Page 23 of The Player Next Door
“That’s good. I think I like being friends with you, Logan.”
Friends.That was not what he wanted, but it was a start. “I think I like being friends with you too, Clare,” he said, and let his eyes drift closed.
He hoped he could remember all the problems he had just created for himself tomorrow, and if not, that he would be too hungover to care.
Chapter Thirteen
There was a hint of the river on the breeze as Clare walked Kiki on their usual circuit. It was quiet on weekend mornings in downtown, with most of the offices empty and the swarm of crowds that came for Twins games still out for brunch. She stopped to let Kiki pee on her second favorite tree, and sighed to herself.
Last night had not been what she expected at all. She’d been fairly clear about it not being a date, and thought it might be good practice for getting out there and experiencing life a little more. She had initially even harbored vague ideas about finding a new hookup, although she’d quickly decided it was rude to go home with someone else when you’d recently slept with the person who invited you. But the charming, suave Logan she had started to get to know was nowhere to be found once they arrived, instead replaced by a tense, irritated one who really didn’t seem to like his friend, Brooks, much.
Not that Clare could blame him. Brooks was boring and way too sure of himself, but from a purely academic standpoint, it was interesting to contrast him with Logan. Logan’s charm was sweet and never overbearing, even when he was trying to seduce her. There was something safe about him, something that told her she could trust him, even when he was drunk and clearly thinking about kissing her. She got none of those vibes from Brooks, just a lot of blather about Monopoly, which he really seemed to think was the same thing as Sulzuris despite her repeated attempts to set him straight.
Granted, not much of her elevator version of Logan was on display at Pour, either. Things had started out fine, but once Brooks started flirting with her, everything hit a tailspin. She’d gone along with it initially, mostly out of curiosity because she really didn’t know many guys like that, but quickly started looking for an escape that Logan had been reluctant to provide. Clare would have also liked to spend more time talking to Sam, who was crude and brash but clearly had a warm heart, given the way she hugged Clare and welcomed her to theSisterhood of Logan’s Dick.
That had made Clare snort her gin and tonic out her nose, which was incredibly painful, for the record. But it had shed some light on Logan for her, as Clare was at least the third woman in that one bar whom Logan had slept with, and both of the other women were on good terms with him, too. So Logan was a man who slept with women and then stayed friends with them, which made sense. It was also perfect for her, even if there was a tiny, pointless pang in her heart when she realized she was not a special case for him. It didn’t explain why Logan had gotten so annoyed with Brooks for flirting, but maybe there was less behind it than she thought. He really did seem annoyed about the basketball thing, after all.
Clare and Kiki turned north, talking a path along the river that was nicely shaded, if a little busier than the sidewalk. She also hadn’t expected to run into Noah last night, much less to have Noah offer to help her with Logan. It was a nice thing for him to have done, and not something she’d expected. She also sort of hoped that he would mention their run-in to Craig and the rest of the team when they played Call of Duty today, since that might get them off her back aboutgetting more life experience.
But then there was the fact that when she’d helped Logan to his car, it really had seemed like he was going to kiss her. At the very least, the way he had looked at her had been impossibly soft, and for a few seconds, she had wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch. But in addition to being completely against the spirit of her one-night stand assignment, Logan had been, by that point, completely plastered. Not kissing him had been the right choice. On the slim-to-completely improbable chance Logan had been thinking of something more with her, it was best that she kept things strictly platonic. Not flirting with him was nearly impossible—the man practically oozed flirtation—but kissing him would take things to a place she had to make sure they didn’t go.
Kiki started forward, only to stop four feet later to lower her haunches and settle in for a poop. Clare moved off the paved pathway to let the runners past while she waited, tugging a baggie from the purse she had slung over her shoulder.
“Fancy meeting you here,” a deep voice said over her shoulder, and Clare turned to find Logan looking way too good for a man who was also absolutelydrenchedin sweat. He appeared to have been out for a run, which Clare found fairly impressive considering how drunk he’d been last night.
Logan bent down and let Kiki, who had now finished pooping, sniff his hand. “Hey there, girl,” he said softly, scratching her behind the ears, and wow, there was a lot about this man that was just incredibly unfair.
“How are you feeling?” Clare asked, because ifshe’dbeen that drunk, she would be curled up on the couch with Gatorade and only moving if her life depended on it. She scooped the poop into the baggie and tied it off.
Logan shrugged and gestured to a park bench a few feet away, deftly plucking the baggie from her hand and tossing it into the bin. “Like I got hit by a truck this morning, but I rallied.” He waited for her to sit, a curiously gentlemanly move, and then sat down and stretched his legs out. She looked at his long legs, dusted with black curly hair, and had a brief memory of what those legs felt like between hers. Clare did her best to master her blush, but there was a gleam in Logan’s eyes when he glanced at her that told her she was busted anyway. “I feel like I have some things to apologize for, though,” he said, looking out at the path.
“So you had a little too much to drink. I got us home fine.”
“More than that. I think—that was your coworker, right?”
“At the end? Noah? Yeah, he’s on my team.”
Logan nodded slowly. “I think I was a little bit of a dick to him.”
Kiki hopped up onto the bench between them and pillowed her head in Logan’s lap likehewas the one who had picked up her shit three minutes ago, not Clare.
“Eh, it’s fine,” she said. “Noah’s—well, he was nicer last night than he usually is, but it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Logan stroked Kiki on the top of her head. “And sorry that my friends are, uh, my friends.”
“I meant what I said last night. I liked Sam,” Clare said, scratching just above Kiki’s butt.
Logan snorted. “I thought you would. I mostly meant Brooks.”
“The Monopoly enthusiast.”
“Yeah, him.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Clare said breezily.
“I was also kind of a dick,” he pointed out. “Just like, in general. Will you at least let me apologize for that?”
Clare smothered a smile. “If you insist. Consider it accepted.” She waited to see if he would bring up the moment near the car, and when he didn’t she figured that was for the best. It probably didn’t even rate for him—he probably did that “soft-hey-and-hair-touch” thing to a lot of women.