I stand off to the side and consider, briefly, not getting back into bed with him. I could go out into the living room and lie down on the sofa, or I could find a guest bedroom, or I could just leave and take a cab home, but I don’t want to do any of those things, and the fact that Logan carried me to his room earlier proves he wants me here too. With that blissful thought, I slide back under the covers and lay my head on the pillow. I’m so aware of him beside me, but we’re not touching, and that feels like such a colossal waste, so I sort of scoot my body closer to his and gently lift his heavy arm so it goes up and over me. He responds immediately, pulling me close and tucking me up against his side. His weight is lovely, and I lie there for ages, awake and smiling like a fool.Chapter TwelveCandace“Ms. Candace…Ms. Candace!”
“What?”
“The paint is spilling!”
I look down to see I’ve overfilled a little cup of pink paint so it’s oozing over the sides and onto the counter. “Oh. Bugger!”
The kids snicker because I’ve said a bad word, but I’m too busy to care. I run round my classroom, grabbing napkins and water to clean up the mess. I should have realized painting was a bad idea.
I’ve been off all day, moony and distracted. I keep thinking about this morning and what it was like to start my day off at Logan’s flat, the milky coffee and little yogurt parfait with loads of berries and oats. He was up way before me, already showered and dressed for a meeting with his agent. He was done up in slacks and a button-down with an expensive watch on his wrist. It was a totally different look, and one that caught me off guard. When he strolled into the kitchen looking like that, I lost track of what I was meant to be doing (spooning yogurt into my mouth) so that a bit of my parfait slid off my spoon and splatted onto the table.
“Morning,” he said, going round the island to fetch himself more coffee.
“Oh! Morning!”
When he turned his back to me, I tried desperately to straighten my appearance in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice how disheveled I looked.
“Pat will be ready to drive you to your apartment in fifteen minutes. That should give you plenty of time to make it to work, right?”
What did words like “time” and “work” have to do with anything when Logan was strolling around his kitchen looking like that?
He looked at me over his shoulder when I didn’t reply, so then I rushed out a half mumbled, “Oh sure! Yes! That’s fine.”
“And you work tonight?”
I stifled a groan. “Yes, and maybe the next two nights too.”
“Really?”
I looked down at my parfait, more than a little bummed. I was already on the schedule for tonight, and I knew I needed to swap with someone so I could work Friday instead of Saturday. The thing is, with Logan inviting me to that gala, it means I need to buy a dress. I don’t just have “fancy dress” funds sitting idle in my bank account, so I figured I’d need to pick up another shift Thursday night too to help cover the cost. I felt awkward explaining that to Logan, though, seeing as how I could have probably hawked the breakfast table I was eating at and been able to pay my rent for half a year.
“Yeah, just busy season and all,” I said, keeping the truth close to the vest.
He furrowed his brows but didn’t argue as he carried his coffee toward the table to sit near me.
“How did you sleep?”
I blushed a little. “Good. And you?”
“Better once you got back in bed and latched onto me.”
“What?! I only did a little cuddle. You were the one to drag me underneath you. Could barely breathe, really…”
Drat. I’d assumed he was asleep when I did all that. I guess not.
We chatted for a bit after that, about everything that was on his schedule for the day and the plans I had for my 3s class. Then he had to dash off to his meeting and I decided to leave with him, so we rode in the lift together, him holding my hand, and then he kissed me right before the doors swept open and we walked out into the lobby.
I was not at all prepared for the loads of paparazzi out on the sidewalk, snapping away.
In fact, I froze at first, thinking for a second they were there for someone else before they started shouting Logan’s name.
Logan totally ignored them and moved toward Pat’s waiting SUV quickly, but I couldn’t take it. It was bloody early in the morning and we were only trying to hop in the SUV and get to work. How dare they hound us like that? Maybe they thought he didn’t care, but I sure did, and I decided to tell them.