Page 20 of The Player Next Door

“Not true. Sometimes they’re named Aiden,” Logan said. “But are you in?”

Clare couldn’t tell if this was him asking her on a date. Drinks was date-like, although drinks with three other people was less so. She decided once again to cut to the chase.

“It’s not a date, is it?”

“Do you want it to be?” he replied, with just the barest bit of hesitation before responding.

Clare realized belatedly he might have thought shewantedit to be a date, which in addition to being untrue would probably come across to him as clingy. “Not really,” she said, and Logan lifted his eyebrows again.

“Is that a yes?”

“Okay, fine.”

“Fine? Come on, show a little enthusiasm,” he wheedled with a devastating grin.

She put on an overly bright smile that made him snort. “Yay, Uptown!” she cheered. “Is that sufficient?”

Logan’s eyes flashed with heat and she momentarily regretted her sarcasm, because he clearly didn’t play fair. “We’ll work on it,” he said in a low voice. But then his gaze cleared and his voice returned to the teasing tone he’d had before. “Did you want to go get changed? Or are you wearing this, because honestly, I vote for this.”

Clare rolled her eyes at him and went to change, still not quite sure what she’d gotten herself into.

Chapter Twelve

Logan was so fucking stupid. He wasn’t sure what the hell he was thinking, bringing Clare out with his idiot friends. It should have been just the two of them.Thatwould have been an actual date, a way to make his straight-out lie to Schneider something slightly more plausible; a way to set the stage to beg her to come to dinner with his obnoxious client. Clare had said she didn’t want it to be a date, but there wasn’t a lot of conviction behind it, so Logan was sure he could make this work, or could have if it had been a one-on-one thing. Instead, he was stuck watching Clare flirt withBrooksof all people.

Brooks, that piece of shit, had spent the entire night fawning over Clare. He knew exactly who she was, and while he didn’t have much in the way of brain cells he could probably figure out why Logan had brought her with him, but that didn’t matter to Logan’s so-called friend. The second they walked out onto the still-damp rooftop patio, Clare dressed in jeans and a soft blue V-neck shirt that was plain but did wonderful things to her curves, Brooks’ eyes had lit up. He could be reasonably charming when he wanted to be, and tonight he wanted to make Logan’s life hell.

“It’s a video game, right?” Brooks said, leaning down close to Clare’s ear while she sipped her gin and tonic.

She shook her head. “It’s tabletop role-playing.”

“Like Monopoly.”

Christ, Brooks was even dumber than Logan thought. “No, like Dungeons and Dragons,” Logan said, probably more tightly than either of them were expecting, given that both of them sent him slight eyebrow raises.

“I’m killer at Monopoly,” Brooks said with a wink. He touched Clare’s arm lightly, turning her away from Logan and plastering an interested look on his stupid face. “We should play sometime.”

Oh, Logan was going tokillthat jackass.

Sam nudged Logan’s arm. “What’s your deal?” she asked, throwing back a tequila shot and setting it down on the table. They moved a few steps away; not like Clare and Brooks would notice.

“No deal.”

“Yeah? Because you look like you’re about to shit diamonds.”

“Why are you so crude?” he whined. His rum and Coke was finished, and he slammed the glass down hard enough to draw looks from the table next to them. They’d lost track of Brooks’ friend a half-hour ago, leaving Logan nothing to do but watch as his so-called friend deliberately made his life more difficult.

Sam shrugged. “I just am.” She nodded to Brooks and Clare, who still had their heads close together. “I thought she came with you?”

Logan’s shrug was almost imperceptible. “She did, sorta. It’s . . . complicated.”

“As in you fucked her and now Brooks is trying to?”

“Something like that.”

Sam made a face. “Weird, she seemed smarter than that.”

“What do you want, Sam?” he sighed. The server brought over another rum and Coke for Logan, but he didn’t have the energy to muster his usual charm to thank her, and instead just nodded politely.