But I just kept holding her. It felt right. Too right. Like my body had been waiting for this without me realizing it. I barelyknew her, and yet . . . I could already feel the edges of something sharp and real digging into me. An attachment I had no business forming, regardless of having these truths laid bare between us.
God, I’d been alone too long. This wasn’t supposed to mean anything. We were fake, a performance, a lie.. Soon, everything would go back to the way it had been before. We just needed to make it to the end of the season. I shoved all the feelings down and tried to break this sad, lingering tension in the air.
“What I’m grasping is that you really enjoy hitting men upside the head,” I said, and the laugh that came out of her was genuine and bright and did something to me all over again.
This was going to be difficult.
Chapter 9
Logan
We had lived together for two weeks, and there were two things I knew for certain.
One: The tension in this house was so thick, I could spread it on toast every morning and eat it for breakfast.
Two: Lachlan never stopped working.
Some mornings, I’d wake up to an empty house, the faint scent of his soap still clinging to the hallway from his bathroom, proof he’d already left for the firehouse hours ago. Then he’d come back in the afternoons, and rather than collapsing on the couch like a normal human being after a long workday, he’d go straight for the side by side parked by the side of the house to deal with whatever farm duties were calling his name.
At first, I’d thought he was avoiding me. Which, I couldn’t blame him if he was because the situation wasn’t ideal. But the more I saw him drag himself in at night—covered in dirt, half-asleep, sometimes curled up with Tony on the couch, not evenmaking it to his bed—the more I realized he just didn’t know how to stop moving.
Watching him wear himself down like that made something inside me twist. I wasn’t sure if it was sympathy or the kind of quiet ache that came from wanting to take care of someone who never asked for help, but you could tell they needed it.
I was on my second cup of coffee when I poured his. I’d been handing him black coffee every morning since I’d moved in because, well, he just seemed like a black coffee kind of man. Broody. Efficient. The type of guy who probably thought “cream and sugar” were signs of weakness. But this morning, I wanted toactually ask.We were supposed to be fake dating, after all. I should at least know how my fake boyfriend took his coffee.
He was kneeling by the front door, finishing the knot on his boots, when I said, “How do you like your coffee?”
He looked up at me as he walked over, the kind of slow, unhurried movement that always made my heart do something very stupid and fluttery. He took the mug from my hand, murmured a quiet, “Thanks,” and took a long sip. Then he set it down again with a faint grimace.
“With cream and honey,” he said finally, reaching for his jacket slung over the back of the barstool.
I blinked. “But I’ve been giving it to you black this whole time! Why didn’t you say anything?”
He shrugged, slipping into his jacket, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Didn’t want to complain. I was grateful for whatever you gave me. Besides”—he paused, looking at me with that tired, steady gaze of his—“I don’t usually get mornings where something good is waiting for me.”
My stomach did that ridiculous little swoop thing again. I tried to play it cool, but I could feel my cheeks warming anyway.
“Oh,” I said softly, which was a useless response but all I could manage. “Well, consider the menu updated. Cream and honey from now on.”
He gave me a quiet chuckle as he headed for the door, rattling off his list of morning chores. I decided to speak up before he headed out of the house for the day.
“Could I come with you? You know, help out?”
“Don’t you have your own job to do?” he asked, arching a brow, sounding grumpy, but I was beginning to realize this man always sounded that way, and something about that was also hot. It just added to his gruff, sexy exterior.
“I do, but right now I’m caught up on my current project—the Henderson wedding, I’ve already got the flowers and invitations ordered. Can you believe they want peonies at the end of December? Such a spring flower for a fall, or I guess winter wedding, but I—”
“Logan—” He pinned me with his stare.
“Right, to the point, I’m all caught up on my end, so I figured I could help you out today, plus being seen us together more often in our whole fake dating situation and all will probably look good.” We’d seen the cops twice since I’d moved in, but they seemed to already be backing off. Our little lie was starting to pay off.
He pondered it a second before he responded, “Alright, but you need to dress warm. I know fall is just starting, but its already getting cold out.”
“Yeah,okay, Dad,” I clapped back as I walked over to the living room to put my shoes on and started to head to the door. Lachlan eyed me up and down, assessing my outfit, a black tank and jeans, before blowing out a huff.
“Suit yourself.” He walked outside and I followed, calling for Tony.
“Whoa, I said you could go. You didn’t mention anything about the dog.”
