He glanced at her. Nope. Not when he saw the way she was holding her hands to hide the slight trembling, not when he’d heard her slight stutter. She was worried and honestly, he was worried for her. She was a little freaking lost lamb in the big bad city.
The phone buzzed in his hand and he checked the screen. Connor was trying to get him—via his security guard’s phone? Yeah, the troops were desperate.
Well, so was Logan. He knew what he was going to hear in Connor’s voice. The edge of disappointment that his brother would try to hide because he was loyal despite Logan letting him down time and time again.
Connor didn’t need any more controversy. He deserved better than repeatedly trying to ‘rescue’ a brother who’d dragged the family name through scandalous press. Too reckless. Too lusty.
Perhaps this was the perfect temporary plan. He’d go off the market and into hiding with the hermit here. Lie low until some other guy stepped up to take the ‘most outrageous’ title. They’d be so boring any interest would die a sudden death. Some new thing would take the online world by storm in a less than a day.
Plus—and it was a big plus—she was the perfect excuse not to have to participate fully in the upcoming weekend. He’d take her with him. On so many levels she could be the perfect distraction.
Logan switched the phone off. Connor didn’t need to know everything—he had enough on. In fact no one needed to know everything. Tyler knew some, but he’d be reliable. Plus his baby was due soon and he was already pre-occupied. Hunter, who’d arranged the personnel check, was always discreet.
The stage was set.
This would be win-win for both him and Ms Jones. If he were to retract the tweet and blame his management team, she’d lose clients. And he wasn’t sure how many clients she had. So he was doing her a favor. Saving her business.
It was the faintly antagonistic look in her eye that settled it. Because this would be the last thing she wanted and damned if that didn’t delight him.
In Logan, the wicked ideas always won.
Chapter Four
#MostRidiculousQuestionEver
Min watched Logan throw the phone onto the sofa. He looked at her, but she didn’t trust the resigned expression he had on his face.
“We have a problem,” he said.
Well, she did. The man was blocking the doorway and right now her ‘flight’ instinct was screaming at her. She didn’t like the little she’d grasped of that phone call.
‘She said yes’, and ‘what does she look like’?
If she could sprout wings and fly away she would. Not that she wanted to let him see how much he’d gotten to her. But the longer she spent in his company, the more seduced she became.
It wasn’t just his looks, it was that indefinable something. Charisma, X-factor, whatever. He had too much of it. And he was so shamelessly outrageous, for a second he’d made her want to laugh. It wasn’t going to happen. Because if she laughed, then she’d soon end up lying on her back for him to lick her.
Like she ever wanted to do that within five minutes of meeting someone? Never had she felt such a spark from a half second staring at someone. Pure sexual temptation.
Lust at first sight.
But she knew what a player he was. And this was her job. The only answer was to turn away.
“We can figure out a good way to explain the tweet,” she said. “If I could just—”
“Someone took a photo of you arriving here.”
She spun back to face him.
“That picture is now all over the internet.”
“A picture of me. Arriving here.” She glanced down at her outfit.
“Is it only now you’re worried about what you’re wearing?” He looked sardonic. “You didn’t think you might like to dress up for me?”
“I have n-no interest in dressing up for you,” she snapped.
“Even though I’m one of your fee-paying clients?”
Min froze. Fair point. She should have stalled the security guy a few minutes and made more of an effort.
“Your face is all over the internet. Walking into my apartment building with one of my assistants. The world currently believes that you are my fiancée.”
“That’s r-ridiculous.” She inhaled sharply, nervous, but she’d avoided a serious stutter.
His expression tightened. “Of course.” He walked towards her. “But that’s what we’re going to go with. That’s the explanation.”
She stared at him. Couldn’t speak at all.
His lips quirked. “The internet world believes that ‘she said yes’,” he said slowly. “They then see a picture of you and in the internet world the weirdest things add up. So now the Twitterverse thinks you’re my fiancée and who are we to argue with them? There’s no taking on the internet and winning. This engagement is going to stand.”
Min gaped. “You’re k-kidding.”
“No.”
“And you expect me to agree?”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“What?”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Yes I do,” she said sharply. “And I say no.”
The man might be blindingly sexy, but he was also totally crazy.
“Do you have any idea what’s going to happen in the next few hours? Any idea?” He turned away. His hands curled into fists and pressed to his hips. His biceps bunched and suddenly he turned back to face her. “You know a couple of public words from me could easily screw your business. What would you do then? You have college debt, you have rent to pay. You have to eat.”
“I…”
His sudden vehemence short-circuited her brain. How did he know she had debt?
“You wouldn’t.” She licked her lips nervously. He wouldn’t destroy her business completely, would he?
“Why wouldn’t I? You made a mistake, you ought to own it,” he said coolly. “But…” He seemed to relent. “I want to avoid any scandal or negative press at the moment. It would be better for my family.”
Logan Hughes wanted to avoid scandal?
“But this isn’t scandalous.” This was the guy who’d been seen cavorting all over the internet. Like anyone was going to pay any attention to one dumb tweet? Hell, most of the world wouldn’t have even seen it.
“This is just… a j-j-joke. No one is g-going to notice.” She shook her head. “No one could care less.”
“They’ve already noticed.” He grabbed her wrist and walked her to his desk and his massive computer screen.
She flicked her hand to shake him off. He released her right away.
But it was still too late. Her temperature spiked. She could feel where his fingers had gripped her, like burn marks. Sizzling.
Irritated, she took in the minimalist desk and massive computer screen. No random pieces of paper. It was smooth and polished. Only the computer sat on it. There were no family photos, no stress squeezy balls or Feng shui miniature sand gardens with rakes. Not even a vase with a flower. It was the epitome of minimalist style. Empty.
Like him?
She glanced up. On the wall there was a ginormous media screen and on either side, the only pictures in the room. Large photographs of desert scenes that made her feel even hotter. They were beautiful. But again, impersonal.
“Read it, Min,” he said sharply.
As unbelievable as this was, she knew he was serious. At the mention of his family his face had actually paled.
Reluctantly she looked down at the screen and stared at the twitter feed. They’d even started a hashtag. He really was a trending freaking topic in New York. It was madness.
“This isn’t going to go away overnight,” he said.
“Of course it is. It’s only the internet.” She tried to minimise it.
“Things on the internet are there forever,” he said grimly. “You can take it from someone who knows that fact. Intimately.”
As she turned, she met his eyes. Cool, blue, burning.
Inappropriate images dominated her brain again. Logan Hughes, the incarnation of sensual temptation. So dangerous.
She felt the blush fan up her face, a blaze of heat and mortification.
His eyebrow quirked upward. “Any other time I’d laugh it off. I can’t laugh it off this week. Unfortunately you have bad timing Ms Jones. Really bad timing.”
She was hyper aware of his seriousness. His sensuality. Her throat closed over.