by Joanna Sims
They set up the camp and Josephine gathered up some toiletries so she could rinse off in the nearby stream.
“Coming?” she asked Logan.
“Yeah, I definitely need to rinse off.”
“Why don’t you grab the blanket...” Josephine asked with a mischievous smile, “...and a condom?”
On their trip together, Logan felt that Josephine had experienced her own sexual revolution. She was freer with her body, more assertive about letting him know when she wanted to make love again. And it seemed that the more frequently they made love, the more she wanted it, and even if he was tired, or not really in the mood, he never turned her down. He was going to take every opportunity to love Josephine. Whenever she wanted it, however she wanted it, he was going to be there for her.
Josephine stripped off her clothing, feeling more comfortable with her own body. Before this trip, before Logan, she would have never been naked outdoors. But she discovered that she liked it. It was exciting. Exhilarating.
Logan smiled at her. He loved that she had lost her self-consciousness and felt safe enough with him to stand before him completely exposed. When he took off his pants, Josephine looked down at his arousal with a pleased smile. Just looking at her for a few minutes and he wanted to be with her. No man had ever made her feel more desirable than Logan.
They both waded quickly into the stream. It was so cold that they washed as quickly as they could and then grabbed their towels and ran, laughing, back to the blanket.
“So cold!” Josephine shivered beneath her towel.
Logan dried off quickly, then lay down on the blanket and held out his arms to her. Josephine dropped her towel and unpinned her hair. She had never, in her life, considered making love outdoors, during the day, and she was about to do just that. With a lover’s smile on her face, Josephine joined him on the blanket and took him into her mouth. When he was fully aroused, she pushed him back playfully and climbed on top of him. She rode him, rocking her hips back and forth, her long hair brushing his upper thighs.
He watched her pleasure herself with his body, mesmerized by her beauty. She opened her eyes, smiled at him, and then leaned forward so he could take her breast into his mouth. Perhaps it was because they were starting to know each other intimately—the way their bodies could work in unison—but this time was more intense. This time took her to a place that she didn’t know existed.
“Oh,” she moaned. “Oh, Logan...”
“I’ve got you, baby.” He held her tight. “I’ve got you...”
She wanted him faster, she wanted him harder. She set the frantic pace until they were both panting and shaking and kissing each other breathless as they came together.
Josephine collapsed on top of him, laughing a joyful, tired laugh. Their bodies still connected, Logan rolled onto his side. He brushed her damp hair away from her face before he happily closed his eyes.
“Logan...” She felt so satisfied in his arms.
“Hmm?”
“I love you, too,” she said tentatively at first, and then again with more conviction. “I do love you.”
* * *
There was a strange feeling at the ranch when they arrived the next day. She was exhausted, but so happy and relaxed. She had laughed more with Logan, explored more, and loved more. The trip shifted her perspective. Everything looked just a little bit different. They took the horses and the mule to the barn to start to unload. At first, she didn’t see London. After they had taken the tack off the horses and unpacked the mule, London appeared.
“How was your trip?” the intern asked.
“Amazing!” Josephine hung her bridle on the hook. “You’ve got to go up there before you head back to the East Coast.”
London gave her a placating half smile. It was then that Josephine noticed how swollen and red London’s eyes were. She had been crying. Josephine’s immediate gut response was that her brother was somehow involved. This was exactly why their father had a long-standing rule that no one on the ranch could get involved with the interns.
“Why don’t you guys take off?” London said. “I’ll take care of the rest of this stuff.”
“Are you sure?” Josephine asked her.
London nodded and then turned her head away from them. Josephine sensed that London wanted to unpack for them so they would leave and she could be alone again.
“Are you coming up to the house?” Josephine asked Logan.
“I hadn’t thought about it.”
“At least say hi to Mom.” She wasn’t ready for their time together to be over.
They thanked London and then headed, hand-in-hand, up to the main house. Logan looked down at their linked hands.
“Are you okay with everyone seeing this?”
She was okay with it. Did she know where their relationship was heading? No. She didn’t. But she did know that the friendship had turned into an attraction, and on this trip, had grown into love. She loved Logan—as a man, as a friend. And she was “okay” with everyone in her family knowing about it.
They were talking about the trip and laughing when they opened the front door and headed to the kitchen.
“Hey! Anybody home?”
They walked into the kitchen, still holding hands, but when Josephine saw that there was an uninvited guest sitting at the dining table, she stopped smiling and let go of Logan’s hand.
“Hi, Josephine.” Brice stood up and faced her.
She glanced at Logan quickly. His expression had turned stony as he checked out her ex.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I came to be your date for the wedding.” Brice took a tentative step toward her. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”
“You can use the study,” her mother said.
Josephine stared at Brice unbelievingly. He shouldn’t be in Montana. He shouldn’t be in her family home. He had dumped her, left her dateless to her own twin’s wedding. She should hate him for what he did to her. But she didn’t. Seeing him now, she realized that she still cared for him. That hadn’t been erased. They had been friends first.
She looked at Logan, trying to gauge his reaction.
He gave her a silent nod. She reached out, touched his arm to reassure him, before she addressed Brice.
“We can go to the study.”
Brice wanted to hug her. He didn’t, but she could see that he wanted to. There was sorrow in his eyes—and regret.
“Where are you going to be?” she asked Logan.
“The cabin. I’ll come find you later,” he promised.
Brice was in their space now, standing directly in front of them. He was a head and shoulders taller than Logan, which registered in her head, right before she realized that she had been too stunned to introduce them.
“Brice...this is Logan Wolf. Logan...Brice Livingston.”
They shook hands. Josephine crossed her arms tightly in front of her. She never imagined that these two men would ever meet.
After an incredible week together, their trip was ending with an awkward twist. Logan headed in one direction and she headed in the other, leading Brice to the study. She waited for Brice to walk through the door, and then she closed the door behind him.
“Welcome to wedding central.” She stood by the closed door, arms crossed.
She watched Brice closely. He was such a handsome man—tall and sure of himself. He was the quintessential California man, with his stylish dusty-blond hair, strong profile, superwhite smile and blue-green eyes. Jordan always said he looked like a Ken doll. For the first time, she saw that maybe he did. Stiff and a bit plastic.
Brice turned to face her, hands in his pockets. “It feels strange to not hug you.”
He was fishing for a hug, but she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it.
> “It’s strange to see you with someone else,” he said. “It’s hard.”
“I know.” Her tone was caustic.
He took a step closer to her. “You look good. Happy.”
“Brice...”
“Just hear me out...please...I need to apologize to you.”
Josephine frowned, turned her head away, so he couldn’t see the pain in her eyes, the tears that were starting to form. She had thought she was over Brice. She thought that she had put all of this pain behind her. And then he showed up, unannounced, with his perfect hair and his perfect clothes and his perfect apology.
“I made a huge mistake, Josie. I know I did. But do we have to throw away five years, Jo? Five years?”
A tear slipped down her cheek; Brice held out his handkerchief to her. She shook her head and wiped the tears off on her sleeve.
“Josie...” Brice tried to reach out for her, but she jerked her shoulder away from him.
“No! Shouldn’t you be back in California with Caroline?” she asked bitterly.
Brice grimaced. “She’s not the person I thought she was.” He continued in a lowered voice, “She’s not the woman you are, Josephine.”
Josephine looked directly into his eyes. It was sincere. His apology was sincere.
He took a step closer to her. “I want us to start over.”
“Brice...Logan and I have...been together.” How easily those words came out of her mouth.
She saw the pain flash in his eyes. She had thought that causing him pain would make her feel better. It hadn’t. Brice’s eyes became hooded; his shoulders stiffened. “We both made mistakes...”
She pointed to her chest; she raised her voice to him, something out of character for her. “I didn’t do this. You did this, Brice. This is all on you.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “No, you’re right. You’re right. It was me. It was all me. But come on, Jo, I love you. We can start over...all you have to do is say yes.”
Chapter Fifteen
Logan didn’t come to find her. Instead, she found him inside of the chapel, working. The wedding was only a couple of days away and he had said on their trip up to the divide that he was anxious to get it ready for Ian and Jordan.
“You said you were going to come and find me.” She didn’t want to engage in small talk with this man. After what they had shared on the mountain, it seemed like an insult to both of them.
Logan drilled a screw into one of the broken pews before he stood up and faced her. “I wanted to give you some space.”
“You’re really big on that, I know.” Why was she taking this out on him?
Logan stared at her, and then with a small shake of his head, he knelt down again.
“Sorry...” Josephine sat down heavily in a nearby pew, leaned forward and rested her elbows on her legs. She felt weary and defeated. She had moved on during her trip with Logan, and then she came home, only to be slammed right back into her past with Brice.
“He wants to get back together.”
Logan continued to work while they talked. “I know. A man doesn’t come all this way without a motive in mind.”
She looked down at her entwined fingers. He was right and they both knew it. But for once, she wished that Logan would get mad, ask questions, or demand answers. Why did he always have to be so calm and introspective?
“Brice is staying for the wedding.”
When she told him that, she saw a small chink in his armor. His eyebrows drawn together, he stopped his work to look her way. “I’m surprised to hear that.”
“I know...I know. So was I, frankly, especially with how my family has always felt about him. But he’s an invited guest. Jordan never took him off the guest list—and he came all of this way. You’ve heard of Southern hospitality...we kind of have our own version of that in Montana.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “But he’s not staying at the ranch, and he’s not going as my date, Logan. I told him that we’ve been together...”
Logan’s head dropped down and he breathed in deeply, like he was trying to gather his thoughts before he answered. His head still dropped, he said to her quietly, “I know you didn’t invite him here, Josephine. That’s not what’s bothering me.” He stood up, drill still in his hand. “What’s bothering me is that you didn’t tell him to leave...”
* * *
Even though it felt like her private world was a mess, she didn’t really have time to fix it, because life on the ranch had kicked into high gear. The list of last-minute preparations for the wedding had tripled, along with her mother’s anxiety level. Everyone was busy, everyone was in a rush, and Josephine needed to put aside her problems in her relationship with Logan to focus exclusively on helping her sister prepare for one of the most important days of her life. Brice hadn’t left Montana, which was a surprise to her. She hadn’t promised him anything, she hadn’t encouraged him to stay, but he was determined to attend the wedding anyway. The only positive she could find about him being nearby, contrite and willing to talk, was that she could ask him questions about what really happened between them. She could ask him questions about what had happened between him and the woman that was so appealing to him that he had thrown away their relationship and their future plans. But the answers he gave her always left her with a bigger question mark. He wanted her back, but she could never figure out exactly why.
“Oh, my goodness, Jordy...I’ve never seen you look more beautiful.”
It was the morning of the wedding. The rehearsal dinner had gone off without a hitch, and now the day they had all been waiting for, the day that they had all been working toward, was here.
Jordan, who rarely cried, started to tear up when she saw herself for the first time, fully dressed in her wedding ensemble.
“Wait, don’t cry. You’ll mess up your makeup!” Josephine rushed to grab a handkerchief out of her purse to hand to her sister. “Here, but blot, Jordan. Don’t wipe, blot.”
Jordan blew her nose into the handkerchief loudly completely bypassing the “blotting” instructions. Her sister looked at the handkerchief, saw the initials BL embroidered in fancy scroll on the corner.
“Ugh.” Her twin wrinkled up her nose, balled up the handkerchief in her fist and then threw it in a small garbage can.
“Jordy...that wasn’t mine!”
“Don’t you dare fish that out of the trash, Jo. That’s where it belongs,” her sister said. “Why do you have it anyway?”
“I sneezed earlier, and he gave it to me. My gosh, Jordy, don’t look so disappointed. I borrowed a handkerchief. I didn’t have sex with him in one of the pews.”
Jordan hugged her then. Tightly and for a long time. “I just want you to find what I have with Ian, Jo. You deserve that. I’ve never loved anyone like I love that man. I haven’t had a moment of doubt about marrying him since the day he put this ring on my finger.”
“I want that, too.”
Still holding on to her arms, Jordan pulled back so she could look into her eyes. “I don’t know if you could have that with Logan. I don’t. But you’re my sister and my loyalty is always going to be with you. But Logan’s my friend, too, Jo, and Ian says he’s really hurting over this whole Brice thing. Ian told me that, until you, Logan hasn’t been serious about anyone since his divorce.”
Logan had told her once before that he had been married, but she had never pried.
“Do you know anything about his ex?”
“Yeah...she was his childhood sweetheart. I think they were in a band together in high school or something like that.”
Jordan adjusted her veil, which was her something borrowed. It was the veil that her mom had worn when she married their dad. “Is this right?”
Josephine helped her sister straighten the veil. She had known Logan was married before, but someho
w it felt like she was hearing this information for the first time.
“Anyway...she did a real number on him, from what Ian tells me. She backed up a U-Haul while he was at work and cleaned out their apartment. She took everything. He got home and found her gone, along with everything they owned. Horrible, right?”
Josephine nodded. It was horrible.
Barbara Brand, followed by a posse of wedding planners, burst into the room and that stopped her from asking her sister another question about Logan’s wife. Ex-wife.
“We’re almost ready to start, my beauties!” Barbara’s voice was higher and tenser than usual. “Hurry, hurry! You’ve got to get into place!”
* * *
“Is this straight?” Ian asked Logan to check his bow tie. The last time he’d had a tux on was the night he proposed to Jordan.
Ian stood still while Logan adjusted his tie. “Now it’s straight.”
Ian and Logan stood quietly together for a moment. There was a lot of commotion and voices on the other side of the door, but in their small room in the church, it was calm. Shadow, who was awaiting his next command, was sitting at attention by the door.
“Thank you for being my best man, Logan,” Ian said to him.
“I felt really honored that I was the person you thought of when Dylan couldn’t make it.”
Ian gave a slight nod of his head. Then he said, in a lowered voice, “I’m sorry that Brice is here, Logan. If it had been up to me, he wouldn’t have stepped inside the church today.”
“It is what it is...” Logan tried to sound casual about it. But he hated the fact that Brice was at the wedding. He hated the strain Josephine’s ex had already caused in his fragile relationship with the woman he loved.
A knock on the door stopped the conversation. They were ready for them to take their place in the church.
“You ready?” Logan asked his friend.
“I’ve been ready.” Ian took hold of the handle on the special harness Shadow was wearing. “There’re only two things I’ve ever been sure about in my life—being a photographer and marrying Jordan.”