"I never loved him," Andy practically guffawed.
"Infatuated, enamored, whatever. You don't want to be near him because you want to have his gorgeous blond babies."
"I do not. I'm just—"
Shay shot back
. "Don't lie to me. I've been your friend for too long to fall for whatever cock and bull you're telling yourself. I know how you feel about him and god knows you haven't bothered with anyone else."
"What do you mean—?"
Shay rolled her eyes. "Oh please, half the time when a man starts talking to you, you walk away. You're not interested in men. You're interested in Logan Grant."
Andy pursed her lips, and then steepled her fingers together and surveyed her friend from over her fingertips. "I just can't be around him, okay?"
"But why not? Did something happen?"
"No.” Andy said too quickly, then amended, “I mean, not really."
"There's a hell of a lot of difference between 'no' and 'not really.'"
"We sort of, kind of, had a moment." She stopped, but when Shay continued to look at her expectantly, she added, "Where I thought he was going to kiss me."
"That's amazing! How was it?" Shay asked.
"I didn't kiss him."
Her smile waned. "Why not?"
"He's a client. And, you know, he's Logan."
"All the more reason to kiss him. Did you see the way he talked about Matt's accident in that interview? Talk about a sweetheart." Shay smiled.
"That's just it. He's all tied up with Matt, and then there's his history."
"His history?"
"Oh, like I have to tell you how many girls he plows through. And yes, I do mean 'plows.'"
Shay rolled her eyes again. "You're not worried about Matt."
"Yes—"
"No, you're not,” She said again, more firmly this time. “You're just using it as an excuse to protect yourself. You've never thought you were good enough for Logan, but before you had the very convenient caveat that he never looked at you sideways before. Now, though—"
"Nothing has changed."
"No?” Shay raised her eyebrows. “Then why do you need me to cover for you?"
Busted.
"Okay. Okay. I'm..." What was the right word for this feeling? This gnawing need to both be with him and never see him again? "Nervous. Can you just handle things for him until I'm in a place where I can sort out my feelings?"
"Sure thing." Shay grinned. "Just do me a favor and take a little less than a decade this time."
"Ha. Ha."
* * *