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“Computer science.” Jinx tilted her head. “As you just mentioned, I’m not much of a cook. I was about to order a pizza for dinner. Have you eaten?”
“No, I haven’t. Why don’t I take you out somewhere?”
She shook her head. “I just finished a commission I’ve been working on in my studio and the customer is going to call and come over to pick it up tonight, so I would rather stay in.”
Logan was about to be polite and offer to leave if this was a bad time for a visit, but then he remembered the man he’d been for the last seven years who had learned how to get what he wanted. So instead he took a seat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table and said, “So let’s do pizza. Would you give me a tour of your studio after we eat? I’d love to see how you work.”
“Really?” There was that smile he loved. She picked up her phone, looking shy all of a sudden, and Logan remembered that she had not gotten a lot of attention in the D’Alessio household. The family was centered around Victor, her father’s paragon, and Natalie was so close to her mother that it kind of left Jinx on the sidelines. “Let me call in the pizza first.” She pointed at him. “Mushroom and pepper, yes, anchovies and black olives, no.”
“Good memory. But you should get whatever you like best.”
“Do you remember what I like?” Okay, that definitely had a double meaning, especially since her voice dropped an octave.
He nodded, giving her a look to match her slightly sultry tone. “Mushrooms and peppers. We like a lot of the same things.”
Jinx nodded. “You and I used to sit at one end of the table and eat ours while Vic and Natalie shared the fishy, meaty one.” She put in their order and then opened the refrigerator. “Want a beer? I’ve got a local IPA. Or I’ve got spring water or apple juice or coffee.”
“Water is fine.” She tossed him a bottle and took one for herself.
“You didn’t eat any of the food I left for you at my place,” Logan said.
“I was too nervous about my missing purse and wanted to drive home before rush hour.”
“I am so sorry,” he said. “I meant to add where it was to the note, but I forgot.”
Jinx stepped up to him and brushed a finger down his cheek. “Maybe it worked out for the best.”
Yep, that was the signal he was looking for. Still seated in the kitchen chair, Logan reached out and pulled her in between his legs, his hand going to the back of her neck to bring her head down to him, then his mouth covered hers. She responded with the fervent heat that had him desperate for her. He was already calculating how long it might be before the pizza arrived, but Jinx stepped away and went back to the counter.
“So, does this mean our ‘one day’ agreement has turned into two?” she asked.
Yeah, she’d always had a way of speaking the unspoken. How could he answer without sounding like the wuss he’d become in the last twenty-four hours?
Mustering some of the confidence he was known for, he stood and walked toward her, his large frame hovering over hers with a predatory stance. “Guess one wasn’t enough.”
There they were doing that eye lock thing again, but he could not read her. The way she just responded to his kiss certainly did not say go away.
She grabbed her bottle of water and turned, saying, “Come on, I’ll show you my studio.”
Logan hung his jacket over a chair and followed behind her. That alone was painful, with her sweet butt swaying in front of him, a floral scent from her hair that he hoped was still on his bedding when he returned home.
She led him to a door that opened into the garage. Except it was not a garage. It was a workshop filled with tables and shelves and tools. Hammers and mallets, wire cutters, pliers, coping saws, giant tweezers, files, sandpaper, soldering blocks and a gas torch. A half-finished carving in wax sat at one end of the long workbench that lined one wall. An anvil was set in place in the middle of it. He also saw safety goggles and gloves. He picked up a clear plastic face shield that lay next to those and held it up to her. “Bet you look cute in this.”
Jinx mugged a face. “Would be even cuter if I burned my eyebrows off.”
“What are you working on?”
“Well, I started a couple of sketches for Portia’s necklace.” She pointed to a free standing drawing table.
He lifted one of the large sheets of paper, remembering the young girl who used to carry a sketch pad around with her. He had once caught her drawing him. “This is beautiful. Knowing Portia, she wants something big and showy.”
“She made that clear a few times.” Jinx stepped to a small box on her bench and brought it over. “What do you think of this?”
He opened it to see a gold ring set with gems. “Is this the commission you just finished?”
“Yes. An engagement ring. Those are emeralds surrounding the diamond. He wanted it to match her green eyes.”
“Nice.” Logan had never been interested in the things people did when they were supposedly in love and got married. His parents’ marriage had been such a farce that he had a hard time believing some people were actually happy to be doing it.
