Chapter 16

MAGGIE

~FIVE YEARS AGO~

I could have sworn I saw Logan’s jaw clenching, but it’s dark outside so the light could be playing tricks too.

Carter makes sure I’m inside the car when he steps back. “Can I text you sometime?”

“Sure.”

He looks once at Logan before waving and giving me a parting smile.

When the car rolls forward, there’s silence between us. Logan has yet to say a word since I’ve stepped inside.

Minutes drag on, and I’m the first one to break the ice. “I wish I could have stayed longer. Everyone else is still there, enjoying the party.”

Logan looks at me. I can’t decipher his expressions, but his tone is definitely not friendly when he says, “I’m sure you’ve had plenty of time to enjoy the party.”

It’s the bite in his voice that gives him away. “What does that mean?”

“I’m not stupid, Maggie,” he says, “I used to be the same age as you.”

“Oh, really?” I tease him. “Wonder how many decades ago was that. I always thought you were born grumpy during the Stone Ages.”

I laugh when he gives me a look filled with warning. “Point is, I know what goes on in these parties. What boys and girls are usually doing when their parents aren’t around.”

I glare at him. “What are you trying to say? That I was cozying up with somebody or doing drugs?”

“I never said that.”

“But you insinuated it,” I say.

“Who was that guy just now?”

“Carter?” I ask. “Oh, I just met him. He goes to Springfield High, and he’s a friend of Dawson’s. They both are on the football team.”

Logan stares straight ahead. “Do you like him?”

“He’s nice.”

I mean, he’s more than nice. He’s got those serious green eyes that are guaranteed to melt you, and let’s not forget that gorgeous body of a football player.

There’s also the part where he’s easy to talk to and doesn’t look at me like I’m a snotty kid, unlike someone I know.

“Did you kiss him?” he asks me out of the blue.

“No.”

After that, Logan doesn’t ask me anything, and he’s back to his broody self. I would have thought it was jealousy, but I won’t delude myself into thinking he’s capable of that where I’m concerned.

He’s made it clear that he’s not into me. Frankly, I’m wondering if romance is something that’s on his radar, or Logan is going to die without it.

I know he hooks up with women. I’m not that stupid. But he keeps his business discreet and doesn’t involve much with them, yet it hurts to imagine him with someone else when he should be with me.

Okay, I know a relationship between us would be frowned upon. I’m eighteen and he is thirty-six. I think Logan would have still considered me a kid even if I was twenty.

“Did you eat anything at the party? I made risotto for dinner.”

Also, I love the fact that Logan is an amazing cook. “I’ll have the risotto.”

He warms the food while I watch him work in the kitchen. I eat my meal silently while he does the dishes, and I’m totally digging into the folded flannel shirt-sleeves.

It makes him look so hot and mature, like a hero from a romance novel.

“What are you looking at?” he asks me.

I’ve been so caught up staring at him I don’t even realize getting caught. “Nothing.”

He gives me an amused look as I bring the dirty plate and glass to him, which he takes from my hand.

Our hands brush against each other when he does that. I sit on the counter while he finishes up here, and when he gives me that smile, I feel hot suddenly.

“Are you done with your summer project?” he asks.

“Not yet. I wanted some of your help.”

“Of course. I’ll look at it tomorrow.”

I laugh.

“Something funny, Maggie?”

I hide my blush. “It’s just that you’re always so serious, like you have a permanent frown. There’s always something going on in that head of yours, isn’t it?”

His face relaxes. “It’s always about work.”

“Right.”

“What do you think about this new top I bought online?” I teased him again. “Is it cute?”

I know it’s adorable, but I’m just fishing for compliments because I enjoy seeing him get all shy and squirm.

It’s a sleeveless pink top with flowers on it. I’m wearing it with denim shorts.

“It’s nice,” he says, looking at me once before concentrating on those damn plates.

“Just nice?”

“Okay, it’s hot, but it’s too revealing, Maggie.”

My face burns with heat. I know it’s a bit revealing, and that’s the reason I’m wearing it inside the house and not outside.

“You think I’m a kid, so why does it matter?”

I think I’ve hit a nerve. He tosses the towel, and he’s in front of me in the next second, and since I’m sitting on the countertop, I’m eye to eye with him. Those piercing blue eyes stare right into me like he can see into my soul.

He grasps my cheeks so I’m looking straight at him. “I don’t think you’re a kid, and this should be enough proof of that.”

That’s all he says before his lips come down on mine in a slow, torturous kiss, tantalizing at first.

My heart continues to pound against my chest. This is my first kiss, and it’s so, so good and everything I thought it would be that I don’t want to stop.

My phone buzzes, which is enough to pull Logan out of whatever trance he was in.

I almost curse when he stops kissing me. It’s a text from Carter.

Carter

Hey!

Carter

I’m so bored here. Wish you hadn’t left so soon.

Logan stares at the text and steps back. My hands are shaking as I type a message. It’s like my brain’s stopped working too.

Maggie

Sorry, I had a curfew like I told you.

Carter

I know.

Carter

Can I call you?

Maggie

Right now?

Carter

Yup.

I sneak a glance at Logan, but he’s already gone upstairs.

Maggie

Okay.

Carter calls, and I talk to him for a few minutes about nothing important, just our favorite movies and TV shows, but my full attention is on Logan and what he’s thinking about right now.

Ten minutes later, I hang up on the call and climb upstairs to my room.

I change into my nightgown and walk to Logan’s bedroom.

I know what I’m doing is not right, but I need to know what that was. If he did it on impulse or if he has any feelings for me.

I knock on his door twice. When he doesn’t answer, I’m almost sure he’s already asleep and start to leave when he asks me to enter.

It’s dark in the room and he’s shirtless, sitting in bed.

“What is it, Mags?” He’s pretending like what happened in the kitchen didn’t really happen, and it bothers me how easily he just brushes it off.

I climb into bed and slide under the covers.

“You’re not supposed to be here, Maggie.”

“Let’s talk about this.”

“I don’t know if there’s anything to talk about,” he says.

He’s in denial. He doesn’t want to accept that he has any feelings for me.

I inch closer to him until my face is close to his. “Kiss me again.” I whisper.

He brushes my hair slowly. It’s dark, but I can still see part of his face. “This is wrong, Maggie.”

“I’m only asking for a kiss, nothing else.” I put my arms around his shoulders. “No one will find out, I promise.”

“Can I say something?”

I caress his cheeks with the back of my knuckles, “Okay.”

“When you came out of that house with that guy earlier, I was extremely jealous,” he confesses.

And I stare at him in shock. It’s so unlike him to say things outright, but he’s doing it right now, and I don’t want him to stop talking.

“I don’t have a right to be jealous, because we can’t be anything more than friends, Maggie,” he laughs humorlessly.

“And yet, the thought of you with someone else makes me hurt so much that I can’t think straight,” he swallows.

“You don’t have to think about it. I’m here and I like you,” I say.

“You’re really sweet,” he pecks my lips, and his hands are shaking when he threads his fingers through my hair.

“And I don’t want someone to take advantage of you, but at the same time, I’m doing things wrong if I’m having these thoughts about you.”

I’m speechless from his confession.

“You’re at this age where you’re going to act on your feelings, and if I was a wise man, if I was as noble as you think I am, I’d let you be with someone else.

“We can’t have a relationship,” he says. “But you can’t kiss someone else other than me. I know that’s selfish of me, but…”

I got a whiff of alcohol, and I knew that he’d been drinking when I was at the party, probably mad with jealousy that I was going to find someone else of my age soon.

When Logan has a few drinks, his tongue gets loose.

“I don’t want any other guy to touch you, Maggie.”

He looks at me, contemplating, and then he tilts my face and captures my mouth in his, and finally we’re kissing again.