Claire kept her eyes glued to the sheet. She didn’t know what to say. “Well, Logan and I will have to have some sort of relationship for the rest of our lives. It might as well be an amicable one.”
“This isn’t just about that. Why won’t you look at me? Claire, do you still have feelings for him?”
Claire shrugged, glancing up at last. “Define feelings.”
Sophie gasped. “After the way he’s treated you over the last few weeks?”
“I know, I know. Maybe it’s some kind of crazy pregnancy hormone thing, but I can’t help it. Despite everything, I still want things to work out between the two of us.”
Sophie raised a brow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that I really care about him. Even though I shouldn’t.”
“Oh sweetie.” Sophie’s eyes swam with sudden tears—the pregnancy thing, Claire knew. She gave Claire a half-hug, made slightly awkward by their large bellies and the bed. “I know you want to do what’s best for the baby and I know you want to give Logan a second chance. Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay? I’m still not convinced that he’s not just love ’em and leave ’em material.”
Neither was Claire. She smiled for Sophie’s benefit. “You told me that I should take a chance on him.”
Sophie made a face. “That was before. Besides, youdidgive him a chance. He’s the one who blew it.”
“They say everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I think that’s a little too generous,” Sophie grumbled. “But if this is what you truly want, I’ll respect your decision.”
She looked like she hoped Claire would suddenly back down and change her mind. Claire didn’t.
“Thanks, Soph. You’re the world’s best sister.”
“Hmm.” Sophie turned and retrieved her purse. “I have to call Mom and Dad now or they’ll kill me. My cell doesn’t get reception in here, so I have to run outside. I see him out in the hallway with his coffee. I’ll send him in to you.”
Claire watched her sister go, finding secret amusement in the way Sophie had called Loganhim, as though his name was a four-letter word. Logan ducked in the doorway, steaming coffee in hand. Even in his rumpled clothes, with his disheveled hair, he looked delicious. Like she could eat him up.
Eat him up?
God, she thought with a grimace, that had to be a byproduct of the whole crazy hormone pregnancy phenomenon. It was the only explanation.
“Why do you have such a strange expression on your face?” Logan asked, instantly hovering at her side. Worry clouded his face, carving lines into his forehead. “What is it? You’re not having contractions again, are you?”
“No,” she assured him, “just a strange thought.” Reading the curiosity in his gaze, she decided to change the conversation to a safer topic. “Are you sure you want me to move in with you?”
“Absolutely,” he said without a second thought or even a moment’s hesitation.
“Then it’s official. You’ve got yourself a live-in invalid.” She made a stab at wry humor to cover up the very real emotions coursing through her. The last thing she wanted was to start crying because he’d invited her to stay with him for a few weeks. She wasn’t that pathetic.
Okay, so maybe she was that pathetic, but that didn’t mean she had to let Logan know it.
Her inner battle didn’t matter. It was lost the second he reached out and caressed her face. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he murmured, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. “You won’t regret this.”
Claire had been settled in Logan’s house for less than an hour and her makeshift room was already flooded with visitors. Sophie, Trevor, Marcus, Derek and her parents hovered at her bedside. Logan stood in the doorway, scowling in typical Logan fashion.
“Do you need me to get you anything to drink?” Sophie asked.
It was the second time she’d asked in five minutes.
“No thanks,” Claire responded, overwhelmed by so much attention.
“How about some tea?” her mother chimed in. “I could make you a nice, hot cup. Logan, you do have tea, don’t you?” She turned to look at him.
Logan crossed his arms over his chest. “Nope. Sorry.”
