8
| LOGAN |
After the exhausting night I just had, seeing Nicole outside of the gym bright and early this morning is a sight for sore eyes.
I don’t even mind that she’s got Derick’s keys again.
“‘Morning,” she calls out with a smile that leaves her face as quickly as it appears. “Logan, what’s wrong? You look awful.”
That’s an understatement. “Hannah caught some kind of stomach bug and was up all night crying and throwing up.”
“Oh my god. Is she feeling better today?”
“A little. She finally stopped puking her guts up around two this morning. She’s been sleeping ever since. My mom came over to stay with her early this morning since I had a bunch of international calls I needed to be on. I checked on her before I left and her fever was gone so that’s something.”
I punch in my security code and when Nicole unlocks the door, I prop it open with my foot but stop her from entering. Derick waves at us from the front desk. I grab his keys from her hand and toss them over to him. Then I pull her back outside and shut the door behind us.
“We have to reschedule Hannah’s first climb for when she’s feeling better,” I tell her.
“Of course. Just let me know when.” She places a gentle hand on my shoulder. “You should go home and get some rest while your mom is watching Hannah.”
“I’m heading back now. I just came down here to tell you we couldn’t make it.”
“You could’ve just called or texted. I get up early.”
“But then I wouldn’t have been able to see you,” I say simply, turning so my hands are flat against the wall on either side of her. “What are your plans for today?”
She shrugs. “I’d blocked off a couple of hours for Hannah, so nothing now in the morning. I’ve got a group outdoor climb after lunch, but other than that, it’s an easy day.”
“Good,” I say, grazing my thumb over the darkened circles under her eyes. “I don’t like seeing you this tired. You’ve been working too hard lately.”
“Not really. I’m way busier in the summers. Although, I did get a wave of new clients recently. And I do have one client who’s been having a really rough time with things so I’ve been squeezing in a ton of extra sessions for him. Oh, there’s also those online seminars I’m teaching.”
She smiles sheepishly. “Guess maybe my weeks have been a little busier than usual.”
We’re like two overworking peas in a pod.
She gazes up at me with a curious expression then. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“You didn’t throw the race yesterday, did you?”
“Nope,” I assure her. “I’m competitive as hell. I went all out.”
“Then what happened? Folks said they saw you miss a handhold.”
I sigh. May as well ‘fess up. “When I looked back to see where you were on the wall, I saw down your shirt a little…okay, a lot.”
At her startled expression, I lift an unapologetic shoulder, “What can I say? I’m a red-blooded guy. And you’ve got a pretty dynamite rack.”
I expect her to be indignant and slap me. But instead, she just laughs. And flushes bright red.
“Why the blush?” I ask, running the backs of my knuckles over her warmed cheeks.
“I got a little distracted on the wall myself…when you passed me.”
She mimics my half-shrug and gives me a playful smile. “What can I say? I’m a woman with two functioning eyes. And you’ve got a pretty dynamite tush.”
Unable to stop myself, I steal a laughing kiss from her simpering lips. Why I’ve waited this long to spend time with the entertaining creature is beyond me.
“Are you going to keep collecting kisses from me even though you lost the challenge?” she asks as I push back from the wall.
“You’re lucky that’s all I’m collecting, sweetheart.”
Her breath catches in her throat for a beat, before she recovers and says, “You do remember that you didn’t win, right?”
“What I remember is our agreement that if you don’t want me to do something, all you have to do is be completely honest about it,” I counter.
Placing a hand on the small of her back I pull her off the wall so I can walk her over to her SUV. “Let’s practice,” I offer magnanimously. “Say, ‘Logan, I don’t want you to do anything more than kiss me.’ But, again, only if you really, really mean it.”
I press her back against her driver’s side door and cage her in once more. “Well?”
She stares at me with wide eyes. But says nothing.
Hot damn.
“We shouldn’t,” she says weakly.
I exhale slowly. “I’m well aware.”
“B-but…I…want to. Do more, that is.”
“So we’re in agreement.”
We stand there staring at each other in a stalemate until my chirping phone interrupts the dangerous turn our conversation is taking. I check my text messages. “I need to run to the pharmacy and grab some more electrolytes for Hannah.”
“Oh! Of course. Go, go.” Nicole quickly turns to open her door. “Wait, do you need me to do that? You can head on home to be with her and I can go to the store for you guys.”
“No, that’s okay. My mom said she’s still sleeping. And my pharmacy has a drive-thru so it’ll be quick. You need to go home and take it easy before your outdoor climb.”
I wait till she’s buckled in before closing her door for her. When she rolls down her window, I duck in to steal another kiss. Longer this time.
Hell, kissing the sweet woman is quickly starting to become an addiction.
“Just so you know, we’re not done talking about this,” I say against her lips before stepping back to head over to my own car.
The look in her eyes as she nods sticks with me the entire drive to the pharmacy.
A half hour later, I’m hanging up my keys and walking over to Hannah’s room to check on her. I place my hand against her forehead to make sure her fever hasn’t come back.
My saint of a mother peeks in from the hallway. “I think the worst is over.”
I follow her into the living room and drop down on the couch tiredly. “Thanks for coming over this morning, Mom. If you need to get going, we’ll be fine.”
At her silence, I look over at her and find her smiling in that quintessential Mom way that tells me she’s gearing up to do some pretty heavy meddling. “What’s with the look?”
“You met someone, didn’t you?”
Yet more proof that the woman is either part psychic or part witch. Been seeing evidence of it all my life. I shake my head in denial.
“Don’t you dare lie to your mother,” she scolds. “You’ve been different the last week or so. Don’t bother denying it.”
Did I mention she’s also a human lie detector? It’s no wonder I kept on the straight and narrow growing up. “Why the interrogation all of a sudden? You’ve never asked about the women I see before,” I deflect to try and throw her off my scent.
“That’s because none of them have been worth asking about,” she says plainly.
And folks think I get my bluntness from my dad.
“Nothing’s changed,” I tell her. “Hannah is still my first priority. Dating anyone seriously isn’t even on my radar.”
Her smile disappears, and gets replaced with a concerned headshake. “Honey, I know losing Janine was hard—”
“This isn’t about that,” I cut in.
It really isn’t.
“Then why don’t you give this one a chance to become serious? If she’s affecting you this much, she must be special.”
She is.
Thankfully, the sound of someone pulling into the front driveway provides me a much-appreciated escape from the conversation.
“I’ll go see who that is.” I head over to answer the doorbell and do a double take when I see Nicole standing on my porch.
“Hey,” she says, waving.
Can’t help it, simply seeing the woman makes me smile.
And just like that, the door is yanked wide open by my nosy mother.
“Where are your manners, Logan? Don’t leave the woman standing out there in the cold. Come in, dear. I’m Logan’s mother. And you are?”
Nicole backs up a slightly overwhelmed step. “Oh! Hello. I’m Nicole. Actually, no need to invite me in. I just came over to drop off some soup for Hannah. I had the stomach flu once, and this soup did wonders for me. It’s the ginger and pumpkin in it.”
She holds out a to-go soup container, which, of course, my mother intercepts with one hand, while basically dragging Nicole into the house with the other.
“Well, aren’t you considerate? Come in for a bit.” My mother is insistent.
I shoot Nicole a look that says, ‘Run. Flee. Get out while you still can.’
A slap upside my head puts a quick end to that.
Nicole smothers back a chuckle and comes inside fully. Eagerly now.
Great. Maybe I’m the one who should flee.
“Are you sure I’m not imposing, Mrs. Reynolds?”
My mom points at the nearest dining chair. “Sit, sit. And please, call me Carol.”
“Thank you.” Nicole smiles warmly before blinking in surprise. “Oh wow, Hannah’s the spitting image of you. She has your eyes. I always assumed she got that from her mother since they’re so different from Logan’s…”
When her sentence trails off, I glance over to see her covering her mouth with her fingers, and looking downright uncomfortable.
No doubt because this is the first time Janine has come up between us in the last five years since she first started coming to the gym.
For once, my mom is none the wiser as to what’s going on. She chuckles over Nicole’s observation. “I’d like to take credit for Hannah’s beautiful hazel eyes, but she definitely got those from her mother Janine. Lovely girl. We were all devastated when she passed away.”
“Mom,” I interrupt, knowing this just got extra awkward for at least two of us in the room. “Nicole has to work today. She can’t stay.”
I send Nicole a silent apology with my eyes, which she mirrors right back.
“My goodness.” My mom stops fussing suddenly and stares at the two of us. “I remember you now. You were one of Janine’s bridesmaids, weren’t you?”
I hear a startled sound come from the living room and turn to find Hannah standing there looking at Nicole like she’s never seen her before. “Wait, you knew my mother?”
Shit.