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How did she smell so good after the game they’d just played?
Logan pulled his head back, and they looked at each other for a moment. She suddenly looked shy, and a protectiveness he didn’t know he had flared inside him.
He helped her down from the counter. “We should probably get back out there.”
“I don’t know if I can,” Jeni said. “What kind of first impression am I giving your mother?”
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Logan adjusted his pants. “Besides, I’m the one who can’t leave yet,” he said with a wry grin. “You gotta go first.”
“What? No.”
“But there’s pie,” he reminded her.
If Logan had the choice to stay here and keep kissing Jeni or have freshly baked apple pie, he’d choose the former, hands down. He wasn’t sure she’d say the same as she licked her lower lip, her eyes going bright.
“I do love pie,” she said.
He almost pulled her against him for one more kiss.
Instead, he opened the door for her. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
Logan remained in the bathroom for a few minutes to let his mind and body cool down. It wasn’t easy, since he kept replaying what just happened over and over in his head. Had Jeni really just burst in and initiated a hot make-out session in his mother’s powder bath?
Hell yes, she had. He’d wanted his mouth on hers ever since he had her in his bed. Before that, even. Touching her was just as powerful this time as it had been then, and he was more convinced than ever there was something different about her.
About them, together.
Jeni wasn’t some one-night stand. He couldn’t be her friend with benefits. He wanted to know all of her, inside and out. He wanted to know her mind, her body, and her heart.
And after what just happened, he had hope she might feel the same.
* * *
Logan finally rejoined Jeni and his mother. They were halfway through their pieces of apple pie and his mom was happily chatting away. She winked at Logan when he walked in, and he grinned and shook his head.
Jeni sat stiffly in her chair, a polite smile on her face as she listened. Her demeanor was the polar opposite of the laughing vixen from ten minutes prior, but she probably felt awkward after what just happened. She kept her distance from him through dessert and saying goodbye to his mom, and he couldn’t fault her for that. She wasn’t his girlfriend—yet—and he couldn’t imagine her mother being on the other side of a door, knowing Logan’s hands were all over her daughter.
But when they were back in his truck, he started to worry. She stayed strangely quiet as he weaved out of the neighborhood. When he reached for her hand, she pulled away.
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Jeni glanced over at him then focused her gaze on the dashboard in front of her. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. It was a mistake.”
“What are you talking about?”
She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. “I meant what I said earlier. I really like you, Logan. Each new thing I learn about you only makes me like you more. But I kind of got carried away, and I’m sorry because I know you probably thought that meant I was open to starting something real. Like a relationship.”
He sure as hell had thought that. And he’d swear in that moment she had too. What happened between then and now to change her mind?
“Don’t do that,” he said as gently as possible despite the knots forming in his stomach. “Don’t put a stop to this before it’s even begun. I’m not like your ex-husband, Jeni. Give me a chance to show you that. I’d never try to control you or stop you from doing what makes you happy.”
She’d started to shake her head before he even finished his sentence. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I just can’t. If you want, I’m still down for a no-strings-attache—”
“No.” His voice came out harsher than he intended, and she seemed to shrink into her seat. “That’s not what I want from you.”
Jeni peeked over at him. “Not even a little bit?”
“Don’t make a joke. It’s pretty obvious what my body wants when you’re nearby, but I want more. I’ve made myself clear on that point.”
