Page 37 of Breathless

One of the reasons I left for Florida was because I was done chasing after him, hoping for whatever scraps of time he had for me. Too often, I felt like he didn’t see me. That I was this fixture in his life he was so used to, I was almostinvisible.

I don’t feel invisiblenow.

His eyes travel down my body, and chills break out on myskin.

“Thought that swimsuit was hot, but damn, Jo. Now you got the whole farm girl vibe going, and it’s kinda killingme.”

My whole body buzzes when his words settle overme.

“I got the swimsuit you liked.” He wasn’t looking at what I had in my cart when we wrapped up my shopping trip because he was too busy arguing with me over who was going to pay for it. I won, eventually. I’m glad, especially now that I know he bought me Rambo, the sweetest puppy on theplanet.

Logan eyes my top like he has x-ray vision, and an ache takes residence between mythighs.

“Ready to go?” If we don’t get away from this bed, I’m likely to fling him down on it. And yeah, I’m nervous about that too. It’s not like I have much experience in thatarea.

Rambo runs circles on the bed, and Logan grabs his leash. We load up with a few provisions and head out. The living room is empty, which is a relief. I don’t want to have problems with anyone this weekend. Renee looked like she wanted to claw out my eyeballsearlier.

As Logan and I step outside, we wave to Ethan and one of his buddies, who have fired up the grill and are kicking back with a fewbeers.

“We’ll be back soon to help you with the barbecue,” Logan callsout.

“We got this. Go have fun.” His brother returns to hisconversation.

My flip-flops slap against the wooden path between the condos and over the sand dunes until we reach thebeach.

“I feel bad Ethan and Tori are doing so much. Shouldn’t they be the ones whorelax?”

Logan shrugs. “I think they’re excited to have their friends here. Besides, they’ll be leaving for their honeymoonsoon.”

“Where are theyheaded?”

“Cancún for five days. They don’t want to leave the kids or the ranch for toolong.”

“Who’s gonna watch Cody and Mila while they’regone?”

“Who else?Me.”

If I had been in town when Ethan was planning his trip, he probably would’ve asked me to pitch in so Logan didn’t have to do everything byhimself.

“But your mom will help,right?”

“Uh…” He shoves his hair out of his eyes. “No. She’s going out oftown.”

That’s odd. Bev’s usually glued to the kids if their dad has to go away on business. “Where’s shegoing?”

He pauses to point at Kat, who’s relaxing on a beach chair with a few of her friends. “Come on. Let’s see if they’ll watch Rambo for a few minutes while we check out thewaves.”

We set up a dog bowl with water and hand Kat the leash. Rambo hops in circles, excited to have more people to charm. While Logan chats with them, I prop my beach bag on a towel and debate sliding off myshorts.

A dozen women on the beach are wearing bikinis. No biggie. I can dothis.

After a quick look around to make sure no one is paying attention to me, I slide off mycutoffs.

I shuffle back to Kat’s group of friends and am about to thank her for watching Rambo when I’m in theair.

“Whatthe—”

The earth flips upside down, and I’m dangling over Logan’s shoulder and staring at his muscularbackside.

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