“There you guys are!” Ray stumbled over, half asleep, almost tripping over her own two feet. She dropped onto the swing and snuggled under the throw Logan had tossed aside. Spying the mug, she picked up the Milo and took a long drink.
At the interruption, I had to rein in my frustration, more pissed that Logan appeared relieved at the intrusion.
“C’mon, let’s go get some breakfast.” She headed for the door. “This weather looks like it’s going to worsen with those heavy clouds.”
Ray flung the throw aside and hightailed it after Logan, empty mug in hand.
The sisters disappeared indoors. The knot in my gut grew. Though she’d explained about her mother’s illness, there was more. Things she didn’t want to tell me.
My thoughts as dark as the clouds above, I followed them indoors.
After breakfast, and with the rain coming down steadily, Ray decided to skip the fair, too, and got another friend to take her place. Both girls curled up on the couch beside their mother. I took the two-seater.
Being around the Logans, my irritation faded somewhat. Ray, as usual, was the loudest, telling everybody about the famous model Logan was painting and how full of himself he was. At the realization that Logan would see the asshole naked again, my mood took a nosedive.
It’s her jobI tried to tell myself, but that shit didn’t cut it. At all.
“Let’s watch movies,” Ray piped up.
Their father snorted from behind the Sunday paper. Maybe I should have paid attention to Mr. L’s grunt because Logan suddenly shot up and darted for the DVD player. Ray groaned. “Aw, crap! Ila, please, not those boring ones. Put onTangled, let Max see his namesake.”
Did Ray not know me at all?
“My choice,” Logan smiled evilly at Ray, putting ina DVD. “I got here first. And Max is hardly the Disney type. His tastes probably run to blowing up houses and high-speed car chases.”
At her teasing, the disquiet inside me eased. I arched an eyebrow. “That’s sexist.”
“Is it? Great! Then we’re watchingCasablanca!”
Shit. She got me there. With a smile, I dipped my head in acknowledgement.
Laughing, she turned away. I wondered if her parents would mind very much if I stole their oldest daughter away and kissed her senseless. Last night? It left me reeling at how beautifully she’d let me in, let me love her my way. But it also bothered me that she didn’t trust me enough to share everything, would keep her family life separate from me.
Baby steps, Max.Hell, I may have told Logan about the accident because I didn’t remember anything there. Truth was, I’d barely disclosed any of my shit, and wondered if I ever would, especially thesessionswith my shrink, even ifthathad ended a long time ago. I couldn’t bear to see the revulsion on her face at what I’d done to keep the nightmares at bay.
“Never get in between these two,” Sean Logan’s voice hauled me back out of the hole I was close to falling into. “Especially when it comes to movie selections.”
Logan crossed back to her seat, but Ray dropped lengthwise on the couch in a pout, her head on her mother’s lap, and stuck out her tongue in victory. At the childish display, Logan shrugged and sat beside me, making me wish the couch wasn’t adjacent to her parents.
What the hell, they already knew about us, so I didn’t see the point in pretending any longer.
I slipped my arm around her shoulder and drew her closer. Both her parents cast us contemplative stares. Logan gave them a small smile, curled her feet beneath her and settled against me to watch the movie.
An hour into the film, I stroked her arm and said, “The acting’s not so great is it?”
She ignored my comment, lips pressed into a thin line. But I was determined to get a reaction from her. “Whoa. The guy just got hit, and he takes a few minutes to fall?”
Her father laughed.
Logan’s gaze whipped around to me. Glared. “Are you going to criticize every scene? Then you might as well go do something else. I like old movies.”
A smile tipped my mouth at the fire in her eyes. Now that I’d tasted her passion, I wanted more—I wanted everything that was her, but I knew better than to say that. “O-kaaay. No more comments. Movie it is.”
My cell vibrated. I retrieved it from my jeans pocket. At the truncated message, I bit back a curse.
“What is it?” Logan asked.
“Jack.” I pushed to my feet. “Excuse me,” I told her parents. “I have a friend waiting outside to see me.”
