Jeni couldn’t take another second.
“I’ve gotta go,” she blurted out.
Valerie and Rhonda both looked at her.
“What?”
“Where?”
“Ah…” Jeni’s mind raced to find a good reason to leave the house and said the first thing that came to mind. “I have a date.”
“A date?” her mother’s voice screeched from down the hall.
“Yeah.”
“You’re going on a date tonight? With us here and Andrew in the hospital?” Valerie frowned. “Surely this guy would understand if you asked for a raincheck.”
In for a penny, in for a pound. “Andrew insisted I go,” Jeni said, the lie slipping from her tongue surprisingly easily. “He knew how excited I was about it and said he’d be really disappointed if I cancelled on his account.”
Rhonda nodded sagely. “That sounds like our Andrew.”
“Yeah. So I’d better get going.” Jeni looked around for her purse.
Her mother returned. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
Jeni looked down at her jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt. “Oh. I guess not.”
She went to her room and grabbed the first date-acceptable top she could find, holding her breath to avoid inhaling the scent of the oil diffuser. She slipped into the bathroom and changed her shirt, smoothed her hair into a cleaner ponytail, and applied mascara.
She returned to the living room and picked up her keys. “I’ll be back later.”
“Hold on. You can’t take your car,” Rhonda said. “Mom needs it to go grocery shopping, and I need to take Andrew dinner later.”
Shit.
“This guy wasn’t going to pick you up?” Valerie asked.
“I…he…we were just going to meet there.” Jeni scrambled as she spoke. What was she supposed to do now? She was desperate to get out of here and could only think of one person to ask for help. “I’ll just text him and see if he can swing by on his way.”
Jeni’s hand paused over the screen of her phone. Was she really going to do this?
A desperate housewife began crying, and Rhonda cackled. Jeni’s fingers began moving of their own volition.
Jeni: You busy tonight? I need your help.
Chapter Eight
Jeni jumped into Logan’s truck like a pack of dogs chased after her.
“Where’s the fire?” he asked with a laugh.
“Can you just drive?” she asked, buckling her seatbelt.
His eyebrows lifted, but he did as asked. A light scent of vanilla drifted across the cab, and he inhaled deeply. She looked nice, but he kept that thought to himself.
When they were out of the neighborhood, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry. I just…I had to get away from my mom and sisters. They were driving me crazy. There’s something wrong with the SUV they brought, and my mom needs mine to go to the store.”
Logan blinked. “That’s your emergency? I’m rescuing you from your sweet and caring family?”
“They are not sweet.”
“I thought they were great.”
“You were with them for an hour.”
He shrugged. “I liked them. Especially your mom.”
Jeni mumbled something unintelligible and leaned her head against the seat. It was silent for a moment, and she closed her eyes, like she was savoring something. The look on her face had Logan shifting in his seat.
He focused to keep his eyes on the road. “What did you tell them?”
“That I had a date.”
Logan’s jaw dropped, and he laughed.
Her head twisted to look at him. “Why is that funny? You think I couldn’t get a date with you?”
“The opposite actually. What was it you said? You’re a hard sell? I think I’m the last person you’d ever want to go out with.”
“Be that as it may, I don’t know any other men in this town, so I had no choice.”
“I’m flattered. Why didn’t you just call an Uber?”
Jeni stilled. “Damn,” she muttered under her breath.
They came to a red light and stopped. Logan peeked over at her, and she regarded him from behind her glasses.
“I didn’t really think this through,” she said. “Any ideas for what we should do?”
He stretched his right arm out and rested it on the back of her seat, grinning. “I could take you to my place.”
“Hard pass.”
He’d said it to annoy her, but for some reason he felt a little offended. “Fine. You pick then.”
“Somewhere bright and well populated.”
“Jeni. I know this isn’t a real date. I’m not gonna put the moves on you.”
“Your propensity to flirt with anything that has breasts says otherwise.”
Any man who knew anything about women knew jealousy was a good sign. He lifted an eyebrow and smirked at her. “I think you’re worried about your ability to stop yourself from putting some moves on me.”
“Keep dreaming, Squinty.”
“We’re still doing that?”
“Just shut up and drive.”
Once again, Logan complied. For some reason, he did that often around Jeni—let her boss him around. “You’re kind of a bully, you know that?”
She looked affronted. “Am not. I was friends with everyone growing up. Popular kids, nerds, athletes, anyone and everyone.”
“Didn’t you go to a tiny school?”
“It wasn’t that small.”
“How many people were in your graduating class?”
“Forty-three.”
Logan choked back a laugh. “I graduated with eight hundred.”
“Holy crap. Did you know them all?”
“Not even close. Some of them had been in the district since kindergarten, and I moved there when I was thirteen. Seventh grade wasn’t a good time to jump into a new school.”
“Ugh, I believe that. Middle school is rough on everyone.”
Most would agree with her. But for Logan, the elementary years were the worst of his life and not because of the school he went to.
“It’s a little early for dinner, but I know a great place just down the street that has vegetarian options. Tacos and beer?”
“Tacos and beer is my love language,” she replied.
He tucked that bit of information away. “Duly noted.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth like she was trying not to smile.
Fifteen minutes later, they were settled at a high-top table at Mateo’s, beers in hand and a plate of chips and salsa between them.
“Tell me more about Jeni Bishop,” Logan prompted, pushing the slice of lime into his bottle of Corona.
Jeni mimicked his movement, and both drinks fizzed as the fruit settled to the bottom. “Like what?”
“Anything. Something I don’t know.”
“This is gonna run both ways, right? I’m not going to talk about myself all evening.”
He shrugged. “Depends on what you want to know.”
Jeni arched a brow. “If I’m opening up, you have to, too.”
His gaze drifted to a television above her head. “My early childhood is off the table. Other than that, I’m an open book. Mostly.”
“You do realize now all I want to ask about is your early childhood, don’t you?”
Logan clenched his jaw in an effort to keep his expression neutral but firm. “Sorry. I’m sure you have some things you don’t want to talk about.”
“Not really. I mean, I’ve got some issues, sure. But I don’t mind talking about them.”
His eyes locked on hers as she took a swig of her beer. “Even your marriage?”
She swallowed hard. “How do you know about that?”
“Andrew mentioned it. Seemed like he’s been worried about you since your divorce.”
“He and I worry about each other too much. Twin connection and all that, I guess.”
“How long ago was it?”
“The divorce? Two and a half years. Whe
n I was twenty-four. We got married young, at nineteen. I wasn’t in a great place mentally and thought I was in love. He thought he could save me from myself. We were both wrong.”
“Why would he think you needed saving?”
Her eyes dropped to the table for a few seconds. “Remember the car accident I told you about when I changed career paths? It turned my world upside down. I lost my scholarship to play softball at Oklahoma. I had several surgeries, had difficulty getting around, and was dependent on other people for a while. It was a really hard time for me.”
“That’s understandable,” Logan said quietly.
“Jackson was a good friend from high school, and he started coming around more after the accident. He’d pick me up from the farm and take me into town. He helped me breathe a little. I hated being stuck at home with my parents. Andrew left for college, and I was the sole focus of my mother. She suffocated me, and the only thing I looked forward to was the days Jackson would show up and take me away.
“I told him as much, and we both thought I needed him. When enrollment came around for the next semester at Nebraska, I still couldn’t drive, so I thought I’d have to wait another six months to get away and start college. But he proposed and told me we could move to Lincoln for school. He promised to help me get to campus when I was ready. I was blinded by eagerness to get away and mistook that and feelings of affection as true love.”
Logan scratched his thumb across the words inscribed on his beer bottle. “Circumstances can lead us to make decisions we wouldn’t otherwise make, that’s for sure.” He knew that better than anyone. “But it sounds like Jackson was a good guy and helped you during a rough period of your life.”
Jeni hesitated. “He took good care of me at first. But that fell away when it became less convenient for him.” Her expression shuttered, and she lifted her gold-brown eyes to his. “Enough about that. What about you? Ever been in love?”
“Nah.”
“I figured.”
What was that supposed to mean? “Why do you say that?”
“Can I be honest?” she asked.
“Aren’t you always?”
She flinched but met his gaze straight on. “I don’t want this to come out wrong, but you seem like a major player.”
Logan stiffened. “When did Judgmental Jeni show up?”
“Do you deny that you sleep around?”
He looked away for a moment. “I don’t know. I have no idea what your definition of sleeping around is. I enjoy meeting women and talking to them. And if it goes in that direction, I usually don’t stop it. It’s never my goal just to hook up with a woman just for the sake of getting laid, if that’s what you’re suggesting. But even if it was, if both parties consent and know what the end goal is, what’s the problem?”
She didn’t answer his question and instead asked one of her own. “If that’s not your goal, what is?”
That was easy. “I like being that close to another person. The focus, the intensity. The connection.” That’s what he sought anyway. He wasn’t going to admit he rarely found it.
“And is it really the sex that does that for you?”
“Can’t get any closer to a person than that.”
Jeni lifted her beer to her lips and took a slow drink. “Actually, I’d argue it’s not the sex that does it. That connection comes from something else, somewhere beneath our skin and bones.”
Logan paused and absorbed her words. It’s not the sex that does it, the connection comes from something else.
Huh.
“But I could be way off base,” she continued. “I haven’t even found that, and I was married. What do I know?” She laughed lightly. “I actually see your point, truth be told.” She looked a little surprised at herself. “I guess there’s nothing wrong with two adults enjoying themselves.”
Logan looked at her with eyebrows raised.
She rolled her eyes. “What? Don’t look so shocked. I might be quick to judge, but I’ll also admit when I’m wrong.”
“That’s an admirable trait.” He was starting to think she might have several of those. “Not many people can say that, including me. That’s why it’s a good thing I’m rarely wrong.”
She snorted good-naturedly, and he chuckled.
A commercial about the Chiefs flashed across the television nearby, and a thought occurred to him. “I almost forgot. I got two tickets to the Chiefs-Broncos game for you.”
Her face lit up. “You did? Thanks!”
“Happy to do it.”
“Can you come too? Sit with me?”
Logan was pleased at the request. “I can’t. I have to work during the game. Bring whoever you want. I don’t suppose I can persuade you not to wear a Broncos shirt?”
“Hell no. I’ll be decked out in blue and orange.”
“I figured as much.” He chuckled. “Have fun, drink beer, and eat as much junk as you want.”
They eventually decided to order more than chips for dinner, and as they ate, their conversation covered a multitude of topics—music, books, hobbies. Favorite foods, movies they’d recently seen. Actors and actresses they found attractive. Seeming to come to an unspoken agreement to get along, they avoided talking about football and family, with the exception of Andrew. They each had entertaining stories that included him in some way or another, and it kind of felt like they’d broken through a barrier, forming a real friendship.
At the end of the meal, they landed on the subject of Andrew’s diagnosis, and as they finished their drinks, the air surrounding them turned somber.
“What if it’s bad, Logan?” Jeni wiped her hands on a napkin and folded them in her lap. She pushed her beer bottle to the side, her gold eyes fearful.
Logan thought again how beautiful she was but tried to focus on the subject at hand.
He set his jaw and intentionally spoke in a steady, calm tone, despite the worry weighing on his own chest. “If it’s bad, we’ll face it head on. We’ll fight just as hard as if it’s the best stage it can be, okay? Andrew’s strong. So am I, and so are you. I’ve only known you for a few months, and I already know that for a fact. Between the three of us, plus the best oncologists in the state, he’ll beat it.”
Jeni swallowed and nodded, though the worry lines on her forehead didn’t abate. Logan almost reached across the table to cover her hand with his.
Almost.
“You’re right,” she said. “Thank you. For saying that and for hanging out with me tonight.”
They stood to leave, and as they walked to the door, an attractive redhead smiled at him. He gave her a friendly smile in return then opened the door for Jeni and gestured for her to precede him.
“You never have trouble with women, do you?” she asked when they reached his truck. She didn’t say it rudely, just as a curious statement of fact. Or question, rather.
Logan gripped the back of his neck. “I don’t know how to respond to that.”
“That’s answer enough,” she said with a light laugh.
His lips tipped up in a small smile, his vision filled with her symmetrical features, gold-brown eyes, and long, silky hair. “I bet you don’t have trouble either.”
She snorted. “Right.”
“I’m serious.” His tone confirmed his words. “You’re beautiful. If you’d take down the Fuck Off sign you wear around your neck, there’d be a line of men waiting to ask you out.”
“To date me or sleep with me?”
“Either. Both.”
Jeni dropped her gaze to the ground, her cheeks reddening. She looked strangely vulnerable in that moment, and he didn’t like it.
Without thinking, Logan put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up, his eyes searching her face. “You know that’s true, right?”
She shrugged.
Did she really not know how tempting she was? “When’s the last time you went out with someone?”
“When I was married.”
Might be too nosy but… “Slept with one?
”
“Same.”
Logan’s jaw dropped. “You said you got divorced two-and-a-half years ago.”
She stiffened. “Don’t say it like that. It’s not that big a deal.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Yeah, I got that. I know it’s at the front of a lot of people’s minds but not mine. The first time, I waited until I was married to have sex. And it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. It never was.”
“He didn’t do it right.”
Jeni snorted. “Let me guess. You’d show me how it’s supposed to be done, right?”
“Definitely not.”
She balked.
“I have no interest in having sex with you.”
Her incensed expression told him his comment came out differently than he intended.
She spoke before he could try again. “Why not?” she demanded, eyes flashing.
Dammit. “I didn’t mean—”
“I’m not your type?”
“No, that’s not it. I just…I hadn’t thought about you like that.”
“Am I the only woman you haven’t thought about like that?”
Logan rubbed a hand across his mouth. He didn’t think anything he could say would be the right thing. “I don’t usually go after women who aren’t interested. It’s pretty clear you don’t wan—”
Then, the last thing he’d have ever expected happened. Before he could finish his sentence, Jeni slipped her hand around his head and pressed her lips to his.
Logan froze. Time stopped.
Jeni was kissing him. Really kissing him.
What.
The.
Hell?
His body reflexively kissed her back while his mind sprinted to catch up. His lips yielded to hers, pressing forward and retreating, and his feet stayed planted rather than backing away while he processed.
But when the surprise wore off and he was fully in the moment, he realized how nice it was. He’d kind of thought a kiss with Jeni would be one of those aggressive, teeth-clashing, tongue-warring kisses, where clothes were being pulled and bodies pushed up against any solid surface. Passionate and forceful, like the woman herself.
Yeah, he’d lied. He’d thought about it before. Once or four times.
It wasn’t like that though. She’d come at him hard but loosened up when he didn’t resist. Her lips were soft and pliant, and her hands gently moving in his hair felt fucking amazing. His hands slid around her waist, and she sighed into his mouth.
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