“Aster.” He said my name like a secret as he pulled out my chair, and his hands caressed my bare shoulders as he slipped off my coat.
“Thank you.” It barely made it to a whisper when he helped tuck me into the table.
He situated himself across from me. Severity played in his green, hypnotic gaze.
The dangerous kind. The kind that promised I wasn’t going to make it out of this unscathed.
He was up to something.
“Wine?” he asked.
“Please.”
A bottle or three.
When the server showed and introduced himself, Logan ordered us a bottle of Malbec.
“You look nervous.”
“And you look suspicious.” I said it with a bough of anxious curiosity.
That smirk danced around his delicious mouth. “Is that so? Suspicious? Surely not me?”
It would be a whole lot easier if he didn’t affect me this way.
“Nothing but a common criminal.” I didn’t know if it was a tease or a plea.
A deep roll of laughter punted from his mouth before his eyes narrowed. “I should hope you could recognize one.”
It was almost a taunt.
Almost pain.
All except for the truth of it.
“I suppose I should be able to.”
I sat back when the server presented our wine, and I managed a weak, “Thank you,” when he poured me a glass.
“I’ll be right back to take your orders.”
I took a shaky sip, and I let the dark, fruity flavor coat my tongue and throat as I swallowed and contemplated what to say.
“How deep does it go?” I finally hedged.
Logan was angled back in his chair, so casual the way he was, though there was no missing the ferocity that rolled through his body. “What are you implying, Aster? I’m as straightlaced as they come.”
A grin cracked his gorgeous face.
All faked easiness.
I leaned forward. “If you want me to trust you, you need to be honest with me.”
He blew out a sigh, chewed at the inside of his cheek, tapped his fingertips on the table as he studied me. “The gambling and some not so on the up and up investments. When we left LA, we left the rest behind.”
Then he shocked me when he leaned over the table. His palms were planted on the top, and his tone shifted from mild to lethal. “But I have a feeling that is about to change.”
Unease stirred in my chest. “The last thing I want is to cause you trouble, Logan.”