Page 53 of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

‘Says who?’

‘Me. You’re doing that awful fake smile.’

‘What fake smile?’

‘That one! The one you do when you’re trying to convince me you’re fine when I know you’re not. Why do you do that?’

‘I don’t do that.’ How dare he pretend he knew her so well! ‘I’m just starting to think maybe this isn’t a good idea.’

He flinched at that, and Jeanie almost felt bad about it, but something about being tossed aside in the middle of a really great kiss had set something off inside her.

‘We hardly know each other, and this has been really nice, and I really appreciate what you’ve done for me since I moved here, but maybe we should just cool it. For now, anyway.’

‘Cool it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s what you want?’

Jeanie blew out a long, frustrated sigh. ‘I don’t know what I want, okay? That’s kinda the problem. And every time I think I know what I want, you look at me like that and you kiss me, and I can’t think when you kiss me!’

‘You don’t want me to kiss you anymore?’ He’d stepped closer at some point, and he hadn’t dropped her hand. He kept his fingers intertwined with hers.

‘Well, I don’t want younotto kiss me.’

‘Jeanie.’ He did it again, said her name in that stern, sexy way that made her want to spill her guts to him. He should have been an interrogator.

‘Yes?’

‘You’re being very confusing right now.’

‘I know. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s okay. I can wait until you figure it out.’

The tightening knot in her belly loosened. ‘Okay.’

He nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Logan?’

‘Yeah?’

‘What happened with Lucy?’

It was Logan’s turn to blow out a long sigh. He ran a hand down his beard and shifted uncomfortably on his feet, like he’d rather run than have this conversation, and for a minute Jeanie thought he might not say anything at all.

‘She wasn’t happy here,’ he said at last. ‘She wasn’t happy with me.’

‘I’m sorry.’

He shrugged. ‘It was going on for a while before I proposed, but I thought I could fix it. I thought I could change her mind about living here, but...’ he hesitated, with another shrug of his broad shoulders, ‘it didn’t work.’

‘It doesn’t say anything about you that she left, you know.’

He huffed.

‘I’m serious. Just because you weren’t a good match doesn’t mean it was your fault.’ She held his gaze. He looked at her intently, like he was judging the sincerity of her words, like he wanted to believe her. ‘Besides, she was clearly a fool to give up a chance to be co-owner of those hilarious chickens.’