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“About what Jamie said,” he choked out awkwardly. “She didn’t mean anything. It was just—”
“Don’t.” Her voice was so hoarse it was barely a whisper. Stumbling to her feet, she shook her head fervently. “Please don’t do this.”
He stood stock still, not stopping her, as she fled past him, racing down the hall. When he heard her turn the corner, he closed his eyes and fisted his hands down at his sides, telling himself to let her go.
But he couldn’t let her go.
Whirling after her, he started running too.
“Paige.”
At Logan’s call, Paige quickened her pace.
“Paige,” he growled impatiently as he caught up to her. A warm hand wrapped around her elbow.
He didn’t make her stop, but she jerked to a halt, anyway, and spun around. “What?” Horrified by the crack in her voice, she gritted her teeth and commanded herself not to cry. “What do you want from me?”
“I…” Agony contorted his features. He looked so upset, she actually wanted to hug him, comfort him.
The very guy who’d taken her brother away, the guy she had forgiven and no longer blamed. The guy she should still avoid.
She pressed a closed hand against her aching chest, digging up the last reserve of her anger. “Look, just because I don’t…hate you anymore doesn’t mean…we’re not…we can’t be…”
God, she couldn’t even say it. When she was looking at him like that, and with him looking back at her the way he was looking at her, she couldn’t reject him.
Couldn’t bear to hurt him.
A weighty breath shuddered from his lungs. He gave a single, humble nod. “I know.”
Great. She was going to start crying again. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, wetting her cheeks. “Then what do you want from me?”
“What do I want?” When a sad smile flittered across Logan’s lips, Paige shuddered, practically tasting his misery. Closing his eyes, he confessed, “Everything I know I shouldn’t, I guess.”
She closed her eyes too. “Logan…”
“I know,” he said again, his voice rustic. “I know. When I look at you, I should feel nothing but guilt and remorse. I should close down and burrow into that wretched place inside myself. But I can’t. I just…I feel so alive. You’ve made me smile and laugh and…and want.”
Her eyes flashed open. When his gaze darted down her body, her skin warmed and her pulse throbbed in the most wicked places. She curled her fingers into her palms to keep from reaching for him.
“I can’t remember the last time I really wanted a girl. But I want you, Paige. In every way possible. I know it hurts you to hear this, but you’ve healed me like nothing else has. You’ve made me feel…forgiven. And hopeful. And complete.”
“But I can’t just…it wouldn’t be right. I couldn’t ever be with you; it would totally disgrace Trace’s memory. It…it…”
“I know.”
God, she hated how lost he sounded whenever he said those two words. Why did he have to keep saying them?
He gave a bitter laugh and ran his hands over his face. When he dropped his fingers, he looked up at the ceiling, addressing the white tiles. “Wow. Who knew falling in love would be so gut-wrenchingly disastrous?”
Paige choked out a sob and covered her mouth with both hands. Logan focused on her, his brow knit with worry. When he took a step forward, she countered with a skip backward.
Shaking her head, she muffled out her command from between shaking fingers. “Don’t say that. You don’t mean…you can’t—”
“But I do.” Misery filled his eyes. “And I don’t regret it. I’ve fallen in love with you, Paige. I just—”
She couldn’t listen to any more. Whirling away, she took off, but he caught her arm two steps into her flight. She gasped as he spun her back to him. When they literally bumped into each other, he caught her shoulders and coaxed her in reverse until her spine met a wall. Then he pressed his forehead to hers and simply held her there.
The press of his body against hers, the fall of his minty breath on her cheek, the warmth of his fingers as they barely slid across her cheek, just under her bruise, was too delicious to resist. She closed her eyes, her chest heaving from the anticipation racing through her. She wanted this, wanted it so bad.
