Chapter 64
At five that evening, Logan let me off so I could run home and change. Then he sent me his address via text.
“Take your time,” he said. “I’ll order some dinner for us?”
“Uh…yeah, okay, thank you,” I gathered my things and bolted away from my desk over to Maria’s.
She was also gathering up her things, preparing to leave for the night.
“He wants us to work overtime at his house tonight,” I said.
“Huh?” She asked.
Sometimes I said things to her without presenting all the important info. “Oh, sorry. Logan. He and I are behind on work because of all the Natalie-related things we’ve been doing, so he asked if I could work overtime and wants to do it at his place for a change of view.”
Maria’s mouth formed a smile. “Uh huh, I bet does. A nice little view of his lips on yours.” She winked at me.
“Maria. I wanted to kiss him in his office today. How am I going to be professional and distant if I’m in the man’s home? And he’ll probably be dressed down in shorts and a tight-fitting shirt…” my mind began to wander at the thought.
“Mm,” Maria said, closing her eyes. She was also getting caught up in the thought it seemed.
“Argh!” I said. “This was a mistake, I should have told him no.”
She opened her eyes. “I’d be happy to take your place,” she said with a grin.
“I bet you would, you horn dog,” I said. “I gotta go, I need to take a cold shower before I go over to work with him.”
“Yeah, I think I need one too now,” Maria said.
One cold shower and change of clothes later, I found myself standing on Logan’s front door step.
I looked up at the house, my jaw as wide open as it could be. I knew he was rich, and I should have guessed this would be his house just based on the fact I had to enter through a gate with a gatekeeper to get here, but it still blew my mind. It was a literal mansion. All this house for one person? It didn’t seem fair.
Logan opened the door, surprised to see me. “Oh, Hazel! I didn’t hear the doorbell.”
That was because I hadn’t gotten that far yet. I closed my mouth. “No worries,” I said.
He held open the door and swept his arm out, gesturing for me to enter. I walked in and kicked my shoes off as soon as I walked through the door. I wasn’t about to risk getting whatever was on those shoes on his presumably immaculate floors.
He closed the door behind me. “I hope you’re in the mood for pizza,” he said. “I should have asked you before I ordered it.”
“Um, I’ve never not in the mood for pizza,” I said, letting my guard slip a little. It was going to be hard to keep up the cold, distant act I’d been doing to get over our kiss, especially in his house. With him. With his shorts and tight, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination shirt…
He sat on one end of the couch and I sat as far away from him as I could. He looked at me like I was being a weirdo.
“The pizza’s down here,” he said, opening one of the boxes. “I got us two Hawaiian pizzas, I remembered you like it too.”
Ugh. That body with that thoughtful act? I was going to need another cold shower if he didn’t knock it off.
“Oh, that sounds great,” I said, standing to move closer to the pizza. I grabbed a couple slices, put them on a plate, then moved back to my end of the couch.
“Do you want to watch some TV while we eat? I hate eating while I work,” he said.
I was kind of annoyed that he was being so relaxed and chill with me after our talk about forgetting the kiss. This wasn’t going to help us, this was basically a date.
But on the other hand…
“Yeah, okay,” I said. I kind of liked that his guard was down around me. And the thought of eating pizza together after he kissed me was a nice ego boost.
“Okay, don’t judge me, but…” Logan started, looking slightly embarrassed. “Right now is the newest episode of ‘Meet Me at the Altar’ and I can’t miss it. They’re going to announce their decisions tonight.”
I gasped. Meet Me at the Altar was a reality show about couples who meet each other for the first time on their wedding day. I was a sucker for terrible reality shows. Tonight the couples would decide if they wanted to stay married or divorce.
“Oh! I really hope Jeff and Maria stay together, they’re the only couple I think have a shot at making it,” I said, scooting in a little closer to Logan to see the TV better.
“What? You don’t think Ryan and Joe have a chance?” He said, grabbing the remote to turn the TV on.
“No way! The way Joe was already starting to nit-pick every little thing Ryan did? Ryan deserves better,” I said, taking a bite of my pizza.
Logan laughed. “Well I guess we’ll see soon what they think.”
“Do you want to make it interesting?” I asked.
“How so?”
“Let’s make a bet on it,” I turned and smiled at him.
“Okay, you’re on,” Logan thought for a moment. “Let’s see…if Joe and Ryan stay together, as they should, you buy the coffee tomorrow morning. And if they don’t, I owe you.”
“Deal,” I stuck out my hand for him to shake.
He grabbed it and shook. Then he looked me in the eyes, letting his hand linger in mine. I chuckled and looked down, blushing. I pulled my hand out of his.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I just shook my head. The muted TV caught my attention. “Oh, it’s starting!”
But he didn’t unmute it. “Hazel, I really didn’t mean to…”
I turned to face him. “Look, it’s okay. I think it’s going to be weird for a little bit, until we get some distance from…what happened over the weekend.”
He looked down slightly and nodded. Then he turned to the TV and unmuted it.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ve got a bet to win.
Several hours later, after I won our bet and we finally got to work, I stretched and let out a yawn. I let myself finally look at the clock on my laptop.
“Oh, woah,” I said. “No wonder I’m so tired. It’s one in the morning.”
Logan looked up from his laptop. “Oh, shit,” he said. “I did not mean to make you work this late, I’m so sorry. I’m a terrible boss.”
“Nah, you fed me pizza and tomorrow you’ll be buying me coffee,” I winked at him. “What more does a secretary need?”
I closed my laptop and stood. My legs were wobbly, and I immediately sat right back down. I guess I’d had more wine than I thought.
Logan studied me. “I don’t think you’re okay to drive,” he said. “Why don’t I make up the couch for you? You can sleep here tonight.”
Oh. Pizza and reality TV was one thing, but spending the night? That was so far out of the boundary I was trying to set. “Oh no, I couldn’t impose like that.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “No way I’m letting you drive, you probably can’t even walk to your car.”
I frowned. He wasn’t wrong. I guessed it wasn’t such a big deal, it wasn’t like I’d be in the same bed or room as him.
“Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll stay.”
