Page 24 of The Doctor

“Why did you, though?”

I shook my head and smiled. “That’s a long story for another day.”

“And you have a date to go on.” Dom rolled his eyes like it was so lame that two adults wanted to go on a date.

Another several minutes later and we walked into the PaintBall course. Nick, the monitor for the day, stood with a bunch of teenagers surrounding him. He held out his hand to Dom. “I’m Nick, or Uncle Nick. You decide. I’m glad you’re here. The boys are a man short, so you’re going to fit right in.”

Dom shook his hand then looked at me. “What do I have to do?”

“They’re playing PaintBall. Just make sure you don’t get shot.”

Dom nodded and walked further into the room.

I let out a long breath and smiled at Ollie. “He’s really good with his younger sibling but damn, he has no problem giving me attitude.”

“Sounds about right for any teenager.”

“But I don’t know how he’ll be with kids his own age.” I lowered my voice. “He could struggle to make friends. I know he played sport so he’s probably more sociable than I’ve expected from him.”

Nick put his hands on my shoulders. “Bex, don’t worry.” His face softened and I was glad to have the support of my family. “He’ll be fine. We have good kids inside here. No one will treat him badly.”

I knew he was right. The worst that could happen was that he got an earful of Skylar’s potty mouth. I gave Nick a quick hug before I made my way back to the car where Logan was waiting.

As I got in, he gave me a sexy smile. “You want to go down to our spot.”

“We are not going to make out on the beach.”

His frown was comical. “Why not? We could get sand in all sorts of unpleasant places. How can you not be down for that?”

I laughed as he started the car. Yeah, things had changed. But only a little. I was not a fan of beach sand. But making out? Yeah, I could get behind that.

15

LOGAN

The crinkle of her nose brought a smile to my face. If I had to guess, she was thinking about how sand used to get in awkward places when we made out on the beach. She always complained about it after the fact. The benefit of experience meant she’d thought about it beforehand.

“I tell you what.” I pulled her chin between my forefinger and thumb. “We’ll walk along the shore until we get to that large rock jutting out. We can stop there and make out before I take you on the real date.”

She looked at me with narrowed eyes before she smiled and slapped my bicep. “You’re fucking with me.”

“Just a little.” Laughing, I let go of her chin and turned the ignition. “We’re going to the diner first. We’ll get burgers and share a plate of fries and a chocolate milk shake. Then we’ll go for a drive and make out. We’ll keep the beach for next time.”

Her mouth fell open in shock. “You’re recreating our first date. That’s what we ate. And we made out in the back of Ollie’s car.”

“Yeah, that will be the one thing I want to change.” Back then my mom couldn’t afford a car. Now I could. But that wasn’t theonly reason. “I don’t want to piss off your brother any more than I already have.”

Truth was, Ollie was at least cordial to me but he still wasn’t talking to Bex. I got that he was pissed and I even understood it wasn’t my place to share our secret with her family. Not only that, but Bex never told me exactly what her reason was for giving Dom up. The kid was loved, there was no mistaking that. I wasn’t sure if the stepdad was as attentive as Dorian Bayers, but Dom knew what it was like to be loved by two parents. Not only that, but he had the kind of life I would never have been able to provide for him fifteen years ago. For that I was grateful.

The only thing Bex was certain of at the time was that she had no business being a mother. Watching her with all three kids, I disagreed. Those kids were the center of her world. How could she not see that?

Still, our kid had felt the kind of pain no one should have to go through at such a young age.

“He’ll come around.” Bex’s confidence in her brother was endearing and not unwarranted. “He was outside the building last night taking a guard shift. He may be pissed as hell. But he won’t let anything happen to any of us.”

That was true. Her family loved fiercely which was why I never understood why she’d kept our secret all these years.

By the time we arrived at the diner, we had moved on to lighter topics. I told her about the idiot who came into the ER with a nail through his palm. A nail gun accident. She told me about the douchebags who came in for tactical training. They tried to tell her how to do her job. They failed to see the Ranger who knew what she was talking about. All they saw was a woman. A fucking sexy one at that.

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