Chapter 27: Chapter 27

LAUREN

~Great. Now I’m going to have to grovel~, Lauren thought after Whitney left the bathroom, but she wasn’t above apologizing when she was wrong, and she had been.

About a few things, actually.

Whitney was an interior designer, and she’d been helping Logan with the hotel. And despite what the tabloids, Shana, and her own mind had said about his bachelor lifestyle, Whitney had said that of all the women he’d been with, he’d only told her about Lauren.

Feeling hopeful that she hadn’t ruined it forever with Logan, Lauren pulled on her coat and went to find him, going over her apology in her head.

She saw him in the far corner of the ballroom, talking to a man whose thick back and full head of salt-and-pepper hair she recognized. Thoughts of her talk with Logan faded to the background as she approached.

“Daddy?” she said, interrupting his and Logan’s conversation. “I didn’t know you were coming. How long have you been here?”

“Sweet Pea! There you are!” he said as if he had been looking for her. “Hope you don’t mind me talking shop with your client. This ~is~ the premier event of the evening.” He tucked her under his arm and squeezed her cheek.

Lauren’s face burned, and she glanced at Logan, whose eyes were fixed on her.

“This is the premier event of the ~year~, Mr. Landon,” Logan said, extending his arms and looking around. “How great does this place look? Tasteful, elegant, expensive.” He raised his glass toward Lauren. “And it’s all because of Lauren. She did this all by herself.”

She gave Logan a half-hearted smile. He tried, Lauren knew, but she braced herself for her father’s usual brush-off.

Squeezing her shoulder and shaking her, her dad laughed. “Oh, nobody can do anything by themself, Logan. She has a team of dozens, your unlimited budget, and a world-class education from Pratt, paid for by a father who’s always supported her when she needed it.”

Her dad laughed and squeezed her again, saying to her, “Like when I gave you your first major client after finishing school, remember that? And look who your client is now. ~The~ Logan Hawke.” Then he gave her a kiss on the head. “The things we do for our children, Logan.”

“Well,” her dad said, releasing her, “if you’ll excuse me, Sweat Pea, I must mingle.”

Giving him her well-practiced smile, Lauren nodded, and he walked off, leaving her with Logan.

“Wow,” Logan said as they watched him go. “He is something else.” Putting his empty glass on a passing server’s tray, he turned to Lauren. “Are you okay? You’re pale. Do you want to sit down?”

He held his hands out like she needed steadying, but Lauren shook her head, the action making her head swim.

“I need to talk,” she let out breathily, knowing this wasn’t the best time to discuss things, but she didn’t want to keep the distance between them. Not when it was based on a misunderstanding and a lack of communication on her part.

“Talk, then,” he said, grabbing another drink. He took a sip and waited for her to speak.

She released a breath, then began. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions about Whitney. I thought… Well, you know what I thought, and I should have spoken to you about it before making assumptions.” Lauren pushed her hair back from her damp face.

He gave a curt nod. “Probably.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, playing with the cuff of her coat.

“Has it changed anything?” he asked. “Knowing that I was not betraying whatever the hell we were, has your mind changed?”

Lauren didn’t have an answer. She couldn’t think about moving forward until he knew about the baby.

But then a warm tray of canapés moved past them on a platter, and she couldn’t think at all. Her mouth salivated, her stomach growled, and her hands shook as she swallowed hard against the spinning in her head.

Logan’s hands gripped her arms as he steadied her, his body too close, muddling her brain even more.

Breathing hard, she tried to get some fresh air, but it was all stale from the amount of people in the hall. “I’m okay,” she said, but her voice came out in a whisper.

“Have you eaten?” he asked. “You need some food. And a seat. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

She grimaced at his authoritative tone, and when he tugged her to make her move, she shook her head and stepped back. “Why do you care, Logan?”

“Why do I need a reason?” he countered. “I care. More than I’m used to, and more than you do, clearly.” Logan moved to turn away, but Lauren spoke.

“What would you have said?” she asked. “If I hadn’t asked you not to contact me, after Whitney, how would you have wanted us to move on? Would we have just kept fucking? Would that have been all?”

Sighing, he came back to her and put his hands on her arms, leaning in as he spoke.

“I would have told you that I can’t get you out of my head. That I’ve lived my whole life without feeling more for a single woman I’ve been with until you. I would have told you that I want more than a fuck.”

His words were everything, yet they were too much. He felt this way now, but worries about how he’d feel after she made her own admission pushed her mind and body to the brink.

Falling against him and shuddering, Lauren panted as the lights went fuzzy. Logan guided her out of the ballroom, skirting its edge and sticking close to the walls. Before long, saliva built in her mouth, and her jaw tingled in warning.

Either she was going to vomit on his pretty leather shoes, or she was about to pass out.

“I don’t feel so good,” she mumbled.

Her mind spun again with the words, right before heat crept up her spine. Her vision went tilted, and she heard Logan curse.

Then she passed out.