Page 17 of Perfect Persuasion (Love’s Second Chance #2)

Logan wanted to argue with her on that, he really did, but he also recognized that doing so would put the kibosh on any hopes he entertained of convincing her to go on vacation with him. So he did something else, something infinitely better.

He kissed her again.

God, she tasted so good, so sweet, Logan didn’t want it to end. From the way Claire clung to him when he finally came up for air, neither did she. She looked dazed, her lips swollen. All argument between them was forgotten. For the moment, anyway.

“One week. That’s all I’m asking for.” Logan brushed his lips softly, tantalizingly over hers, ignoring the tremor in his voice.

Fear of rejection had dogged him all his life, a vicious byproduct of life as an unwanted foster kid.

But this terrible, gut-wrenching anxiety he suddenly felt went beyond that.

What if she said no, if she still thought he’d prove to be the shittiest father alive?

Or if she felt nothing for him beyond lust?

“Logan.” She paused, nibbling at her lower lip and nearly pulling a groan from him. “What about my letter of resignation?”

He felt a triumphant smile curving his lips at her question. “Irreparably mangled,” he told her, exceedingly proud of himself. “By my paper shredder.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You didn’t.”

He grinned even wider. “I did.”

“When?”

“Right after I finished reading it for the third damn time.”

“Hmm. I should have known.”

Logan didn’t quite like the tone she was using. Apparently, Claire wasn’t as impressed by his clever handling of the situation as he was.

“So you see the beauty of it?” he tried.

She frowned at him. “I see you’re very good at getting what you want. But I can’t just run off with you for a week. I don’t even know where you’re going, for starters.”

“Yes or no?” He grew impatient with her delaying tactics.

Maybe he’d been lying to himself all along, thinking Claire would want to have a relationship with him.

Hell, the only reason she’d agreed to go to dinner last night was probably to tell him as much.

Either that or she was desperate to get him in bed again, which seemed highly unlikely.

To Claire, he was just a cold, unfeeling man who didn’t know how to care about anyone or anything but himself.

“Logan.” She reached out and covered his hand with hers. “It has to be no right now.”

“Right.” He withdrew his hand from hers, feeling nauseated, the subtle pounding of a potential migraine taking up residence in his skull.

The smile he plastered to his face was so tight he felt like a caricature of his normal self.

“What was I thinking? I’m good for a screw but not for much of anything else, isn’t that right, Claire? ”

Sadistic of him maybe, but he enjoyed the way she blanched at his words.

Good. He wanted to hurt her, to make her feel as small as he did.

It had been a good number of years since anyone had made him feel like the unwanted, no-good foster kid he’d once been.

Claire managed to bring him to his knees every time.

“Don’t,” she said quietly.

“Don’t tell the truth?” he countered, laughing, the sound bitter and harsh even to his own ears.

“Come on. We might as well be honest. We are having a child together, despite your attempt to hide that fact from me. You don’t want to give me a chance because you don’t think I’m worthy of you.

If I weren’t a better lay than your husband, you probably never would have left him. ”

If possible, Claire’s face paled even more. “I don’t have to listen to this.” She bolted from the car.

Logan followed, slowing his long strides to match her short ones. He wasn’t finished with her yet.

She shot him an icy, sidelong glance. “Stop following me.”

“We have the same destination, in case you’ve forgotten.” His tone was snide. He couldn’t help it.

“So walk behind me,” she shot back at him. “We shouldn’t be seen walking in together.”

Salt in his wounds. He grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“I’ll walk with you any time I damn well please.

I don’t give a shit about what anyone else says or thinks.

That’s my baby you’re carrying. You shouldn’t walk by yourself anyway.

From now on, I’ll walk with you to and from work. This is a dangerous city.”

She looked at him as though he’d just lowered himself to a new kind of scum. The scum scraped off scum, maybe. “No.”

Just one word, but it inflamed his temper. “You can’t tell me no. I have every right.”

“No, you don’t.” Her gaze darted off to his left. “Here comes one of the girls from Accounting. We’ll discuss this later.”

Logan was, by this point, one hundred percent, totally pissed off, and at the moment, he didn’t give a shit if all of Accounting was standing behind him, hanging on to every word and taking goddamn notes. “It’s half my baby, and it’s half my choice.”

She pulled free of him and turned, walking again. “You can’t control everything,” she told him over her shoulder.

Logan followed, her words making an idea take sudden root in his mind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, punching in the familiar number of his lawyer.

“We’ll see about that,” he muttered under his breath.

He was Logan Monroe, damn it, and he always got what he wanted. Always.