“He’s a good man,” Cami says quietly.
“I know.”
“He’s not reckless. He’s careful. He loves his daughter…And he wants you,” she continues.
My throat tightens, unable to fully process the feelings and thoughts storming my mind.
“And you want him,” she adds, a slight bit of playfulness seeping through.
I don’t deny it.
Because I can’t anymore.
“I like him…” I admitted softly.
“More thanlike,” she said, a hint of a smile breaking through.
I look down at my hands, trying to push out the words. “I don’t want to be the woman who gets in over her head.”
“You’re not.”
“I don’t know how to do this without overthinking it,” I admit.
“You don’t.”
I blink at her.
“You just show up,” she says matter-of-factly. “And you let him show up, too.”
I sat there for a moment, letting that settle.
No strategy.
No over-analysis.
No perfect plan.
Just… present.
???
I sat at my desk long after she was gone, my eyes skimming across files I should be reviewing. Instead, the memory of the pool party pulsed through me—the way Logan watched me, the way his lips pressed against mine, his voice low with confession: I’m tired of pretending I don’t want you. It replayed in my mind, but this time I let myself see it fully, without the old filter of doubt. He wasn’t just influenced by alcohol; something in the way he looked at me was clear, deliberate. I couldn’t keep pretending that moment hadn’t changed something.
I was just as tired of pretending. Staying away had become its own kind of ache, and I realized that pretending it was only chemistry no longer served me. The fear was still there, but tucked under it was something lighter, a sense of hope, nudging me toward a choice.
In that moment, I chose to fight my own instincts. I didn’t reach for more work, and instead, I let myself feel it.
The fear.
The butterflies.
The silent hope threading through both.
He’s complicated, but Cami was right, so am I.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was not perfect; I was so far out of my depth. I didn’t have all the answers, but I did know what this was.
It was a chance.
