Page 44 of Reckless Encounters

“Look, I’d rather not hear your excuses. It is what it is. We never talked about exclusivity, so you didn’t owe me anything, but I’d appreciate you not lying to me. From the very beginning of all of this, you have made your intentions clear with me. And you seemed to be pretty adamant about wanting a chance with me and only me, so how can I believe anything else you say when that was certainly not the case?”

He lets out a long sigh, and I continue. “I’m honestly not mad at you. I just have a lot going on and this is probably for the best. I would appreciate it if you would respect me as a colleague and not pursue me as anything more moving forward.”

“Ava…” he whispers, and I cut him off again.

“No, Logan. I need you to respect my wishes. I look forward to continuing our working relationship, but that’s all I’m willing to give.

And saving the day once again, Olivia waltzes into the lobby at that moment. “Logan…” She barely greets him, turning to me. “Ready to go, Av?”

“Yep!” I say, grabbing my purse from the chair and giving Logan one last glance. “You act professional, and I promise you, I will too. This project is important to me.”

He gulps, looking at Olivia, who he is obviously not used to receiving the cold shoulder from. “It’s important to me too. You have my word.” Just before I turn to head out the door, he calls my name, and I give him one more glance.

“I’m sorry,” he says sincerely.

I nod and give him a soft smile. At the end of the day, he wasn’t right for me, and I know that. I was more pissed he seemed so invested and then really wasn’t. I don’t want to be played as a fool.

On the other hand, the man I can’t get out of my head says he isn’t invested, but lately his actions are speaking louder than his words. And I’m not sure he even realizes it.

“Glad to have that over with?” Olivia asks as we head toward the Target not far from the hotel.

“Yes, definitely…and you know you don’t have to be mad at him, right? I don’t expect that. It’s not really that big of a deal.”

“Yes, it is. You forget I was there from day one when he kept gushing about you to me. I even put in a good word for him, and for what? So he could go fuck it up over Tasha?”

I grab her arm, wanting to make sure I heard her correctly. “Wait, Tasha? As in, Parker’s assistant?”

She nods, pursing her lips. “Mmhmm! When I confronted him this morning, I made him tell me who it was.”

The sick side of my brain flits to Parker. I wonder if he thinks she’s as worthy of his attention as Logan does. This is exactly why I can’t hold a grudge against Logan. My thoughts always spiral to him.

“Wow, that's interesting.”

“I know, right! No wonder she is always giving us the stink eye.”

I giggle at that because she certainly does.

“I’ll say this last thing, and then I want to drop the Logan topic. I appreciate you having my back, and I love you for that, but give him some grace. Deep down, I’m sure he could tell I wasn’t all in, which is why I can’t be so pissed at him. I hate liars, but he’s young, dumb, and will hopefully learn from his mistake.”

She laughs. “I swear I thought you were about to say he’s young, dumb, and full of cum.”

We both fall into a fit of giggles as we walk into the Target.

“Okay, so what do you need?” Olivia asks as I get a shopping cart.

“Basically, everything. If it wasn’t in my suitcases from my trip, it’s ruined.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, my grandpa called me a few hours ago after the contractor went to assess the damages and basically said my room, bathroom, laundry room, and half of the living room will require a complete gut because of the standing water and mold that’s most likely growing in the walls.” The news didn’t come as a shock to me. After I saw it in person last night, I knew it was bad. Doesn’t mean I’m any less upset about it.

“Shit, so what are you going to do in the meantime?”

I honestly don’t know.

“I’ve been searching Airbnbs, thinking maybe I could do an extended stay.”

I also thought about asking Eli and Quinn, but I feel like such a burden doing that. I know he is rarely at that condo, but they have a stretch of games here this month, so I hate the thought of inconveniencing them and the girls.

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