Page 41 of Perfect Persuasion (Love’s Second Chance #2)

He wanted to look at her bulging, giant, huge, tremendous, giant pregnancy belly? Claire felt instantly uncomfortable. It was giant. And did she forget to mention tremendous? Not at all the sort of thing she really wanted on display.

“Please?” His eyes turned pleading and she couldn’t deny him.

“Okay,” she conceded, unable to refrain from adding a disclaimer. “It’s huge though.”

“Well, there is a baby in there, you realize,” he teased.

She feigned horror. “No.”

Laughing, he slid the shirt up over her belly, allowing it to pool just beneath her breasts. “Can I touch you?”

It occurred to her that he shouldn’t have to ask. They never should have retreated so far away from one another, and certainly not so easily. “Of course.”

Logan’s touch was tentative at first as he lightly skimmed his hand over the top of her belly. “It’s hard to believe that there’s a baby in here, all curled up, waiting to come into the world, isn’t it?”

“It’s easier to believe when you’ve got a foot or an elbow digging into your ribs,” she pointed out wryly.

A smile touched his mouth. “You’ve got me there.” He rubbed her belly for another few seconds before pulling away with what appeared to be reluctance. “We better eat. I’m sure Baby Thumper is hungry as hell.”

He was right. Claire was starving. But even so, she didn’t mind the delay as she dug into her tepid soup with renewed gusto. Spending quality time with Logan had been worth more than warm soup.

“You love her.”

Logan turned from the stove to face Derek. He was in the process of cooking Claire the chicken taco she had so sweetly requested. “No shit.” He gave his friend a look that clearly warned of imminent ass-kicking. Or so Logan thought. “Keep your voice down. Her sister’s up there.”

Derek leaned negligently against the kitchen island, tossing some barbecue potato chips into his mouth. “And the reason why you want to keep the fact that you love the woman who’s carrying your child a secret is?”

“Damn it. Keep your voice down,” Logan ordered, annoyed.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but she doesn’t love me.

In fact, I’m convinced the only reason that we’ve been so civil to one another is that she’s all weepy.

Hormones,” he added with disgust. “She cries at commercials. Anyway, we’ve started over and that’s the best I can hope for at this point. ”

His friend raised a brow. “Did you ever think that it might not be the hormones?”

Logan gave him an oh-come-on look. “Did you see her bastard of an ex-husband here last night?”

“Yeah, he came with paperwork. So what?”

“So what?” Logan echoed with disbelief. “So I think she’s still not over him. He’s what caused our last big fight. I walked in on them.”

Derek choked on his chips. Good for him, Logan thought.

“Doing what?”

“Hugging,” Logan allowed, “but I’m not sure that there wasn’t something else going on that I just didn’t see.”

“This is the guy that cheated on her, right?” Derek shoved another handful of chips into his mouth.

When Logan nodded, Derek continued. “No way, Loge. Claire’s not the kind of woman who would go back to a man she can’t trust. Besides, she never really loved him.”

“How do you know?” Logan demanded, feeling defensive.

Derek shrugged. “She told me the other day when we were watching a movie together.”

Logan didn’t like this turn of events, not at all. “You were watching a movie together? And she tells you things?”

His friend looked rather smug. “You were at work and she needed company. It was just some shitty Tom Cruise movie. You know, the older he gets, the worse he gets as far as I’m concerned. I’m a better actor when I’m smashed.”

“Get back to the point.” Logan turned back to his frying chicken and tossed it in the pan so that it wouldn’t burn. “She tells you things?”

“I’m sure she’d tell you things too if you asked.”

Hell. Logan had never thought of that.

“Never thought of it, did you?” There was a grin in Derek’s voice.

Logan didn’t answer. No need to give his friend further reason to gloat. He flicked off the burner and pulled some onions and red peppers from the fridge.

“So you didn’t really tell me why you don’t just tell Claire you love her.”

“Jesus.” Logan pulled a huge steel knife from a drawer and began slicing the onion with more force than necessary. “Would you stop saying that?”

“That you love Claire?” Derek’s tone was all innocence.

“Yes,” Logan gritted from between clenched teeth. “Shut the hell up about it.”

“I can’t help it. I’m enjoying seeing you squirm.”

Logan finished up the onion and moved on to the pepper. “You’re evil, you know.”

“While we’re talking about evil, was it you that I saw spying on Claire and the bastard ex-husband last night?” Derek inquired mildly.

Logan grimaced. “Spying is such an ugly word. It was more like hovering.” His knife thwacked against the cutting board loudly. “Besides, she saw me.”

“I’m telling you, all you have to do is ask her.”

“Ask her what?” Logan was feeling rather frustrated by the conversation. He didn’t, as a rule, talk with people about his emotions. On rare occasions, always with Claire, he had been persuaded to open up a little. But talking made him damn uncomfortable.

“Ask her how she feels, for starters.”

“And what makes you an expert on this?” Logan asked dryly. After all, Derek was on his way out of a bad marriage that had ended in a messy divorce. If he knew so damn much about talking and asking, then why was he here and not with Trina?

Okay, that was being unfair, he inwardly acknowledged. Derek wasn’t with Trina because she was a bitch and a cheater and hadn’t had the guts to tell him so to his face.

“You do have a point,” Derek allowed, his voice sounding strained. “I know I fuck up everything I touch.”

“Hell, that’s not true.” Logan turned to look at his friend. “I was being a jackass. I’m sorry.”

Derek shrugged. “It’s only the truth. But where Claire’s concerned, I do think that talking to each other would do you both a world of good.

Maybe if I had talked to Trina, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

She always wanted to talk in the beginning.

I just thought it was that Dr. Phil shit, not to mention her therapist and her agent always in her ear, but maybe this whole thing, the affair, everything, maybe it was my fault. ”

“Don’t lay all the blame at your door,” Logan advised. “I know you loved her, but Trina Wade has always been a selfish bitch.”

“True enough. I’ve begun to realize that selfish bitches are all a washed-up, ex-drunk, ex-actor can find these days. In fact, I’m swearing off all women.” Derek grinned. “But not you. You’ve found yourself a good woman and God knows a good woman is hard to find. I suggest you hold on to her.”

Logan nodded, the action a bit jerky. “That’s what I’m trying to do. I just wish I knew how.”

“I just wish I knew how to tell him that I want to be a real part of his life,” Claire told Sophie.

Sophie gave her a worried look. “Do you think he’s ready to handle that, hon?”

“I don’t know,” Claire said, feeling miserable.

“We’ve spent a month and a half together and I think we’ve been getting closer.

” Her doctor had been happy with her progress, and she’d been taken off strict bed rest after two weeks but was still restricted to limited movement.

She had chosen to stay with Logan anyway, content to allow him to dote on her.

She patted her belly. “Besides, the baby will be here soon, so I feel like I should do something before he or she arrives. I just don’t know what to say to him.

I don’t want him to feel obligated. Do you think he feels obligated, Soph? ”

Her sister pondered the question. “It’s hard to say, but I have the feeling that he’s the sort of man who never really feels obligated to do anything. My impression of him is that he’s a man who only does what he wants.”

“He may seem that way, but he’s really not as bad as you think he is,” Claire defended him. “You have to admit he’s been wonderful to me while I’ve been staying here.”

Sophie pursed her lips. “He’s been wonderful in the past and then turned into a jerk,” she pointed out. “Don’t forget about how wonderful your Maryland trip was and then how he ruined it by being a complete jackass afterward.”

“That was partially my fault.” Feeling uncomfortable, Claire shifted a bit on the bed. “He was upset because he thought I was keeping our relationship a secret.”

“You were keeping it a secret.”

Leave it to one’s sister, she thought, to remind one of one’s shortcomings. “Only because I didn’t want to face Mom about it. I knew how she would react and I was trying to avoid it until the last possible moment.”

“Even so, he wouldn’t have had to react quite the way he did.”

“You don’t know his past like I do.” Claire paused, aware that she was championing Logan and unable to stop. She was beginning to think that Derek was right, that she did love Logan. “He was a foster kid growing up and he’s really sensitive about it. He thought I was ashamed of him.”

“I can understand that having that kind of past might make someone feel self-conscious.” Sophie sounded reluctant to make such an admission.

She had decided that Logan was no good for her sister and it would be hard to convince her otherwise.

“But I still think his behavior left a lot to be desired.”

“He’s not used to communicating,” Claire continued. But he had been making an effort recently. For her sake, she liked to think.

“I hope he gets used to it,” Sophie said tartly.

“He’s opening up a little at a time.” She shifted again, unable to find a comfortable position. She was beginning to feel crampy.

“Are you okay?” Sophie looked concerned. “Can I get you something?”

“I’m fine.” Well, she was almost fine, but there was no need to tell her sister that she was feeling a little under the weather. Everything was perfectly fine, she was sure of it.

“Are you sure he’s being good to you?”