Say You'll Marry Me

And again.

And—

He dipped his head to catch her eye. “To be clear, just because I kiss you doesn’t mean I’m gonna sleep with you.”

She smiled, but it faded fast as she took in the really good-looking guy in front of her, who’d turned out to be pretty darn nice to boot. A cold wave of disappointment crashed over her. She stepped back, hugging her arms across her stomach to ward off the chill of her realization as well as the damp breeze coming in through the loft doors.

“Doesn’t matter if I did like it, Logan, because none of this is real between us. We have to pretend for everyone else, but we can’t pretend with each other.”

*

Monday evening, Joy willed the butterflies in her stomach to stand down as she went to open the door for Logan. She hadn’t seen him since that almost-kiss the night before, and Grandma had insisted he join them for dinner.

He’d showered and shaved, and his still-damp hair curled a bit at the ends. Instead of the usual work-worn denim and T-shirt, he wore newer jeans and an olive green Henley with the sleeves pushed halfway up his forearms. God, the man had nice forearms. Not to mention, the soft, waffled cotton of his shirt hugged the defined contours of his chest and torso, and the tanned column of his throat was exposed by the open top two buttons.

Casual in a way her ex had never been, yet so damn rugged and sexy, she longed to press her face in the crook of his neck and inhale the hint of soap lingering in the air around him.

Focus.

Grandma.

Dinner.

Phony engagement.

“Thanks for coming over.” She kept her voice low as Logan stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Just so you know, I explained everything to Grandpa.”

His expression darkened as his gaze shifted toward the archway leading to the living room.

“I had to,” Joy quickly explained. “Gram’s never invited you over for dinner before, so he wanted to know what was going on. I couldn’t lie to him when he knows we haven’t exactly been friends all summer.”

“Am I here for dinner, or is Luke?”

She checked over her shoulder to confirm they were still alone. “I don’t know for sure. Even though she’s been calling you Logan since the book club meeting, she still talks like you’re Luke sometimes.”

“What does he do, by the way?”

“He’s a lawyer for one of the big recording studios.”

Logan’s jaw tensed at that news while his gaze flicke

d past her shoulder. His gaze returned to hers, and he leaned down as if to kiss her. When she shrank back in surprise, he hesitated mid-lean to give her a tight smile.

“June’s watching.”

“Oh…right.”

God, this is awkward.

After one last second of hesitation, she rose up to meet him halfway for a quick peck on the lips. The spark at just that brief contact made her lips tingle and set her back on her heels as his firm grip closed around her upper arms. Whirling around before he could pull her in, she led the way through the arch to the other room with a nervous laugh. “Wow, static electricity already.”

“Not even close,” he murmured behind her.

His hand rested at the small of her back as he matched his stride to hers and the warmth of his touch seeped through her sweater. Her heart skipped a beat when his touch slipped lower, until she realized he’d pulled away to move past her so he could give June a kiss on the cheek. As he told her how nice she looked, it was kind of cute watching her grandmother blush from the attention.

But when he turned to her grandpa with a quiet hello and nod, Joy saw a stiffness between them that hadn’t been there before. It weighed on her as she served the two of them a beer, and poured small glasses of wine for herself and Grandma. From what she’d seen over the summer, they had a close rapport, and she really hoped this didn’t put their relationship in jeopardy.

It took a little while for the tension to ease as they began dinner, and then, when Logan and her grandpa had relaxed into a conversation about the projected corn crop prices, Grandma sat back in her chair and gave them a puzzled look.