Chapter 185

“Tina? What the hell are you doing here? And where the hell are your clothes?”

Logan immediately smacked his hand over his eyes, blocking as much as the scene as I could. Unfortunately, much of it had already, unintentionally been burned into his eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic, lover. I’m here to give us both what we want,” she said.

“I don’t want this!” Logan, with his hand blocking his vision, stumbled his way into the bathroom for a towel. When he grabbed one, he turned around and threw it in Tina’s general direction. He wasn’t about to risk looking again.

“What’s this for?”

“For you to cover up,” Logan said, furious.

Tina gave a heavy sigh. The bed creaked as weight shifted. “I’m covered. You can look now.”

Logan didn’t fully trust her and peeked through his fingers. When he saw she had indeed covered, he lowered his hand.

He had seen many naked women before. His reputation as a playboy had been well earned in his younger years. But Hazel was his wife, and he was determined to stay true to her.

Tina wasn’t a temptation. Logan would be loyal to Hazel. But he certainly didn’t want to see Tina naked anyway.

“Now.” Logan crossed his arms. “Mind telling me what the hell you are doing here?”

Tina lifted a brow. “I thought it would have been obvious.”

“You can’t think I would have gone for this,” Logan snapped.

“You’ve been stressed. Honestly, I was just trying to help.”

Logan didn’t believe her. At all.

“Some casual fun always lifts my spirits.” She sauntered closer to Logan, sashaying her hips with each step. When she was close enough, she lifted her hand and traced the back of her fingers down the length of Logan’s tie.

Logan immediately stepped back, out of her reach.

“You don’t have the right to touch me,” he said, his voice lowering, dangerous. “Get dressed and get the hell out of my house.”

“Don’t be that way.” Tina pouted.

“This is my house and you are trespassing,” Logan told her. “Don’t make me call the police.”

All softness in Tina’s expression immediately hardened. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Tina pushed past Logan and stormed out into the hallway. She grabbed her bra off the banister.

Logan turned, not wanting to see her redress herself. As he did, his phone began to ring in his pocket.

That had to be Hazel. It was time for their nightly call.

Tina could see herself out, Logan reasoned and answered the phone.

“Hey, you,” Hazel said, a smile in her voice. She sounded happier tonight than she had in a while. Logan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hazel. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

This had become a regular exchange between the two of them.

“What are you up to tonight?” Hazel asked.

“Oh, right now, I’m just taking out the trash…”

Logan turned at the sound of a gasp and found Tina dressed in the doorway of his bedroom. She eyed him and the phone in his hand. In a flash her rage turned into viscous delight.

“Lover!” she called loudly. “Have you seen my underwear?”

The line went dead silent.

“What the hell, Tina?” Logan shouted. “I told you to get out!”

Tina winked as she turned around. She skipped down the hallway and down the stairs. Logan moved into the hallway to watch her walk out the front door this time.

The moment she was gone, Logan refocused on the phone call. Hazel still hadn’t said anything.

“It’s not what you think,” Logan began.

His voice seemed to restart Hazel, because she immediately spoke.

“Was that Tina?”

“Yes,” Logan said. “But I swear it’s not what you think.”

“Is she at your house?”

“She was, but –”

“Was she… missing her underwear?”

In that moment, Logan realized just how much Tina had screwed him in that moment. She’d said all that on purpose, knowing Hazel was on the floor.

“Hazel…”

“I’m going to hang up now,” Hazel said.

“Don’t!” Logan said quickly. “Please. Just let me explain…”

I wanted to hang up the phone. I’d heard Tina’s voice and understood the implications. By all accounts, I should have trusted my own ears and believed Logan was cheating on me.

Maybe it was foolish of me, maybe I was too trusting. Either way, I wasn’t ready to let him go.

“Explain it then,” I said. “I want the full story.”

“There isn’t much too it,” Logan said. “I came home from work and Tina was here. She wanted… I don’t want to say. She came onto me.”

My stomach twisted. Bringing my hand to my mouth, I thought I might be sick.

“I rejected her. I told her to get the hell out,” Logan said. “She clearly didn’t take kindly to that. When you called, she got her vengeance by asking me that bit about her underwear.”

I tried to process his words but it took a while to wade beyond my own nausea.

“Is she gone now?” I asked, when I could think clearly again.

“She is,” Logan said. “I watched her leave. There goes her car out of the driveway.”

That, at least, was a relief. “How did she even get in?”

Logan exhaled heavily. “I have no idea. The staff believe she and I are together. Maybe she convinced one of them to let her in to surprise me.”

“Logan…”

“I’ll speak with them, Hazel. This won’t happen again, I swear it.”

He sounded so steadfast, so earnest, that I wanted to believe him. But how could I really? If Tina had pulled something like this once already, despite their contract in place, she would surely pull something like this again.

“I’ll make this go away,” Logan said and it sounded like a promise. But I’d heard vows like this before.

“She won’t give up,” I told him. “She wants you, and she’s not going to stop until I’m out of the picture entirely.”

“That’s never going to happen,” Logan said fiercely. “Hazel, you are my wife. You are the only person I’ve ever chosen for myself, and not Tina, or grandfather, or anyone else is going to come between us.”

They already had. This distance itself was proof of that. If it hadn’t been for Logan’s grandfather’s disapproval, I’d still be in town. Logan would wear his ring, and I’d wear mine. He’d introduce me as his wife.

Instead I’m in another town, another life, connected to him only through phone calls and a flimsy piece of paper at a courthouse.

“Let’s not talk about this,” Logan said. “I want to wash the thought of Tina from my brain. Tell me about your day. Did anything exciting happen?”

My days here were mostly boring, but I could understand Logan wanting to change topics. My heart was still worried about Tina, but I too didn’t want to waste our limited time talking about her.

At least, not until I had time to go over everything in my mind.

“I made friends today,” I said. “An older couple. They work at the grocery store. The wife invited me to their place for dinner tomorrow night.”

“That’s wonderful, Hazel. What are they like?”

“They are very sweet and clearly in love with each other. When they realized how lonely I am, they immediately took me under their wing like a lost daughter or something.” I laughed a little. “Frank and Tammy Christopher.”

On the other end of the phone, Logan was very quiet.

“Logan?”

Suddenly monotone, Logan asked, “Say that name again?”