Then she whispered, “I don’t know where this is going, Logan.”
“Neither do I,” I said honestly. “But I know I don’t want it to stop.”
The confession hung there.
Her thumb brushed over mine, slow and tentative, like she was testing the weight of it. “That’s dangerous, you know.”
“Yeah,” I said with a faint smile. “But worth it.”
After dinner, we walked along the dock. The sky had darkened to deep violet, the water glinting under strings of lights. She wrapped her arms around herself, and without thinking, I shrugged off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
She didn’t protest this time.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“For dinner?”
“For everything,” she said. “For letting me in.”
I stopped walking, looking down at her. “You didn’t ask permission, Dani. You just walked in and made it impossible not to want you there.”
Her lips parted slightly, but no words came out so I continued, the words coming out before I had time to consider them.
“Logan. I don’t even know what to do with those words. I don’t know what to do with how you make me feel.” She said, just as much a confession to herself as it was to me. Her eyes searched mine for a moment, craving to understand. Craving to find the falsities in my words. But she wouldn’t, I meant those words more than anything I’ve said in years.
Because the truth is, the moment Dani walked into my house, she didn’t just change my life. She changed what I wanted from it.
“I don’t think you understand how I feel about you, and I know that’s my fault, but I’m trying.” I said, reaching up, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“You should know, I’m not good at this. I never really dated…or whatever it is we’re doing here. I wasn’t allowed to in high school; my parents were strict. Then I went to college, and law school, and well, I just never had the chance. The one time I tried, it just fell flat.” She said shyly.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here either, Darlin’,” I whispered.
“Guess we’ll have to figure it out together then,” she replied.
For a long heartbeat, she just looked at me. Her eyes soft, the corners of her mouth lifting like she was trying not to smile.
Then, almost coyly, she leaned in and rested her head against my chest.
I exhaled, one hand coming to rest gently against her back.
We stood there in the glow of the dock lights, the world hushed around us, and for the first time in years, I didn’t feel like I was standing in the shadow of what I’d lost.
I was standing at the edge of something new.
Something that felt like hope.
Chapter 39
Dani
With my stomach and heart now full, we made our way back to Logan’s truck. I had no idea what awaited me when we returned to the house, but I knew I didn’t want the night to end. Not only because I was enjoying the chance to get to know this side of Logan, free and unbound, but also because I wasn’t sure what came next.
I wondered how the night would keep unfolding and whether whatever spark had started between us would linger into something real. At the same time, fear tugged at my ribs, whispering all the ways I could mess it up, or how I might give too much of myself away.
Part of me longed for more, for a closeness I’d barely admitted to wanting. Another part was afraid to want it at all.
I sat in the passenger side, taking in the faint smell of diesel from Logan’s truck mingling with the crisp, night air that filtered through the open windows. In the background, the soft strum of a familiar, old song played on the radio.
