Page 56 of Sin Bin

She smiled at him. “What’s your middle name?”

“I have two.”

“Yeah? What are they?”

He hesitated. “Francisco Matías.”

“Francisco Matías,” she repeated softly. “That’s beautiful.”

He looked down at the lake. “I was named after my great-grandfather.”

She stared at him. “Does he…did he…?”

“Know about me?” Logan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t think so. I never met him or any of my mom’s relatives.”

Meadow felt a hot burst of anger spark inside her. How could his mother have kept her own child a secret from her family? How could she have abandoned him, leaving him to fend for himself at such a young age? What kind of mother would do such a thing?

Restlessly Logan got up and leaned back against the heavy bark of a cottonwood, crossing his booted feet at the ankle.

Meadow bit her lip as she gazed up at him. Not for the first time, she sensed that something was bothering him. Something must have happened to him today. But what?

After a few moments, she rose from the blanket and stood in front of him, arms loosely folded over her chest.

He put his head back against the tree, studying her from beneath his thick lashes. His stubble-darkened face looked even more shadowed in the moonlight. Wickeder. Dangerous.

He reached out and found an errant strand of her hair to wind around a long finger.

Tightness pulled at her stomach and she shivered.

“You cold?” he murmured.

She shook her head. She was aware of him in a way she’d never been aware of another man.

He released her hair but not her gaze.

She couldn’t look away from him. She was drawn to his raw animal magnetism, the dark energy that radiated from him like a force field. Something about him had always made her want to be in his sphere, even at her own peril.

She moved to the spot beside him and pressed her back against the tree trunk.

After a moment, he shifted so their shoulders were touching. Her stomach quivered, but she didn’t move away.

“I bet you’re happy about the new job,” he said.

“I am.”

He shot her a teasing glance. “You don’t sound all that happy.”

She gave him a sad little smile. “I have a fragile relationship with happiness. Every time it’s within my grasp, it slips away before I can get a firm grip.”

Logan nodded slowly. “I know the feeling.”

“I know you do,” she whispered, staring down at the lake. The water reflected the bright full moon.

“How did you end up at a group home?” Logan asked quietly. “I always thought they were mostly for kids who couldn’t be placed in foster homes because of serious behavioral issues.” He paused. “Kids like me.”

Meadow felt her throat tighten and her shoulders tense up. “I was considered…troubled.”

Logan stared at her. “Why?”

---