“You’re maddening,” she muttered. What was he getting at right now? They’d decided to be friends, so why did he want to go and mess it up?
“I get that a lot.”
She snorted. “Oh, I bet.”
He laughed in that carefree way of his she absolutely loved. Even though she got to spend time with him, this whole charade was starting to make her ache for more.
* * *
“Well I’m glad my son finally asked you out. And I’m glad we finally got to meet you,” Logan’s mom said as she slid into the seat across the booth from Grace.
She smiled, her fingers wrapped around her warm cup of cocoa. “Me too,” she said, mainly because she wasn’t sure what else to say. She’d given the rink a few laps but now she was done and was enjoying watching all the other skaters while she got her chocolate fix and fun eighties music blasted from the speakers. The rink had a few booths set up where non-skaters could relax and stock up on the fried food and hot cocoa.
“He’s been talking about you, so I figured it was just a matter of time before he finally asked you out.”
Wait…what? “I didn’t know he’d talked about me.” Her gaze strayed over to the rink where Logan, Roman and their father were acting like twelve-year-olds. Taylor was really no better. But Logan was definitely the ringleader of the group, doing spins and challenging everyone to do better. The sight made her smile, especially since Roman never acted this goofy. Logan just seemed to bring out the best in everyone, in her opinion. She included herself in that as well.
“Oh, yes. ‘Grace is so smart and accomplished.’ ‘Grace said the funniest thing the other day.’” His mom’s smile was so open and welcoming, and everything about her was so at odds with Grace’s own mother, right down to the silly Christmas sweater she had on. “He thinks quite a lot of you.”
Grace felt her cheeks flush. “I think a lot of him too.” He’d been in the Marines, though he rarely talked about it, and he was one of the bravest, sweetest people she knew. But she didn’t want to talk about her and Logan, since there really wasn’t a them. “Logan tells me you guys are talking about moving to Vegas.”
A smile spread across the other woman’s face. “Yes. It seems as if both our boys will be staying put, and we’re both retired now. Since we want to be closer to them, it’s a very real possibility.”
“That’s great. I know they’ll be happy to have you close.”
“Are you two gossiping about me?” Logan appeared out of nowhere, sliding in the booth next to her.
The butterflies were back after that. Not that they’d ever really left.
“Of course not. We can find more important things to talk about than you silly boys,” his mom answered, grinning as her husband collapsed next to her.
“Our boys are killing me,” his dad muttered, a grin on his face. His mom just patted his arm and told him to sit tight while she grabbed him some hot cocoa.
Grace found herself wishing more and more that this whole thing was real, that she and Logan would be spending tonight together in her bed. That she’d get a replay of a month ago that led to something lasting.
That they had a real future of more than just friendship.
Chapter 10
“Today was fun,” Logan said as he and Grace stepped into her kitchen. The familiar scent of her home, like warm vanilla, wrapped around him. He liked returning home with her, even with the threat hanging in the air. This whole situation was oddly domesticated, but he loved the thought of coming home to her every day. Or her coming home to him—of them sharing a place together.
She made a noncommittal sound as she disarmed the security system. She’d pulled her hair into a ponytail and her expression was carefully neutral.
Since they’d left the skating rink, she’d been unusually quiet. Under normal circumstances he didn’t mind quiet, and sometimes craved it. But this was different. She was almost withdrawn. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” She set her purse on the countertop and leaned against the white quartz. “And today was great. Sorry, I’m just caught up in my head, I guess. I know school is out, but I have a work day tomorrow—all the staff does—and I’m just wondering if I should even go in. I mean, it’s not like the police think that drive-by was targeted, but I’m just getting up in my own head and letting fear take over.”
He wanted to pull her into his arms but her body language screamed at him to stay exactly where he was. He might not like it, but he respected her personal space. “Is that the only thing bothering you?” Because she’d talked to his mom for a while and he wondered if his mother had said anything to upset her. Not intentionally of course, but still.
“Yeah.”
For some reason he didn’t believe her, but his phone buzzed in his pocket. When he saw it was Detective Hurley, he pulled it out. “It’s the detective.”
She straightened slightly as he answered and put it on speaker. “Logan here. And Grace is with me too. You’re on speaker.”
“Good, glad you’re together. Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but I wanted to give you an update. We found the SUV used in the drive-by. It was reported stolen a week ago by an older woman, and there have been multiple reports of random drive-by attacks in neighborhoods nearby to yours. Mainly malicious destruction. Mailboxes knocked over with baseball bats. We think we know who’s behind it—some asshole teenagers, one of them related to the woman who reported her vehicle stolen. I just wanted to give you a heads-up on where we’re at.”
Under normal circumstances the man wouldn’t be calling Logan, but the detective knew Logan’s boss fairly well, so this was likely a courtesy call. “Thanks, detective. I’ve still got cameras up at my place so if anything out of the ordinary happens, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks. You guys know to be aware of your surroundings and careful, but this whole thing is shaping up to be different than we originally thought. You’ll probably see a news report about it tonight.”
They spoke for a few more moments, and when they disconnected the tension in Grace’s shoulders had eased somewhat.
“Well that’s good news,” he murmured, tucking his phone away.
She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. He hated the distance between them, desperately wanted to comfort her. “Some people are such jerks. They’re lucky no one got hurt.”
“I hope they catch them before someone actually does.” Logan thought of the potential loss of life, the complete pointlessness of something like this and how much worse it could have been. “At least it looks like we weren’t targeted.”
“Yeah. So…I guess you’re going to head home soon, huh?”
Yeah, unfortunately. He liked staying at her place way too much. But he wasn’t leaving until they’d actually talked about their future. Not just danced around it. “Look…I keep telling myself the timing is crap, but now that it seems we’re in the clear…I want to take you out on a date.” He was done playing it slow. They’d been flirting and dancing around the tension between them and he was just done.