“I think I will.” Claire rose and gave Sophie a quick hug, laughing when their bellies bumped. “We’ll soon be too fat for this.”
Sophie patted her round belly and laughed too. “Bite your tongue, woman.”
When Logan finally made it back to his house, the moon was a thin sliver of silver in the sky. The clock on his kitchen stove told him it was past two in the morning. God, had he really been gone that long?
After leaving Claire’s, he’d headed straight for LM, throwing himself into catching up on the work he’d missed last week. He’d desperately needed distraction from the unsettling emotions piercing his gut after discovering Claire’s secrecy. Only distraction had been a hell of a hard thing to achieve. After poring over an excessive backlog of emails and listening to his nearly endless voicemail since he hadn’t checked either on his cell, he threw himself into examining all the accounts LM currently handled.
And still, his mind wouldn’t allow him to forget the sickening feeling of realizing Claire was too ashamed to tell her own parents he was the father of her child.
Over and over again, he relived the scene at Sophie’s house, the shame on Claire’s face, the horror on her mother’s. Until a migraine hit him with the force of a freight train pounding into his skull. It had laid him low for quite some time. He hadn’t been aware of just how much time had passed until he stepped into the kitchen. Christ, but he needed a drink. If only he hadn’t gotten rid of all his alcohol after Derek’s arrival. He’d sell his soul for a shot of whiskey right about now. Anything to make him forget.
Damn it, he couldn’t take it anymore.
Logan tossed his keys onto the counter, wincing slightly at the way they jangled on the hard marble surface. His headache still hadn’t completely abated, but it almost felt good to be in pain. It matched the bleakness threatening to consume him. He’d come so far, had made a name for himself. He’d thought he was beyond anyone making him feel unworthy. Somehow, Claire had the power to strip him right down to the bone and make him feel like nothing.
Hell, who was he kidding? Hewasnothing. A zero dressed in designer suits, masquerading behind his CEO’s desk. The awful truth had hit him tonight at the office. He couldn’t blame Claire for not wanting to tell her mother about him. After all, the pregnancy had been an accident. Claire would never have chosen him as the father of her child and she was now merely making the best of a nearly impossible situation. What could he offer her, or a child, for that matter?
Disgusted with himself and still furious with Claire, Logan strode from the kitchen into the main hallway. He heard the low rumbling of the television in the living room and assumed Derek was still awake. He paused, weighing the pros and cons of unloading his problems on his friend.
“What the hell,” he muttered after a moment of wavering. His feet carried him to the living room, expecting to find Derek the night owl grinning crookedly from the couch.
Instead, he saw Claire curled up on the sofa, the soft light from the flat screen illuminating her in an ethereal light. A throw was draped over her and her blonde hair fanned out in glorious disarray over a pillow. Logan’s reaction was immediate and instinctive.
What the hell was she doing here? How had he failed to notice her car when he’d pulled up? Infuriated, Logan stalked over to the sofa, determined to shake her awake and tell her to leave. But when he reached his destination and looked down at her, something inside him shifted, softened. He was captivated by her striking features. The small, pert nose, her lush, pink lips, high cheekbones, thick lashes. In any light, Claire was beautiful. Tonight she was gorgeous. The slight swell of her stomach was visible beneath the blanket and Logan clenched his hands to keep from reaching out and touching her.
He wanted to so badly he shook with it.
God.
She had brought him to his knees this morning, and now here she was, quietly snoozing on his sofa, looking like an angel when she had no goddamn right to. Making him want to carry her to his bed and lose his anger in incredible sex instead. What was it about this woman that rocked him, made him weak in ways he’d never dreamt possible?
She sighed softly in her sleep, burrowing down into the cushions. Before Logan realized what he was doing, he sank to his knees. His resistance left him in the same instant. He reached out with a trembling hand and brushed a lock of golden hair from her face, his hand lingering to caress her cheek. Her skin felt like hot satin against his fingertips and it amazed him that just this simple touch could send hot sparks shooting through his blood. He wanted more.
His questing fingertips traced a light path to her jaw, then slid over her slightly parted lips. She sighed again, nestling the curve of her cheek into the palm of his hand. Logan inhaled sharply, lust burning a path through him. It was utterly ridiculous, but Claire’s innocent, unconscious gesture aroused him. He wanted to claim her, to brand her with his kiss and with his body, to make her realize she needed him as fiercely as he needed her.
Damn again.
With great difficulty, he withdrew his hand and gently shook Claire’s shoulder. “Claire.”
She moved and made a mewling sound of protest in the back of her throat. Logan swallowed and tried again. “Claire. Wake up.”
Her eyes flew open and she blinked drowsily, an adorable look of confusion marring her features. “Logan? What took you so long?” Claire’s voice was husky with sleep and too damn sexy for his peace of mind.
“I was working,” he said, forcing his voice to be as curt as possible.
“Working? Why?” She sat up, a red line running across her right cheek where it had been pressed to the pillow. It shouldn’t have been endearing to him, but somehow it was.
“The usual reason. I had work to do.” Logan’s gaze slid inexorably to the neckline of her dress. As she leaned toward him it gaped, giving him an enticing view of creamy cleavage. Damn, damn, damn.
He stood abruptly, towering over her, determined to cling to his anger. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to apologize.” She frowned, her lips pursing in a way that made it impossible for him to look at them without wanting to kiss her. “Derek let me in and we were talking. I think I must have fallen asleep on him after a while.”
“His ego will live to see another day,” Logan assured her dryly.
Her impossibly blue gaze met his. “But will yours?”
“Jesus.” The word felt torn from him. “You have to know this is different.”
