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I threw my head back in laughter. "Eleventy-three?"
She rolled her eyes. "My brother, Lachlan, swears it's a thing."
Lachlan—the Amanda date assister.
She must've sensed what I was thinking because she squeezed my hand once, and then faced me. "Have you seen her?"
I nodded.
"She give you that fat lip?"
I’d forgotten I had it. "Yup."
She shrugged. "I'd probably do a lot worse."
"Yeah," I agreed.
"You miss her?"
"Every second, of every hour, of every day."
"Okay Nicholas Sparks," she joked, and elbowed me in the ribs.
I pretended to wince.
She paled instantly, panic clear on her face.
I tried to calm her down. "I'm just fucking with you, Lucy. Shit."
Her panicked eyes turned into a glare, directed right at me. "You're an asshole."
I chuckled. "So you've said."
Then all of a sudden, she turned serious. "I'm glad your back, Logan. I really am. But this time—you better be ready to fight for her. She doesn't deserve anything less."
***
I felt like I'd just run a marathon, with weights strapped to me, five times over. I’d thought that I maintained my fitness while I was gone, but all I really did was keep the muscle mass. My conditioning sucked ass.
I hopped off the treadmill and prepared to leave. Too busy fucking around with my phone, I didn't see the body I ran into, or the fist coming at my face, or the elbow to my stomach. "Oomph." I held my stomach with one had while the other tried to hold on to something, anything, to stop myself from falling to the floor. I didn't know what I was holding onto until it was too late. Boob. Shit. I quickly let go and tried to find my footing. Then a knee to my junk ruined me. I fell to my knees and face-planted. I couldn't breathe. My eyes began to water. I shut them tight. I couldn't let people see me cry. I'm not a fucking pussy.
A loud squeal pulled me from my thoughts. "Holy shit, Logan! I'm so sorry."
Amanda.
I slowly opened one eye, just in case her voice was a hallucination. She was on her knees, bending to look at my face. "Oh my God," she whispered, placing her hand on cheek. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh," I managed to get out.
She laughed.
Fucking laughed.
"Not funny," I told her.
She grimaced. "I'm sorry. You grabbed a handful of boob, I panicked."
"And before that?"
"I just—I don't know."
Some guy jogged up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes," she told him, but her eyes never left me.
"Is this guy bothering you?"
"What the hell?" I spat out. "I'm the one on the fucking floor, here."
He glared at me, his eyes narrowed. "Amanda, you need me to call security on this asshole?"
"Come the fuck on," I groaned, struggling to sit up. "Obviously, I'm not the threat, but please . . . go ahead and call security on Kung Fu Ninja here." I pointed to Amanda.
Her eyes were huge. She was in as much shock as I was in pain.
Asshole didn't respond, just stared at her tits and asked her if she was okay. She confirmed she was, and he left.
"That asshole was looking at your tits," I informed her.
She rolled her eyes. "At least he wasn't grabbing them."
"Valid."
She held her hand out for me and helped me to my feet. I stood, my body bent at my waist, holding onto my nuts, as if that was going to somehow make it all better. She placed her hand on my arm and led me to a chair nearby where I took a seat. Standing in front of me, she lifted my chin with her fingers. Her thumb stroked under my eye a few times. "Does it hurt?" She bit her lip, anticipating my answer.
My hand reached out to touch her leg. The action was supposed to be soothing, but it had the opposite effect. Her eyes widened slightly and her breath caught. She didn't pull back, and she didn't stop me. I spread my legs and gripped hers tighter, begging her to come closer.
She did.
Her hand stayed on my face as she leaned in close, inspecting it. "Shit, Logan. It's going to bruise."
I shook my head. My eyes never left hers. "It's fine. Don't even worry about it."
"I keep hurting you."
"I keep deserving it."
She smiled. My gaze drifted down to her mouth.
She wet her lips. "Don't you dare kiss me," she warned.
I chuckled. "I wasn't planning on it."
Lie.
I took a chance and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her down until she was sitting on my leg. Her arm wrapped around my neck. I breathed out, relieved. She was letting me have this, and I sure as shit wasn't going to question it. I saw her eyes focus on my lips. "You want me to, don't you?"
"Huh?" Her eyes snapped up.
"You want me to kiss you?"
"No." She feigned disgust.
"Fine," I told her. "Can you just sit here with me then, just until my boys get back to normal?" I pointed to my lap.
She laughed and looked away, and her arm around my neck loosened.
She wanted to leave.
Without intending to, the grip on her waist tightened.
"I'm not going anywhere," she said.
"Good," I said. "Neither am I."
