Page 71 of Anything but Mine

Logan groaned. “God. I hope you didn’t find it.”

“I’m very good. Seventeen year old Logan was adorable. Very cute bleached tips.”

“All right. Enough.”

Delighted at his gruff reaction, she went up on her toes. “Parachute pants were hot.”

He lifted her into the seat. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

He nodded, his eyes wide as he shut the door. Her phone trilled again, the racing piano sounds filling the cab.

Logan got in and laughed. “She’s not that bad, you know.”

“You haven’t planned an entire festival with her. You just show up and look pretty.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She replied to a few of the texts. The ride into town was quiet as Logan seemed content to let her do her thing. They stopped at her shop and she shot up

the back steps, changed, and met him on the sidewalk.

Her hand slid into his without thought. There was nothing awkward about it, just the smooth linking of fingers. It was nice. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to simply be with someone.

The closer she got to the park, the more she got twitchy. Bella felt eyes on her. Not the usual leering kind that women dealt with since they sprouted breasts, but the kind that came with whispers.

She curled her other hand around their joined hands. For the first few minutes they’d gone unnoticed. She figured maybe the gossips had caught on. But it was more than that.

Logan squeezed. “Sorry. Welcome to the super fun part of being with me.” He smiled at the trio of girls that had gathered around their phones. The squealing that happened made Bella blink. Was this an everyday thing for him?

Without a hey, how are you, people lifted their phones for pictures. Others stopped them with requests for an autograph or a combination of the two. Twice she’d been pushed aside so a stranger could cozy up to Logan and get her picture taken. Each time he did it, with barely a ruffle in their conversation, then his hand was in hers again and they were moving on to the next booth.

After the twentieth person interrupted them, she dragged him out of the main traffic area. “How do you stand it?”

He shrugged. “Most people are polite about it. Some people get a little out of hand.”

“A little? That redhead was a second away from cupping your ass.”

He grinned down at her. “Jealous?”

“I—” Was she? “No.”

His grin spread into a smile. He looked over his lowered sunglasses. “You’re the only one for me, baby.”

She slugged him in his arm.

He winced and rolled his shoulder. “Ow.”

“You didn’t warn me about this.”

“You saw the people at rehearsal. You’re the one who wanted me to come out with you in a public setting.”

“Yeah, well, it was stupid.”

He curled an arm around her shoulder and angled his head down to shadow her face with the brim of his hat. “Not stupid. I like being with you. I like people seeing you with me.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. He leaned down for a kiss. It wasn’t the toe-curling kind. More of a soft meeting of mouths. The kind you had on a sunny Saturday at a fair.

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