Page 93 of Wild Catch
“It’s just…” I worry my bottom lip. “I’m trying not to freak him out.”
“How?” she asks, swallowing.
I look at the burger on a paper plate balanced on my lap. “Well, you know him. He’s kind of aloof and, like, after the whole thing with Ben I don’t really want to be the one who wants the guy more, does that make sense?”
“Hmm.” Hope reaches for the iced tea bottle at her feet and takes a healthy swig before talking. The sun is setting behind her, and the automatic lights around the pool start to turn on. “Well, Logan’s not that aloof. He’s pretty friendly, actually.”
I look at her like she grew another head. Fortunately, she’s more focused on her food than on how that lands.
I guess I’m also jealous of the relationship Hope and Logan have. It’s true that he’s a lot more relaxed around her than anyone else, including the rest of the team or myself. He basically treats me the same way he does Cade or Lucky—which is to say, not that friendly.
Hope has no way of knowing how my heart is squeezing when she continues talking. “And as for the other topic, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
“What?” I completely forgot what the other topic even was.
“Trust me, Rose. He’s so into you, it’s funny.”
“Huh?” I lean forward abruptly, eyes bulging.
“You didn’t see how he was looking at you earlier?” No reaction comes from me, so she adds, “When you were taking off your shorts. He kept doing this.” She sets her plate down to open and close her fists hard enough that her muscles bulge. “Cade said he was surprised the dude didn’t crack a tooth with how hard he was clenching his jaw.”
“Clenching his… what?” I shake my head, still confused.
“You were this close”—She pinches her index and thumb close enough to touch—“To him picking you up and taking you somewhere to do unspeakable things during a family function.”
As if on cue, a gaggle of toddlers runs by us, the leader holding a hot dog up high like it’s a trophy.
I turn back to Hope. “You must’ve been hallucinating. There’s no way that Logan—” I catch myself because he’s supposed to be my boyfriend. Of course he’s supposed to want me. So I correct myself. “That he would be that obvious in public.”
“So is that the issue?” Hope checks our surroundings and lowers her voice. “Is he not affectionate enough, like whatshisface?”
Logan and Ben don’t even belong in the same sentence together.
And that’s the issue. Without having any feelings for me or ever having been intimate, Logan has already shown me much more affection than Ben ever did.
Logan probably thinks I don’t notice the little things he does, like earlier when we were driving over and some guy in traffic was looking at me in a lewd way. It wasn’t like Logan could do much in that circumstance, but reminding the stranger that I wasn’t alone was enough to get him to look away.
I wonder if he could feel my heart hammering against his back, or if he had any idea that I wanted him to keep his hands around my thighs—pull me even closer if possible.
I wonder if he knows I almost cried when he gave me his shirt. That in this sham we’re in, I’ve felt more like a WAG than I did in any intimate moment with Ben Williams.
“He is affectionate,” I say with a sigh. “Just not so much in—in public,” I lie, when actually Logan is the perfect boyfriend in public and a stranger in private.
“Give him some time. He’s surprisingly shy—just don’t tell him I said so.”
“I won’t.” I smile weakly.
How right she is, dang her. Logan is a force of nature to most people, certainly a thorn on the side to Cade, but that’s because they haven’t caught a glimpse of all the hurt and loneliness hidden inside of him.
I did, back at the birthday dinner with his awful parents. I wish he’d let me in—for real. I wish this giant crush I’m harboring had a purpose other than to torture me.
Drawn by him, my eyes find him among the guys once more and I jolt, because Logan’s looking straight at me.
He motions with his head in the universalshall we?way, and I nod. I am so ready to get back home, shower, condition my hair, and crawl in bed with a romance book I can live vicariously through.
“I think we’re going to head out now,” I tell Hope, watching as Logan extricates himself from Lucky’s and Cade’s hold, breaking from the group.
“This early?” she asks while chewing the last of her burger.
