Page 38 of Perfect Persuasion (Love’s Second Chance #2)

“Kind of oblivious,” they both said at the same time.

“Stop saying the same thing as me,” Sophie said with a laugh, reverting to an old argument they’d shared as teenagers.

“I came first,” Claire reminded her just as she had done dozens of time before. Of course, that had been what felt like dozens of years ago now.

“It’s been ages since we had that fight.”

“I know.” Claire smiled a bit wistfully. Ages and a lifetime.

Sophie squeezed her hand. “I really want you to stay with me and Trevor.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Logan shifted against her, blinking and focusing immediately on her. He shot up in his seat, his eyes suddenly lucid, cleared of all sleep-induced cobwebs.

“What’s going on?” he demanded, his voice like gruff velvet from sleeping. “Why did you let me fall asleep, damn it?”

“Because you needed it,” Claire said simply. “And nothing’s going on, which is why I’m allowed to go home this afternoon.”

“On bed rest,” Sophie clarified, ever the helpful sister. Though her tone was polite, her eyes shone brightly with dislike. “The doctors are concerned that if she’s up and about too much, she’ll go into labor early.”

Logan kept his gaze trained on Claire. “So what does that mean?”

She opened her mouth to fill him in, but Sophie beat her to it. “It means that she has to stay in bed for the next two weeks at least.”

“Hell.” Logan raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. “That means she’ll have to stay with someone.”

“She is,” Sophie said, giving Claire a don’t-you-dare-argue-with-me look. “She’s staying with me and Trevor.”

Logan appeared a bit like a disgruntled bear upon hearing Sophie’s declaration. His eyes swung back to Claire. “The hell you are. You can stay with me.”

“She doesn’t want to,” Sophie cut in, crossing her arms over her chest in a familiarly stubborn posture. The action exaggerated her already huge belly, pulling her maternity shirt taut over the hard mound.

Claire had to bite back a grin. Her sister really did make an adorable warrior, so short and petite, with her tremendous belly almost dwarfing the rest of her body.

“Why don’t you want to stay with me?” Logan asked curtly, drawing her attention back to him.

The disgruntled bear now looked distinctly like a pissed bear. She chalked it up to lack of sleep.

“Well?”

“It makes sense to stay with Sophie,” Claire told him hesitantly, even though she had been arguing against that very same thing only a few minutes ago.

She hated the thought of being Logan’s burden.

Really, she wasn’t certain that she could live with him without either killing him or completely losing her heart to him.

Okay, so it was really only the latter that she feared. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t mind knocking him on the head every once in a while when he was being especially difficult. Which was, when she thought about it, almost all the time.

“Why?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet.

She heard the undertones of steel but took her chances anyway. “Why what?”

He set his jaw on edge. “Why is it a better idea to stay with your sister than with the father of your baby? Didn’t it occur to you that I might want to look after your welfare?”

Actually, no, but she had a feeling that saying so would only enrage him more. She sent Sophie an imploring look.

Her sister took the cue. “I’m home all day. I could be there for Claire whenever she needed me. Trevor and I have a guestroom that would work perfectly.”

“I could work from home,” Logan returned. “I could be there for her too.”

“Well, you haven’t been so far, have you?” Sophie asked rather pointedly.

“Sophie,” Claire couldn’t help but protest. She knew her sister was only being protective of her.

Logan gave Sophie a look Claire couldn’t quite interpret. “She’s right. I haven’t been there for you the way I should have been, but I can make it up to you. Stay with me and let me take care of you.”

Why did he have to choose this moment, when her nerves were ragged from all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours?

Why now, when she felt so suddenly vulnerable to him?

She wanted to be strong and tell him his new effort was too little, too late, but she couldn’t.

Not when he was looking at her that way, so expectantly, so pleadingly.

“Claire.” Sophie, aware that Claire was softening, gave her The Look.

She needed to explain some things to her sister. Heck, at this point, she probably even needed to explain some things to herself. She turned to Logan. “Could you give my sister and me a few minutes to talk?”

“Yeah.” He stood, looking like all his muscles were stiff from a night spent sleeping in the uncomfortable hospital chair. A wry smile curved his lips. “I’ll go get a coffee. You two want anything?”

Sophie and Claire declined and Logan left, his gait a little less smooth than normal. The moment the door closed on him, Sophie started in.

“You’re about to cave. What are you thinking, Claire? The two of you can’t even stand each other half the time. Do you really want to be trapped with him until the baby’s born?”

“He’s my baby’s daddy. Besides, no one said I have to stay there until the baby’s born. Just two weeks for starters. I can leave whenever I want.”

“That’s not a good enough reason,” Sophie said firmly, her eyes serious. “This isn’t just about the baby. It’s about you too.”

“I know that.” Claire toyed with the white sheet pooled at her waist, not really wanting to meet her sister’s eyes. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“What?” Sophie sounded incredulous.

Claire kept her eyes glued to the sheet. She didn’t know what to say. “Well, Logan and I will have to have some sort of relationship for the rest of our lives. It might as well be an amicable one.”

“This isn’t just about that. Why won’t you look at me? Claire, do you still have feelings for him?”

Claire shrugged, glancing up at last. “Define feelings.”

Sophie gasped. “After the way he’s treated you over the last few weeks?”

“I know, I know. Maybe it’s some kind of crazy pregnancy hormone thing, but I can’t help it. Despite everything, I still want things to work out between the two of us.”

Sophie raised a brow. “Meaning?”

“Meaning that I really care about him. Even though I shouldn’t.”

“Oh sweetie.” Sophie’s eyes swam with sudden tears—the pregnancy thing, Claire knew.

She gave Claire a half-hug, made slightly awkward by their large bellies and the bed.

“I know you want to do what’s best for the baby and I know you want to give Logan a second chance.

Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay?

I’m still not convinced that he’s not just love ’em and leave ’em material. ”

Neither was Claire. She smiled for Sophie’s benefit. “You told me that I should take a chance on him.”

Sophie made a face. “That was before. Besides, you did give him a chance. He’s the one who blew it.”

“They say everyone deserves a second chance.”

“I think that’s a little too generous,” Sophie grumbled. “But if this is what you truly want, I’ll respect your decision.”

She looked like she hoped Claire would suddenly back down and change her mind. Claire didn’t.

“Thanks, Soph. You’re the world’s best sister.”

“Hmm.” Sophie turned and retrieved her purse. “I have to call Mom and Dad now or they’ll kill me. My cell doesn’t get reception in here, so I have to run outside. I see him out in the hallway with his coffee. I’ll send him in to you.”

Claire watched her sister go, finding secret amusement in the way Sophie had called Logan him , as though his name was a four-letter word. Logan ducked in the doorway, steaming coffee in hand. Even in his rumpled clothes, with his disheveled hair, he looked delicious. Like she could eat him up.

Eat him up?

God, she thought with a grimace, that had to be a byproduct of the whole crazy hormone pregnancy phenomenon. It was the only explanation.

“Why do you have such a strange expression on your face?” Logan asked, instantly hovering at her side. Worry clouded his face, carving lines into his forehead. “What is it? You’re not having contractions again, are you?”

“No,” she assured him, “just a strange thought.” Reading the curiosity in his gaze, she decided to change the conversation to a safer topic. “Are you sure you want me to move in with you?”

“Absolutely,” he said without a second thought or even a moment’s hesitation.

“Then it’s official. You’ve got yourself a live-in invalid.” She made a stab at wry humor to cover up the very real emotions coursing through her. The last thing she wanted was to start crying because he’d invited her to stay with him for a few weeks. She wasn’t that pathetic.

Okay, so maybe she was that pathetic, but that didn’t mean she had to let Logan know it.

Her inner battle didn’t matter. It was lost the second he reached out and caressed her face. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he murmured, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her left ear. “You won’t regret this.”