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I wouldn’t want to take the chance of rattling our investors. A side bonus is keeping any gossip onto who I might be seeing instead of anything real, like our company or actual personal lives. Being the main face of our company, I make a point of keeping up appearances.
I should never have let anything happen between Elena and I. I can’t get involved. Certain things my last ex said to me still ring in my mind. I keep her words at the forefront and let them dictate my relationships–or lack of them–because she was completely right.
You don’t have time for me. You never made space in your life for the possibility of ‘us’.
As much as I wanted to, I could never give her or our relationship the time and attention that was needed. When she broke it off, I couldn’t blame her one bit. I vowed to myself not to try to have serious relationships while work is my number one priority.
It was the right choice. It’s easy enough to go out and find someone for a single night whenever I want to. As long as we’re both clear on that there’s no future to be had, it works out. Sleeping with high-powered women who are just as busyas I am has always been the perfect solution. No strings. No attachments.
Then it happened that none of the women that are fine with being my usual plus ones were available. I was starting to have to consider attending solo, which would have raised quite a few significant eyebrows and been far from ideal. Or cancelling altogether, and that was never a real option. I was expected to be at that gala, no question at all.
Running into Elena in the building was the unexpected solution to an issue that was becoming a far bigger problem than it should’ve been. I’m a problem solver. It’s frustrating when something so trivial, that should be so easy to solve, was getting away from me.
I was about ready to take Logan or Julian as my date when Elena spilled the contents of her life all over the lobby and saved me.
I never expected that the more time I spent with her, the more enticing she was. By the time we got back that night, I couldn’t resist her anymore. I’m glad I didn’t keep trying. It was a night to remember.
Now I want more. I want to sleep with her again, of course, but it’s more than just that. I want to get to know her better. Maybe even have her in my life.
The real problem is that if I do give in to what I want, the same thing will happen as it did with all of my other exes. Probably sooner too, since work’s getting frenzied.
My attraction’s not so easy to ignore when Elena lives right across the hall. My jaw tightens. For fuck’s sake. A fake date with a neighbor turned out to be a bad move on my part.
I still don’t regret it.
Except for the fact that I can’t get her off of my mind. I didn’t think it through far enough, which isn’t like me. It’s my job to consider everything from all angles and arrive at the bestdecision for every situation. This time I dropped the ball. I never do with work. I should’ve remembered that my personal life always turns out to be another story.
Impatiently I down the rest of my coffee. I’ve got to get back to the office and get my mind back in the game, not spend anymore time thinking about my night with Elena.
Or how much I’d like to make it happen again.
I can’t keep replaying it in my mind. It’s over with and I’ve got to keep to the plan, which was one evening with her and that’s it. There’s no point in trying for anything more than what’s already happened.
My resolve is firm now. I can get back to work. It’s after work’s done and I’m back home that I’m worried about.
Tossing my coffee cup, I head up to the counter where the annoying guyis still hassling the barista over nothing.
“Leave her alone.” I let my voice drop into a commanding tone. I’m intimidating when I decide to be and this guy doesn’t take much effort to scare. His mouth opens and closes as he struggles with what to say. I bet no one’s confronted him on his low-level behavior before.
The barista shoots me a grateful look and I nod before I turn around to leave. I’m confident that even this loser won’t start up again after I’m gone.
Chapter 15
Logan
Nothing else has happened with JJ since that night. The one I keep replaying over and over again in my mind. I’m happy that our friendship’s fine.
Not at all happy that nothing’s changed between us either. It’s as if the other night didn’t happen at all.
Guess I was right. It’s not possible to have a relationship with another man. At least not for me.
So I’m going to turn my attention onto the other person who I can’t stop thinking about. Elena and Asher haven’t gone out again since he took her to that benefit thing. There’s nothing going on between them so I want to see where her head’s at. Every time I see her, the signals I get are even more mixed.
The few years that passed since high school haven’t changed how I feel about Elena. Nothing has. From the day she showed up at Asher’s door, I haven’t been able to get her off my mind. Now I can do something about it. I want to spend time with her and not just a couple of minutes here and there when we run into each other.
Grabbing the bags that just got dropped off, I head over to her place. Her eyes narrow when she answers her door.
“Logan.” She eyes me suspiciously. “What’s this?”
