Chapter 21

21

" Y ou probably can't stay," Tabby said, when she had to decide between getting up and trying to fold the quilt over them from the far side of the bed to cover her goosebumped arms.

She didn't want to disturb the perfect equilibrium she felt, wrapped in Logan's arms, but she knew that shivering and letting her teeth chatter would be horribly unromantic.

"I left Franzi's window open," Logan said. "But I'm not sure it would wake me up from here."

"You're a good dad," Tabby said. "Or uncle. Whatever."

Logan squeezed her even tighter, but let her go when Tabby's chill was too much to ignore and she had to squirm free. "This doesn't change our agreement," she said. She regretted the words at once. Did she have to be a complete killjoy?

"Did I undersell my talents?" Logan asked rakishly, rolling onto his back and putting his hands behind his head. "Because I'm pretty sure you appreciated that."

Tabby flushed as she yanked her pants up on one leg and nearly fell over. She remembered making plenty of noise and hoped that Franzi was a heavy sleeper. "I did appreciate that," she said.

Logan sat up and managed to look solemn and not at all cold, which was completely unfair. "I swear, I will repay you every penny that was taken from you, and continue to work for my keep as long as you'll have me, however you want me."

Tabby got the other leg of her pants on without humiliating herself and bent to kiss Logan on the forehead. "I'll keep you around," she said warmly. Logan tipped his head up at the last minute and what she'd meant to be a chaste kiss to keep things from being too cool between them turned into a lingering kiss on his talented mouth.

"I refuse to be tempted into forgiving your debt," she said, kissing him again and sitting in his lap.

"I can be very persuasive," Logan teased. "Would you like another demonstration?"

Tabby wrenched herself away before she could be tempted back. "The night is young," she said. "And the drain in the laundry room still needs snaked."

"You sure you don't need something else snaked?" Logan caught her hand, but only held it and didn't pull her back down, to her mixed disappointment.

"Don't get cocky with me, cowboy," Tabby warned him as she took back her hand and finished getting dressed. "And don't read…too much into this." She was mindful of Logan's advice about lying. Know what they want and give them just enough of that. Logan, she was sure, wanted a physical relationship with no strings. And wasn't that what she wanted, too? It felt good, but was it anything more? She didn't want to upset the delicate balance they had. Their working relationship was solid, and she didn't want to lose it by being clingy .

"Of course not," Logan said, even if he was watching her with appreciation. It was mutual—when he got up to get dressed, Tabby caught herself watching him with hunger that she thought she'd sated.

Tabby told herself that the possessive way he'd said Mine was just a thing that guys said, and she wished she had magical instinct to tell her what to do next. "Tell me more about instinct," she said, because she was definitely not going to admit that she was dreaming about true love and happy ever afters. "Is it like a spidey sense?"

"It can be," Logan said, getting his clothing on far more gracefully than Tabby had managed. "Sometimes, it's a sort of a vague good or bad feeling that's hard to pinpoint. Like, is it a bad idea to go that way because the road is flooded, or because you won't meet someone you otherwise might, or you'll save three second going the other direction? It doesn't ever overwhelm my free will, though sometimes I'll end up in an argument with my horse over it."

"Your horse is a separate voice in your head?" Tabby wondered if she should be worried about shifter mental health and split personality. "I just thought it was a...thing you could do."

"No, he's definitely got his own opinions and personality. Some shifters have pretty quiet animals, but I lucked out with one who has a lot to say. It makes conversing out loud challenging some times when I've got him trying to discuss the merits of alfalfa inside my head at the same time."

Tabby chuckled. "I have enough trouble tracking conversations when I'm hungry all by myself. Do you shifters all have a secret handshake?"

"It's hard to explain to someone who isn't one," Logan said. He opened the bedroom door and stood courteously aside for her. "We do recognize each other, when we're close enough, but it's...it's like explaining a smell to someone with no nose."

"That's a lovely mental image, thanks," Tabby scoffed. "Very romantic." She winced. She shouldn't be bringing up romance now. This wasn't romance.

But when she walked past Logan out into the living room, he patted her on the ass, and she found that she didn't mind. She also didn't mind when he kissed her on the porch, and again in the laundry room.

The drain did eventually get snaked…and something else did, also.