Page 45 of Logan

The relief on Iggie’s face was palpable as he shook his hand. “Oh, man, you’ve just made me and Sally so happy. I thoughtwe’d leave early Sunday morning, get there, and get checked in. There are hot springs nearby, and we’d have most of that day and then that night. Sally’s brother can watch the bar on Sunday night since we close early, and then we’ll be back on Monday.”

Chuckling, he said, “Sounds like you’ve got it planned.”

Turning to walk away, Iggie said, “Uh, do you think Vivian will want to go?”

For a moment, he thought of her during the past week, each day bent over the laptop, observing the neighbors and taking meticulous notes. Nodding, he said, “Oh yeah. Viv’ll be up for the trip.”

“Are you crazy?”

Logan looked on as Vivian stood in the middle of the living room, her hands on her hips, her eyes wide, and her mouth definitely not in a smile. Not knowing how to answer her rhetorical questions, he said, “Uh…”

“Logan! Spending the weekend, in close contact, with another married couple who thinks we’re married? How the hell are we going to pull that off?”

His shoulders relaxed as his mouth quirked up. “Viv, we got this. It’s easy. Fly there, spend time by ourselves, have a great night in a lodge in a bed that isn’t on the floor with a dip in the middle, and fly back. Babe, it’s no problem.” Thinking his words would soothe, he stepped back a half foot when she rounded on him, her hands now waving in the air.

“No problem? Logan, this isn’t about sex! How can you even think about sex when most of the weekend we’ll be trying not to screw up our cover?”

Wisely deciding not to tell her how he could be thinking about sex, he remained quiet as she began to pace across the floor, her hands once more waving about.

“This isn’t about us having a wonderful weekend, Logan. We’ll be stuck in your helicopter for about four hours each way. What will we talk about? Huh? How do we sound like a married couple?”

Walking toward her, he reached out to place his hands on her shoulders to still her pacing, but she ducked away and continued her rant.

“I don’t know you! I don’t even know where you’re from. I don’t know your parents’ names, much less anything about them. Or if they’re even alive…” Swirling around suddenly, she scrunched her face as a frown settled on her features. “Oh…are they alive?”

“Yeah, babe. They’re alive?—”

Relief flooded her face as she said, “Thank God. But see? I didn’t even know that!”

“We can pull this off. We don’t leave for another two days. We’ve got time to learn about each other,” he cajoled. Grinning as he stepped forward, he added, “We’ve spent a lot of time together in the past two weeks.”

She stepped backward, the back of her knees hitting the coffee table and her body stiffening. “You’re kidding, right? Logan, I hate to break it to you, but a week of phenomenal sex hardly makes us a couple. It takes a helluva lot more than a lot of great sex to be able to be a couple.”

“What the fuck are you saying, Viv? That what we have isn’t real? That it doesn’t mean something?”

Letting out a shaky breath, she shook her head slightly. “I don’t know what we have. We haven’t exactly talked about what’s going on between us. We talk about the job. We talk about the neighbors. We talk about what we’re going to fix for dinner.And we have sex.” Wrapping her arms around her middle, she sucked in her lips.

Reaching out, Logan pulled her gently to him, feeling the tension in her body. Saying nothing, he hoped his body would offer her the solace she needed. After several minutes, he felt her relax slightly, her breath leaving her chest in a long sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her face buried in his T-shirt.

“I’m the one who’s sorry,” he admitted. “First, for leaving you here in the house for so long. And second, for not realizing you…well, we need more.”

“More what?”

“More understanding of what we are.”

She leaned her head back and asked, “When you’re typically on jobs, do you have to spend days or weeks cooped up, planning, analyzing, and being bored until the mission finally comes to fruition?”

Chuckling, he nodded. “You just described being a SEAL perfectly. Everyone thinks we ran around with special weapons all the time, raiding buildings, rescuing whoever the fuck needed it. Taking down the enemy, whoever the fuck it was at the time.”

His gaze moved from hers to someplace over her head. “But no one ever saw the endless days of planning, or sometimes just waiting…desert, jungle, mountains. Wherever. Just waiting until we could strike.”

“And what about now? Now that you have your own company?” she asked.

His brows knit as he pondered her questions. “It’s a bit new to tell. I’ll be more involved in the planning and take on missions that are right for me. The people who are like the SEAL support team are now working with those of us who will go out into the field. We’ll plan and then execute the assignments together.”

His answer seemed simple when, in truth, his business was complex. He could have sent any one of his Keepers to do thisjob. That thought hit him in the gut—the idea that one of the men under him could be here with Vivian.Would she have made the same decisions? Slept with one of them? Would they be falling for her?

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