The truth of that stabbed her right in the heart. No, probably not. “He has golf. He doesn’t need daughters.”
“Too bad he was blessed with three. A fact you strangely feel guilty for, even though you’re amazing and he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Let’s not fight about my dad.”
He laughed quietly in her ear. “Let’s not fight about anything.”
“Deal.” She twisted out of his arms and paced toward the water. When she turned around, he was just watching her, his hands tucked into his pockets. She licked her lips, tasting the salt in the air. “What else?”
“Home Ec, sophomore year.”
She rolled her eyes. Was all his evidence from when she was a stupid teenager? “What did I say?”
He shrugged, and she could tell even in the moonlight he looked a little embarrassed. “More of what you wrote.”
She was totally confused. “Oh, for goodness sake, Logan, just tell me!”
“When we had the flour sack baby. In your parenting journal, you wrote—”
“You read my parenting journal?” No wonder he was embarrassed, the rat fink bastard. “That was private!”
“Well, you were such a good fake-baby mom, and I didn’t know what to put in my journal, so I thought I’d just get an idea or two.”
Instead, he’d read…her cheeks flushed at the memory. She’dlovedthat stupid nylon-covered weighted sack. And she’d written a lot about how the experiment was preparing her for adulthood and motherhood, something she couldn’t wait to experience. How mortifying that must have been for a fifteen-year-old boy to read about his best friend. “Those were just the fantasy musings of a teenage girl,” she said tightly. “And apparently, they made you run screaming for the hills.”
“I wasn’t the guy for you.”
“Made that decision all by yourself, huh?” Hot tears welled unexpectedly in her eyes. “Well, I ended up going a totally different path anyway.”
“It wasn’t just that. It was…everything. You were smart and ambitious. And you wanted the same in a partner, even in high school. You didn’t give a guy a second glance if he wasn’t college-bound. And that never changed, did it? You’ve got a type. Well-educated, professional, family-oriented—”
“Loyal to a fault. Clever. Capable. Strong. You don’t think all of those would be desirable traits?”
“I wasn’t any of those things back then.” His voice cracked, and with it went her heart. Oh, Logan.
“You didn’t have to leave.”
“You didn’t have to stay.”
There it was. Because she had thought about following him—and when she didn’t, she’d sealed their fate. Would her choice have been any different if she’d known he loved her as more than a friend? “I didn’t know how you felt.”
“I didn’t want you to know. Ever.”
“Then why did you kiss me today?”
“Because I was weak.”
Oh, that was the wrong answer. Fury filled her. Again, she wasn’t enough. And too much at the same time. Too tempting, when that had never been her intention. But even then, even when he gave in some base desire, she wasn’t enough for anything else. The tears were gonna fall any second, and she was not going to give him that as well.
No, she’d given him enough for one day.
And she’d given men in general more than enough for an entire lifetime.
Tori was done with a capital d. Done.
With an outraged growl, she stormed past him and grabbed her high heels from the top of the dune. Then she took off at a run, adrenaline pushing her faster and faster as she flew up the dark path, heading anywhere but where Logan was.
