Page 103 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

“Then when?” he asked.

“Later.” Much, much later.

He spun me in a circle, pulling me close to whisper in my ear. “I hate that I don’t know everything about you. I hate that I don’t know who your parents were or how you grew up. I hate that I don’t understand the relationship you have with Jackson. I hate that you don’t trust me enough to share.”

“Oh, Logan.” I deflated into his chest. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just the one topic I can’t talk about tonight in this fancy room. I’m doing my best to keep it all together and pretend I belong in this ballroom with you. If we drudge up all the garbage, I’ll never be able to pretend.”

He stopped dancing. “You don’t have to pretend. You do belong.”

I gave him a sad smile, not wanting to argue. “I trust you. But let’s leave my parents and childhood off the table.”

“Okay,” he agreed, moving to the music again. “Then how about Jackson? Why are you two so close?”

“We met in high school. His foster home was close to the place where I grew up. Neither of us had many friends or people we could rely on and I guess that just bonded us together. Since we didn’t have a real family, we made one up ourselves. He’s like a brother.”

“Has it ever been more?”

I smiled against his tuxedo jacket. “Never. That kiss you saw was the first time he’s ever kissed me anywhere other than the cheek. He loves me but not in a romantic way.”

Logan’s frame relaxed and he twirled us around. Had I known that my relationship with Jackson had caused him worry, I would have explained it all in more detail weeks ago, like he had with his ex, Emmeline.

“What about you?” I asked. “Should I be worried about seeing any of your exes here tonight?”

“After Emmeline, I saw a woman briefly but that ended months ago. I had a girlfriend in college who is now happily married to a good friend. But that’s it. You’re all caught up.”

I rested my cheek against his chest. “Good. And since I went on the mother of all dry spells between our escapades, you’re all caught up too.”

“What?” He stopped moving. “Say that again.”

“Say what again?”

“That part about a dry spell between our escapades.”

“Oh.” I blushed. This fancy ballroom probably wasn’t the place to announce to Logan that I hadn’t slept with anyone but him in the last six-something years. Goddamn you, champagne. “Well, there was you. Then I had Charlie and was kind of busy being a mom. Then there was you again.”

“Damn it.” His face softened and he lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “I wish I had come back to that hotel sooner.”

I stood on my toes, brushing my lips to his without a reply.

A part of me wished that too, but the other was glad for how things had turned out. As much as I hated that he’d missed those years with Charlie, I couldn’t regret leaving for Montana.

The band started a new song, this one faster than the one we’d been swaying to a moment ago, and a wave of panic hit me. I’d never danced like this before. The only dancing I’d done was at clubs or in my living room with Charlie. My high school hadn’t organized formal dances because so few of the students could afford to rent tuxes or buy dresses.

“I don’t know how to dance to this,” I whispered.

“But I do.” Logan pulled me closer. “Hold on to me and I’ll take it from there. Don’t let me go, Thea.”

The passion in his voice and the intensity of his gaze nearly broke me.

Because his plea had nothing to do with dancing.

Thea was shutting me out again. The glass dividing us from the driver in the limo might as well have been between our seats.

She’d been acting off since last night. I was sure that something had happened yesterday, but I hadn’t had a chance to ask because I’d been so distracted by Charlie calling me Daddy. But whatever it was, something had spooked Thea. The gala hadn’t helped. She was more guarded now than she’d been in weeks.

But I wasn’t letting her run away.

We rode back to the penthouse in silence, but my thumb never stopped caressing her knuckles. As we rode the elevator upstairs, I kept her firmly tucked into my side with my arm around her shoulders, not letting her go until we crossed the threshold of the penthouse.