A week later, Logan glanced over to the passenger seat of his car to see if Katie was awake. She’d been quiet for almost thirty minutes now, and they still had just under an hour before they got to Wilmington.

Her green eyes were open, and she smiled at him groggily.

She wasn’t asleep, but she was close.

His heart clenched at the sight of her lovely, familiar face and sleepy expression. Her long dark hair was loose around her shoulders, and her lips were looking particularly lush.

Ripe.

Kissable.

He turned back to the road in front of him—they were past the bigger cities now, so there wasn’t much traffic—and he wondered briefly what she would do if he just leaned over and kissed her the way he wanted to.

He wasn’t deceived in this though.

She would be shocked, bewildered, deeply upset.

She didn’t want him to kiss her. It was a truth he’d been living with for the past two years, ever since he’d realized that there was no woman in the world he wanted as much as Katie.

“So do you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?” she asked without segue.

He blinked in surprise. “What?”

“I’m going to the reunion as your date, so I’m wondering if you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend.”

“Not with my family. They know we’re just friends.”

“But with your chess friends? I’m happy to pretend to be your girlfriend with them. I can talk up what a stud you are.”

He laughed softly. “Don’t overdo it. They’d never believe it.”

Instead of giggling as he’d expected, she frowned. “You are kind of a stud, Logan. You know that, don’t you?”

Ridiculously, his heart gave a little leap of pleasure in his chest, but he managed to arch his eyebrows in a dry expression. “Now you are overdoing it.”

“I am not. Any girl would be thanking her lucky stars to even go on a date with you—and not just because of your money. You’re pretty hot, you know.”

He had to look away from her soft expression before he got carried away. He felt like he had last Friday evening when he’d nearly kissed her in the moonlight next to his car. It had been a close call, but he’d managed to salvage the gesture at the last moment, kissing her cheek instead.

Last week and right now, she was being nice, encouraging, the friend she’d always been.

She wasn’t expressing a secret desire for him.

Logan was realistic about himself. He’d done really well with his career and had earned more than a modest fortune. That alone would mean plenty of women were interested in him. They chased him all the time, sometimes so committedly that they annoyed him. And not all of them were only after his money. He wasn’t a bad catch—at all.

But Katie would never want him or any other man for his money, and there was obviously nothing else about him that would tempt her to change her mind about her avoidance of relationships.

He wouldn’t trade her friendship for anything, but he couldn’t help but want more.

“Did I embarrass you?” she asked.

He glanced back over at her, realizing she’d been waiting for a response to her last question. “No. Of course not. I’m smokin’ hot. Nothing embarrassing about that. It’s just a fact of my existence.”

She giggled then and reached over to squeeze his thigh. He was wearing jeans, so at least her hand didn’t connect with bare skin. The pressure was enough to trigger prickles of interest in the region of his groin however.

She was wearing shorts—a fact he was uncomfortably aware of. If he wasn’t careful to keep his eyes on her face, then his entire mind would be filled with the enticing sight of a lot of long, slim, sexy legs.

“All right. So I’m your girlfriend with your chess club but not with your parents. I’m sure we can handle that. It doesn’t sound too complicated.”

“It’s not supposed to be complicated.”

“Will your brothers be in town this time?”

The last time she’d come to the beach with him, his whole family had been present. “No,” he said. “Just Sloan… and Maria, of course.”

“Things are going well with them? With the pregnancy, I mean?”

“Yes. It’s all seems to be going great.”

“And the rest of them are out of town?”

“Yes.” After a moment, he added, “Why? Were you wanting to see them?”

She giggled. “I wouldn’t mind, although there will probably be more breathing room without them. Greyson, at least, is kind of a flirt.”

That was something he definitely knew. His youngest brother, Alexander, had always been quieter and more studious, but his other three brothers were all outgoing. Good with women.

“It is kind of remarkable though.”

“What’s remarkable?” Logan asked. “Not Grey, I hope.”

“No. Not Grey.” She was smiling at him fondly. “I was just thinking that it’s remarkable that all five of you brothers managed to do so well in your careers. That’s kind of strange, I think.”

“Yeah. I guess so. Although Mom and Dad helped us out. They gave each of us money to start our businesses. I don’t think we would have been able to get so far if we hadn’t had that gift to begin with. I know I wouldn’t have.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Katie looked sincerely interested. “That was really nice of them.”

“I thought so. I’m sure that’s part of why we were all able to do so well.”

“Although I’m sure you would have done well regardless, being as brilliant as you are.”

Katie’s phone rang before he could think of any way to respond to that comment, and she checked the screen. “It’s Marla,” she said. “My client. Do you mind if I get it?”

“Of course not. Go ahead.”

For most of the rest of the trip, he listened to the conversation.

Her client’s husband was really a piece of work—an asshole in every way.

If Katie was faced with those kinds of scenarios every day, it wasn’t surprising that she was turned off love and marriage.

At least if she didn’t want a relationship, he wouldn’t have to watch her fall in love with anyone else.

When they’d first met almost four years ago, he’d immediately thought she was pretty, but he’d been dating someone else, so he hadn’t considered her as anything but a possible friend.

Gradually his feelings had changed. He didn’t want her as just a friend anymore.

But unfortunately her feelings hadn’t.

And it wasn’t looking like they ever would.

***

Logan’s parents had a big house on the Intracoastal Waterway in an exclusive country club neighborhood of Wilmington. They’d bought the house ten years ago, so he hadn’t been raised in it, but they’d been well-to-do all his life. His father had been an investment banker, and his mother was a computer programmer who’d run her own company that had done very well in gaming software. He’d inherited his tech savvy from his mother.

The Andersons also had a beach house on Wrightsville Beach, but they were in their main residence in Wilmington this weekend.

He pulled up the long driveway and glanced over to see that Katie was admiring the big house and well-maintained grounds. The other times she’d visited, they’d stayed in the beach house, so she hadn’t seen this house before.

“This is really nice,” she said with a smile, leaning over to grab the big leather tote she used as a purse. “Thanks for inviting me this weekend.”

“I’m glad you could come.”

Before she could say anything else, Logan’s mother came hurrying out of the house. She gave them both enthusiastic hugs as soon as they’d climbed out of the car.

“It’s so nice to see you again,” she said, pulling away from Katie. “I keep telling Logan he needs to bring you to visit more often.”

Katie could barely respond before his mother was hustling her into the house. Logan got their luggage and followed, hoping Katie wasn’t going to be overwhelmed by his mother.

She was amazing. He’d always thought so. But she was probably more excited about his bringing Katie with him this weekend than she should be.

Last year, she’d made a big announcement about how it was time her five sons settled down and got married. He suspected she believed this trip had something to do with his efforts in that department.

He wished it did, but he knew better. His mother was going to be disappointed when she realized he and Katie were still only friends.

“Now you just make yourself at home,” his mother said, still talking to Katie as they stood in the large, airy entryway. “Do you want something to drink? Or are you hungry? Or maybe you want to freshen up some and unpack first?”

“Unpacking would be great,” Katie said, still smiling.

The master bedroom was on the first floor, so they went upstairs to the other bedrooms. Since none of his brothers lived at home anymore, they were all used as guest rooms for visiting friends and family.

Logan and Katie were the only ones visiting this weekend.

“You all can stay in Logan’s normal room,” his mother said, pushing open the door of the room directly across from the stairs.

Katie’s eyes widened.

“Mom, we’re not staying in the same room,” he muttered, hoping Katie wasn’t embarrassed by the assumption.

“Okay. Sure. Just take any rooms you want.” Instead of looking taken aback, his mother looked amused, as if she didn’t believe them, as if they were just putting on a show for her benefit. “But no need to stand on ceremony for me.”

Katie’s eyes flew over to Logan’s face, and he knew she was waiting to take his direction on handling this situation.

After all, this was his mother who was assuming they were a couple.

A pulse was throbbing in his temple as he said, “We’re just friends, Mom.”

“Of course you are.” She obviously believed differently.

“It’s true.”

“Of course it is.” Her mouth was twitching visibly. “Logan, why don’t you stay in this room, and Katie, you can stay in the room right next door. It has its own bathroom and a great view.”

“It looks great. Thank you.” Katie was smiling at his mother, but she shot Logan a sympathetic glance.

Now she was feeling bad for Logan, as if she’d put him in an uncomfortable situation.

But it wasn’t Katie’s fault at all.

Maybe he shouldn’t have brought her with him after all. Maybe it was just going to make things more complicated.

“The weather is supposed to be great this weekend,” his mother said, still fluttering around, closing blinds and turning on lights. “So if you all want more privacy, you could always stay at the beach house. There’s no one else there right now, so you could have all the privacy you want.”

Logan smothered a groan.

It was going to be a long weekend.