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n to him, but I couldn’t risk him getting hurt. Not if there was something I could do to stop it.
“I’m fine here.” I held Logan’s gaze as I said it. “I’ll wait for you.”
“Juliette-” he tried again, jaw clenching in a silent warning.
“I said I’ll wait here, thank you.” I turned my attention to the other man. “Is there something you need? It’s rather late and this is obviously a quiet neighborhood.”
The man, Jimmy, was obviously caught off guard by my dismissive comment and then turned to face me fully, cocking his head to the side as if he heard me wrong. “What I need is for you to come down here.”
My hands were shaking so I crossed my arms, my nails biting into my skin as I rolled my eyes. “Listen, you can leave or I can call the police. It’s that simple and I’m sure you aren’t as dumb as you look, so what’s it gonna be?”
Logan was frozen where he was and his eyes widened just a fraction. I gave a triumphant smirk, proud of myself that not only had I thrown off the bad guy but I’d surprised the good guy too. Good, I thought wryly. I wasn’t going to let them underestimate me. I wasn’t going to go inside and hide, but I wasn’t going follow orders and commands that came from the mouth of a man I’d never met.
“You’ve got some nerve. Greg said you were a spitfire. Hm, I bet you’re just as much of a firecracker in bed, aren’t you, honey? You’re probably a nasty-”
“Watch your fucking mouth!” Logan snarled and gripped Jimmy by his jacket, dragging him back and shoving him. He moved so that he now stood between us with Jimmy stumbling and catching himself on the dock, straightening up and stabbing a finger in Logan’s direction, surely preparing to spew out threats.
“Threaten me or her and I fucking destroy you,” Logan said, his voice low and calm once again. It was as though as he had to talk himself down. Hold himself in check.
Dammit, a part of me wanted to see it. To see what would happen if Logan was the one who lost control. Would he be scary? Sexy? Both?
“He’s gonna fucking kill you, Ashford. I can’t wait to watch the way you beg for your pathetic fucking life. But you know what he’s gonna do first? He’s gonna take your girl, lock her up in a nice dark room and plow her until-”
Logan moved so quickly I barely saw it; he knocked Jimmy with a swift right hook, his fist slamming into the other man’s jaw with a sickening crack. Then he delivered a punch to Jimmy’s beefy gut and the man fell. His face was red as he gasped and put a hand to his stomach, kneeling on the dock. Logan moved down into a crouch, his pose relaxed and almost friendly. He put a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder and started speaking.
I took a step closer, not hearing what was being said. But after a beat, the man stood, shot me a glare, spit blood in front of Logan’s shoe and then turned around and walked away. He stood there until Jimmy was out of sight and then he turned. Slowly.
I walked down the dock until I was standing in front of him, the cold wind biting at my bare arms. Anger came off of him in uninviting waves and he glared down at me, arms crossed.
“Look,” I started and then stopped. “I know you’re mad and I don’t want to fight. But I was worried that he was going to-”
Logan held up a hand to stop me and I fought the urge to slap his palm down. “When I tell you to go inside, go inside.”
My temper rose just a fraction and I pressed my tongue against my cheek before responding. “I can make my own decisions, Logan. You can’t tell me what to do.” I inwardly grimaced, hating that juvenile statement.
“You don’t know these guys, Juliette. For fuck’s sake, do you know what he would have done if I wasn’t here?” his voice grew louder, deeper.
“Good thing you were here then.”
“Damn it, this isn’t a game.”
“Exactly. Which is why I’m calling the police.”
I turned and started walking down the dock towards my house. Logan’s sneakers slapped against the wood as he quickly caught up with me, wrapping his fingers around my elbow and yanking me back to him. “I’m handling it.”
I gave him a wild eyed look and made a sound between a growl and a frustrated cry. “You’re not doing anything!”
“Why are you screaming? Knock it off.”
“He showed up at my work! And now he has these… these thugs showing up at your house. What’s next? Huh?”
Logan rolled his eyes, fed up with my antics, and dragged me into the house. He kicked the door shut behind him and then turned the lock, not taking his eyes off me. “Why are you so stubborn? I told you that I’m handling this. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“I don’t care about that!” I burst out, my voice raising with each word. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Logan stared at me for a minute and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. His chest was heaving and he leaned back against the door. He studied me carefully, eyes filled with scrutiny as I pushed my hair behind my ear and shifted from one leg to the other. Okay, I said it, indirectly anyway. But I’d said that I cared about him and cared what happened next. Logan spent the last month pushing my buttons and driving me crazy in a way that no one else did and all it took was one threat for me to admit that I’d rather have him pushing those buttons than not have him near me at all.
I was losing my damn mind over someone who had no chance of settling down with someone like me, but there it was. Cards on the table, metaphorical gun to my head, I was developing feelings for Logan that revealed themselves long before the kiss.
