Page 112 of Meet Me in the Valley
An invitation. Maybe a date?
My cheeks flush, but it’s not from flattery—it’s discomfort. It feels wrong. Like I’m betraying something.
Someone.
Yes, I’m single. And yes, only an idiot would turn down dinner with someone who looks like Lucas—someone whose muscles I’ve already memorized under the tension of our roll.
But that was different. Rolling is never sexual.
It’s intense, intimate, primal even—but notthatkind of intimacy. And whatever spark flickers in his eyes, it’s not what I’m looking for.
Because it’s nothiseyes I want looking at me like that.
“You’ll know when.”
“Uh. Um—” The words clog my throat, unfinished.
Before I can answer, the door to the gym creaks open, pulling my attention like a magnet.
A figure steps inside.
Hazel eyes sweep across the room, slow and searching until they land on mine.
The air leaves my lungs. Not like a gasp.
Like a blow.
Harder than any hit I’ve taken on the mat. Harder than any choke I’ve fought my way out of.
Disbelief slams into me first.
Then relief, blunt and sudden.
Then fear coils deep in my gut.
She’s here.
Chapter Thirty-Four
LOGAN
We’ve been going at this for fifteen minutes, and I can’t get out of my head today.
“Logan, you seem tense. Where did you go just now?”
Three weeks of being with Charlotte has definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. She lets me set the pace, but she has this way of getting me to open up like no one else has. Every time I fight it, she’s right there to coax me out of the ugly parts of my mind. Knowing exactly the right words to say and making them land where she needs them to.
I dig my fingers into the back of my neck, rubbing out the strained muscles. “I’m sorry,” I sigh.
“You never have to apologize, Logan. Not with me,” Charlotte reassures with her disarming smile.
“Right. Um, I was thinking about my last night with Tia.”
“The night before she moved back to California, right?”
“Mhmm.”
Charlotte readjusts the thick-framed glasses on her face, icy blue eyes boring into mine. It’s not an intense stare, but it’s almost challenging—like I can’t hide and fold into myself.
