Chapter Twenty-Two
EMMA
For the first time in my life, I held an open book in my hands, but I couldn’t concentrate on reading it. And not just because it was like a hundred degrees out by the pool, or because the book was boring.
I couldn’t concentrate on it because I couldn’t stop thinking about the previous night.
After mini golf, we all got ice cream and hung out for a while. Matt and Logan hit some balls in the batting cages, leaving me and Riley alone to sit in awkward silence as we watched them. I tried on a few occasions to spark up a conversation with her, but every time she would just nod, say, “Mmhmm,” and pull out her phone to text someone.
At one point, I could tell she had texted Logan because as soon as she sent it, Logan paused, took his phone out of his pocket to read it, and then glanced over at her with a smirk on his face. She responded with a suggestive smile and a small wave. I just rolled my eyes as I tried not to think about what she might have texted him. She’d been throwing herself at him all night, constantly putting her hands all over him, and he seemed to really be enjoying it.
Whatever. It was none of my business.
What was my business was Matt. While it’s not like I really got anywhere with him, he did talk to me a lot. And then there was the moment he helped me out with my golf swing…standing behind me, his hands on mine, speaking softly into my ear…
I bit my lip to prevent myself from smiling at the memory, but I couldn’t help it. The whole thing made me so giddy I could squee.
Squee. I was not the type of girl who would squee over anything. I even hated the word itself because it wasn’t a real word. But after last night, it was the only word I could think to use.
As I struggled to remove the goofy smile from my face, my phone rang on my lap. Assuming it was either Chloe or Sophia, since I hadn’t talked to either one of them for a couple days, I didn’t bother to look to see who it was before answering it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, book nerd,” said a smooth, masculine voice into my ear. Even if I hadn’t recognized the voice as Logan’s, I still would have known it was him. I was currently wearing a tank top that said, Book Nerd on it, which meant chances were good he was spying on me from his bedroom window. Assuming he was, I glared up in that general direction.
“What’s that look for?” he asked defensively, confirming my assumption.
“What do you want, Logan?” I asked, sighing heavily. I still hadn’t fully forgiven him for last night, when he tried to make me look like a dork in front of Matt.
“I wanted to know if you were interested in hanging out,” he replied. “It’s the hottest day of the summer so far, and I thought maybe you’d like to come over and go for a swim.”
Funny he should mention that. I’d put on my new bikini underneath my shorts and tank top on the off chance I wanted to take a dip in the pool. It was crazy hot out and it wasn’t even noontime yet.
“If I want to go for a swim, I’ve got my own pool to swim in.”
“Yes, but you shouldn’t swim alone,” he said. “You should always swim with a buddy in case you almost drown—that way, there’s somebody there to give you mouth-to-mouth if necessary.”
I snorted. “Well, in that case, I’m definitely not coming over.”
“But I give great mouth-to-mouth. I could provide you with testimonials, if you’d like.”
“I’m good, thanks,” I said, fanning myself with my book, due to the fact the air around me suddenly felt about ten degrees hotter.
“Okay, we don’t have to go swimming. Come over anyway. I have a nice air-conditioned basement we can chill out in.”
“My house is air-conditioned as well.”
“Oh my God, Dawson,” Logan said, “why do you have to be so difficult? Just get your butt over here, alright? I have some information regarding Matt that I think you might find interesting.”
I sat up in my lounge chair and dropped my book onto the deck. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like, I’ll tell you when you get here,” he said and hung up.
I narrowed my eyes at my phone. Was this a trick? A bait-and-switch? Like I’d get there and his “information” would be something dumb like, “Matt likes girls who hang out in basements on hot days”? That would be just like him. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Still, it could be something legit. And for that reason, I foolishly began my trek over Logan’s house.
He was waiting for me at the front door when I arrived, wearing a cocky grin on his face.
“I knew you’d come,” he said as I ascended the porch steps. “It was the possibility of mouth-to-mouth with me that convinced you, wasn’t it?”
I brushed past him into the house, where it instantly felt about thirty degrees cooler than it did outside. “So, what’s this information you’ve got about Matt?” I asked, cutting right to the chase.
Logan shut the door behind us and put on his best hurt expression. “You know, I’m starting to feel like you’re just using me to get closer to my best friend.”
“Good call,” I said with a smirk. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Logan just shook his head and said, “Follow me to the basement.”
When Logan said he had an air-conditioned basement, I was expecting to see something similar to the basement at my house: dark, dirt-scented and full of spiders. But it was nothing like that. It was bright, bug-free and fully-finished, with a large TV, ample seating, an air hockey table, and a mini-fridge. The place was like a man cave on steroids.
“Welcome to the Man Mansion. Have a seat.” Logan motioned to the loveseat in front of me. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
I shook my head as I sat down. “No, thanks,” I said as he took a seat next to me. “I just want you to tell me what information you have about Matt that I supposedly would be interested in.”
“Boy, you have a one-track mind, don’t you?” He grabbed two PlayStation controllers off the coffee table and handed me one. “You play video games?”
“I’ve dabbled,” I said with a shrug. My dad owned a few video games and occasionally he and I would play racing games together.
Logan turned on both the TV and the console. “You should try out this game. It’s mostly a button masher, so you don’t have to be worried about not being an experienced gamer. I think you’ll like it because you’ll get to beat the crap out of me.”
I smiled at that. “While that does sound enticing, I didn’t come over here to play video games with you. I came over to talk about Matt.”
“We’ll get to that, I promise,” Logan said as the game started up. He picked a character out of a list of male avatars and instructed me to do the same with the list of females. “I’ll tell you what you want to know after you win a round.”
I scowled at him. “That’s not fair. I’ve never played this before.”
“Just hit any combination of any of these buttons at any time. You’ll do fine.”
A few seconds later, the game started, and our two characters appeared on the screen. The women in these types of games could not be any more unrealistic. My character was bleached blonde, had huge boobs, a tiny waist, a bubble butt, large, muscular thighs and was dressed in hot pants, a crop top and knee-high combat boots. No woman in real life looked like this.
I did what Logan had instructed me to do, and that was just hit as many of the buttons as I could as quickly as I could. His character defeated mine within seconds and I turned to him with an angry pout.
“This is so unfair. You are obviously very experienced with this game. I don’t stand a chance.”
“Sorry,” he said with a smirk. “I’ll go easy on you next round.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t want you to do that, either. I can beat you fair and square.”
He arched a brow. “You think so, do you?”
“Yep.” I sat up straight and moved to the edge of the couch, holding the controller tightly in my hands. “Bring it on.”
The next round began, and Logan once again started kicking my butt—no matter how many buttons I mashed or how quickly. At one point, my whole body got into the action, tilting from side to side while I moved the controller up, down, and all around, in hopes that it would somehow help me win.
It didn’t.
When Logan’s character ripped mine in half and her cartoon blood started spurting out all over the place, I dropped my controller onto the table, stood and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Okay, first of all, this game is disgusting,” I said, wrinkling my nose at the gruesome image still displayed on the TV screen. “Second of all, it’s a really stupid game with no point. Third of all, just tell me the important information you have about Matt.”
Logan chuckled and tossed his own controller aside. “Okay, fine. I’ll tell you, right after you admit this game is kind of fun.”
I tapped my foot impatiently against the floor. “Yeah, okay, it’s moderately entertaining. Happy now?”
“Very.” He smiled and gave a pat on the empty cushion next to him. “Here, sit back down and I’ll tell you.”
I begrudgingly did as I was told and dropped back down onto the loveseat. I turned so I was facing him. “Well?”
His grin indicated that he seemed to enjoy leaving me hanging, which made me want to wring his neck.
“Logan, I swear, if you don’t tell me what—”
“Matt asked about us,” he blurted out.
I stopped and stared at him blankly. “Us?”
“Yes, us. Me and you.”
I chewed on my lower lip, trying to figure out what he was saying. “What about us?”
Logan shrugged and picked his controller back up. “He asked if we were dating.”
“Why would he ask that?”
“I’m not sure. He didn’t say. But if I had to wager a guess, I’d say maybe he wanted to make sure we didn’t have something going on before making a move on you.”
My heart leapt into my throat. I studied him for a moment, looking for any indication he was lying. “You’re making this up.”
“I’m not,” he said innocently.
“When did you guys have that conversation?”
“Last night, when he sent you and Riley off by yourselves to get ice cream. That’s what he wanted to talk to me about.”
“Huh.” I sank into the back of the loveseat and started biting one of my fingernails. Whenever something made me nervous, I became a nail biter.
“I think it’s safe to say you’re now on Matt’s radar.” Logan shifted so he was facing me. “It’s possible he’s becoming interested in you, but he’s not quite there yet. If he were, he likely would have just told me and then asked you out. But the interest is there. Now all you need to do is make sure you hold onto it.”
“How do you suggest I do that?” I asked.
He thought about it for a moment. “Well… I think you need to try being flirtier with him. I mean, you were fine with him last night. You at least spoke actual words instead of just stammering a bunch of gibberish at him—which was a definite improvement, don’t get me wrong. But you’re going to have to step things up a notch when you’re around him. You need to channel your inner Riley.”
I pursed my lips at the mention of Riley and I spoke before thinking. “You mean I need to act desperate?”
He looked taken aback by that. “Actually, I meant you need to act sexy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You really think the way Riley acts is sexy? The girl tries way too hard.”
“And it works,” he said with a nod.
My laughter came to an abrupt halt. “Yeah, it works on you. And only because you’re easy.”
It was his turn to laugh. “I am not easy.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not. Riley’s just that good.” He got up from the couch and held out a hand for me to take. “Here, stand up.”
With a sigh, I obeyed.
“Okay, let’s do a little practice run.” Logan’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, like he thought this was the greatest idea ever. “Act like Riley and try to seduce me.”
I gaped at him. “Come again?”
He chuckled softly. “I said, try to seduce me. Show me what you’ve got. I want to see if you’re capable of doing this.”
I didn’t like this. I didn’t know how to seduce someone, so I was likely going to make an idiot out of myself. But I guess that was kind of the point. If I sucked at it, Logan was there to help me. He’d give me tips and pointers, and he’d make sure the next time I saw Matt, I’d be ready.
“Okay.” I took a step back, closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. Just channel my inner Riley. All I had to do was giggle and bat my eyelashes and touch his chest. Piece of cake.
Opening my eyes, I reached up and removed the elastic band holding my ponytail in place. I ran my hands through my hair to smooth it out, letting the natural waves cascade down my back.
I could do this.
Flipping an invisible switch, I shut off Emma and turned on Riley. Widening my eyes, I stared at Logan in awe.
“Oh, Logan, you are so good at hitting balls with putters,” I said, adding a little giggle at the end for effect.
Logan, looking amused, said, “I told you to channel Riley, not flat-out plagiarize her.”
But I ignored him. Since I had no idea how to seduce a guy, my only option was to basically copy everything I’d seen Riley do with Logan since she got here.
I took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his chest. “Wow, Logan, you feel so strong. You must work out.” I lowered my hand, tracing a line with my forefinger between his pecs and his abs.
“I do,” he said with a cocky grin. “Thank you for noticing.”
“How could I not?” I bit my lip. Guys liked it when girls bit their lips, I knew that much.
“Take your shirt off,” I instructed. I could tell instantly my demand surprised us both.
“Um, what?” His grin faltered slightly.
That was a good question. I think I had dialed into Riley’s channel a little too much, but now it was hard to get out of it because…well…it was kind of fun.
“Take your shirt off,” I repeated, more confidently this time. When he didn’t immediately obey, I added, “If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”
His eyebrows shot up so fast he was lucky they didn’t fly off his face. “What—”
Feeling bold, I put some space between us, grabbed the bottom of my tank top, and lifted it up over my head, revealing my bikini top underneath. As soon as it was off, I tossed it at him. He caught it without even looking; he was too busy keeping his eyes focused on mine.
“Want to go for a swim?” I asked in my best Riley voice.
Logan’s face fell as soon as I start undoing the button of my shorts. Suddenly, all traces of amusement were gone from his face. Apparently, I was taking this further than he’d expected I would and he didn’t know how to react.
His hands shot out and grabbed my wrists to stop me from removing my shorts. “Emma, this wasn’t exactly what I meant.”
“Why not?” I asked with a sultry pout. “This is what Riley did at Justin’s party, and you were all about it. This is what guys like, right? Girls who are bold and aren’t afraid to strip down in front of them?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“You don’t think this would work on Matt?”
“Yes, it would, but—”
“Then what’s the problem?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He was speechless.
Luckily for him, he didn’t have to respond because we were suddenly interrupted by Rachel’s voice at the top of the basement stairs.
“Logan, are you down there?”
He immediately let go of my wrists and took a giant step away from me. “Yeah,” he called back in a strained voice, quickly raking a hand through his hair.
We heard her footsteps coming down the stairs before we saw her. “Good. I was wondering if maybe—”
She stopped when her gaze fell on us. Or, more specifically, me. I guess she wasn’t expecting to see me standing there practically half-naked—and with Logan still holding onto my shirt.
He realized he still had it in his hands at the same moment I did and his face reddened as he tossed it onto the couch. Clearing his throat, he said, “You were wondering what?”
I could feel my own face beginning to burn as Rachel removed her gaze from me and moved it onto Logan. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No,” Logan and I answered swiftly and in unison.
“We were just…getting ready to go for a swim,” Logan lied.
Rachel blinked. “Oh. Well, that’s a good idea.” She didn’t seem to believe us, but she also didn’t seem to care.
“Anyway,” she continued, “Logan, I have a favor to ask.” She glanced between him and me. “Both of your fathers—and their beautiful wives—have been invited to a very important dinner tonight by a potential client, and I was wondering…would you be able to watch Abby for a few hours?”
“Um…” A look of guilt came over Logan’s face. “I kind of have plans with Riley tonight.”
I whipped my head in his direction so fast I felt a muscle pull in my neck. “What, like a date?”
He turned to look at me and shrugged. “Yeah, kind of. I don’t know.”
“And, what, a date with Riley is more important than looking after your baby sister?” I shook my head in disappointment.
“I didn’t say that,” Logan replied defensively.
“Well, I don’t see you jumping at the opportunity to cancel your plans with Riley to take care of Abby.”
“Because you haven’t given me the opportunity yet,” he said, the irritation in his voice becoming more prominent with each word he spoke.
Rachel, whose eyes had been bouncing back and forth between us as though she were watching a tennis match, held up a hand to stop us.
“Guys, it’s okay. I’ll just find somebody else—”
“I can do it,” I blurted out before really thinking about it.
Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, why not? I don’t have anything better to do tonight. I would love to watch her for you.”
Rachel’s face dissolved into a look of relief as she launched herself at me, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“Thank you,” she breathed into my hair. When she released me, she was grinning from ear to ear. “This will be the first real night out I’ve had since Abby was born. I’m going to go pick out something to wear!”
She squealed and clapped her hands together as she turned and headed back up the stairs, leaving me and Logan alone in uncomfortable silence.
“You don’t have to do that,” Logan said quietly. “I can cancel my plans.”
I brushed past him to grab my tank top. As I pulled it on, I said, “It’s fine. I like babysitting, and Abby’s amazing. It would be stupid for you to cancel your plans when I don’t have any at all.”
Logan nodded and glanced down at the floor.
I smoothed out my shirt and ran a hand through my hair. “Well, I should get going.”
He returned his gaze to me. “Are you sure? We have some other things to go over.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to go talk to Rachel and see when she wants me back here, and then I have a few errands to run.”
“Oh, okay.”
“So…I’ll catch you later?” I said, heading toward the staircase. I suddenly felt like I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Cool.” I took the first step and glanced back over at him before heading up. “Have fun on your date.”
I couldn’t help but note the sarcasm in my voice as I spoke. Part of me hoped he wouldn’t have fun on his date…while the other part of me wondered why I even cared.