Page 52 of Yo Ho Ho
He looked up to see her staring intently at him. By the look on her face, he assumed their teasing had come to an end. Logan could only nod, wordlessly telling her to continue.
"The other night in the hotel, when we were walking back from getting ice, why didn't you try and come to my room?"
Well, this was actually something he had thought about, something he had questioned himself. She was so close. All he would've had to do was follow her in. She might have stopped him or asked what he was thinking. But more than likely, she would've let him in. He knew it and he was sure she did as well. But there was something that had held him back. Something that he never would've thought about if it were any other woman. But this was Max, and Max was not any other woman.
He stared down at the half-eaten croissant in his hand. "You said you had to write your final column, and I didn't want to bother you."
"Really?"
Her voice was quiet and when Logan looked up at her, she had a genuinely surprised look on her face. It made him feel awkward, like maybe he had revealed too much. But at this point, there was no going back.
"Really," he told her. "I thought about it, and I wanted to — really wanted to — but I also know how important your job is to you right now."
"The job I'm not going to have for much longer," she said bitterly.
Logan moved closer to her on the couch and reached for her hand. "The job you're going to on Christmas Eve because you're that dedicated to it."
She turned and smiled at him. "I would have been happy to just stay here with you all day instead."
He pulled his hand away and reached for his coffee. "You can't tell me things like that."
"Why not?"
"If you want to get to work on time instead of me having my way with you right now on this couch, you can't tell me things like that."
Max nodded in understanding. "Noted," she said. "I'm just going to get my shoes and head out if you want to walk with me."
"Yeah, I would like that."
Logan followed her lead as they both stood up from the couch. But as he was about to walk out, Max turned and put her hand on his chest.
"Just for the record, if I didn't have to work today, I would've been happy to have you stay," she said.
He leaned over and gently kissed her, her lips a delicious mix of vanilla and banana. Yep, he definitely would've been happy to be with this woman all day if he could.
Max gently pulled away from him, giving him a wistful look before taking her hand away from his chest, which immediately felt cold without her touch. Then she headed for her front door, and Logan couldn't help but watch her ass in her tight jeans as she walked away. He had to give himself credit for even being somewhat coherent enough to grab his half-finished coffee cup off of her table.
"So what are your plans for Christmas?" she asked as he followed her.
"Hanging out with Alex," he said. "I'm doing Christmas with my family in three weeks when we're back in Winnipeg for our road trip."
Logan could see a flicker of sadness in her eyes and he immediately understood why. He would be back on the road with the team in the new year — and without Max. It was going to be weird without her, but he didn't want to think about that just yet.
"What about you?"
She slipped on her tennis shoes and headed for her red coat hanging on the back of her kitchen chair.
"Hanging out with my family," she said. "My brother and I are staying at my parents tonight. Ever since we were kids, my mom bought us pajamas and had us open them on Christmas Eve so we could have nice new ones for all the pictures on Christmas."
Logan thought about what he wished would be under Max's tree for her tonight. Maybe something lacy or red. Definitely something skimpy. Hopefully, something that he could easily slip off of her body.
"Logan?"
He snapped back to reality to see Max staring at him. "Sorry, my mind wandered."
"I'm sure it did," she said sarcastically as she slipped her arms into her coat. "And for the record, my mom buys us plaid pajamas so get your mind out of the gutter."
"My mind wasn't in the gutter."
