Blow (5 page)

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to find my balance.

“Where are your keys?” he asked.

I stared at him.

I didn’t know him.

I shouldn’t trust him.

I didn’t trust anyone.

“Where are your keys?”

A command, this time voiced as a request.

Something in his eyes made it seem okay, and with a little hesitation, I pulled the ring from my small black bag but held on to them.

With his finger pointed at me, his tone quieted. “Sit back down. I’ll take care of this.”

Concerned, I found myself hopelessly trying to excuse my behavior. “No, really, I’m fine. I skipped lunch and got dizzy for a second. That’s all.”

That stare scorched me again and for a moment I think he considered leaving me my keys.

But then I went to take a step forward and felt my equilibrium spin off kilter again.

Wow, that shot really went to my head.

Logan grabbed them and with almost a triumphant smirk, he was twirling the key ring around his finger before I even realized it. “Let me be the alpha male you think I am and take care of this.”

Even though I laughed, I thought that was probably a good idea. Still, I was anything but a damsel in distress and didn’t want to appear that way. I blinked a few times before conceding. “Thank you.”

That smirk remained as he slid his coffee cup my way. “Here, drink this. I haven’t touched it yet.”

I gave in much too easily as I reached for the cup of black java. “Okay. I’ve already given them all my info.”

The mechanic gestured toward the door and as Logan followed him outside, I watched his swagger. Concern poured through my veins. Sure, he was handsome, charming, maybe a bit brooding in the sexiest way. Still, I’d gone without physical attraction my whole life. Never really wanted to feel it. Only rarely went looking for it. Most of the time I didn’t need it. But the way my body reacted to his terrified me. I couldn’t fight it even if I wanted to.

Not even when I’d met my very first boyfriend right out of college had I experienced such a lustful reaction. Then again, that’s what had made Charlie so right for me. We were both looking for companionship and the sex was secondary. In hindsight, look at how badly that ended. Sadness swept through me as the memory of him seeped from the place I’d stored it long ago.

“Hey love,” he said the first time he laid eyes on me.

His charm got me right away.

He looked like a Charlie. Dark hair, big build, medium height, beautiful eyes. Charlie was a businessman from London with the sexiest English accent I’d ever heard. We were both working for the International Trade Center in Paris when we met. He worked in finance and had been transferred just weeks before I’d arrived. This was my first job after college and I was so nervous. It couldn’t have been more perfect that I’d found him. During the day we both worked. He went to the office while I visited local exporters, purchasing the finest merchandise to sell in the States. At night and on the weekends, we explored the city together. We became best friends and since I’d never had one, I treasured him.

Over the course of my four-month stay, we did what I never thought I would do: fell in love. Unable to stand the idea of not having him to talk to every day, I made Paris my home base. ITC didn’t care where I conducted business, so for the next year, I traveled to international markets, always returning to find Charlie anxiously waiting for me.

When the day came that he began to talk about marriage, I was forced to tell him what I had yet to confess. Charlie did his best to accept that hard truth but in the end, I knew he wouldn’t be able to. As the weeks passed he started to pull away. I even thought about ending things before he eventually would, but I just couldn’t.

He was my first love, my only love. I was young and naïve, and I mistakenly thought love conquered all.

I learned the hard way that it couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“I wouldn’t bother.” The bartender’s voice brought me back from the darkness of my past.

I swirled around on my stool to face her. “I think you have the wrong idea about us”—I paused to read her name tag—“Molly.”

She dumped both of the cold coffees down the sink in front of her. “I saw the way you were looking at him and I just thought you should know he never gets attached.”

If only she knew that made him all the more perfect.

“I appreciate your warning, but like I said, it’s not what you think.”

A hand touched my back and I felt a spark as Logan leaned forward. “What’s not what you think?”

Feeling oddly shy, I barely glanced at him. “You and me. I was just telling Molly that she had the wrong idea about us.”

He sat down and I felt those hazel eyes zero in on me.

Shedding the shyness that a woman my age had no business feeling, I met his gaze. I must have been crazy, seeing in expression that he hoped she didn’t have the wrong idea about us. I blinked, knowing my interpretation couldn’t have been right.

Logan tapped the bar with his fingers. “Don’t listen to anything Molly has to say. She grew up next door to my grandfather and thinks she knows me.”

Molly hit him with the towel she had slung over her shoulder. “I do. We’ve known each other practically our whole lives.”

He threw her a warning look I didn’t understand and then shrugged. “True, but after I was fifteen, I only visited once a year at Christmas and one month every summer. So you tell me, how well can you know me?”

She frowned; obviously she didn’t agree with him. “Better than most people.”

He tossed her another warning look.

“Molly,” an older man bellowed from a doorway behind the bar.

She rolled her eyes. “Coming, Dad.”

The man lifted his chin. “Logan.”

“Frank,” Logan replied flatly.

“I’ll see you around. I have to get back to my club. My father prefers to be over here,” Molly said with a glimmer in her eye.

“Yeah, sure.” Logan’s tone didn’t give anything away.

“Molly,” the man said sternly. “The DJ is having some technical difficulty.”

With another roll of her eyes, she replied, “Coming, coming,” then she turned back. “You’d think my father would know what to do when the breaker blows.” With that, she hurried toward the older man and followed him through the door, which must have connected to the club-like side.

Logan swiveled on the stool and his knees touched mine. More sparks shot through me. I wondered if he felt them too. If he did, they must not have bothered him because he didn’t move away. “So I’ve got some bad news.”

I tilted my head. “Oh, no, what is it?”

“Don’t shoot the messenger, but there’s no spare tire and the vehicle is going to have to be towed to the station.”

“Can’t he just patch it?”

He shook his head. “No way. I saw it and it’s beyond repair.”

I looked at my watch and sighed. Michael probably already had Clementine home by now. Distressed, I said, “Are you sure there’s nothing they can do? I need to get to work tonight and it’s a little far to walk.”

Logan became very serious. “The tire isn’t repairable. He has to order a new one. Unfortunately the station doesn’t stock the one that fits your SUV. He says it will be ready tomorrow afternoon. It’s doubtful any garage around here stocks an expensive tire like that, but do you want to call your husband and see if he knows of someplace else you might want to try? Because there is no way you should walk anywhere this late.”

“My husband?” I laughed out loud.

Logan furrowed his brows. “Yeah, O’Shea.”

I laughed again. “Michael isn’t my husband.”

His eyes flickered in surprise. “Sorry, I just assumed.”

I swore I saw a shadow of doubt so I held my left hand out. “See, I’m not married. No ring.”

Strangely, relief seemed to cross his features.

I’d already checked out Logan’s hand back at Michael’s office and I hadn’t seen a ring, or a tan mark, or an indentation, so my assumption was the young McPherson wasn’t married either. But the lipstick-stained cup meant he might have a girlfriend.

“Is the little girl your daughter?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. Clementine is my niece. Michael is married to my sister.”

Is, was. I wasn’t really sure which, since she was MIA.

Logan didn’t look confused, but I still thought I should probably explain. “My sister has been in rehab for the past three months, and—”

Before I could finish the well-rehearsed lie Michael had told me to tell everyone, the door opened, and with the music on pause the mechanic’s voice bellowed through the bar, “O’Shea! Elizabeth O’Shea.”

“That’s me,” I said, this time to the man in the blue quilted jacket calling my sister’s name. I was Gabrielle Sterling. Long ago called Gabby, now called Elle. But after so many months, I was used to being called by my sister’s name. It was the name in which the car was registered and the name on the Triple A card. It was the name on the credit cards I used. It was the name associated with everything in her life. It was the name I never got a chance to call her.

Logan looked at me questioningly.

My plan was that I would use her credit cards and car only temporarily. Until my business got up and running. Unless she returned first, then I’d be more than happy to return them both. I didn’t like my situation, I didn’t like relying on Michael, but if I wanted to stay stationary and be near Clementine, I didn’t have much of a choice. I gave Logan a little shrug. “Michael’s letting me use her car until I get my own.” That was all he needed to know.

He said nothing.

I didn’t like how my statement sounded and felt very uncomfortable admitting it to him. “I should take care of this. Thank you for the drink,” I said, standing and reaching for my keys.

He placed them in my palm. “Tell him to take the car. I can drive you wherever you need to go.”

“No, that’s not necessary. I’ll just ride with him to the station and call for a rental. I’m sure they have a company they work with.”

Looking nervous, he shook his head. “Not a good idea.”

My eyes locked on his and all I could see were the brown flecks surrounding his green irises. They were mesmerizing. My tongue felt tied for a moment, but finally I spoke. “Why do you say that?”

“I’m not really sure—something about him seems off.”

“Oh, the alpha male thing,” I gave a huff of laughter. “I’ll be fine.”

Concerned, he said again, “I’d rather you didn’t ride with him.”

I wasn’t sure what to think but felt I should trust his judgment. “I’ll take a cab then. I can’t ask you to drive me around. You know what? Maybe I should just call around and try to find someone who has the tire in stock.”

He looked at his very expensive watch, then back at me. “Like I side, doubtful. The tire is too expensive for most shops to keep in stock. Besides, it’s a Friday and after six. Good luck getting anyone to answer, even through Triple-A.”

He had a point.

“Just let me help you,” he insisted.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you. Like you said, it is Friday night. Don’t you have a date or somewhere else to be?”

The lipstick-stained coffee cup came to mind.

He stared at me and then ever so slightly shook his head. “The only thing you’re interrupting is my planned date with the Four Seasons room service menu. But since you’re going to let me take you out to dinner, I think I can forgive you for that one transgression.”

Wariness crept over me. “How do I know I can trust you?”

His grin was wide. “If you don’t know that by now, I can’t help you answer that.”

I tilted my head in contemplation.

Logan was determined, and he continued to watch me.

A fleeting, what-do-I-have-to-lose thought had me smiling at him and then when he smiled back, I thought about how long it had been since I shared a moment like this with anyone.

Why not? So what if I’m attracted to him? Dinner is dinner; it doesn’t mean things between us need to go farther if I don’t want them to. Even if it does, so what if we fuck? That’s what two people do who are attracted to each other. My terms. My rules. I’ll make that clear. One night and we could both move past this strange attraction. It could work out perfectly for the both of us. And besides, I did skip lunch and I’m hungry.

My eyes slid toward the mechanic, who appeared to be losing his patience, and without further hesitation, I nodded in agreement. “Dinner it is. Just give me a minute.”

As I walked, I felt Logan’s eyes on me and knew the attraction was mutual, but for some reason that knowledge didn’t make me second-guess my decision. I quickly looped the oversized silver and black fob off my key ring and handed it to the mechanic. “Here’s the key. Can you deliver the vehicle to where I work at 40 Charles Street tomorrow once it’s ready?”

He nodded and then scribbled down the address. “The total will be four hundred and sixty dollars—that includes the delivery fee of fifty dollars.”

Once upon a time, I might have winced at the amount for a single tire, but leading a life of domesticity was expensive, as I’d come to learn over the past three months. Without hesitation, I pulled out my credit card, or rather my sister’s, and handed it to him.

Michael and I had an agreement: he’d cover me until my new business got on its feet and I could pay him back. In return, while he did what was needed to make things right for what Lizzy had done, I would help him with Clementine. She had a nanny, but with her mother missing and out of the picture, she needed as many constants in her life as possible. Michael of course, did his best, but he did work a lot. Things were going to have to change soon, but since my arrival I had created a routine with her that worked wonderfully—Wednesday morning breakfasts, Friday afternoon walks, Saturday night sleepovers, and Sunday dinners.

The mechanic handed me the pink carbon beneath the yellow original.

“Have a good night,” I said.

He gave me a nod. “You too.”

Hmmm
. . . he seemed fine. I’m not certain what Logan found to be off about him.

The music had started to blare again, this time even louder. “Ready?” Logan’s warm breath was in my ear before I’d even turned around. I heard him just fine, as if my body had become attuned to his in this short period of time.