Chapter 27

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Logan woke up to the sound of the shower running and the sun streaking through Jeanie’s blinds. He groaned and stretched, letting her scent and everything they’d done last night wash over him.

It had been...

It had been... perfect. Perfect despite the unpacked boxes and the words left unsaid. Today he would say them.

He rooted around in the tangle of blankets for his boxers and found his shirt tossed over a chair. His blood heated at the memory of Jeanie yanking it off of him. Maybe he should join her in the shower.

The idea of a soaped-up Jeanie was very tempting, but they had things to talk about first. Things he should have told her last night, but had still been too chicken to say. Today he would tell her that he wanted her. That he had fallen head over heels in love with her and he had been a fool to try and deny it, and he had been an even bigger fool to try and hide it. And that if she wanted him to shout it from the freaking café counter during the morning rush, he would.

But first, coffee.

He strolled out to the kitchen and started the coffee maker. He found mugs in the cabinet, placed neatly beside the sugar and honey. In fact, most of the kitchen was tidy with no partially packed boxes in sight. Jeanie was just taking her time settling in. He couldn’t fault her for that.

The small kitchen led out to the living room, where Logan found a table and two chairs. Jeanie must use it as a desk, as well, because the surface was covered in papers. Logan cleared some out of the way and stacked them in a pile.

A business card slipped from the stack and floated slowly to the floor.

Barb Sanders, the realtor who had once tried to convince him to sell his grandparents’ farm, stared up at him from the floor. He stared back at her, her too-bright smile mocking him.

Casper sauntered over and sat his big fluffy body on the card, as though to save Logan from the panic currently stirring in his veins. Or to cover his owner’s tracks. Logan tore his gaze away from the cat and the card and turned his attention back to the pile of papers. He hadn’t intended on looking at them. He hadn’t intended on snooping.

But he’d seen the card.

And now he saw the real-estate listings. The comps for other business properties in the area. He saw where Jeanie had circled some of the numbers. He saw her little enthusiastic exclamation points in the margins.

He saw the astronomical amount of money Jeanie could sell this building for. She could do so much with that amount of money. Reinvent her life entirely. Find her own dream instead of recycling her aunt’s.

She could leave and never look back.

His gaze roamed over the living room, taking in details he’d been too distracted to see last night. The kitchen might have been organized, but the living room was just as unsettled as the bedroom. A large box labeled ‘photos’ sat menacingly next to the couch.

Jeanie had no intention of staying.

And he’d fallen for it, again.

He’d fallen for her.

His blood flashed hot then cold as the realization set in. He’d been nothing more than a stop on her trip. And he’d paraded all over the damn festival with her yesterday. Everyone in town had seen them together.

He’d given everyone yet another reason to look at him with those ‘poor Logan’ looks.

Shit.

He had to get out of here.

He was about to head back to the bedroom to grab the rest of his clothes when the shower stopped. He froze next to the table and the incriminating pile of papers. Maybe he could run out of here in his underwear. That would really top his failed-proposal story.

No, he couldn’t run. He had to face her. And then get the hell out of here.

He waited, listening to the sounds of Jeanie padding around her bedroom. She hummed a little tune to herself, and Logan wanted to cry. Or scream. Or tear something apart. He wasn’t sure which. Maybe all three.

Jeanie emerged from the bedroom wearing nothing but his discarded flannel shirt from the night before. The sight nearly brought him to his knees.

Why was she doing this to him?

‘Morning,’ she said cheerily, her cheeks rosy from her shower. Damp tendrils of hair curled around her ears. Logan’s fingers twitched with the need to touch her. ‘Thanks for making coffee.’ She smiled, and Logan’s heart lurched like it could escape him and go live with her instead.

‘Yeah ... uh ... I have to get going.’ He couldn’t meet her eyes. Not now. Not anymore. Not since he’d so fundamentally misunderstood this entire situation.

‘Oh. You do?’ The disappointment was clear in her voice, but she pushed through it. ‘I guess I should give you your shirt back.’

‘Keep it.’ His voice was gruff, rude, and sharp, but he couldn’t help it. There was no way in hell he could take that shirt back now. Not with Jeanie’s freshly showered smell all over it.

‘Logan, is something wrong?’

He sighed and ran a hand down his face. ‘No, everything’s fine. Just need to get home.’

‘Okay.’ She moved toward him, her warmth overtaking him, crowding him. ‘It just seems like you’re upset about something.’ She glanced toward the table, her stare lingering on the papers before realization dawned on her face.

‘Didn’t realize you were planning on selling,’ he said. ‘Surprised me, that’s all.’

‘I’m not.’

Logan shook his head. ‘I think maybe you are, Jeanie. Maybe that’s what you want.’

‘It isn’t.’ Her mouth turned down into a frown, and Logan hated it. Wanted to kiss it right off her face, but that kind of thinking had only gotten him into trouble.

‘Maybe you should.’

‘What? Why would you say that?’ Her gaze snapped to his, hurt simmering in her eyes.

He shrugged, feigning a casualness he didn’t feel, not a bit. His body buzzed with hurt and anger that he’d fallen for the wrong woman again. That his heart had led him right down this same path.

‘Look around.’ He gestured to the living room and Jeanie’s gaze skittered over the boxes and empty walls. ‘You haven’t even moved all the way in.’

‘I... It’s just that I’ve been busy.’

Busy, maybe. Or maybe this wasn’t what she wanted at all. ‘We don’t know each other all that well ...’ She flinched at that, and considering everything they did last night he knew it was a real asshole thing to say, but if he didn’t push her away, he’d take her in his arms and be even more devastated when she left. ‘But it seems to me you ran away from your old life. Your boss died and you got scared. But maybe this isn’t really where you want to be.’

Her hands were on her hips now, her eyes narrowed. His flannel shirt rose up, exposing more of her thighs. He tore his gaze away. He was suddenly wishing they were both wearing pants for this conversation.

‘For someone that doesn’t know me, you sure have a lot of opinions about what I want.’

‘I think we should just cool things off for a while,’ he said, echoing the words Jeanie had said to him a week ago. He should have listened.

He would not look at the tears pooling in her eyes. He would not. He’d been down this road before, and he knew what happened when you tried to make someone live a life they didn’t want. Unhappiness for everyone.

‘Fine.’ She sniffled and swiped her tears away with the back of her hand. ‘You have some shit to sort out, anyway,’ she said and spun on her heel back toward the bedroom. The door slammed behind her.

Damn it.

He’d woken up this morning planning on telling Jeanie he was in love with her and instead, he’d suggested they ‘cool things off.’ What a mess.

He glanced back at the table and Jeanie’s exclamation points mocked him from the listings. If Jeanie didn’t want to stay in Dream Harbor, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to convince her otherwise. Despite what his stupid heart was telling him.

The bedroom door opened again, and his completely misguided hopes rose.

Jeanie tossed his jeans into the hallway and slammed the door again.

Right.

There was no fixing this.

He grabbed his pants, tugging them on as he hopped toward the door. His boots still sat toppled over next to Jeanie’s where he’d tossed them the night before. He’d been so frantic, so eager to get to her, he hadn’t cared where anything ended up.

Now, he stepped into them, not bothering to tie them, grabbed his coat off the back of the chair, and left Jeanie’s temporary apartment behind.