Yawning, she headed straight for the coffee maker. “You made pancakes?”
“I’m a man of many talents,” he said, more than a hint of wicked in his tone.
She couldn’t even snort out a laugh because yes, he was. During the movie last night, she’d started dozing so he’d gotten her up to her bed and she’d crashed hard—alone, unfortunately. But it hadn’t been a great sleep. She’d thought about asking him to stay with her, but had held back, not wanting to do something they would regret. “You certainly have a healthy ego.” She inhaled the rich scent of her French roast. Perfection.
“It’s called confidence, baby,” he said as he flipped a pancake.
Baby? She kinda liked that, but she ignored the little flutter in her belly. “If those pancakes are as good as they look, then I’ll go with confidence instead of ego.”
He laughed, the deep rumble coming out of him absolutely delicious. Good God, everything about him was delicious. “So…any news?” She pulled out her creamer and started doctoring her coffee.
“Nothing from the police. But some of the guys from work installed some new cameras around my property. In the front and backyard.”
Frowning, she sat at her center island. “You already have cameras.” She’d seen them. Considering he was in security it made sense he had them. Heck, a lot of her neighbors did too, to make sure no one stole their deliveries.
“Yeah, just directly around the house. But these new ones are an extra precaution. They put them up in areas where they’re hidden. I’m going to stay away from my place and see if anyone comes back. At this point, it’s possible it was just a random gang initiation thing, but I still want to be smart.”
She shuddered slightly. She was glad he wasn’t going back there anytime soon even though she hated the entire situation. “You can stay with me,” she blurted out. He could easily stay with his brother or even at the Serafina. She had a feeling his boss or someone there would comp a room for a while.
“Thank you. I was hoping you’d say that.”
She blinked. “Really?”
“I don’t like that you were with me when it happened. I can’t imagine that you were the target, but still, I want to be with you, to keep you safe.” There was a protective note in his tone.
Warmth settled inside her, spreading outward in a soothing, all-consuming wave. “Well thank you. I hope my guest bed was okay.”
He slid another pancake onto a growing stack of them, then opened a carton of blueberries. “I could always stay in your bed,” he said, tossing a grin at her over his shoulder.
That was the Logan she knew. Sweet, teasing, flirty. As much as she liked the idea of him staying in her bed… “That’s not a good idea and you know it.”
“I don’t know any such thing. The last time we were in bed together we both enjoyed it.” His voice dropped again, with a completely different tone.
Oh, she wasn’t touching that with a ten-foot pole. She was feeling far too weak where he was concerned. And the casual way he talked about their time together only drove home the point that it had meant more to her than him. “So what’s on our agenda for today? I know you said you wanted to meet up with your parents. Is that still on?”
He paused. “I’m going to let you drop the subject of sleeping arrangements for now, but we’re going to revisit them again.”
She simply buried her face in her coffee as he continued. Noooo, they would not be revisiting anything.
“And to answer your question, Taylor wants to go to a skating rink today, of all things. I’ve never been but apparently she loves it so we’re all meeting up there, including my parents.”
“That actually sounds like a lot of fun.” And it was so close to Christmas.
“Better bring your A game. Taylor and Roman are competitive, so we’re going to have to skate circles around them.”
She laughed. “Well I hate to disappoint you but I’m not competitive about ice skating. In fact, I think the last time I skated I was maybe fourteen. You’re going to be sorely disappointed if you think we’re going to skate laps around anyone.”
“That’s okay, you can just hold on tight to me.” His voice dropped an octave, that hint of wicked back in his tone and his expression. “I’m a good enough skater for the both of us.”
“Yep, confidence. You have far too much of it.”
“Can you blame me? When Roman and I were born, I got all the awesome. Clearly.” He slid a blueberry pancake onto a separate plate and her mouth practically watered at the sight of it.
“If that pancake is for me, then absolutely, we’ll go with confidence.”
“And?”
“And you got all the awesome.”
He simply grinned at her and pulled out a can of whipped cream from the fridge. As he squirted a little dollop on it, she flashed back on a memory of the night in that hotel suite. She had no idea where the whipped cream that night had even come from. But the one thing she remembered oh so clearly was him squirting it down the length of her naked body before he licked it up.
She wondered if him bringing out a can of it now was intentional. Feeling her cheeks heat up as she remembered how he’d so easily brought her to orgasm that night—so, so many of them—she avoided his gaze as she stood to grab the syrup. Right about now she was going to drown herself in calories and sugar and completely avoid thinking about the raw, hot sex she’d been fantasizing about for the last four weeks. It was more than just sex, however. It was that Logan was everything she wanted in a partner.
When she looked over at him, thankfully his back was to her again as he continued to clean off the stove.
She just hoped she could get through today. It was getting harder and harder to keep her heart guarded. And who was she kidding? She’d fallen for him.
First she got left at the altar and now she’d fallen for one of her best friends—a sexy, sweet player who was never going to settle down.
Super smart, Grace. Suuuper smart.
Chapter 9
Grace felt like she was one second away from falling over as she slowly made her way toward the ice rink in her rented skates. Logan and Roman’s parents were already on the ice and might as well be pros compared to her. Taylor skated by and did a spin, clearly showing off before winking at Grace.
She spotted Logan through the crowd of people skating around, his green skullcap a beacon. He’d wanted to wait for her, but she’d insisted he head out there and get some good skating in before she attached herself to him.
Her skates slipped as she neared the entrance to the ice. She was definitely in over her head. At least there were some kids out here who seemed to have no idea what they were doing. So she wouldn’t be the only one who couldn’t skate. Probably the only one over the age of twenty though.
As she stepped out onto the rink, her legs wobbled but at least she didn’t fall. Score one.
“Glad you finally made it,” Logan said as he zoomed in next to her, executing a perfect stop. He had on a zip-up hoodie that matched his dark eyes and his ever-present wicked grin firmly in place.
“We’ll see how long I last.”