I didn’t have time to process how cute it was that big brother Logan called his baby sister Jilly.
“You live five minutes from here? Who’s driving, Mario Andretti?”
I’d never been to Logan’s house but I knew he lived about ten minutes from Carter and Delaney which would put him thirty minutes from me.
“Bought a house two months ago.”
Was he serious? He bought a house? How did I not know this? Why hadn’t anyone told me?
“Thanks for inviting me to your housewarming party,” I snapped.
I wasn’t sure why it hurt that I didn’t know he bought a house but it did. It also rankled that I hadn’t known he was looking to buy a place.
“Men don’t have housewarming parties.”
“They don’t, really? I seem to remember Jackson had a big blowout when he moved in with Tuesday. And Trey and Hadley had a party in that huge mansion he calls a house.”
Logan smiled and my breath caught. First thing in the morning, hot and sweaty from a workout, late at night, tired, it didn’t matter—Logan had a beautiful smile. When it was real and the lines around his eyes appeared, his smile could light up a room.
“I’ll rephrase that; single men don’t have housewarming parties.”
“You didn’t have a housewarming party?”
“Ren—”
“Did you buy a house?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have to have a housewarming party. It’s the law, Logan. You have to have a party to celebrate. It’s good luck.”
His smile beamed. Then there was a knock on my front door and his smile faded.
“Out of time, baby. My sisters are here.”
“Here? As in, at my door first thing in the morning, here?”
“Did you miss the whole beginning part of this conversation when I told you my sisters were on a mission and on their way over?”
“No, I didn’t miss it. I blocked it out in the hopes that I heard you wrong.”
“Hate to dash your hopes, but they’re here.”
“Why are they here?”
There was another knock accompanied by my doorbell and Logan mumbled something unkind about cutting his sister’s hair off before he stomped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
What the hell is going on?
I rolled out of bed, glanced at the clock on my nightstand, and I felt my eyes bulge.
Noon?
Shit! It was not first thing in the morning, it was the middle of the day. How in the hell had I slept so late? I heard Logan’s rumbling voice followed by a female’s and I remembered why. I might’ve drifted off to sleep quickly but I’d woken up several times throughout the night hot, sweaty, and pinned under Logan’s big body. Each time I’d awakened he was in the same position—on his side facing me, heavy arm across my chest, leg cocked with his knee resting on my thighs, and his head was resting on my shoulder. It was a weird reversal of how we normally slept with me cuddled into him. It was like, throughout the night he was holding on to me for dear life.
Now Logan’s sisters were in my house for an unknown reason. Something I couldn’t process until I got dressed and got some caffeine in me. I wandered into my bathroom, did my business, rushed to find something presentable to wear, and was getting ready to go out into the living room when the door flew open and I stumbled back, narrowly escaping a concussion.
“My mom and Ian are here,” he announced with a face full of thunder.
It was safe to say my head was getting ready to explode, and by the look of Logan, his would follow.
I had a lot of questions as to why Logan’s family was in my living room. But the only thing I got out of my mouth was, “Why?”
“Jill and Jackie woke up this morning, found me not there. Jill called me and when I told her where I was she started to scheme. An hour later she calls back to inform me we’re all going to lunch. During this hour Jill had to plot she called my mother. Now they’re all here and we’re going to lunch.”
That sounded great. Maybe I could hide out in my room until they left and save myself the embarrassment of a modified walk of shame. I mean, it was my house, so it wasn’t like I was leaving somewhere in last night’s clothes. But they all knew he’d spent the night. Not that we’d had sex last night, but they didn’t know that. And Logan was wearing yesterday’s jeans and a shirt that was clean only because he’d left it over and I’d washed it.
“Well, you guys have fun.”
Logan blinked and tilted his head.
“Ren, you’re coming with us.”
“Um. What? No way.”
“You wanted me to get to know the fucker, so you’re coming.”
I would swear that I felt my eye twitch and my cheek jump and my neck spasm all at the same time.
“Don’t call Ian a fucker, Logan, that’s not nice.”
“See, that’s why I need you there. You can point out all the ways I’m not being nice.”
Logan might’ve been making a joke about needing me there but there was some truth in his statement. The tightness around his mouth and the way his hands were curled into fists told the real story. He didn’t want to go to lunch and he seriously didn’t want to be around Ian.
“Will me pointing them out make you stop?”
“Likely not.”
At least he was being honest.
“Then we’re stopping at the pet store so I can buy you a shock collar, one made for a Bernese Mountain Dog. No, a cattle prod. Better yet, an elephant tranquilizer and I get to shoot you with it every time you say something mean.”
“A taser might be easier for you to conceal,” he offered.
“Do you have one?”
“Not on me.”
“That’s too bad,” I muttered, only half-kidding.
“Get ready, baby. I’ll keep them occupied until you’re done.”
I was such a sucker.
“Is that safe?”
“You’re right, it’s not. I should shower with you.”
Suddenly I didn’t care if it was unsafe and my living room caught on fire and the house burned down. There was not a chance in hell Logan was showering with me while his family was waiting.
“Get out before I change my mind.”
Logan stepped closer, one hand went around my back, the other went to the side of my neck, and he dropped his forehead to mine.
“I can’t do this without you, Ren,” he whispered.
Then he let me go and was out the door before I caught my breath.
Yes, I was a sucker.
I was also a fool because no matter how hard I tried I knew I was falling in love.
15
“I think we should go to Tybee,” Jill announced as she opened and closed Lauren’s cabinets hunting for a coffee cup.
“Can you please get out of Lauren’s kitchen?”
“I would if you didn’t suck as a host and offered me a cup of coffee,” she shot back.
“Tybee sounds sublime,” Jackie added. “We should totally do that.”
“Mom, what do you think?” Jill asked as she helped herself to a cup of coffee.
“I think your brother’s right; it’s rude to go through Lauren’s kitchen.”