Chapter Four
Logan returned to work that day, wishing he could call Olivia right away, but it was too early in California. He had to talk to her before Sunshine America aired out there. He couldn’t seem to find his focus while he worked, checking the time repeatedly, his mind drifting back to Sabrina. She’d actually gotten really worked up after the show, practically yelling at him, her eyes flashing, cheeks flushing with indignation. She hadn’t seemed so porcelain doll in that moment. She’d seemed fiery and strong. Touchable, even.
Sexual compatibility was at the top of her list.
She must be wa-a-ay into sex.
Nope. Not going there. He was not going to screw things up any further with Olivia just because Sabrina tempted him one time.
Okay, technically it wasn’t the first time she’d tempted him. Sometimes when he saw her talking and laughing with her friends, looking so open and warm, he’d been tempted to get closer. But as soon as he did, she went right back to reserved and quiet. Untouchable.
He raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t have time for this. He had a lot of work to do.
Ben walked into his office and took a seat. His business partner and honorary brother with his short light brown hair and angular face looked tough at first glance, but his dimpled smile gave away his easygoing good humor. Ben slapped Logan’s desk. “Sly bastard! All this time you said Sabrina was too sweet for you when you’ve been secretly dating for six months.”
“Still just friends.”
“Ri-i-ight.” He pressed both hands to his heart and made a big fake sigh. “I saw her interview. She lit up when she saw you like she was in love with you.”
She did? He shook his head. “She was just grateful a friend showed up to support her. You know how shy she is.”
Ben stared at him. “I never thought she was shy.”
“She blushes all the time.”
“So? Some people are blushers. She has no problem talking to tons of fighting couples who walk in her door, she has a posse of close friends, and she just went on TV.”
Logan thought about that. If she wasn’t shy, then why did she blush so much around him?
Ben went on. “Missy says Sabrina can be downright snarky in a funny way. And coming from Missy, that’s a compliment. If you’re not together yet, I say go for it.”
Logan barely resisted rolling his eyes. Ben had been a die-hard bachelor. They used to laugh at the guys who fell head over ass for their women. Now Ben was one of those guys. So whipped. Logan might be starting things up with Olivia, but you wouldn’t catch him being all lovey-dovey goofy like Ben, or like Logan’s brothers, or most of his friends. Geez, it was like everyone around him was getting shackled. Must be settling-down time for the old guys. He was thirty, the youngest Campbell brother, and one of the youngest of the honorary brothers he was raised with. He had no plans for marriage. He wasn’t that impulsive kid he’d been in college. Now he took everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. “Wait and see” was his relationship philosophy.
Ben drummed his fingers on Logan’s desk. “Sabrina laughs at all your stupid jokes. That means she’s into you.”
“I’m back with Olivia.”
Ben straightened. “No shit?”
“Yeah. She got in touch and asked if we could reconnect. I saw her over Thanksgiving.”
“That’s why you’ve been so cheerful. I thought it was because of the investors.”
“It’s both.”
Ben inclined his head. “Good for you. So when do I finally get to meet her?”
Ben had only heard about her, since Logan had gone to college in California and Olivia had stayed there. “Maybe sooner than you think. We’ll see.”
“You all set for Elias?” That was their most important investor. Logan would be meeting with him first. Only eleven days away. That meeting was on a Friday, and Logan had scheduled the rest of the meetings for the following week, hoping Elias’s interest would lead to some good buzz in Silicon Valley. If Elias made an offer, the other investors would be in a frenzy to get on board with Checkin.
Logan blew out a breath. “I sure hope so.”
“We’ll do a dry run before you go.” Ben stood. “Hey, you want to be my best man?”
Logan grinned. “I thought I already was your best man.”
“You want to do it or not?”
He inclined his head. “I’d be honored. Thank you. You guys set a date?”
Ben shrugged. “Don’t know. I’m leaving the planning up to Missy.”
“We know who wears the pants in that family.”
Ben jabbed a finger at him in mock anger and growled, “Hey, we share those pants.”
Logan laughed. Ben headed out, all happy swagger. Missy was a good match for him. A true give-and-take between two equally tough people. But they could also be warm, funny, and affectionate. Olivia wasn’t funny. Not that Logan needed that. He was funny enough for both of them. It was just that when he was with Ben and Missy, it was fun to watch them laughing and enjoying the hell out of each other. Whatever.
He worked until the timer on his phone chimed. Time to call Olivia. She should be at home, hopefully already caffeinated. He hit her number, and she picked up on the first ring. “Morning,” she said in her smoky sexy voice.
“Morning,” he said warmly. “You have your coffee?”
“Yes. I’m about to head out in a few minutes. We’re having a board meeting. What’s up? Are you coming out here early?” They’d already been through that. She wanted him there early; he had obligations here.
“No, I told you I’ve got Jake and Josh’s party on Sunday. I’ll be in Thursday night.” His oldest brothers, identical twins, were turning thirty-five. Claire was throwing a big party for them at her and Jake’s new house in Connecticut. Besides, he wanted to use every last bit of work time he had before he flew out to California.
“I know,” she pouted. “I just hoped. I miss you.”
“Miss you too. Listen, a friend of mine was on Sunshine America this morning. Funny thing, bit of a miscommunication, but somehow the host got the idea I was her boyfriend, and Sabrina agreed, being on the hot seat, but we’re just friends. I just wanted—”
“Sabrina?”
“Yeah. She’s a relationship counselor, and she wrote—”
“Who the hell is Sabrina?” she barked.
He pulled the phone away from his ear at her volume. “Calm down. She’s just a friend.”
“You have a woman friend. You?”
He clenched his jaw. “Yeah.”
“How long have you had this, quote unquote, woman friend?”
“There’s no quotes. She is a friend. I don’t know, about six months, since we moved into this office building.”
Silence.
“Olivia?”
Her voice was ice. “This is just like you, Logan. You hide stuff, you flirt with women, you flirted with my friends in college—”
“No, I was friendly. I wanted your friends to like me.”
“They liked you all right. They all wanted you.”
He bit back a smile. “I can’t help that.”
“That right there is the problem!” she screeched. “You don’t take responsibility for your actions. You don’t know how to be friendly with a woman without flirting, which is why I don’t believe for one minute that Sabrina is just a friend, and the last thing…”
He tuned her out. Geez, the drama. He was surprised she hadn’t outgrown it. Back in college, he’d been flattered she got so worked up over him. He’d even enjoyed all the fighting and making up. Now? Not so much.
He cut her off. “Olivia, you know how much you mean to me. Didn’t I say I haven’t been serious with anyone since you?” It had been eight years since their college relationship, so it sounded good and was technically true, even if the reason wasn’t Olivia so much as he’d been working his ass off, no time for relationships. He hadn’t exactly been celibate though.
She got quiet.
He went on. “We’ll talk in person in less than two weeks. Friday night we’ll have dinner, anyplace you want. I hope to have great news.” That was the night after his meeting with Elias. If it went well, the possibility of moving out there would be a reality.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “I’ll make a reservation.”
“All right, I have to get back to work.”
He said bye and disconnected, troubled by Olivia’s temper. It was more than jealousy. It was like she didn’t trust him, and he couldn’t remember ever giving her a reason to feel that way. He’d been faithful in the year they’d been together. He’d proposed, for crying out loud. She was twenty-eight now, the director of an important foundation, but she sounded like an immature college girl. She could be smooth and looked sophisticated with her sleek black hair and stunning blue eyes, her curvy body in designer clothes, but was that all just surface? Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did.
His phone buzzed with a text. Olivia: I don’t want you to see Sabrina anymore.
He blew out an exasperated breath. They worked in the same office building, Sabrina was friends with his sister, and they knew a lot of the same people. He texted back. We’re just friends.
If you were just friends, you would’ve told me about her from the beginning.
I don’t care if you have guy friends.
I don’t.
He went for the quickest way to reassure her. I care about you.
Doesn’t feel like it.
I do. I’m not cheating on you, I swear.
I wish I could believe you. Frowning face emoticon.
Seriously? They were fighting by text with emoticons? He shoved his phone in his desk drawer.
He suddenly wanted Sabrina’s opinion on this mess. He went downstairs to her office. It wasn’t quite lunchtime yet. There were a couple of chairs in the hallway just outside her office for clients, but they were empty. He listened at the door in case she was with someone, but it was quiet. He knocked.
“Come in,” she called in her professional counselor voice.
He opened the door. “Hey, you got a minute?”
“Sure!” she exclaimed from where she was sitting at her desk. She gestured him in enthusiastically. “Come on in!”
She must still be hyped up from her TV interview this morning. She didn’t get up, so he went to her desk and sat on the edge of it next to her chair. The only other place to sit was across the room, and he didn’t want to stand and tower over her.
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she crossed her legs and then uncrossed them.
“Does it bother you I’m sitting on your desk?” he asked. She probably preferred he sit properly on a chair, but he didn’t want to holler to her from across the room. She didn’t protest, so he leaned close to confide in her, catching the sweet scent of honey and flowers. “It didn’t go well with Olivia.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry.” Her big brown eyes were pure compassion. “I’m afraid this article might’ve made things worse.” She handed over her phone, where there was a picture of him and Sabrina from this morning. Why was this news? The article implied Sabrina wasn’t good at relationships. It did look like they were a fighting couple. He’d been mad and she’d gotten mad. Maybe they had been fighting. Had Sabrina gone toe-to-toe with him and they were still on good terms? That was the give-and-take he wanted in a relationship. Not pouting and accusations. On the other hand, maybe he shouldn’t be so hard on Olivia. When you were long distance, it was hard to know what was true or not. Maybe she just needed time to learn to trust him again.
He realized Sabrina was talking. “What?”
“Which part didn’t you hear?”
“I got distracted when you showed me the article.”
“I said I think that psycho relationship counselor is behind this.” Her eyes flashed, giving him a jolt. “She wants to discredit me.”
“It’ll blow over. Once the buzz dies down over your article, she’ll forget about you.”
“God, Logan, you really did space out on me. I also said there’s a celebrity gossip piece linking me to Claire. They’re calling me the Hollywood Love Guru!” Her voice rose in volume and she gestured wildly. “And Claire’s cool with it! She’s claimed me as her close friend and said the details of my relationship counseling are confidential. She wants me to run with it and see how far I can build my platform for this book I’m supposed to write and…and…it’s insane!”
“Holy shit.” It was the only possible response.
She pointed at him. “Exactly! I want the book to be big and help a lot of women, and that is the only reason I’m going along with all this, but it’s bonkers!” She threw her hands in the air like she was tossing the whole bonkers thing away.
“All of what exactly?”
She gestured as she spoke, her color high, the most animated he’d ever seen her. He was kinda digging an animated loud Sabrina, even though she was freaking out. “My agent took that Hollywood Love Guru thing and ran with it, booking me on talk shows in LA next week! I’m beside myself. Claire’s on the phone with the talk-show producers right now, making sure they know of our connection and that certain topics are off-limits. She’s smoothing the way for me.” She wrung her hands together. “Logan, you know I would never use Claire for her fame. Look at this article. Who could’ve said this? Who would’ve known?”
She tapped on her phone and showed him. He read the short piece and handed back her phone, his brain quickly connecting the dots. “I told the security guard at the Sunshine America studio my full name and that Claire Jordan was my sister-in-law. She’d put me on the list to get me backstage. Someone must’ve talked to him. He was just speculating on the rest of it.”
She shook her head. “How can gossip from a security guard get me on the most popular talk shows?”
“Two words—Claire Jordan. And love. Okay, three words. Her name is gold, and she’s such a good person she wants to let you have a little of that golden glow. It won’t hurt her reputation to be linked with you, as a success story with a strong marriage.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s exactly what she said!”
“There you go.”
She stared at him for a moment, seeming lost in thought. She took a deep breath. “Okay, leaving freak-out mode now.”
He laughed.
She laughed a little too. “I’m moving my vacation up a couple of weeks to fit the talk shows in.”
“Look at you, shy girl.”
She blushed bright pink. “I guess I have you to thank for getting me through the first one. Now I’m on my own.”
“You’ll do great.”
She smiled at him, a gentle warm smile that he felt in his bones. Affection, maybe even some feeling for him? He couldn’t remember her ever smiling at him like that before, and now she’d done it twice. Once at the TV studio this morning when he’d first arrived backstage and now. But then her words erased any shadow of a doubt about her true feelings. “I really do feel bad about Olivia. I don’t mind explaining to her the truth about that article linking us and my own part in sort of panicking in the middle of my first-ever TV show appearance and throwing you under the bus.”
Sabrina was twenty-six, younger than Olivia, but so much more mature, wanting to talk the whole thing out like adults. He was sure Olivia would sooner tear Sabrina’s head off than have a rational adult conversation. “No,” he said. “She’s the one who has to get over her issues.”
“What issues?”
“Jealousy, suspicion, general mistrustfulness.” He let out a breath, more wound up about Olivia than when he’d walked in here. “She’s always been like this. I’ll fix it when I see her in a couple of weeks.”
“You sure you want to wait that long?”
He lifted one shoulder up and down. “Nothing else I can do. I already explained myself.”
She pushed her chair back from her desk, and he lost her sweet scent. Worse, she crossed her legs and rested clasped hands in her lap, back to her reserved professional counselor mode. Untouchable porcelain doll. Her tone was cool and calm. “Sometimes people need to hear it more than once, maybe in a different way.”
He scowled, unreasonably irritated with her help. “What different way? Sabrina is my friend. No, I’m not cheating on you. How many ways can I say that?”
Her brown eyes were full of sympathy, her tone gentle. “I hope she’ll come to her senses soon. Sorry I put a wrench in the works.”
He calmed down. Sabrina could always smooth the rough spots. “It’s okay. Maybe things weren’t as solid with Olivia as I thought. Guess I’ll find out.” He stood and tapped her desk. “I never told you this, but talking to you has helped me through some stuff, so thanks.”
She smiled, her professional reserved smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s what friends are for.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, turned and headed out the door. Except he’d never had a friend like her, never been able to talk to anyone like he could with her. And, for the first time, he didn’t feel a weight off his shoulders when he left her office. Every step away felt difficult, plodding and heavy.
Was he really going to move to San Francisco and say goodbye to Sabrina forever? After hearing Olivia’s reaction to Sabrina, he knew there was no way Olivia would understand why he wanted to keep that connection long distance. He hadn’t realized until today just how much their friendship meant to him. What exactly did he hope to gain from hanging onto that connection? And what would he lose if he let her go?