Page 37 of Yo Ho Ho
He gave her a gently kiss on her forehead. "Of course, Max."
She snuggled in closer to him, her arm wrapping around his waist as she felt his chest rise and fall under her cheek, and she quickly fell asleep.
Chapter 14
Logan woke up and stretched out in his bed, trying to loosen up his muscles. The team's masseuse was going to hate him today, but he definitely needed to have some work done before the game.
It was all Max's fault.
He honestly went to her room last night to apologize. Max had written an amazing story about him even after he had yelled at her in the parking lot. He knew she would say it was just her job and no big deal, but he still wanted her to know that it was a big deal to him.
And then she looked at him with those brown eyes, trying so hard to be strong when so much was falling down around her. It sounded like a cliché, like he was just feeling sorry for her and wanted to be the man who could fix it. Maybe he did. Maybe he was that cliché. But there was something else there, something that he hoped Max had felt as well.
He wanted to be with her, to feel her engulf him and make him lose all sense of control. He wanted that kind of connection with her. Hell, he had wanted that since their night together in Denver. Not just because she was gorgeous and her body was amazing. It was because she was smart and fun and could debate teams' playoff prospects with him. Could he be blamed for finding a woman like that attractive? Nope. Some men would find that intimating and a turn off. Logan was not like some men.
Plus, it wasn't just some "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am" kind of thing. The sex was great, but Max had asked him to stay after that, just for a little while. There was no way Logan was going to argue with that. He was there until she fell asleep, which didn't take long. He should have left as soon as she passed out, but he decided to stick around a little longer. Her body was soft and warm, and the way she had wrapped herself around him made him feel… Was "special" too cheesy of a way to describe it? It didn't sound very manly or mature, and yet that was the first thing that popped into his head.
Logan ran his fingers through his hair and checked his cell phone on the nightstand. His alarm would ring in five minutes anyway so he just turned it off and got up. Better to get a head start on Alex and take over the bathroom for a quick shower.
Normally, he would just throw on his sweats and head to the practice rink, get warmed up for the game that afternoon and take a shower at the rink. But normally, he would also go to sleep at ten o'clock at night, and his bedtime routine didn't involve the woman next door. Literally, Max was next door. It was a fact that Logan hadn't realized until late last night when he snuck out of her room. He had come at it from a different direction last night, using his ice bucket as an excuse to get in. He wasn't kidding when he asked her to be quiet in case prying ears were listening in. Alex was on the other side of the wall.
The water in the shower was hot, which was good for Logan's muscles. Maybe it would loosen things up a bit. His neck was especially tight from leaning at an awkward angle against Max's headboard. If it weren't for his roommate, there would be other things that Logan would be thinking about in the shower when it came to Maxine Quinn. Her soft skin under his fingers, her perky breasts in his mouth—
Nope. Can't do that,he thought.What about baseball or grandma's cookies or Birdie sticking his head in the bathroom door? Wait…
"What the fuck, man?" Logan yelled.
His hands instinctively went to cover his unmentionables as he stared at his roommate through the shower glass door.
"Whatever, I see you naked in the locker room all the time," Alex said. "I need to take a piss so hurry up."
"Give me two minutes."
Alex closed the door as Logan turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the rack. Yep, it was definitely a good idea to think about baseball with a Russian roommate lurking around.
Logan headed out just as Alex pushed his way in and closed the door behind him. His suitcase was near the window by his bed, which made it easy for him to sit down in his towel and dig through it before finding new track pants and a clean t-shirt. He pulled his pants on before opening the shades to look out at the palm trees and warm Florida sun. He wondered if Max was doing the same thing in her room, if she saw the same things he did.
Alex walked out of the bathroom and came up to stand next to Logan. "Not a bad view, is it?"
"It's a good way to wake up."
Waking up next to Max would've been better, but that couldn't happen until her job was over.
Once again, Logan was thinking about how things could be better once Max lost her job. It was so hard for him to consider all of it, especially after last night. The pain on her face broke his heart. She was right that he had felt sorry for her. But there was also the pleasure of last night. He would be a very happy man if he could do that again and again and again.
But today was a new day. He would respect Max's space and not bring it up. He would let her come to him. He would give her the time that she needed because last night made him more determined than ever. Logan didn't know how or when, but he was going to find a way to get Max back in his bed and, more important, back in his life after the final paper rolled off the presses.
Chapter 15
Today wasn't as awkward as Max had expected it to be. Although, to be fair, it was still awkward. There was that moment this morning when she was waiting at the elevators in the hotel with Bob as a few of the players showed up, including Logan and Alex. Two reporters and four players in one tiny elevator, and Logan got stuck right next to her in a back corner. She could feel her breath hitch a bit, her heart speed up a little being so close to him after their night together. But Logan gave her a small polite smile, one he had given her so many times before, and looked away. She was glad that he wasn't making a big deal out of their night together, that he was acting like nothing had happened. But she also wished he would act like something that happened.
Because something had happened. She slept with Logan Moore, defenseman for the Detroit Pirates. Again.
When she woke up this morning, she woke up alone with Amanda's words on a loop in her brain. "Take a chance at being happy." Yeah, she had definitely done that. But she also needed her unemployment benefits, which theDetroit Heraldwouldn't give her if she got fired before the paper's last day. So it would just have to be more of this sneaking around and not acknowledging what had happened between her and Logan, at least for a few more weeks.
The rest of the work day was more of the same. The media hung out in the stands watching practice. Max took notes on Matt Johnson's performance in the net since there was a rumor he was nursing a groin injury, but he seemed pretty collected out on the ice. She asked Becca from the team's PR department about reports the coach was considering a shake-up of the lines tonight.
"It's a game-time decision," the PR rep responded.
