Page 12

Logan

He spun to the fridge and pulled out a beer for Lori, thinking that the contents inside mirrored what he’d filled Brandon’s with, although his had more vegetables.

Lori appeared to only have an assortment of beer, ketchup, and mustard.

Logan pulled open the freezer. And ice cream.

A lot of ice cream.

He grinned and shut the freezer then went to sit at the dining room table where she’d dropped a mound of protein bars, bagged popcorn, freeze dried fruit, and several small cans of Diet Coke.

Quite a haul.

No wonder her backpack had been weighing her down.

Or maybe that was just her day, because he’d gotten her started off on the wrong foot.

Fuck. Guilt sucked.

But then again, after having come out of the IED mostly unscathed when several of his friends hadn’t, Logan knew all about guilt.

He heard the lock on the bedroom door just before it opened and Lori walked out. How in the hell she made a baggy sweatshirt and pink printed unicorn pajama bottoms look sexy was a feat of nature. But she did.

His cock twitched. Pathetic.

“Beer?” he asked, holding it out.

She nodded and took it, leading them over to the couch and sitting down. He sat on the opposite end.

“Can I see that picture of your family?”

Logan grinned. “Sure that’s the one you want to see?”

A huffed-out laugh. “Yes, I’m sure.”

He pulled out his cell, unlocking it to show her the photo of him, Brandon, and their parents the last time they were all together. Logan towered over all of them, and his coloring was completely different.

Which is why he wasn’t the least bit offended when Lori lifted her eyes from the screen and said, “Can we circle back to the milkman’s baby?”

“No.” He laughed, flicked a finger so another pic came up on the screen. “My grandfather,” he said when she glanced up at him, question in her eyes.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m an only child,” she said. “My parents retired to Florida, but I grew up here.” A shake of her head. “Sorry, that was a weird transition. I feel like my brain works in tangents sometimes. A line heading toward infinity then jumping onto a completely other one, heading another direction.”

Logan smiled. “I have to admit, I’m kind of digging the zigzags.”

She giggled. “That is almost verbatim what Brandon used to say.”

Which was the moment he realized she’d mentioned Brandon several times now, and he didn’t have any understanding at all of what Brandon was to her. Had they been dating? Friends? Was Brandon interested in her?

Shit. What if his brother wanted Lori?

He couldn’t—

“It’s also one thing my fiancé hated about me,” she said and sighed, taking a long swig of the beer. “Obviously, he became my ex.” Her smile was tight. “But because he became my ex, I also got to meet your brother.”

Logan’s gut tightened. “Oh. Did you two—”

“No.” She shook her head. “God no. ”

Now his gut tightened for a different reason. His brother may not be the most built or outgoing guy in the world, but he was good and smart and—

“Brandon’s girlfriend Cassie is absolutely perfect for him.

In fact, things got so serious right before he moved that I went from having two buddies most weeknights to no buddies.

” Her lip stuck out. “Both of my best friends moved to Germany. Brandon for work. Cassie because she decided—rightfully—she couldn’t be without Brandon for a year. ”

“I—Cassie?”

She frowned. “You didn’t know your brother had a girlfriend?”

More tightening. And who was the asshole now?

“No,” he said. “Brandon never said anything.”

“Hmm.”

Familiar guilt reared its head. “Not his fault,” Logan said. “I’ve been . . . out of contact for a lot of the last year.”

Lori set her beer down. “What does that mean?”

He sighed. “I was in the military. Last year, I was in an accident. An IED went off near—”

She gasped. “Oh my God. Are you okay?” She patted his arm, pulled back. “Of course, you’re okay. I’m sorry. I—”

Logan covered her hand with his. “I’m fine. I had some friends who aren’t.”

Her eyes dropped to her lap, but not before he saw them fill with moisture. “I’m sorry. That’s horrible.”

“It is,” he said. “It’s our job. It’s part of the risk we accept, but it is also really hard to lose people you consider family.” He sucked in a breath, released it slowly, tucking those memories back down. “I was hurt, and it took me some time to recover in Germany.”

She nodded. “So, that’s why he applied for the job.”

“Brandon?” Another nod. “Yeah, I think so. We just didn’t think by the time his German visa was processed that I’d be home. I think we overlapped for all of a week and most of that was filled with my appointments and debriefings.”

“Cassie didn’t leave to join him until a few days ago. I’m guessing that’s why—” He nodded as Lori did that nose-wrinkling thing that was absolutely adorable. “I wonder why he didn’t tell me about you, though.”

“My fault,” Logan admitted. “I didn’t want anyone outside our family to know.

Stupid, but”—he sighed—“it felt like my whole life had been determined by the military and then suddenly I was injured and forced to be discharged. I didn’t want to be someone’s pity case of a brother. I just wanted to be left alone and—”

She tugged her hand back. “And now I’m forcing you to rehash it.”

“No,” he said. “The psychologists did that. My parents and Brandon did it. I’m in a better place than I was six months ago, but I still definitely feel like my life has taken a sharp left I hadn’t prepared for.”

“Did you always want to be a soldier?”

He nodded. “Joined the army straight out of high school. Been in ever since.” A sigh. “Thought I’d retire in uniform.”

“I’m sorry.”

Logan picked up his beer. “Stupid to be upset about something I can’t change. Especially when that something isn’t loss of life or limb, like—”

He cut himself off with a sip.

Lori touched his arm, pretty eyes locked on his for a long moment. She didn’t tell him she was sorry again, or give any other platitudes. Instead, she leaned up, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and hugged him tight.

Everything inside Logan relaxed at the contact.

The past disappeared. The hurt faded to an ache.

The only thing that mattered was how good Lori felt against him, how incredible she smelled, how nice it felt to have someone to hold him.

“My bad day suddenly seems less life-y,” she murmured.

He grinned, leaned back when she dropped her arms. “ This is what I was looking for last night in the bar.”

“A hug?”

He shook his head. “A distraction. Some comfort. Someone to talk to.”

Lori had tears in her eyes, but he watched her blink them back and smile up at him. “Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I can talk with the best of them. So, for as long as you’re around, you’ll be stuck talking to me.”

Logan opened his mouth to say that being stuck with anything—talking, hugging, texting, whatever—with Lori wasn’t a trial in the least, but then the buzzer rang, and she popped off the couch to answer it.

Then spent the next five minutes bringing the pizza and plates and napkins in, dishing up slices, then consulting him on what movie to watch.

Eventually, they settled on an action flick they’d both already seen.

But that worked for him, because Logan got to hear her commentary on why the hero was failing, ask questions to get her fired up enough to go off on one of those tangents her ex had supposedly hated, but that he found extremely charming, and he got to spend time with a beautiful—where it mattered most, on the inside—woman.

By the time he went back to Brandon’s condo, he was happy and relaxed and so full of pizza and beer that he didn’t have any problems falling asleep.

And because of that, he didn’t see Lori’s reply to his picture until the morning.

I think I like the first pic better.

But he did see it first thing in the morning.

And because of that , for the first time in more than a year, he went about his day with a smile on his face.