Chapter 11
Logan
"Thank you for dinner, Britt,"I said softly, standing in the doorway with Dan's wife.
She beamed up at me and gave me a hug, which I awkwardly returned. "Thank you for coming, Logan. Are you sure you don't want any more leftovers?"
I shook my head. She had already loaded me down with Tupperware filled with leftover roast lamb and potatoes and green beans. "I'm good. But thank you."
"If you're sure. The less of it that goes back in our fridge, the less Dan can eat cold in his underwear at two in the morning like some kind of goblin."
"I didn't need that mental image, but I'm happy to help spare you the horror of that sight."
She laughed, and I even cracked a smile.
While we were standing there, Elise squeezed past with her own bag of leftovers. "Thanks for dinner, Britt. I should head out."
As they said their goodbyes, I moved down the stairs toward my car, walking a bit slower than I would normally, even though I told myself I wasn't waiting for Elise.
Either way, she caught up with me quickly enough, and I waited to see if she was going to say anything, but she seemed content to pretend I wasn't there.
That was irritating. We were supposed to be acting like everything was normal between us, and we were hardly friends, but there was something about her brushing me off when she had spent the first part of dinner talking about going out with some other guy that just made my blood boil.
"I was right about Jason," I said, unable to hold back as we walked down the driveway towards where we had apparently both parked on the street.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I knew you weren't going to be able to resist getting an 'I told you so' in there. Does it make you feel better now that you've gotten it out?"
For once, I didn't take the bait and snip back at her. "I'm glad you didn't do anything with him."
"How do you know I didn't?" she retorted.
"Because I know you were busy," I fired back. And that was dangerous territory right there. We were too close to her brother's house and too close to our regular lives in general to be bringing that up, but I couldn't help myself. To my satisfaction, Elise blushed.
"Shut up," she hissed.
I just grinned. "So, what's the story on this new guy? I didn't take you for the type to date a client."
"I'm not," she snapped. "That's why I'm waiting until he's no longer a client to do anything. Not that it's any of your business. I don't know why you even care."
"I don't," I said with a shrug. "But it's clear you have bad taste in men, so I want to make sure you're not doing something dumb."
"You can go fuck yourself because I'm an adult and I can make my own decisions," she said, glaring at me.
"Yeah, bad ones," I said before I could hold myself back.
Her eyes narrowed and she glanced up and down the street and then back at the house before leaning closer to me. "The only bad decision I made was you. And anyway, you're one to talk about having bad taste. Didn't you just get left because your fiancé was a cheater?"
I waited for the pulse of misery followed quickly by anger, but the feelings were duller than they usually were. Maybe that meant I was moving on or something. It was still a cheap shot, but I didn't give Elise the benefit of seeing that it had affected me at all. Instead I just snorted and pinned her with a look.
"Yeah, I did. So you should listen to me when I talk about how easy it is to make a bad choice."
Before she could answer, I unlocked my car and got in, leaving her standing there while I drove off.
The thing that was so fucking annoying was that even when she was getting under my skin, Elise was still gorgeous. There was something about her spirit and the way she never wanted to back down that just made her irresistible.
All the way home, I was thinking about how I wanted to grab her and throw her down on a bed, or the couch, or even just the floor. Or hell, even bend her over the back of my car and teach her a lesson. I wanted to fuck her until she was out of snippy little things to say and all she could do was beg for more.
I wanted her spread open and breathless. Naked and mine. The last part of that thought startled me because there was nothing about having sex with her that meant she had to be mine, but apparently, listening to her talk about going out with someone else had brought out something possessive in me.
