‘The point,’ she told him, ‘is that you are competitive enough in training. You always push yourself that bit harder. I’m grateful for all the pacing and motivational speeches and all that, but I think I’d rather run at my own pace and enjoy the run.’
And not be distracted by him. Not that she was about to voice that one.
‘It’s a race.’ He frowned before he could help himself, making her laugh again.
‘Case in point.’
‘Fine. We’ll run separately. I didn’t want to show you up with my costume anyway.’
‘You have a costume?’
‘’Course!’ he exclaimed, pulling items out of his rucksack. ‘It’s a Santa Dash after all. I have a red tutu and a green elf hat.’
Of course he did, because that was so typically military of him.
‘It’s a fairy dress.’ Jamie eyed his father critically.
‘It’s a Christmas fairy. Good, huh?’
Jamie looked distinctly underwhelmed.
‘Fairies are for girls. They’re pink.’
‘Who told you that?’ Logan bent down to smile at his son. ‘There are just as many boy fairies as girl fairies.’
Unexpectedly, he glanced over and winked at her, and her heart vaulted with all the energy of an Olympic gymnast. It was nice to be drawn in as though she was part of their little family.
‘And they might be pink,’ Logan was continuing, oblivious to her momentary distraction, ‘but they don’t have to be.’
Jamie still looked unconvinced, but now there was clear doubt in his mind. As he turned his focus back on his race medal, Logan turned to face her.
‘I brought a set for you, too.’
‘I like the way you handled that,’ she told him quietly, before she could change her mind.
‘I like the way you handle a lot of things.’ He winked, and she tried not to flush, even though every inch of her body was tingling at the insinuation.
The past week they’d seen each other every day, not including the shifts they’d worked together. They’d been running together, taken Jamie out for festive treats, and had even decorated another room in Logan and Jamie’s apartment.
They’d broken the rules and stolen a few kisses—heavy, and passionate, and ultimately all the more frustrating—in every corner of his apartment, as well as empty consultation rooms at work.
But they still hadn’t had a chance to be alone, and finish what they’d started that night.
It was driving Kat crazy. Her body felt like a messy melting pot of wicked desires and unfulfilled urges. She felt a permanent restlessness under her skin, like her body wasn’t quite her own. Like she was ready to explode.
She craved him more and more, and not being able to have him was only making that hunger all the more intense.
‘Don’t tell me you’re too afraid to put them on,’ he baited her, holding up a second costume.
He was throwing down the gauntlet, and she was trying to think up a witty response. Then those wretched eyes of his twinkled mischievously at her, and they both knew she was lost.
‘Fine.’ She feigned a heavy sigh. ‘Throw it over here.’
A green tutu and candy cane hat sailed through the air, and she shook her head she pulled them on.
But this was the side of Logan that she liked the most. The goofy side. Pulling the kind of stunts he’d pulled with his army buddies. She knew, because she’d seen the photos and she’d heard his stories.
And she’d tried not to read too much into it when he’d told her that she was the first—the only—person he’d told this stuff to since he’d been discharged from the army.