Chapter 20

ChapterTwenty

Jeanie was sitting on his bed. And it was scrambling whatever brain cells he had into a very ineffectual brain cell soup.

Seeing her on his front steps had nearly had the same effect. The way the late-day sun cut across her face, casting her in a golden glow. But it was her expression that had stopped him in his tracks, the wide smile, the spark in her eyes. She’d looked absurd, with his chickens using her as a perch, but she’d laughed through the whole thing, murmuring silly words to them, taking it all in stride.

And now here she was in his room, on his bed, smelling like sunshine and dark roast, and he didn’t want to talk. He wanted to step into the cage of her legs and press her into his mattress. He wanted her breathy sighs against his neck. He wanted her moaning his name.

‘Logan?’

Shit.

‘Uh ... yeah. Sorry. What was that last part?’

Her cheeks were flushed, her lips a delicious apple-red. She looked like she knew exactly what he had been thinking about and like she was thinking about it, too.

She shook her head. Wisps of hair trailed down from her bun. ‘I think the calls are coming from inside the house.’

Logan blinked. ‘What are you talking about, Jeanie?’

‘It’s a horror-movie reference. Never mind.’ She had slipped off her shoes and tucked her legs under her like she sat on his bed every day. Like this was how they always talked after a long day.

‘I think whoever is trying to get rid of me actually works at the café.’

‘Wait, really?’

She nodded, gearing up to explain her theory to him and Logan had to bite down on a smile. He was taking this seriously, but she was so damn cute when she got excited about something. Which was often. He loved that about her.

He liked that about her.

LIKED.

‘So, there’s been more strange stuff happening. The refrigerator was unplugged the other day. We almost lost all the milk! And then there was a whole morning when the cappuccino machine kept breaking, like over and over again even after we fixed it.’

‘Okay. Definitely strange.’

Jeanie nodded, picking up steam. ‘I know, right?! I even thought someone had stolen some of the artwork from the walls, until I found it stashed in a supply closet. It’s so strange. Who could have done it but someone who has access to the café during off hours?’

A prickle of unease settled in Logan’s gut. Even if Jeanie wasn’t in real danger, the fact that someone was screwing with her was unacceptable.

‘So, who do you think it is?’ he asked.

Jeanie gave him a small smile, a reward for taking her seriously.

‘Well, there’s only three people that have a key besides me: Norman, Crystal, and Joe.’

‘Three suspects.’

Jeanie smiled bigger. ‘Yes, exactly. So, Norman.’

Norman. Logan thought about the older man. He’d worked at the café for years alongside Dot. ‘Why would Norman want to mess with the café? He loves that place.’

‘That was my thought,’ Jeanie said. ‘He ran it with Dot forever. Why would he want to ruin what they’d built, right?’

Logan nodded.

‘Okay, so Crystal.’ Jeanie shifted, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear. ‘I think she has a crush on you.’

Logan choked on his water. ‘What? She doesn’t.’

‘She practically gets hearts in her eyes when you come in!’

‘Absolutely not.’

There was no way Crystal had a thing for him. Crystal who was the prom queen of their high school, and a low-key local celebrity for her stint in a series of mattress commercials. No way. Last he heard Crystal was dating a semi-professional football player, although she refused to say which one. She definitely wasn’t interested. ‘Why would that matter, anyway?’ he asked.

‘Maybe she knows about us and she’s mad and now she’s out for revenge.’ Jeanie’s words ran together like she was almost too embarrassed to say them but needed to get them out.

‘No one knows about us.’ Even as he said it, he was thinking about the two of them the other night in his truck on the damn road. Anyone could have walked by and seen them. Yep. It was possible someone knew, but he still didn’t think Crystal would care. ‘I don’t think that’s it. What about Joe?’

Joe was young, barely nineteen with a lip ring and several neck tattoos. In a line-up, Joe looked like the criminal. But Logan knew Joe. Knew that he drove his own grandmother to aerobics class and had even given Nana a lift several times. It was hard to accuse a kid who took good care of the elderly.

Jeanie shrugged but she looked relieved to move on from her Crystal theory. ‘Joe’s a sweet kid. I don’t know why he would do any of this. Plus, he really needs the job. It doesn’t make sense.’

Logan blew out a breath, happy that Jeanie saw Joe the way he did.

‘What do you think?’ she asked, a furrow of worry between her brows.

‘It is strange, but maybe this stuff happened by accident? Did someone kick the cord out of the refrigerator walking by? Maybe the cappuccino machine really is that temperamental?’

Jeanie twisted her lips to the side. ‘Yeah ... maybe. It just feels off.’ She shrugged.

The last time he’d brushed off Jeanie’s concerns, she’d gotten her window broken in the middle of the night. He couldn’t do that again.

‘Maybe it’s time for another stake-out.’

He caught the glimmer of excitement in Jeanie’s eyes. ‘You think?’

‘Anytime you want me there, okay?’

‘Thanks.’ She stood up and his brain worked frantically to come up with a reason for her to stay. Stay today, stay forever.

The apartment was small. It took him three strides to be in front of her without a plan except to grab her by the hips and tug her toward him.

‘If someone is screwing with you, we’ll figure it out. Okay?’

She tipped her face up to his. ‘Okay.’

He wanted to say more, wanted to ask her if she was happy here, if she liked running the café. If she harbored secret plans to run back to Boston as soon as he let himself fall for her.

She bit down on her bottom lip and held his gaze with her deep brown eyes.

Who the hell was he kidding? He’d fallen for her the first time he’d spotted those hedgehog pajamas.

And she was here now. He’d be a fool to waste it.

* * *

Logan’s fingers dug into Jeanie’s hips, a delicious pressure. Her hands rested on his chest, and she ran them over his shoulders and back again, just savoring the breadth of him, the solidness.

She realized this was why she’d come.

Not just to feel him up, although that was definitely part of it.

No, it was because in the short time she’d been here, Logan had become a grounding presence for her. Even when things felt like a mess at the café, or she wasn’t sure she belonged here, or she wasn’t sure how to be the Jeanie she was aiming for, being around Logan just made her feel ... right. Like she could figure all the rest out, but she wanted him around to talk to at the end of the day. To bounce ideas off. To tell her it was going to be okay.

He was comforting; safe.

But also sexy as hell. He reminded her by pulling her closer and dropping his mouth to the soft skin behind her ear. His lips trailed kisses along her jawline until he found her mouth.

‘This mouth.’ His voice was a low rumble. His hands skated up her sides, brushing over the curve of her hips, the dip of her waist, the side of her breasts. ‘This body,’ he groaned.

She kissed him, catching his groan, savoring the vibration of it coursing through her.

Jeanie was quickly learning that Logan didn’t do anything halfway, including kissing her. He didn’t rush. He took his time. He was thorough. Jeanie had never been kissed like that before. It was like he could kiss her all day; like he would never tire of it. Like kissing wasn’t just a means to an end.

But Jeanie didn’t want to kiss all night. She had other plans, or at least she did until the knock at the door.

The knock might as well have been gunshots for how quickly Logan reacted.

His hands pulled away from her body so fast she got whiplash. He took a step back and then another, putting as much space between them as he could. His face above his beard was a bright, embarrassed red. His blue eyes were wide with guilt or fear, or something else entirely; something like regret.

He tore away from her like they’d been caught holding the murder weapon while hovering suspiciously over the dead body and laying out their evil plan loud enough for everyone to hear.

He jumped away from her, like he might catch fire if he touched her.

He dropped his hands from her body, like he couldn’t bear the thought of anyone knowing what they’d been up to these past few weeks.

And suddenly, this secret relationship was less fun.

She watched Logan run a hand through his hair as he walked to the door. She listened as he spoke to the person on the other side. Something about a shipment coming in early. And by the time he’d closed the door and turned back to her, the moment was thoroughly ruined.

Suddenly, the warnings from her new friends were ringing in her head. Warnings about Logan falling hard, about Logan having his heart broken. So many warnings about treading carefully around this man and trying not to hurt him. But for the first time since they started this secret thing between them, she wondered who was protecting her from getting hurt.

It had seemed like a good idea when they started, like a low-pressure way for them to have some fun, but now things were twisted in her gut. Things were less fun when she could see how this ended. When she could so clearly see how not over his ex he was. When she could feel how much she’d let herself like this man, to come to depend on this man. And she refused to let her feelings for Logan get all tangled up with her feelings about being here.

Whatever happened with Logan, Jeanie liked it here. She liked her new friends and her new book club. She was learning how to be a good owner and boss. She had a cat for goodness’ sake! She couldn’t let suddenly complicated feelings for Logan derail her plans.

‘I should go.’

The crease between Logan’s brow deepened. ‘Jeanie, I—’

‘No, no. It’s fine.’ She waved a hand, brushing off his impending apology. She didn’t want it. She just wanted to go home and untangle her confused thoughts, to tend to her bruised feelings. ‘It’s just that I have some ... uh ... some inventory to do. And Casper needs dinner. You know how pet ownership can be.’ She forced a laugh and tried to move toward the door, but Logan grabbed her hand and stopped her.

‘I’m sorry about that. It was just a work thing, but you know how this town talks.’

‘Right. I know. No big deal.’ Her fake smile hurt her cheeks.

‘Jeanie.’ His voice was low, demanding she tell him what was going on inside her head.

‘It’s totally fine, Logan. This is what we agreed on from the beginning. It’s just for us.’

He frowned, his expression darkening. ‘You’re not happy about it.’

‘Says who?’

‘Me. You’re doing that awful fake smile.’

‘What fake smile?’

‘That one! The one you do when you’re trying to convince me you’re fine when I know you’re not. Why do you do that?’

‘I don’t do that.’ How dare he pretend he knew her so well! ‘I’m just starting to think maybe this isn’t a good idea.’

He flinched at that, and Jeanie almost felt bad about it, but something about being tossed aside in the middle of a really great kiss had set something off inside her.

‘We hardly know each other, and this has been really nice, and I really appreciate what you’ve done for me since I moved here, but maybe we should just cool it. For now, anyway.’

‘Cool it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s what you want?’

Jeanie blew out a long, frustrated sigh. ‘I don’t know what I want, okay? That’s kinda the problem. And every time I think I know what I want, you look at me like that and you kiss me, and I can’t think when you kiss me!’

‘You don’t want me to kiss you anymore?’ He’d stepped closer at some point, and he hadn’t dropped her hand. He kept his fingers intertwined with hers.

‘Well, I don’t want you not to kiss me.’

‘Jeanie.’ He did it again, said her name in that stern, sexy way that made her want to spill her guts to him. He should have been an interrogator.

‘Yes?’

‘You’re being very confusing right now.’

‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay. I can wait until you figure it out.’

The tightening knot in her belly loosened. ‘Okay.’

He nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Logan?’

‘Yeah?’

‘What happened with Lucy?’

It was Logan’s turn to blow out a long sigh. He ran a hand down his beard and shifted uncomfortably on his feet, like he’d rather run than have this conversation, and for a minute Jeanie thought he might not say anything at all.

‘She wasn’t happy here,’ he said at last. ‘She wasn’t happy with me.’

‘I’m sorry.’

He shrugged. ‘It was going on for a while before I proposed, but I thought I could fix it. I thought I could change her mind about living here, but...’ he hesitated, with another shrug of his broad shoulders, ‘it didn’t work.’

‘It doesn’t say anything about you that she left, you know.’

He huffed.

‘I’m serious. Just because you weren’t a good match doesn’t mean it was your fault.’ She held his gaze. He looked at her intently, like he was judging the sincerity of her words, like he wanted to believe her. ‘Besides, she was clearly a fool to give up a chance to be co-owner of those hilarious chickens.’

A startled laugh escaped him. ‘They are my biggest selling feature.’

Jeanie smiled, stepping toward him, already feeling herself pulled back by his gravitational pull. It must be because he was bigger than her. That was just science, right?

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘There are a few other things.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ A smile started at the corner of his mouth. A tentative, hopeful little thing.

‘Well, I think you might have a future as a detective or maybe a locksmith.’

His smile tipped bigger.

‘You’re pretty cute.’

‘Oh?’ A blush crept up his cheeks.

‘Yep. And not a bad kisser.’ She stepped into him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. ‘But I really am going to go.’

Her emotions were still way too all over the map to make staying here in this small space with this large man a good idea. She was bound to make decisions she would regret later.

‘I like you, Jeanie,’ he said, his voice low and rough.

‘Okay, good.’ It was good. A good start. But Jeanie still didn’t know where that left them and this weird, secret limbo they were in. She didn’t know if she was still willing to sneak around this town and pretend they weren’t together when it turns out she really wanted them to be.

‘Okay, good,’ he agreed.

‘I’m leaving now.’

He dipped his head and kissed her one more time, making her seriously reconsider her entire leaving plan, but then he let her go.

She hurried out of his apartment, still not sure who was protecting her heart in this whole mess of a situation.