage. Robin expected some hard days, but the hell of the last six months was never supposed to be a part of the plan.
It was all right, though. They were going to fight together and anyone who stood in their way was going to catch hell.
“What are you thinking over there, Double R?”
She smiled at her husband. “I was just thinking about us and everything we’ve gone through these last six months. I mean, we had a lifetime of bullshit dumped on us and I don’t want to deal with that again.”
“Me neither. Because this ain’t what I promised you when we took our vows.”
Robin dried her hands and crossed over to Logan. “You know what you did promise me, though?”
“What’s that?” He drew her into his arms and brushed his lips against her cheek.
“That you’re going to hold me until I go to sleep,” she said.
“It’s a little early for bed, isn’t it?”
“Depends on what you want to do in the bed.”
“Well, you know what’s up.” They headed for the bedroom. Logan laughed as he looked at the bed. “This is staying here, right?”
“Yes, and you can stop clowning my bed.”
“It’s the right size, for you.”
Robin hopped on the bed and slowly stripped out of her clothes. “At least I’m willing to share my space with you,” she said with a wink.
“And thank you for sharing it with me.” Logan eased onto the bed and dove between her thighs. He stroked her wetness until she moaned. As she purred, Logan replaced his fingers with his tongue and Robin arched into his kiss. He made her feel so good as his tongue lashed her throbbing bud. She held on to the back of his neck as he licked and sucked her into submission.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she cried as her thighs trembled. The heat of her orgasm washed over her body and she melted into the sheets.
“Best dessert ever,” he said as he pulled his clothes off.
“Glad you enjoyed it
. Because I know I did.” Robin ran her hand across his chest as he snuggled up in the bed beside her.
“You know that was just the beginning,” he said as he brought his lips down on top of hers. Robin wrapped her leg around his hip as they kissed. She needed him inside her. Wanted to feel every inch of his hardness deep inside.
She reached down and rubbed his hardness until he was wet with drops of precum. “Damn, baby,” he moaned as her hand moved up and down.
Robin rolled over and straddled her husband. Locking eyes, Logan gripped her hips and Robin ground against him. They fell into a rhythmic dance. Robin held on to his shoulders and met her husband stroke for stroke.
Their moans filled the air like jazz music. Covered in sweat, they collapsed against each other and closed their eyes. “This is why I married you,” she quipped.
“I feel so used,” he joked.
“You have not been used at all. A fair exchange is not a robbery.”
“Good, that means we . . .” Logan’s phone rang again.
“You’re just going to have to answer it,” Robin said as she inched to the edge of the bed and grabbed his pants. After taking his phone out, she handed it to him. “Please just answer it.”
“Dr. Baptiste,” he said as he answered. “Um, I have no comment on that. How did you get this number?” Logan ended the call and tossed his phone on the nightstand.
“Who was that?”
“The media. They put two and two together.”
“Probably because we filed the papers in family court,” Robin said as she shook her head. “If I had known she was going to go on TV and tell these lies, I would’ve never suggested that you make this move.”
“Come here,” he said as he tugged at her waist. “We knew this was a possibility before Kamrie got on TV with her lies. We just have to swerve and regroup.”
“Do we need to call Liam in on this?” Robin asked.
Logan stroked her thigh. “At this moment, nope. I just want to lie here with my wife—not my lawyer.” He looked up at the wall in front of the bed. “No TV?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know I hate having a TV in the bedroom.”
“I understand why now. I think I had a fight with the one in our bedroom after someone sent me some divorce papers.”
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