Simply Scandalous (Simply 2)

“I take it you’re not used to sleeping in?”

“What can I say? You wore me out.”

He grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Reaching behind her, she grabbed for her pillow and playfully hit him on the shoulder. “You would.”

“I also kept my first promise.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“Since it’s morning, we’ve had more than one night.” His boyish grin disarmed her defenses.

For a woman who didn’t believe in much, he was awfully close to making her believe in the promises he made. We could have more than one night, Cat. The man believed in miracles. How could she discount that?

But her mother had trusted her father’s promise that he’d stick around—and he had, long enough to make two children as soon as biologically possible before disappearing for good. Logan wasn’t a man like her father. Thanks to his grandmother, he was grounded in reality. Any man willing to take on the commitment of a mortgage and a run-down house knew how to settle down and grow roots.

Not that she was foolish enough to expect anything long-term from Logan Montgomery. Or so she told herself. But Catherine feared if she spent much more time with him, she’d begin wanting just that.

“The sun’s out,” she said inanely. “I really do need to get to my sister’s.” Out of here. Back to reality. Where her practical sister and her know-it-all cop husband could give her a good mental shake and remind her why she could not believe in the fantasy she had begun to weave.

“I was thinking we’d go out for breakfast and I could drop you off after.”

Catherine bit down on her lower lip. She’d regret this later, but he deserved something kind from her. “Tell you what. Give me a few minutes to shower and I’ll fix you something here. Then you can take me to Kayla’s.”

“That sounds good.” He leaned closer. His lips were in kissing distance again and she waited. “But the cupboards are bare,” he said softly.

“I wish we were.” She bit her tongue the minute the words escaped her lips. “I mean, that’s too bad.”

He grinned. “Not really. This way I get a rain check.”

Catherine opened her mouth to argue and this time he sealed his mouth over hers, cutting her off.

At least for now.

* * *

After following Catherine’s directions, Logan pulled up in front of a quaint house painted in a light shade of gray. The sun bathed the home in light, now that the rain and clouds of the day had dissipated. The half-hour drive had passed quickly. Cat had talked during the entire trip and Logan now knew all about her sister, Kayla, her husband, and their soon-to-be expanded family.

Catherine obviously loved her sister, and despite her complaining, he sensed she liked her sister’s husband. He also believed Catherine rambled out of nervousness because she didn’t want to discuss the possibility of seeing each other again.

She didn’t believe they had any sort of future, and Logan intended to prove her wrong.

In Catherine, he detected a deep sense of longing for the hearth-and-home type of life her sister now had, even if she’d never admit it aloud. He recognized Catherine’s yearnings because they echoed needs and desires he never realized he’d had. Until Catherine.

“Well, we’re here.”

Resting his arm over the steering wheel, he turned to look at her. “Yes, we are.” He noticed her hand on the door handle and grinned.

“Going somewhere, Cat?”

Her blush would have charmed him if she hadn’t

already had him well in her grip. “Inside?” she said.

“Without a word?” Teasing her came naturally, if only because she took it so well.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.