Page 53 of Breathless

Tori, latching onto my paranoia, somehow responds without moving her lips. “I’m sure. Not weird. Not weird at all. As long as we aren’t discussing dicksize.”

I blush ten shades ofred.

“But judging by your expression”—she pauses to lift an eyebrow—“it’ssignificant.”

Laughter busts out of me. I’m too distracted by her talking like she’s a secret agent handing off a dossier to be mortified that my face is giving away personal details about Logan’s privates. Like he’d even care. He’d probably strut around like a proud peacock to know I think his manhood isenormous.

“How do you do that?” I motion toward hermouth.

“It’s cool, right? I saw some ventriloquist on PBS once when I was a kid and gotobsessed.”

“It’s somehow both cool and bizarre. If you paired it with that weird eye thing you do, you might give menightmares.”

She snorts. “You mean this?” Her eyes open dramatically and shift left, then right, back and forth while she recites the national anthem without moving herlips.

“Whoa.”

We both crackup.

After slathering on a healthy amount of sunscreen, I hand it back to her and take a swig of my Corona while I moon over Logan, who dives after the volleyball like some kind of sun god, all bulging muscles and devilishsmirk.

So while I’m definitely freaking out over what happened last night, I liked it. Alot.

Almost as much as I enjoyed waking up to his hard body wrapped aroundmine.

When I woke up tangled in him this morning, he threaded his fingers through my hair and was about to kiss me when Patrick pounded on our door and asked if we wantedbreakfast.

I tried not to watch Logan get up and stretch—buck-ass naked—but it was a losing effort. We took quick showers, separately, because even though he offered to wash my back, with the light of day shining in the room, I felt my shyness swallowing me whole again. But we walked out of the condo holding hands, and while it’s a bit unnerving to be around our friends and his family like a couple after so many years of just being friends, I’m really freakingecstatic.

And more than a littletortured.

I bump Tori with my elbow. “Do you really think it’s smart to start something now when I’m supposed to go home in a week to work with my cousin?” I lower my voice again. “Even if I’ve had a thing for Logan for my whole life, I promised Dawn. Plus, I gave her my entiresavings.”

She chugs some water and rolls her eyes. “Thisis home. They’re just borrowing you for a stretch. Don’t confusethings.”

I shake my head, smiling. “Be serious. I need youradvice.”

“The pressure!” She shoves me with a smirk. “Fine. I’ll be serious. Take things slow, like Logan suggested, and we’ll figure out the rest. And for the record, I’m proud of that boy for sounding somature.”

“Right?”

“Totally. Who knew that inside that sweet, albeit misguided, manchild was a guy ready to settle down and make acommitment?”

I pause. “Is that what we’redoing?”

Like she’s Susan B. Anthony giving a speech, she narrows her eyes and peers out across the sand where the guys are chatting, and waves her arm. “You, Joey Grayson, have accomplished what women across South Texas have only dreamed of doing. You have wrangled the elusive Logan Carter into arelationship.”

When she sees my face, she shrugs. “What? It’s not like he’s seeing anyone else. Just you. And you’re not seeing anyone. What do we call that, when two people are exclusively seeing eachother?”

There goes her eyebrowagain.

“Holyshit.”

“That’s right, mama. Holy shit.” She holds up her fist, and I giggle and jab her back. “Because I will tell you he hasneverbrought a hookup to a family weekend or had some rando stay one night, much less two weeks, in his house. You, my little biscuit, arespecial.”

The words hit me so hard, my eyes sting. Between my dad leaving us after Mom died and my brother treating me like dirt, the idea that Logan actually sees me as something special is almost more than I canhandle.

“That makes me strangely emotional.” I wave my hand across my eyes so I don’t startbawling.

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