“I’ll take a Reuben,” I say.
“Make that two,” Logan pipes in from behind the pile of boxes on the floor. He looks determined to find something.
The minute I stop focusing on this case, my thoughts are like a movie in my mind. With my hands on her face, our tongues play like we can’t keep our hands off each other. And then the memory again of her fiery red hair fanned on my pillow, like that first night we met.
Needing a break from looking at this paperwork, I snag my phone from the table and decide to write Kendall back. Leaning back in my chair, tipping it onto the back two legs, I text her.
Dane:
You can ask three questions, and I’ll even give you a hint. We need to take a ferry.
I watch to see if she reads it and responds, but after five minutes, I put my phone back on the table.
“Bro, hey! I’ve been talking to you, and you’re somewhere else.” Logan looks at me with concern.
I really don’t want to confide in him, but he’ll figure it out.
“You can’t say anything to anyone. Seriously, I’m confiding in you,” I respond, staring daggers his way, letting him know I’m fucking serious.
“Guy, I’m definitely busting your balls, but I always have your back. You know that,” he says as he strides over to the table. “What’s up with you, and who are you texting?”
“Kendall…”
“Oh, shit!” He doesn’t say another word as he leans in closer to me, waiting for the words to come out of my mouth.
It takes a few extra beats before I’m able to even open my mouth, but finally, “I slept with her a few weeks ago and…well, I can’t stop thinking about her. She’s stuck in my head.”
“Did you catch…feelings?” He looks at me, confused, with furrowed brows and a teasing tone.
I take a deep breath, trying to find the right words to share with him without sounding like I’m already pussy-whipped. I dive headfirst into the story about her, all of it from the one-night stand to the visit to the building department, the coffeehouse, the texting, and I end with this morning’s furniture moving. He’s shocked and can’t speak a word. Speechless. That hardly ever happens with Logan.
“I don’t fucking know.”
“What’s all this talk about a girl?” asks Dad. Of all the fucking timing, he walks in onthisconversation.
“Nah, just another random girl.” Logan jumps in to brush off the conversation as no big deal.
“Well, you know, son, we have standards in this family.”
Here we fucking go. If I have to hear him on his soapbox about how we can only date certain types of women—ones who come from powerful families, with money and political influence. I might walk out the door. I have to hear his speech a few times a year ever since I broke up with Maggie. Logan is lucky. He gotoff scot-free when he married his high school sweetheart. He’ll try to hold me to that standard, but he allowed Logan to marry someone who didn’t meet all the criteria. Let him try that shit with me.
“Dad, you tell me all the time. I hear you,” I say, not making eye contact.
“Well, a lot is riding on your image, son,” he says sternly with his finger pecking at the air.
He can say whatever the fuck he wants. I’ll marry—well, if I ever do—who I want. For love. Not for status, not for his bullshit inheritance clause or anything else.
Lean casually in my chair with my arms overhead and say, “Isn’t it time to move on from that ideology, Dad?”
“You have responsibilities to this family,” he snaps, his face turning red.
“Okay, okay. Logan and I need to focus our attention back on this case. Is there anything else?” Being dismissed is not something you do to Edward Walsh, but he has no choice with both of his sons sitting at the table. He lets out a deep sigh and leaves the conference room.
Logan looks at me with sympathy. “Man, you’re under a microscope.”
“Yeah, I know! I haven’t had to worry about it, and who knows, maybe this thing with Kendall won’t even amount to anything serious.”
I lift myself off the chair and say, “I need some fresh air. I’ll be back in a few. Let me know when Kai gets back.” Picking up my phone, I walk out the door.
