Twenty One
~~ ** ~~ ** ~~ ** ~~
The office was oddly quiet when Logan walked in at ten on Monday morning. The earliest flight he’d been able to catch had delivered him to DFW International Airport about an hour before and he had headed straight to the office.
Xavier had already left a message asking how the meeting went on Sunday. He didn’t want to go into detail about how Heather deceived him into coming out there, so he decided to wait until he arrived at the XTX campus before he talked to him. He could easily bypass the conversation if he saw the man face to face.
As he walked across the third floor toward his office, he noticed the majority of the people who occupied the cubicles were missing. He glanced down at his watch and realized Sam was probably concluding her Monday morning staff meeting. He would have to catch up with her and hopefully convince her to let him take her to lunch.
But, first things first.
He went straight to Deanna’s desk and noticed the small, chipper woman did not appear too happy. “Good morning Bridg, what’s up?”
“Oh. Mr. McCoy, I didn’t realize you were here yet.” She started and stood quickly from her desk. “How did it go in California? Is everything ok with the contract?”
“Things are fine. It was quite amusing, to say the least.”
“Really, How so?”
Logan knew Deanna liked to keep tabs on how things went in regards to his business dealings, so he figured he could share the information.
“Well, it didn’t turn out anything like I thought it would. I was supposed to meet with Jim Campbell, but he had something come up so he couldn’t make it. The interesting part was that I ended up having dinner with Heather.”
Deanna was just about to comment when she turned to address someone standing behind him. He turned around and at that moment, his heart began pounding loudly in his chest.
“Good morning, Sam. How did your meeting go?”
The look on her face told him one of two things. Either her meeting didn’t go well, or, which he was inclined to believe, she had overhead his comment about having dinner with Heather.
“Sam?” Deanna’s concerned tone caught Logan’s attention, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from Samantha.
“Is everything ok?”
Sam briefly glanced over at Deanna, then back at Logan. For a second she actually looked lost, confused even. Then, right before his very eyes, Sam’s entire demeanor changed, she masked any emotion he’d thought he had seen, and she turned her attention to his admin.
“Sorry. I’m fine. I need to… I just need to go return some phone calls.” With that, Sam left Logan staring after her.
Before he could cover his own mask of concern, Deanna caught his eye. Logan had known Deanna a long time, long enough for the woman to know when something was wrong. Thankfully, she had the decency to keep what she had seen to herself and turned the conversation back to his trip.
“So, you said dinner with Heather. You mean Heather Knight?”
Logan couldn’t see Sam anymore, so she had high tailed it across the third floor to her office. From where he stood, he could see that the door was shut, and she was likely inside planning his death. Shit.
“Yes. Heather Knight. It was all a mix up, but everything is fine with the At Last contract. We have nothing to worry about.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Deanna responded, but she didn’t offer him the pleasant smile she often shared with the world. Instead, she turned back to her computer, dismissing him.
Hoping to hide out in his own office long enough for Deanna to forget about what had just happened, Logan was startled when Deanna called out from behind him.
“Logan, is something going on that I should know about?” She briefly glanced at Sam’s office door to give him a hint as to what she was referring to.
“No. Nothing is going on. I need to go check my calendar. Let me know if anything urgent comes up.” He replied, slamming his office door behind him.
~*~*~
Sam sat at her desk, staring blankly at the screen. Had she heard Logan correctly? Did he say he had dinner in California with Heather, his ex-girlfriend? Apparently she’d been right to question the spur of the moment trip, halfway across the country. On the weekend.
Shit.
How could she be so stupid?
She remembered thinking that it was a little strange that he headed out to California on a Friday night to take care of an issue with a contract that was already signed and finalized. Maybe that wasn’t the reason after all. Maybe he really went to see Heather.
She glanced down to see that her hands were shaking. Not only were her hands shaking, but her heart was beating frantically. It was happening all over again. She had allowed herself to care about someone, and she was being kicked in the gut one more time.
Sam felt the fury turn to rage deep inside. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been. She had fallen for Logan McCoy, her boss, and now, here she was, sitting in her office, in near tears. This was not what she should have been doing. There was too much going on with the current project that she should have been focusing solely on. Instead, she had come to Dallas to play sex games with her boss. What the fuck had she been thinking?
Quickly, she logged on to her computer to see what she had going on for the rest of the day. Her calendar was actually clear for the next few hours and the only pressing meeting she had was her project update with Logan’s staff this afternoon. Well, he would just have to fucking wait. She needed to get some air.
After pulling her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk, Sam made a beeline for the stairs, trying desperately to hold what was left of herself together. For a moment, she thought she heard Logan calling out to her, but she didn’t turn to look back. She just needed to get away for a few hours, get her head on straight and things would be fine.
~*~*~
“Damn it.” Logan breathed out as he stood outside of Sam’s office. He’d heard something slam in her office, what, he didn’t know, but before he could get to her, she had taken off across the third floor. He couldn’t very well go chasing after her. The entire office would know exactly what was going on, and he wasn’t ready for that to happen.
Momentarily shocked, and more than a little concerned, Logan didn’t know where to go. A quick glance back at his office told him Deanna had been witness to what just happened.
Under normal circumstances, she probably wouldn’t have questioned it, but thanks to his big fucking mouth and Sam taking his words entirely out of context, she would be able to put two and two together.
“Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone.” He instructed, pointing his finger at her like a mad man. What the hell was wrong with him? “I’ll talk to Sam and I’ll catch up with you later. I need to go after her, so please reschedule all of my meetings for later in the week.”
Thankfully, Deanna didn’t ask, and Logan wouldn’t have told her anything anyway.
“Damn dude, is the building on fire?” Alex stood a few feet outside of the main doors as Logan came barreling through them. “What’s the hurry?”
“I don’t have time right now, Alex.” Logan grunted, continuing to the parking garage. He didn’t make it far before Alex stepped directly in his path.
“Whoa. Wait a minute. Could you possibly be going after Sam? I saw her running through here a few minutes ago like the cops were on her tail.”
Logan took a deep breath and looked directly at the other man. “This isn’t any of your business, Alex.”
“You’re right. It probably isn’t. Although, that has never stopped me before.”
Shit. Logan knew he wasn’t going to catch up with Sam, and if she didn’t go to her apartment, he had no idea where he could possibly find her.
“Man, you need to give her some space. She was pretty upset if the tears were any indication. I think you need to let her go.” Alex said as he took a step back.
There wasn’t anything Logan hated more than a man who stuck his nose in another man’s business.
“I need to talk to her, Alex. I need to explain.” Logan stopped glancing at the parking garage because he knew Sam was long gone by now.
“Explain what?”
“She overheard something, and from her side of the conversation, it would have sounded pretty bad. I need to go and clear up the misunderstanding.”
“What was the misunderstanding, Logan?”
Logan huffed out a breath, then proceeded to share the story of his weekend from hell. By the end, Alex was staring at him in wide eyed interest.
“I didn’t have dinner with her by choice. I was telling Deanna the same thing when Sam walked up.”
“Damn. That’s rough. So what do you think you’ll accomplish if you go running out of here after her? She needs some time, and my guess is the office doesn’t know about this little relationship you’ve got going on, so the smart thing to do would be to stay here and let her have her space.”
Logan stared incredulously at his friend. Although he couldn’t believe he was receiving relationship advice from the king of relationship avoidance, he knew Alex was right. He wasn’t quite sure how Xavier would feel when he found out Logan and Sam were, in fact, dating. He didn’t recall that it had ever been an issue, but he didn’t want the other man to hear about it because it had caused a disruption to his business.
“You’re right. But, don’t make a habit of becoming Dr. Phil – it isn’t a good look for you.” Logan said as he stormed back into the building.
~*~*~
Sam drove straight home. She didn’t know where else to go and at the moment, she felt as though she were on the verge of an emotional breakdown. The only place she wanted that to happen, if it had to happen at all, was in the privacy of her own home.
She grabbed her purse, and her cell phone, climbed out of the car, and managed to make it up the stairs through a haze of unshed tears.
It only took a second to turn her phone off. She needed to take away the overwhelming urge to monitor whether Logan would actually be calling her or not. More than likely he wouldn’t. After all, it appeared he was into rekindling old flames so he would have no use for her.
She admitted to herself that she didn’t know much about his history with Heather, only that, from what he told her, it ended badly. That didn’t stop people from continuing to care about that person. Maybe he had been pining away for her and Sam had been a convenient distraction. It would be just her luck.
She made her way into her apartment, tossed her purse and her phone on the bar and went into her room. It was at that moment that the black veil of depression hit her like a brick wall. She barely managed to crawl into her bed and curl up with her pillow before the dam broke, and the tears began to fall. It felt as though her heart was literally breaking in her chest. As she continued to sob uncontrollably, she forced all thoughts from her mind.
A good cry never hurt anyone, and Sam knew better than to try and fight it. Pain pierced her so fiercely that she was forced to close her eyes. Maybe she could go to sleep, and when she woke, this would all be a bad dream. Only in her dream, perhaps she wouldn’t be the biggest fool on earth.
She had made the biggest mistake of all. She had let Logan McCoy ease his way into her heart and shatter it.
~*~*~
A few hours later, hoping he’d given her enough space as Alex had suggested, Logan attempted to call Sam. Putting it off had been one of the hardest things he had ever done.
He didn’t want to let the situation get out of control. His natural desire to fix things was strong, and this was one of those things he felt he needed to fix. Right now.
His expectations weren’t high, so he hoped that once the chance to explain presented itself, Sam would understand.
Misunderstandings were common, especially when only part of the conversation was overheard, and ultimately, Sam had been the reason he had wanted to get back home so quickly. Had he known, or even had the slightest hint, that he was being set up to see Heather again, he would have never agreed to go out there.
If nothing else, he needed to make sure Sam didn’t consider leaving XTX. The company couldn’t afford to lose her now.
“Sonuvabitch.” He almost screamed the curse, as Sam’s voicemail picked up. No reason to leave a message. What could he say? I’m sorry I had dinner with my ex-girlfriend and that you overheard a conversation where I was admitting to it.
That sounded stupid even to his own ears.
No, he needed to see Sam in person, reassure her that seeing Heather meant nothing to him. That Heather meant nothing to him. How had this situation gotten so out of control?
Stumbling upon Samantha Kielty was the last thing he had expected, or so he thought. Falling in love with her had been even farther down the list, yet here he was –trying to figure out what he could do to fix something that he wasn’t sure how to fix. Wasn’t even sure why it was broken.
The logical part of his brain told him Sam’s reaction to what she heard was overdramatic. Though fiercely guarded, Sam was both strong and independent, not taking shit from anyone. She was supposed to call him on it. Have it out with him. Hell, hold him accountable.
Instead, she’d run from him, her feelings on display for the world to see. She never would have wanted Alex or Deanna to figure out what was going on, but her feelings had been too easily seen.
To think he’d been trying to come up with a way to pierce her heart, to get her to feel some of what he was feeling. Penetrating those well-built walls she’d erected over the years wasn’t supposed to result in this.
While he wasn’t looking, or maybe while he was, something serious had developed between them. Something on a much deeper level than he ever dreamed and that scared him. Or maybe the very real possibility of losing Sam was what really scared him.
After his attempt to chase Sam from the office, Logan had returned to his desk to find Deanna staring at him like he was a complete stranger. His calendar had been cleared like he’d instructed, leaving him free to try and catch up on a few things that he had been putting off.
Little good the extra time did, because he didn’t want to focus on anything but consoling Sam and getting her to understand he didn’t care about Heather any longer. He did care about Sam.
The problem was that he didn’t know how to express that to her without sounding as though he were trying to save face. At this point, that is what it would sound like regardless.
Leaving the office at this point to go after her wouldn’t work. Glancing at the clock, he noted it was only two. His phone rang, almost jolting Logan from his chair. Seeing that the caller was none other than his boss, Xavier Thomas, Logan knew his afternoon plans had just been thwarted. Other than to get details on the California trip, what could Xavier be calling him for?
“Good afternoon, Xavier. How’s it going?” Logan said, trying his best to sound professional.
“It’s going well. And you?”
“Not too bad. Just got back into Dallas this morning. I managed to get things straightened out with At Last.”
“I heard. Why don’t you stop by my office for a few minutes?”
“Give me five and I’ll be right there.”
Damn. Logan really didn’t want to have to go into detail about the debacle in California. Offering details that would likely get Heather reprimanded wasn’t of any interest to him.
He would gladly reimburse the company for his airfare and hotel just to put it all behind him. Before he headed off for a two hour conversation with his boss, he decided to try calling Sam again.
Voicemail. Shit.
Where had she gone?
Shutting things down, Logan geared up to go to Xavier’s office for the rest of the afternoon. After advising Deanna that he’d be gone for the rest of the day, suggesting she try to cut out early, Logan took off for Xavier’s office in the next building.
The two minute walk did wonders for clearing his mind. He knew that, for the next how many ever minutes or hours that he was in the presence of his boss, Logan couldn’t think about Sam. His focus needed to be on XTX and what his boss needed from him.
When he arrived, Xavier’s admin, Veronica, smiled sweetly, then waved him by. The door to Xavier’s office was open, and the older man was sitting at his desk, the telephone cradled between his shoulder and his ear. He took a seat and waited patiently for the conversation to end.
“Yes, Mrs. Knight. I completely understand.” Xavier responded, motioning with a nod of his head for Logan to take a seat. “Yes. A company Christmas party does sound like a good idea. I’ll plant the seed in Veronica’s mind, and we’ll see where it goes. Yes. Alright. You take care now.” With the conversation apparently over, Xavier put the receiver back in the phone cradle.
Logan sat quietly, praying there was another Mrs. Knight. Not one Angelica Knight.
“That was Angelica Knight.”
So apparently there wasn’t.
“She wants a Christmas party, I caught that part.” Logan grinned, knowing how much Xavier didn’t like the public relations part of his job.
“That and she just wanted to talk.” Xavier confirmed as though he had been reading Logan’s mind.
Shit. Why in the hell did everyone in this company know everyone else? “What did she have to say?”
“She was pretty adamant that XTX should entertain the idea of a Christmas party this year. A big ‘to-do’ she said.” Xavier spoke with tremendous animation, circling his hands as though to encompass the room. “She said that she keeps mentioning it to Ron, but he doesn’t seem to pay her much attention when it comes to those things. Obviously she felt compelled to call and try to persuade me.”
“Did it work?” Logan didn’t actually care at this point, but the conversation seemed to be stalled.
“Maybe. We’ll see. I’ll mention it to Veronica and see what she does with it. Either way, it doesn’t matter much to me.”
“Will Ashleigh and Dylan be home by then?” Logan referred to Xavier’s grandchildren, who were currently not living in the Dallas area, both of them a couple of hours in different directions. Usually a point of contention with their overprotective grandfather who’d spent his life raising them after their parents’ unexpected deaths when they were young.
“Ashleigh’s been talking about coming home. Not sure about Dylan. He’s having a rough time of it right now. Since Meghan’s death, the boy hasn’t been right in his head. I’m trying to coerce him to come back home, take a position within the company. So far, he’s refused.” Xavier told Logan.
Xavier’s relationship with his grandchildren was something the two of them talked about often. The man had hoped the two of them would take an interest in the family business, but neither had ever shown any.
Ashleigh, according to what Xavier shared, was pursuing a writing career, and apparently doing well. Logan had gotten the same bit of information from Alex, although his understanding of what Ashleigh was writing and what Xavier believed were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Apparently, their sweet, innocent Ashleigh was publishing children’s books, though moonlighting as an erotic romance author in her spare time. That was the part Xavier didn’t seem to know about, and Logan wouldn’t be the one to tell the man.
As for Dylan, he and Logan had been friends for years. They’d even gone to the same high school, surprising enough. While in college, Dylan had married the love of his life at the ripe old age of twenty. They’d bought some land a couple of hours out, built Meghan’s dream house, popped out two kids, one right after the other, and built a highly successful ranching business. Then, eight years ago, Meghan passed away after a long battle with breast cancer.
Logan talked to Dylan once a month or so, checking in with his good friend. The kids were getting older, and Dylan was having a rough time of it. Stacey was now eighteen, Trevor seventeen, both of them giving Dylan a run for his money.
With Stacey ready to go off to college, Dylan was beside himself with grief, feeling as though he were losing his daughter.
Trevor was a good natured boy, who apparently had just come out with the news that he was gay. Both Alex and Logan had long conversations with Dylan, advising him that there wasn’t anything wrong with that, as long as the boy was comfortable with his sexuality, which was the most important part. To their surprise, Dylan agreed, but as the boys’ father, he still worried. The world was a hateful place, and he only wanted to keep his kids safe.
“Is Stacey still considering going to UTD?” Logan asked.
“That’s the only good part of this whole thing. Stacey’s got her heart set on it and Dylan doesn’t want her to be that far away.”
“That far away? Hell, he’s only two hours out.” Logan knew Dylan was overprotective, but two hours?
“That’s what I told him. She’s asked if she can come stay at the house, and of course, I can’t refuse that girl anything.”
Logan smiled at the way Xavier referred to his ten thousand square foot mansion as a ‘house’. With more rooms than some hotels, Xavier had more than enough room for Stacey and anyone else who wanted to visit.
“You think that will get him back here?”
“He’s mentioned it. Talked about selling the ranch.” Xavier said, leaning forward, his arms resting on his desk. Logan noticed the sorrow that filled his boss’s eyes. “I think living in that house brings back too many memories of Meghan. It might be time for Dylan to move on.”
Logan knew that wasn’t easy for Xavier to talk about. Knowing Dylan as well as he did, Logan didn’t disagree. At thirty-nine years old, Dylan had a lot of life left, but no one could tell him that.
“Everything will work out for the best.” It had to. “Is that why you called me down here?” Logan changed the subject.
“Of course not. I wanted to talk to you about the California fiasco.” Xavier replied, once again relaxed, the sadness in his eyes a few moments ago just a memory.
“I take it you’ve heard.”
“I did. I’m sorry you had to endure that. Honestly, I had no idea. If I had, I would have called Ron myself and had a long talk with him about his daughter.” Xavier referred to Heather’s father, a man Xavier had been in business with for the better part of the last four decades.
“It was fine. Apparently there are some rumors going around and Heather must have gotten wind of them. Not sure how that could have happened.” Logan said as he leaned back and crossed one leg over his knee.
Wanting to sound as nonchalant as possible, Logan knew Xavier could read him like an open book. The rumors he referred to must have been about him and Sam, and Logan worried what Xavier’s reaction would be once he figured it all out, if he hadn’t already.
“Well, you know Angelica. As for those rumors, have you heard what they’re saying?” Xavier asked, his expression serious.
“You know I try to ignore those things. They run rampant around this office.”
“Yes, well, most of them are certainly insignificant. However, this one did get my attention. Apparently there’s a rumor about an intra-office romance involving you and a very attractive V.P. of project operations.”
Logan wondered who started that rumor. Since Heather had apparently heard of it before today, he knew Deanna wasn’t likely the source. Possibly Alex, but since the two of them were friends, he didn’t think Alex would run off at the mouth about something he wasn’t sure of. Unless it could possibly interfere with XTX.
In a desperate attempt to save face, Logan’s first inclination was to deny the rumor. “Well, I assure that those rumors…” Logan didn’t get a chance to finish his statement.
“Don’t you dare bullshit me, boy.” Xavier’s voice was raised, and he pounded his fist on the desk.
Logan had been privy to a number of heart to hearts with Xavier Thomas, but he’d never been on the receiving end of his disapproval. Based on his reaction, Logan knew he’d crossed the line.
“Xavier, I –”
Standing from his chair and walking around to perch on the edge of the desk, a few feet from where Logan sat, Xavier’s hard glare made Logan want to squirm for the first time in as long as he could remember.
“If you want to lie to yourself, so be it. But, you won’t sit here and tell me that something hasn’t changed in your life. Quite frankly, I’m not surprised that it’s a woman.” Xavier stated.
Logan didn’t know whether to be relieved or concerned. Instead of attempting a rebuttal, no sense denying it anyway, he sat patiently, waiting for Xavier to continue.
“If you ask me, it’s about damn time.”
Xavier Thomas was as straight forward as they came. Logan respected the older man for that. Having worked for Xavier for the last decade, Logan had gotten to know Xavier, as did most of his employees. The man treated his staff like family, and Logan and Alex had both been invited to more than one family dinner.
Sitting before him now, Logan realized that no matter how much he didn’t want to share the details of the situation with Xavier, he didn’t have the heart to lie to the man.
“We’ve been on a couple of dates.” Logan confirmed. “I don’t know that it’s serious yet or not, but I assure you it doesn’t affect either of our jobs.”
“No?” Xavier questioned. “Then why is it that my vice president of project operations ran out of the building today? Crying?”
Shit.
Logan wasn’t sure if Xavier had actually seen the incident or if he’d gotten wind of it from someone else. Either way, he needed to smooth the waters. Sam didn’t need this type of exposure within the company. Especially being so new to the Dallas office.
“It was a small misunderstanding, and I plan to resolve the situation as soon as I can.”
“Boy, why are you still here? If you want to rectify the situation, you wouldn’t be sitting in here with me.”
Logan knew the comment was rhetorical. This conversation had ventured into the personal side of things. When it came to business, Xavier wouldn’t tolerate something as trivial as this to interrupt his daily operations. But, the man also had a heart bigger than the state of Texas and he didn’t think business all the time. Still, Logan wasn’t comfortable responding.
“Logan,” Xavier started, turning back to his desk, “son, I’m not going to interfere in your life. I expect you’ll come to me if it gets to the point that you need help in making a decision.”
Logan heard the concern. He waited for the other man to continue, watching as he once again resumed his seat behind the desk. When he didn’t, Logan responded.
“Yes, sir. I wouldn’t let that happen.” Logan assured him.
“I know you wouldn’t. This needs to stay as quiet as possible. I happened to get word of it from Angelica. Apparently she and Heather got together and managed to squeeze some information out of some of the project managers. I’m disappointed in the way Heather handled this, but she must still have feelings for you. I just don’t want this to become a big deal. We have things to do and the less hiccups in the process, the better.”
“I completely agree.” Logan leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, applying pressure as though trying to force himself to think. “I need to go talk to Sam. I don’t want this misunderstanding to come between her and her job. She’s the best damn project manager this company has ever seen, and I need to make sure that, on a professional level, she’s secure.”
“Damn boy. You sure do like to lie to yourself. You need to go after her because of yourself.” Xavier retorted, catching Logan’s attention again. “Sam doesn’t have anything to worry about regarding her job. We’ll address that when the situation arises. For now, you need to get your ass up and go talk to her. I expect tomorrow won’t have any disruptions, and we’ll be back to business as usual.”
“Yes, sir.” Logan stood from his seat and stared back at Xavier. He knew that if he had been at any other company, with any other boss, this would be an entirely different conversation. “Thank you.”
“Go on. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Xavier commanded, waving him off with a hand.
Logan turned and headed out. It was clear that Xavier could see right through him, and Logan knew it was ultimately time he admit his feelings for Sam before he lost her.
The thought of that had his heart plummeting to his stomach.