Page 22 of Yo Ho Ho
"You know, you're right." Her teeth were clenched, her voice brittle. "I have a problem, Logan, and my problem is you."
"Max, I didn't mean—"
"Yes, you did." She nodded bitterly. "You're looking forward to me losing my job so you can finally have a chance to sleep with me again."
"Max—"
She put her finger up to stop him in the middle of his sentence. "Don't waste my time, Logan. Because even when I'm sitting at home in my sweatpants collecting my unemployment checks, even then, there is no way I ever want to be with you again."
Max turned and grabbed the handle of her car door, violently pulling it open and climbing in. She immediately started the engine, and Logan could hear the radio volume get turned up so loud, the bass was shaking the windows of her car. He got the hint. Max had made herself clear.
Logan stepped back from the car to give her room so she could back up without running over his foot. He wasn't about to try and stop her or make her change her mind. And really, after what he had said, how could he? Logan told her he was looking forward to her losing her job. How low was that?
As she backed up, he could see through her window. She had a tear on her cheek. Just one, but it was noticeable, and it was because of him. He watched her pull out of the parking lot and could think about one thing: Dammit, he really was a jerk.
Chapter 10
Max may only have a few more weeks at this job, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to put her all into it. Even if that meant writing a feature piece about a man who just pissed her off in a parking lot.
Looking forward to her losing her job so he could sleep with her?What an asshole.That was pretty much what Max kept repeating over and over again in her head as she drove to the newsroom.
Sure, there were moments here and there when that thought had crossed her mind. Perhaps there could be something between them at some point in the near future. Perhaps no more late nights and long road trips would benefit her love life, and maybe that love life could include Logan. But that was a big maybe, and it was a big maybebeforehe decided to run his mouth about going out for drinks and taking advantage of her work situation for his own personal gain.
Logan Moore was definitely a jerk, and he was a jerk that Max had to write about for a long feature piece going on the front page of the sports section for the Sunday paper. Right now, she couldn't think of anyone she hated more than Logan.
But Max had a job to do so she did it. She banged away at the keyboard on her desk, her fingers flying over the keys as she described him as the head of the dragon, as he encouraged a small girl with pig tails sticking out of her helmet to try something again. She threw in quotes from him recalling his favorite thing about hockey when he was a kid.
"I got to go really fast!"
Logan had this giddy look in his eye when he said it, like he enjoyed reliving that time when he was seven years old in gear that was too big for him as he flailed around on the ice. Max knew exactly what he was talking about — she had the same experience at that age — and even smiled at him as he told the story to encourage him to keep talking. Was it her smile that pushed him over the edge and act like a complete moron? No, it was probably just Logan being Logan.
"Hey, what did that keyboard do to you?"
Max looked up from her desk, startled by Amanda's voice next to her. "What?"
Amanda turned and leaned over on her desk. "You seem to be in some sort of mood that you're taking out on your keyboard. All 'Clack! Clack! Clack!'"
Max smiled at her editor. "I'm not mad at my keyboard."
"So what is it?" she asked. "Do you not like writing 1,000 words about an attractive hockey player hanging out with kids and puppies?"
She rolled her eyes. "You told me I couldn't bring any puppies."
"Touché," Amanda said with a wave of her hand. "But seriously, what's up with the story?"
Max took a deep breath and stared back at the words on her screen. It was turning into an awesome feature piece that would have some great photos and make women swoon and guys wish they could be Logan Moore. It was perfect — except for the part where it was about Logan.
Max tapped her fingers on her desk, trying to get rid of some of the nervous pent-up energy she was holding on to. It wasn't working.
"Logan said something to me in the parking lot right before I left," Max confessed.
"What did he say?"
Max turned to look at Amanda, who was now intently staring at her, and took a deep breath. Amanda didn't need to know everything, right? But she could know enough.
"He said he was happy in a way that I was losing my job."
"Happy in a way?"
