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“I can see that,” he said. “But are you opposed to doing commissions for famous people that would put your work in the spotlight? You deserve that.”
“Of course not.” She shook her head, embarrassed to be a little nobody when he used to look at all the creative things she did—whether it was a mural she’d painted in her bedroom, a ceramic pipe holder for her dad, the wild bead and feather earrings she’d made in high school, or a goofy mug she’d hand painted for him one Christmas—and tell her what a success she was going to be.
Logan did not comment any further, did not say how disappointed he was or give her some bullshit line about success being relative. He would know all too well how competitive she was—and how competitive the real world was. He ought to, since he was one of the winners in it. She wondered how much he had changed in order to become that.
The year Logan had transferred out of Wharton at U Penn to Stanford and went back to California for good, she had tried to get her brother to tell her what had happened between them. But Victor only said that Logan had done something to him that no real friend would do. Vic would never discuss it any further, not with Jinx or anyone in the family. And when Logan did not return to their house and changed his email and phone without even saying goodbye, Jinx had no choice but to accept the final resolve of her family who just shook their heads and said, “It’s a shame about Logan.”
He picked up a few soaps of Bailey’s and turned to her. “How much do I owe you?”
That was when Jinx realized he had not even asked the price of her silver cuff. Only her less expensive items were labeled and more accessible to perusal. Since she had never considered selling this one, she had never determined a price for it. Quickly running over her similar commissions and what she had charged for them, she said, “The silver cuff is thirty-five hundred.”
He didn’t blink, only reminded her to add the soap, and he seemed so much like the Logan she had once known that she almost blurted out all the questions she’d been harboring for years.
But she managed to stop herself from doing that.
He paid her in cash, then turned and quietly walked out of the store.
And as Jinx watched him leave, it hit her.
That great passionate love she kept looking for was the one she’d always hoped to have with Logan.
From the moment she had first seen him, every other male had to be measured against him. And so far none had measured up.
And she doubted any ever would.
“Bet she was damn good.”
Logan felt a hand on his shoulder and then saw Kirk slide onto the barstool next to his later that night. The bar in the Maxwell Point Inn was a small one, which meant he would have been found no matter where he sat.
Tamping down his urge to put a fist in Kirk’s face, Logan said, “I did not have sex with her.”
Kirk let out a high laugh. “You expect me to believe that? Sorry, man, but your reputation precedes you. Why else would you resort to lying about my wife calling me, Mr. Winner Take All?”
“Because she is the little sister of an old friend. I didn’t want you taking advantage of her. And your wife deserves your loyalty.” Logan turned back to his drink and swallowed the last of it.
“Oh, you are just so pure and heroic.” Kirk went into a fake cough and gag. “Give me a break. That is not why you humiliated me in front of that hot chick. You just have to be top man wherever you go.”
“Not everywhere, but since you work for me, in this case it happens to be true.”
Logan flagged down the bartender and ordered Kirk his usual Jack Daniels and water. “I’m heading back to Manhattan tonight. I’ll see you in the office for our usual Thursday meeting.”
Without another word, Logan stood and headed back to his room. He did not bother with “no hard feelings” gestures. Seven years ago, when he had begun his strategy for climbing to the top and taking back what he felt should be his, he had replaced those kinds of things with power plays that were ultimately more effective.
The truth was Logan did in fact want Jinx. She had always been an adorable kid, and he had witnessed her growing more and more beautiful every year. The Jinx he saw last night at the wedding was a woman that could bring any man to his knees.
Which was why Logan had tossed in bed all night, a hand on his shaft, thinking about her, fantasizing her soft folds hugging his cock, his hands on her sweet butt as she rode him, his face pressed between her melon-sized breasts.
But he would never tell Kirk that.
Yeah, he wanted her so badly it hurt. Not just the physical ache of his blue balls, but the ache in his heart.
His fingers brushed the silver cuff on his wrist. Jinx had always been so special to him. During his college years when he stayed at the D’Alessio house several times a year, he would never have acted on his desire for his best friend’s little sister. He had even been Victor’s right-hand man when it came to warning off any horny dudes sniffing around her.
But a secret part of Logan had hoped, maybe even expected those terms would change when she became a woman. That Vic and his parents would be happy to see the baby of the family paired up with someone they knew and trusted.
Too bad his friendship with Victor fell apart before that time came. Too bad Victor’s last words to him were, “Stay away from my family. And if I ever find you’ve been near my little sister, I will make you pay.”
Yeah, he had stayed away, mostly out of anger for Victor’s cruel judgment and
