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Logan’s mouth quirked. “For anyone who cares for you and for your safety,” he said. He smiled and then added, “Okay, for Granny as well. She might look like a sweet old lady, but trust me, you do not want to get on her bad side. She’d skin me alive if something happened to a passenger in my car.”
She relaxed, feeling properly chastised, yet no longer embarrassed. She had to bite back a laugh as her vivid imagination pictured some white-haired, tiny little old lady straining her neck to look up at the tall man, her finger shaking in indignation as she berated his driving abilities.
Logan saw the look on her face and shrugged. “What can I say. I love her dearly, but she’s scared me ever since I was a tiny tot,” he said, and Elizabeth lost the battle, the sound of her laughter removing any further tension.
He moved to close the door behind her when she reached out and put her hand over his. She felt the same jolt she had when she touched him in the dining room but didn’t jerk her hand away. “My purse,” she explained, and when he opened the door again, she turned and bent over to get her purse from where it had fallen to the floor. When she turned back and saw his grin, she pictured the image she’d made bent over. The thought brought forth the scene she’d witnessed that night outside the restaurant weeks ago and she could only pray it was too dark to see her face flush even more.
“It’s upstairs,” she said, and he allowed her to step in front of him to lead the way. Suddenly acutely conscious of the sway of her hips, Elizabeth was keenly aware that he was in the perfect position to unabashedly watch her ass as she climbed the steps. Her awareness that not only was he a man, he wastheman she couldn’t seem to stop fantasizing about caused her to misstep. Her heel caught the edge of a step, and her ankle rolled.
“Careful,” he said as he reached up and steadied her, his hand remaining on her waist.
She was limping slightly when they finally reached her door, and she fumbled in her bag for her keys.
Logan watched as she dug through it, his brow arching when she actually shook the bag trying to discern the location of the keys by the sound of them jangling.
“You do realize you should have your keys in your hand before you reach your door,” he said. “In the time it takes you to dig through that suitcase, anyone could have sauntered up the stairs and attacked you.”
She stopped digging and turned to him, her eyes wide. “Well, thank you so very much for putting that visual in my head,” she said, not bothering to temper the sarcasm in her tone. “Now every time I come home, I’ll be so scared looking for attackers that I wouldn’t be able to put the key in the door even if I did have it in my hand.” Shoving her hand into an interior pocket still seeking the key, she added, “And for your info, this is a satchel, not a suitcase.”
“You don’t need to be frightened, but you do need to always be aware of your surroundings, as well as looking around for strangers,” Logan said, as his eyes narrowed. “I apologize for disparaging your choice of accessories. However, I do expect you to have your keys ready before you get out of your locked car. Understand?”
She stared at him for another moment thinking of telling him what he could do with his expectations, but the way his gaze never wavered had butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Besides that, she had to admit, doing so made sense. She nodded, extremely grateful when her hands finally closed around her keys. She pulled them from her bag only to have him pluck them from her hand. She looked up at him ready to give him a piece of her mind.
“Nodding or shaking your head is not a respectful answer, Miss Adams,” he said, firmly. “Misunderstanding often occurs with ambiguity.”
She gawked at him as if he were speaking Latin.
He shook his head. “It’s really not that difficult,” he said. “A simple yes or no will suffice. So, do you understand?”
Her thoughts whirling, she stood with her head tilted back in order to look up at him, her ankle beginning to ache where it had twisted and her mind totally blank as to the original question she was required to answer.
“Um, yes?” she said, as if not truly sure.
Logan sighed and shook his head. “So, you do think it is perfectly okay to simply assume you are the one person in the world who doesn’t need to worry about her own safety?” he asked, his eyebrow lifting.
“Um, well no. I didn’t mean that. I…” she paused and sighed. “Okay, I admit it; I forgot the question. I’m sorry.” She looked away for a moment and then met his eyes again. “You asked for clarity, so let me be totally honest,” she said, and though he seemed surprised, he nodded.
“Please,” he said, simply.
“I’m tired, my ankle is hurting, I feel embarrassed that I couldn’t find my keys, and frankly,” she said, pausing and taking a deep breath, “I have no idea what you want from me.”
Logan nodded. “Thank you for your honesty,” he said, as he handed her back her keys. “I also hope to clarify any issuesyoumight have.”
She gave him a quick look before unlocking the door and opening it. She went in and limped across the room to turn on a lamp. She winced as she turned back to see Logan shaking his head.
“What?” she asked.
“We need to have a serious talk about safety, but this isn’t the time,” he said, closing the door behind him and flipping the lock. He stepped toward her, gesturing to the couch.
“Sit,” he said firmly.
Elizabeth thought about resisting but sighed and sank onto the cushions. The bossy man morphed into a caring one as he knelt and quickly unfastened her heels, slipping them off. He took a small pillow from the couch, put it on the coffee table and then lifted her foot onto it. He stood, walked to her kitchen and opened her freezer. As she watched him rooting around, she smiled, stifling a laugh as he began hauling out cans of frozen juice, packages of Lean Cuisine and pints of Blue Bell ice cream. It definitely reminded her of the search for her keys. When he finally found a bag of frozen peas, he replaced the other items and brought it to her. After kneading the bag to break up clumps of peas, he draped it over her ankle, ignoring her hiss at the cold.
“That’s what you get for laughing,” he said, and she saw him grinning. “And, no, it is not expected that you always have a bag of frozen veggies in your hand when returning home.”
His words caused her to suddenly remember his earlier instruction. “In answer to your question, yes, I understand,” she said, as he rearranged the bag until it perfectly covered the injured area. “I will have my keys in my hand before I get out of my car.”
“Locked car,” he reminded, as he stood.
