Valerie stuck her finger in her mouth and sucked off the chocolate as a pair of emerald eyes narrowed at her. “What?” she asked.
Leah shook her head and went back to smoothing buttercream around the sides of her cake. “Please tell me you don’t lick your fingers when you’re making desserts for my customers.”
“Depends on what I’m making,” Valerie said, grinning as Leah clutched at her heart. “Oh, calm down. I’m just kidding.”
“God, you better be. That’s gross.” Then she grinned and glanced back over at the square groom’s cake sitting in front of Valerie. “Not that Sam would care. It’s chocolate. He would eat it off the floor if I let him.”
Valerie set aside the bowl of ganache she’d just warmed and then pulled out a wire rack and set it on top of a deep, silver baking pan. “Are you sure you don’t want me to work on your wedding cake instead of his groom’s cake? I know you’re way better at the decorating than I am, but I feel bad that you’re having to make your own cake. Maybe we should have ordered one from another bakery or something.”
“Hush your mouth, you traitor,” Leah said, outraged at the very suggestion of getting a cake from someone else’s bakery. “Besides, I don’t mind making my own cake. Since my mom took over most of the wedding planning, it’s the only thing I have control over at the moment.”
Lifting the square chocolate cake with two hands, Valerie set it over the wire rack. “Is that why you decided to up the wedding date?”
“Basically,” Leah told her, running the metal elbow spatula flat over the top of the white cake to remove any air bubbles in the frosting. “My mother has been driving me insane with all these last-minute details so Sam and I agreed that the quicker we got through with the wedding, the better off we both would be.” She shrugged. “Plus, I think he likes the idea of eating lots of cake and then having a bunch of sex this week rather than next week.”
Valerie rolled her eyes. “Figures. Such a male way of looking at a wedding.” She noticed another spot of chocolate on her pinkie and stuck it into her mouth, sucking it off. “So everything else is done? You’re ready for this wedding to happen?”
“I am, but I’m not sure my body is.” Leah sighed. “I really wanted to lose a few pounds before I walked down the aisle.”
“Aw, honey. Sam loves you. If he was here right now, he’d have his eyes glued to your backside like he does every time I’m around him. He doesn’t care about those few pounds that you’re so determined to shed.”
“I know, but every bride wants to feel beautiful on her wedding day.”
“Leah, you are beautiful—inside and out. Sam loves you just as you are. And you know damn well he would tell you that himself.”
“Actually, he already has. And of course I believe him. He makes me feel beautiful all the time. It’s just my stupid insecurities bubbling back to the surface on occasion. It’s hard to break a bad habit that I’ve had all my life.” She gestured to Valerie with her frosting-covered spatula. “If only I could be more like you. You’re always so confident and carefree when it comes to your size. You own it rather than letting it own you. Unfortunately, we’re just not all that way.”
“You’re improving, Leah. Don’t discount that. It just takes time to get there, that’s all. If I had a mother who was picking on me about my weight my entire life, I’d be just as neurotic as you are.” Valerie grinned to show that she was teasing.
“Gee, thanks,” Leah said, laughing. “By the way, I meant to tell you that I appreciate you covering my days next week on such short notice. We’ve rented this cute little A-frame bungalow on the beach for a few nights. But if you need anything, I’ll have my cell phone with me. Don’t hesitate to call. I can be back here in two hours flat, if necessary.”
Valerie lifted the bowl of warm ganache and began pouring it over Sam’s cake, letting the shiny melted chocolate coat the top and drip the sides. “Leah, I’m not calling you during your honeymoon.”
“But if you need to—”
“I won’t. You and Sam enjoy your time away and don’t worry about a thing. Max has Sam covered at the construction site, and my job is to cover you at the bakery. Let me do my job.”
Leah smiled and slapped more of the white frosting on the sides of the large round cake. “Speaking of jobs, how is it going at the bar? You seem to really love working there.”
Valerie righted the bowl of ganache and ran her finger along the edge to catch the drip then slipped it into her mouth with a grin. “I do. It’s the best job I’ve ever…” Her words trailed off, and she gazed over at her friend, who had arched one brow. Well, shit. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything—”
“It’s okay, Val,” Leah said, giggling. “Did you think I didn’t notice how much you were enjoying your new job? Your face positively lights up when you’re behind that bar and entertaining the crowd. Just like I’m sure mine does when I’m working here.”
But guilt still weighed heavily in Valerie’s stomach. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy being here too. You know I do, right?”
“Of course. But just because the bakery is my dream job doesn’t mean that it has to be yours too. I’ve actually been thinking about hiring someone to replace you.”
Valerie blinked and dropped the metal mixing bowl to the counter with a clatter. “What? You’re firing me?”
“No, silly. But I can see where your heart lies…and it’s not in frosting cakes and playing with pastry dough.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to hire someone else, Leah. I wasn’t going to quit on you, if that’s what you were thinking. I’d never do that. Especially to my best friend.”
“So you’re going to force me into firing you then?”
Valerie’s eyes widened. “B-but you just said—”
“Oh, honey,” she said, setting her frosting utensil down, “I just want you to be happy no matter where you work. If you truly want to continue working here, of course I’d love to keep you on. But if you prefer to work at the bar full-time, then I’m not going to stand in the way of that. And I don’t want you to feel guilty about it either. It won’t affect our friendship one way or another, I promise.”
“Well, I don’t know that Logan would even consider keeping me on full-time. He’s probably still planning on replacing me when he finds another competent bartender.”
“It’s already been two weeks, and he hasn’t done it yet.”
“Yeah, but…well, something happened recently that might interfere with our working relationship. I’m not sure what’s going to happen at this point.”
Leah locked eyes with her. “Oh my God. He finally noticed you!”
“Um, well, yeah, but it’s more than that.”
She squealed. “You kissed him?”
“No, I mean a lot more than that.” Valerie wound her hand in the air, trying to get Leah to continue her train of thought. “Keep going, you’re almost there.”
Leah’s brows furrowed in thought, and her forehead wrinkled a little. “Um, he kissed you back?”
Valerie sighed. This was taking way too damn long. At this rate, the girl would never figure it out. “I had sex with Logan.”
“Oh.” She paused for a moment “I guess I didn’t jump far enough ahead.”
“No kidding.”
“When did this happen?”
“Um, I think the better question is when has it not happened. I’ve been sleeping with him on a regular basis since last week.”
Leah’s eyes narrowed. “And you’re just now telling me? What kind of friend are you? You’re lucky it’s too late for me to find another maid of honor. You don’t deserve the title, you little…secret keeper.”
Valerie laughed at the empty threat. “I wasn’t hiding anything from you. At least not on purpose. You’ve been busy dealing with your mom, and I haven’t gotten you alone long enough to tell you anything. Until now, that is.”
Leah pulled out a couple of dowel rods to slide inside her wedding cake to support the top layer. “True. And we are working hours opposite of each other. But how are you even doing it?”
“Doing what?”
“Him. Logan.”
Jeez. Was she wanting a blow-by-blow description of their sexual activities? Valerie shook her head. “I don’t think I know what you mean.”
“You’ve been holding down two jobs for a couple of weeks now, helping me with wedding stuff constantly, and if I know you as well as I think I do, I’m sure you’ve been avoiding your brother for the past week. So how is it possible you still have any energy left? You’re bound to be tired. Do you just lay there and let Logan have his way with you?”
Valerie laughed. “Are you kidding? I’ve waited way too long to get his attention to just lie there during sex. I climb that man like a tree.”
“You hussy,” Leah said, a playful gleam flashing in her eyes. “You’re terrible.”
“I’m certain Logan would completely disagree with that statement.” Valerie winked. “He seems to be enjoying himself…um, especially since he found your list.”
Leah squinted at her. “What list?”
“The one you made me write at the bar. You know, all the sexual things I never wanted to do.”
Leah giggled. “He read it? Oh God. What did he say?”
“Not much seeing how he thinks that it was a list of my sexual fantasies.”
Leah bent over at the waist and laughed until her face turned red. “Oh man! I would love to have seen his face. Did you correct him?”
“Uh, not exactly. As weird as it sounds, when he got his hands on that list, it set things in motion for us.”
“How so?”
Biting her bottom lip, she hesitated.
“Valerie?”
She sighed. “Okay, fine. I was never good at keeping stuff from you so you’ll just find out later anyway.” She blew out a quick breath. “Logan saw the napkin and got pissed because he thought I was going to do all the things we listed with God knows who. And from what I gathered since then, he’s trying to make sure I do all of them…with him.”
Leah’s body stiffened. “He wants you to have an orgy?”
“No. I mean I hope not. That’s definitely not happening. But he’s been ticking items off that list ever since last week.”
“Which ones?”
Valerie didn’t blush often, but her cheeks filled with heat. “Semi-public sex, dirty talking, and we went to the movies the other day.”
Leah raised one curious brow. “What movie did you see?”
“I have no idea. We were…busy at the time.”
“Oh my God. I didn’t know you were so kinky.”
Valerie groaned and slid a hand over her face. “Apparently, I didn’t either. And honestly, those were all pretty tame compared to the rest of the list.”
“So what’s next on the agenda?”
“I have no idea. In fact, I’m almost certain I don’t want to know.”
Leah grinned. “You’re probably lucky you didn’t put a gangbang on that list. I thought of that one after you walked off that night.”
“Jesus. Okay, so what should I do?”
“Tell him the truth about the list. And do it fast before he starts inviting a few friends to one of your private parties.”
Valerie shook her head. “Logan wouldn’t do that.”
“You sure?”
Damn it. No, she wasn’t entirely sure. He’d been shocking her left and right with all the crazy shit he had talked her into doing. “No. But I hope not because I would never do that. I don’t want anyone but him. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I…I think I’m falling hard for him.”
Leah smiled. “You fell hard for him years ago. Or did you forget about that?”
“Yeah, but that was more of a teenage crush. This is…I don’t know, something different.”
“So what about Brett? Does he know?”
“God no.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
Valerie shrugged. “I mean, yeah. I guess we have to at some point. But I don’t want to ruin anything by doing it right now. Besides, Logan said Sam invited him to the wedding, and my brother is going to be there. I don’t want any, uh, awkwardness on your wedding day.”
Leah wiped her hands off on a clean rag as she stepped over to Valerie and gave her a woeful look. “You mean fighting, right? Because you know that it’s probably going to come to blows between Logan and Brett. I can’t imagine your brother being okay with anyone sleeping with his sister, especially his best friend.”
“I don’t want to ruin their relationship. But I’m not willing to let Brett screw up whatever this is between Logan and me either. I know when he finds out that he’ll be upset with Logan…and probably me too. But I can’t base who I fall for on whether or not my brother is happy about it. This is my happiness we’re talking about.”
“Are you happy?”
Valerie nodded. “Honestly, I’ve never been happier in my life.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that. You deserve to be happy.” Leah glanced down at the warm ganache in front of them, and her brows knitted together. “In fact, we both do. Screw the stupid diet,” she said, swiping her finger around the lip of the bowl to catch the drip running down the side. “It’s too late to order the dress in a bigger size, but I can always buy some Spanx.” Leah plopped her chocolate-coated finger into her mouth and groaned in pure bliss.
Valerie smiled. After spending the last week in Logan’s bed, she knew that feeling well.
* * *
God, Logan couldn’t get enough of her.
His mouth took hers again as his hands slid under Valerie’s top and closed over her nicely rounded breasts. He ground his pelvis against hers, letting her feel his hard length as soft mews fell from her lips. She ran her fingers through his hair and arched her neck, exposing the delicate skin that he traced with his tongue until he ended up at her collarbone.
“Brett,” she gasped out.
Did she just call me by her brother’s name? He lifted his head. “Excuse me?”
“My brother,” she said, panic flashing through her eyes. “He’s here. He just passed by the window.”
Logan released her immediately and backed away just as a knock sounded on the door. Damn it. He quickly untucked his shirt to help cover the bulging evidence of his arousal and blew out a calming breath. He waited for Valerie to straighten her clothes and then said, “Come in.”
Brett poked his head through the door. “Hey, I wanted to see if you—” His words froze on his tongue as he spotted his sister standing in Logan’s living room. “Oh. I didn’t know you were here, Val. Where’s your car?”
“It’s, um…at the bakery. Leah needed to borrow it for a little while.”
Her brother grimaced. “Why? Did something happen to hers? Does she need me to take a look at it?”
Valerie shook her head adamantly. “No, it’s fine. It just…had a flat tire, that’s all. Sam’s already fixing it, but she had some deliveries to make that needed to go out by a certain time so I gave her the keys to mine. It’s all taken care of, don’t worry.”
But he still looked concerned. “So then what are you doing here?”
When Valerie hesitated with an answer and bit her lip, Logan jumped in to take the heat off of her. “I needed Valerie’s help in figuring out a problem with the beer order I placed last week.”
“But isn’t it her day off from the bar? Don’t tell me you’re taking advantage of my sister, asshole.” Brett offered him a playful grin.
But the comment still had Logan cringing inwardly. And judging by the way Valerie’s face paled, she had done the same. And that pissed him off. Logan clenched his jaw. “You don’t have to worry about her. If she wants, I’ll pay her for her time. I’m more than happy to compensate her.”
Brett seemed content with that answer and turned his attention back to Valerie once again. “So how did you get over here? Did Leah drop you off or something?”
“I picked her up,” Logan said, cutting in again and not giving Valerie a chance to answer.
Brett seemed surprised by it but gazed back at her again. “Okay, so do you need me to wait and give you a lift home?”
“No. I’ll be taking her home too.” Logan hadn’t meant for the words to come out so firm. Final even. As if the subject was no longer up for discussion. But he was doing the one thing he never thought he’d have to do. He was protecting Valerie from her own brother.
Brett’s sharp, suspicious glare landed directly on Logan, but before he could say anything, Valerie spoke up. “What Logan means is that it’s going to take us a while to figure out this whole mess. So there’s no point in you waiting around for me.”
“You sure?” Brett asked her warily.
Damn it. Would he just leave her alone already? When the hell had Brett become so involved with his sister’s affairs? Oh, yeah. Always. But somehow, in the past, it had never irritated and frustrated Logan nearly as much as it did in this moment.
Valerie nodded. “Yes, it’s fine. Logan will make sure I get home okay.”
“All right,” Brett said, heading to the door. “Well, I only stopped by to see if Logan wanted to go bowling. But since y’all are busy with work stuff, we can do it another day.”
“Sounds good,” Logan replied.
Even after Brett left, Logan stood there quietly, suffocating in a cloud of guilt. He tried to organize his thoughts and feelings and ignore the nagging voice inside his head telling him that what he had going on with Valerie was a mistake.
But he couldn’t. Because it was true.
“I guess I’ll have to ask Leah and Sam to cover for me in case Brett asks them about the flat tire at the wedding.” When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Logan?”
He released a heavy breath. “What the fuck are we doing, Val?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. This,” he said, motioning to the two of them. “This thing we’re doing. We both know this can only end badly.”
She walked over to him and put her hand on his chest. “It doesn’t have to. If we get caught—”
“Damn it, Valerie. It’s not if we get caught, it’s when. Because he’s eventually going to find out about our…extracurricular activities. And then what?”
“He’ll get over it. After all is said and done, it might take him some time, but you can talk to Brett and—”
“And tell him what? ‘I slept with your sister. My bad.’ Do you really think that’s going to make everything okay?”
The look she gave him could’ve cracked glass. “Is that all this is to you? A booty call? Because I actually thought it was something different.” Hurt registered in her eyes, and she turned away from him.
He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back. “I’m sorry. That’s not at all what I meant. Of course this isn’t just a booty call. I care about you,” he said, threading a loose strand of her blond hair behind her ear. “But that isn’t the way it’s going to come across to your brother. You heard what he just said. No matter what really happens between us, he’s going to assume I took advantage of you. Especially now that you’re working for me.”
“I don’t care what he thinks.” Valerie fisted her hands on her hips and lifted her stubborn chin. “Do you want me or not, Logan?”
“You know I do.”
Her arms slid around his neck. “Then tell me.”
Logan wrapped his arms around her and ran his hands up her back, pulling her closer to him. He bent his head until his forehead touched hers. “I hate myself for wanting you so much.”
She gazed at him lovingly and smoothed her soft hand over his cheek. “I know you don’t believe this, but we’re not doing anything wrong.”
He didn’t say anything. Just leaned down and brushed a tender, chaste kiss across her mouth as he held her tighter. Her lips parted slightly, and she sighed under her breath. Hooded blue eyes rose to his as a subtle, underlying tension began to form between them.
Logan knew that look. It was the same unspoken proposition she’d given to him years ago, but she’d been only a teenager then. A kid, really. He was fairly certain that, at the time, she’d been untouched and hadn’t had a clue what she was offering him…or how much he’d wanted to take advantage of her naiveté.
But he hadn’t laid a finger on her. Not because he was a nice guy, a gentleman, or even a saint. Though any guy who managed to ignore an offer like that from Valerie Carmichael damn sure deserved a title worthy of sainthood.
Plain and simple, he’d done so out of loyalty. Logan sighed. “You know your brother is going to hate me for betraying our friendship.”
“Are you saying we’re not doing this?” she whispered, her gaze still connected to his.
He buried his face into her neck. “No. It’s too late to go back. I can’t stop touching you. Ever.”