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“There’s Danni,” Leo said.
Logan saw the woman Leo had been unsuccessfully trying to woo all weekend. “Go and see if you can work your magic today.”
“I pretty much have no game with her, Logan. I’m not sure why.”
“Because you’re not the player you think you are. Stop trying to front, and be yourself,” he said.
“Myself?”
“Yeah. It will work a lot better than whatever you’ve been doing,” he said.
Leo nodded and then walked away. Logan realized how lucky he was to be a part of his family. He had thought that learning about his true biological mother had changed him but, fundamentally, it hadn’t. He was still the man he’d always been. But he could be better. He’d been working toward being a better man from the moment he’d seen Quinn again.
At the bonfire.
When he’d realized that he wanted her. He’d sold it to himself as a distraction because that had been easier to handle at that moment, but he knew it had never been that. One look and he’d started to fall for her again.
He’d regretted losing her, and she’d be the first to point out that was because he couldn’t stand not winning, but the truth was, he hadn’t meant to hurt her or to let her leave once much less twice.
He’d always believed he was stronger on his own, but his parents had proven that wasn’t the case. Even Nick had said he thought having Adler by his side had given him an edge in business.
Quinn could do that for him. She was already showing him that he could have a life away from work. That there were other parts of his life that he couldn’t keep ignoring. Watching Adler and Nick pose together and seeing Quinn off to the side watching them, Logan knew what he had to do.
He walked over to her. She shook her head, but he came closer. “I need to talk to you. Can you take a break for a few minutes?”
“Please don’t do this right now. I’m trying to work,” she said.
“I can wait. Just tell me when.”
“When?” she asked. “How about never?”
“That won’t do,” he said.
She grabbed his wrist and turned, pulling him to the back of the church and out the door. They faced off in the deserted parking lot; the guests had gone on to the reception and the bridal party and family were inside.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “I’m not ready to be chill and just say yeah, everything’s cool. And you seem like you just want some closure so you can move on. I can’t do that. Not today.”
He shook his head. “I know that. I was a jerk earlier and I have no excuse except that I didn’t know how to tell you that I’m falling in love with you. That I wanted you to stay with me and I knew I had no right to ask. Everything felt like it was shifting, that my world was turning into something new.”
She put her hand on his jaw. “Oh, Logan. I know that. I get that you’re not yourself right now. But I expected you to treat me with respect. I can’t be with a man who doesn’t understand that.”
Logan nodded. He’d hurt her in a way she wasn’t going to just forgive, and he didn’t blame her. He was going to have to show her he’d changed and that was going to take more time than he had this afternoon.
“I’m sorry, Ace. I wish I’d never said those things, but you know the man I am. I can’t even promise that I’d never behave that way again. But I will tell you that I will keep trying to change and to show you how much you mean to me.”
She shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t make rash statements like that.”
“Why?”
“I might believe them and I’m not sure that I should. In fact, I know I shouldn’t because you’re not the kind of man who is capable of that kind of gesture.”
Logan was saying all the right things and Quinn wanted to believe him. She loved him, so that made her see him in the way her heart wanted her to. But her mind wasn’t having it. Just this morning he’d turned from the sexy lover of the night before into a man who’d cut her to ribbons. She didn’t want to be the kind of woman who ended up in a relationship like that. As much as it hurt to say no, she knew she had to. Because if he hurt her again, she wouldn’t be able to forgive him or herself.
“Fair enough,” he said. “I don’t really deserve a second chance from you, but would you consider giving me some time to prove I’m not the man you think I am? That I have changed for the better?”
“How would you do that? I live in California and Bisset Industries is here on the East Coast. I think it’s best if we both just walk away. Take this as a little P.S. from our affair in college and leave it there.”
He watched her with an inscrutable expression on his face. His jaw clenched and his hands moved restlessly at his sides, as if he wanted to touch her but didn’t trust himself.
