After they disconnected, he punched the pillow next to him, though it didn’t make him feel any better. What the hell? He never should have gotten out of bed, never should have gotten in the shower.
If he hadn’t, he would’ve been awake when she’d woken up and he could have gone down on her, convincing her that leaving was stupid. Hell, she never would have thought of leaving because he’d have been all over her.
As he sat up, he realized that his sunglasses were gone too. He shot off a quick text. You steal my sunglasses too?
She sent back an image of a fox swiping sunglasses, then followed with a picture of her wearing the aviators. Her dark hair was loose and a little rumpled around her face, and her smile was wide and inviting. And he wanted to reach through the damn screen and pull her close, kiss her senseless.
He’d wanted to finally make her his. Instead he’d ruined everything.
Laughing even around the pain in his chest, he responded. Keep them. They look better on you anyway. Then he saved her picture as his screen saver. Yep, he was a total masochist.
And now he felt like he was back at square one. Well, not square one, because now he knew exactly what she sounded like and looked like when she came.
He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. He just knew that he couldn’t lose Grace.
Groaning, he shoved a pillow over his face.
* * *
Grace sat back on the patio chair outside Sierra and Hayden’s home. Thanksgiving aka Friendsgiving had been a success, and even though she hated that Logan was out of town and working, a very small part of her felt a thread of relief that she hadn’t had to face him. Which made her feel like a big pile of crap. She really did hate that he had to work and be away from his friends and brother on Thanksgiving. But as part of billionaire Wyatt Christiansen’s private security, both for the Serafina and the man himself, he was on call often and ended up jetting off to random destinations around the world. She groaned to herself.
“What’s that groan for?” Taylor asked as she sat down next to her, a martini in hand.
Grace took a sip of her sparkling water. “Nothing. Just internally berating myself.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “What is it with you and feeling guilty over things you shouldn’t feel guilty about? And don’t answer that because it’s not a question. You drive me crazy.”
“I drive myself crazy.” She always got so caught up in her head about things. It didn’t matter that she was almost thirty, she still second-guessed herself as if she was back in college and unsure of her future.
“So what’s going on with you and Logan?”
She went for what she hoped was a neutral expression and lifted a shoulder. “Nothing. Why?”
Taylor’s bright blue eyes narrowed. “Really? That’s all I get? I was so bummed that Logan had to work because I was looking forward to seeing the awkward interaction between the two of you.” She lifted her glass to her lips.
“Hey! That’s so messed up.”
Taylor simply grinned. “I know. Roman and I have a messed-up sense of humor, what can I say?”
Grace snorted because it was true. Roman was so dry she couldn’t tell if he was joking or being serious most of the time. “Look, we had fun, but we decided we just wanted to be friends.” Thankfully he’d been texting her today and things seemed like normal between them.
Taylor gave her a strange look.
“What?”
“You both decided you wanted to just be friends?” Taylor asked hesitantly.
“Yes. Why are you being weird?” She took another sip of water, not liking being scrutinized.
“I’m just surprised, that’s all.” Again with the weird look.
“Whatever. I’m sure we have better things to talk about than Logan.” Grace might not be able to stop thinking about him—and his very talented mouth and fingers—but she didn’t want to obsess about him to her friends. No, thank you.
“Picture time!” Sierra said as she practically steamrolled everybody outside onto the patio. Hayden, Sierra’s huge husband, was right behind her, and helping her shuffle people into place by the pool.
It was a miracle so many of their friends were there at the same time, though some of them had to work later in the evening.
Picture time saved her from having to talk more about Logan—at least for now, because her friends could be relentless. Still, she was trying to get grounded after the other night and wanted to focus on going back to the way things had been before.
Hours later after she’d finally gotten home, she found herself smiling when Logan texted her silly pictures of llamas and asked her how Thanksgiving had been.
For the next fifteen minutes they texted back and forth and she couldn’t wipe what she knew must be a goofy grin off her face. Because apparently she really was messed up in the head.
She couldn’t get enough of this man, even if she knew she was going to get her heart broken. Because after she’d experienced Logan in the bedroom? It was like he’d released something wild inside her that she’d been trying to keep locked up. Hell, something she wasn’t sure had even existed before him.
When she was with him, all her insecurities seemed to fade away and she could be herself. It was incredibly freeing.
Now she wondered how the heck she was going to get over him.
Chapter 4
Logan scanned the surroundings of the quiet property and neighboring ranch as he slowly walked around the perimeter of the huge home. As far as jobs went, this one had been uneventful.
Though he hated being away from Grace and was bummed that he’d missed Thanksgiving with his friends, he’d been on much worse assignments when he’d been in the Marines and even while working for Wyatt. In comparison, this job was simple, and after being here a week, quiet. And quiet was always good for security.
Wyatt was working out some business logistics with Austin Brister, a wealthy rancher, and Brister had wanted to meet over the holidays to have everything ironed out by the time the new year rolled in.
Logan knew some of the details because he’d been on the periphery of a few of the actual meetings, but didn’t really care about them. He was here to do a job—to make sure that Wyatt stayed safe. The man had made billions and was ruthless when it came to business. Fair, but still, a man with that much money had enemies. No surprise his boss had brought his wife Iris on this trip. And even though Iris was head of security at the Serafina, she still traveled with her husband whenever possible. In the last few years they’d become an incredible power couple in Vegas, both feared and respected. More than that, they plain loved each other. It was so damn clear every time they looked at one another.
Logan shoved his hands deeper in his thick down jacket as he rounded the corner of the house. They’d set up temporary electronic security in the vein of cameras around the property, but Wyatt was old-school and wanted a small crew patrolling physically, so Logan and a former Air Force pilot named Mia were outside in different areas right now. While Logan understood having feet on the ground, it was still cold.
Vegas got cold in the winter, but Montana was a different kind of icy and bitter. No, thank you. The ranch spread out for thousands of acres, but this man’s house was fairly isolated and a solid twenty minutes from the nearest town.