CHAPTER TWELVE
Later that night, Tess turned over in bed. She flipped her pillow, pulled the duvet high around her shoulders. She’d tried counting sheep, imagined a lake glistening under a full moon. She’d even visualized all of her troubles going into a big vase and putting a lid on the whole lot. Except her six-foot-five trouble wouldn’t fit in any vase she had stored in her imagination.
It didn’t matter how hard she tried. Logan jumped free of any container she found, grinning at her feeble attempts to get him out of her head. At least she was trying to get him out of her head and not her bed.
Oh-my-God. She was at it again, putting Logan where he so obviously didn’t want to go. She kicked the duvet off and walked across to the big picture window. She looked at the streetlights for a few minutes before she needed to use the bathroom.
It wasn’t Logan that was the problem, it was her and the king size bar of chocolate she’d demolished. Logan had been a perfect gentleman. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He hadn’t held her hands, or her face, or whispered sweet nothings in her ear.
And he most definitely hadn’t kissed her.
She turned the light on in the walk-in closet and opened her suitcase. She’d brought a book with her, a horror story that was bound to scare her witless and give her something to really keep her awake. She turned to the first page and settled in for the fright of her life.
Halfway through chapter four she knew she was in trouble. She was bored. The latest blockbuster horror wasn’t scary at all. It made her laugh at the worst possible moments and groan at the sheer stupidity of the characters.
She closed her book and glanced at her alarm clock. It was after midnight. In five hours she needed to be at the café, mixing dough and making sandwiches. Instead of feeling the rush of pride she normally did when she thought about Angel Wings Café, she felt depressed.
She worked long hours and didn’t know what she was going to do with the rest of her life. She’d spent the last three years hiding inside more than one pair of faded jeans, telling herself she was better off leaving her modeling days behind.
What she hadn’t realized until now, was that no one in Bozeman cared that she’d been a model. They didn’t treat her any differently because she had a few extra zeroes on the end of her bank account balance. The only people in the whole town that cared either way were the reporters that had staked out her apartment. And they probably weren’t even local.
After wallowing in self-pity for another few minutes, she decided she needed to do something other than look at the ceiling. If she was having a pity party, she could at least follow a Williams’ family tradition. Her grandma had always told her that warm milk with a sprinkle of chocolate could cure most heartaches and long nights. Up until she started living with her grandparents, Tess didn’t have much in the way of family traditions. So what she had learned she tended to cherish.
She picked up her laptop and tiptoed downstairs. She hadn’t heard a peep out of Logan, so she could only guess that he was sound asleep, enjoying whatever dreams were flitting through his head.
Tess closed the kitchen door and scrunched her eyes tight before she flicked the light switch on.
“Do you want to make me blind?”
Tess jumped a mile. Forget her horror novel. Logan Allen had managed to scare the bejeebers out of her without it costing her a cent. She clutched her laptop to her chest and turned around. He was sitting at the kitchen table with his arm over his eyes and a hot drink steaming in front of him.
Tess dimmed the lights and frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s my house.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” She walked across to the counter and pulled a clean mug out of the dishwasher. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” Logan stared moodily into his cup.
Tess ignored him and heated a cup of milk in the microwave. “Do you have any hot chocolate?”
“Middle shelf in the pantry.”
She sprinkled a teaspoon of chocolate on her drink and smiled as she took her first sip.
“You do know it’s after midnight, don’t you?”
Tess didn’t bother looking at Logan. She’d seen plenty when she turned the lights on and she wasn’t going back for another peek. Especially when she hadn’t been able to get him out of her head or into an imaginary vase.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Tess tried not to wince at the obvious answer to his question. Of course she couldn’t sleep. She wouldn’t be in the kitchen if she could sleep. She’d be upstairs, dreaming sweet dreams and looking forward to seeing the morning view of the mountains.
“You’re not wearing a lacy bodysuit.”
Tess’ eyes flew to Logan’s face. The heat in her cup of milk was nothing compared to the blush screaming through her body. Logan, on the other hand, didn’t look as though he’d said anything out of the ordinary.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You look cute, but spotty pink pajamas don’t look anywhere as good as the lacy things you wore on the catwalk.”
Tess thought back to the movie clips she’d shown him. “Those lacy things cost more than twenty pairs of pajamas.”
“I thought you had a lot of money.”
Logan Allen was beginning to annoy her. “I do, but it’s nice to have someone to wear sexy lingerie for. That’s why I’m wearing pajamas.”
Logan’s eyebrows shot up. “What if you knew someone who appreciated lacy lingerie. Would you wear it then?”
Tess didn’t know whether it was her grandma’s cure-all for everything under the sun, or the way Logan was staring at her. Either way she was getting hot and bothered, not winding down for a good night’s sleep.
“The only time you’re going to see me in sexy lingerie, Logan Allen, is in your dreams. Good night.”
“Wait…” He jumped up from his chair and it thumped to the ground. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep so thought I’d make myself a drink. Ignore what I said. Do you want to have your hot milk with me?”
Tess tossed up between the heartthrob standing in front of her and a horror novel going nowhere. Logan narrowly won. “I’ll stay, but only if you keep the conversation away from what I wear to bed.” And that brought her nicely to what Logan was wearing. A light gray T-shirt and pajama bottoms didn’t normally make her look twice, but on Logan they looked incredible.
To cover up the hormonal meltdown going on inside her, Tess opened her laptop. Molly had sent her the draft copy of The Bridesmaids Club catalog, but with everything that had happened, she hadn’t had a chance to look at it.
Logan picked his chair up and sat down. “I’ve got wireless WiFi. Do you want the password?”
Tess shook her head. “I’ve already got the file on my laptop. I just need to look at it.” She opened the catalog and smiled. “Look at this…” She moved seats and sat beside Logan.
Molly had chosen one of the photos she’d taken at Connie’s wedding as the cover image. She’d cropped the image of the red bridesmaids’ dress until all you could see was the dress and the beautiful bouquet. It was simple, stunning and made Tess remember why they’d started The Bridesmaids Club.
She looked at the image, tilting her head left and right to make sure it looked good from every angle. “I wonder how Connie and her family are doing.”
“They’ve got each other. That’s a lot more than some people have. Molly did a great job with the cover.”
“Do you want to see more photos?”
“Are there any lingerie shots?”
He grinned when Tess’ gaze shot to his. She rolled her eyes and clicked to the next image. “It’s not that kind of catalog.”
He gave a dramatic sigh before picking his hot drink up. “Show me the dresses, then.”
Tess leaned forward and sniffed the air around his cup. “What are you drinking.”
“Lemon Balm and Chamomile tea.”
“What happened to strong black coffee?”
“Keeps me awake.”
Given that it was now closer to one o’clock than midnight, Tess could understand why he didn’t need the extra caffeine.
Logan pointed at the screen. “Nice photo.”
Molly had wanted a casual photo of everyone at the beginning of the catalog. Tess didn’t know how she’d done it, but Molly managed to get everyone in the same room, at the same time. It had been the funniest photo session Tess had ever been involved in. Molly had started by setting the timer on the camera and running back for the group photos. When that started going haywire, she’d used a remote shutter button and done the best she could.
And her best was incredible. The black and white image on the laptop showed four women smiling at each other. In that one shot, Molly had captured the essence of their friendship. Love, happiness and a whole lot of fun bounced off the page and straight into Tess’ heart.
Logan put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “That’s family,” he said softly.
Tess stared at the image. He was so right that it brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t alone in the world. She might not have any blood relatives still living, but she was blessed with a family that loved her. She smiled and wiped her eyes. “Are you ready for the next page?”
Logan pulled his chair closer and draped his arm around her waist. “I am now. Let’s see what other magic Molly has created.”
Tess tried to ignore the heat of his arm against her skin. It didn’t mean anything. They were friends. She flicked through the catalog and was stunned at how beautiful each of the shots were. “I didn’t know it would look this good.”
“It’s more than good. You could sell any of those images and make a fortune.”
Tess opened the next page. “Wow, look at that.” Sally was wearing a gold brocade gown that glowed in the light coming through the window. “It’s beautiful.”
“I agree.”
Tess turned her head and looked straight into Logan’s eyes. He wasn’t talking about the photo. She could have leaned sideways, opened her mouth and kissed him senseless. But she didn’t. She had so much going on in her life that it would be a mistake. A big mistake with a big man. A man who looked as though he wouldn’t mind being nibbled on.
She turned back to her laptop and clicked on the last page. Molly had added one of the photos of Tess and Logan to the catalog. They were standing close to each other, so close that their noses were almost touching. Tess had her hand on his chest and her body pressed against his.
The photo was so soft and sexy that Tess could hardly breathe. Especially at one o’clock in the morning, with the man in question sitting beside her, with his arm around her waist.
She cleared her throat. “The end.”
Logan slowly leaned forward and rubbed his nose along the side of her face. His lips barely touched her skin, but she felt the jolt as if a thousand volts of electricity had crashed through her body.
“It doesn’t have to be,” he whispered.
Tess lifted her chin when his lips wandered down her throat. She groaned as his mouth opened, exploring the sensitive skin under her ear. He licked and sucked and nibbled until she was ready to burst into a ball of desperate lust.
Logan almost fell off his chair when she turned and started devouring his mouth. She could feel his heart beating fast beneath her hands, heard a sigh as it worked its way between their lips.
His hands moved in slow, deliberate strokes down her back, moved to her sides then teased her breasts. It was more than Tess could take. Her body was on fire.
She pushed out of her chair and sat on his lap, straddling his hips and giving them both more pleasure than they knew what to do with.
Logan held her hips. “It’s been a long time. I want to know what your intentions are because I’m not going to last much longer.”
Tess smiled against his throat. “How long?”
“About thirty seconds,” he groaned.
“No…how long since you’ve slept with someone?” Tess wiggled her hips and Logan groaned some more.
“I can’t count very well at the moment.” His voice was gravelly rough, and oh so sexy.
Tess nibbled his earlobe. “Try.”
“Three years,” he panted, “give or take a few months.”
Logan lifted her hips and moved her forward. Hot need exploded inside of her as he pushed her down on the one spot guaranteed to make her crazy.
“What about you?”
He moved her again and Tess could barely think.
“Tess?”
“Four,” she said on a shaky breath.
“Years?”
She unbuttoned her pajama top and threw it on the floor. “Give or take a few months.”
Logan’s hands caressed her breasts while his mouth worked their magic on her neck. “Are we officially making love?”
“I hope so.” Tess laughed.
“Thank God,” he groaned.