Ineligible Bachelor (22 page)

“No.”

Logan’s reply was cut short by Roberto. “And here we go in five, four, three…” He signed the last two numbers.

From the shadows, the show’s host emerged from the pathway leading to the pool, and the cameraman swiveled to get the shot.

Freddy leaned toward Logan. “Someone cut off my earpiece. What is he saying?”

Logan shushed her with a finger to his lips. “It will be over in a minute.”

The host walked to them, his words becoming clearer. “And while this started out as a chance for Logan Gabriel to meet the woman of his dreams, Logan tells me that the experience here at the mansion proved to him that he had already met her a long time ago.” He gestured, directing the camera shot to Logan and Freddy. “Logan,” he prompted, “it’s all yours.”

Logan reached out and took Freddy’s hand. It was the first time he’d touched her in weeks, and the contact sent a shock wave through him.

“You look great,” he said.

“So do you.” Her brows furrowed. “What is going on here? You’re supposed to be choosing your perfect date.”

“Something like that,” Logan replied with a soft laugh.

“I’m glad it worked out for you.”

For a long moment, she just stared at him, trying so hard to keep her composure that he could see the struggle in her eyes. “Everything worked out, but not the way I thought it would when this whole thing was sprung on me at my office.” He winked. “But work out it did.”

“I’m happy for you.” She took a step back and tried to pull her hand free, but he held on tight.

“Freddy, I need to tell you something.”

“No, you don’t.” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice to a whisper. “You need to tell the viewers about your date so I can get out of here.”

“I’m trying to do just that.”

“Then get on with it,” she said through clenched teeth. “I want to go home.”

“You can’t go home.”

“Why not?”

“Ready for it?”

“I am,” she said in a singsong voice.

He mimicked her. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Wait for it,” he drew the last word out so long that it sounded as though it could have been four syllables.

She dropped her shoulders, the words coming out in a rush of air. “For crying out loud, I’m dying here. Will you get this over with already?”

He said nothing, only handed her the shoes.

“What am I supposed to do with these?” she asked, taking one in each hand.

Logan felt his smile break free. “Put them on, because I’ve chosen you.”

Chills cartwheeled down Freddy’s spine. “Wrong answer, player.” She thrust the shoes into Logan’s stomach. “Hell’s bells, this isn’t a joke, Logan.”

He pushed them back at her. “I’m not joking.”

She hit him in the arm with the left one. “Then you’re just trying to make good TV for Roberto.”

“Are you saying that I’m using you, Freddy? Don’t you trust me more than that?”

“Of course I trust you. But I also trust that you know your career hangs in the balance, and I need you to do the right thing, so try another answer, or risk the consequences.”

“But I’m serious. I pick you.”

She sighed. This time angrily. Clearly, he had forgotten the consequences. “Unemployment won’t exactly support the lifestyle you are used to.”

“I’m not unemployed.”

She held the shoes in front of his face. “You will be if you don’t fill these.”

“I’m trying to, Freddy.”

“Okay then.” She lowered her hands. “Tell Madison to get out here then, and quit kidding around.”

“Madison is on her way home in a taxi.”

Freddy’s mouth fell open. She sighed heavily and looked down at the shoes in her hands. “Great, so now what are you going to do with these?”

“This.” He took the shoes and chucked them over her shoulder into the pool. Before she could react, he stepped toward her and folded her into his arms, one hand roaming down her back to her backside. He laughed when her face expressed shock as her butt flexed under the pressure of his splayed palm.

“What are you doing?” Her voice raised an octave higher than usual. She looked to her right and saw the remote camera’s red light come in. “C’mon, Logan, we’re filming, and you’re running out of time. Answer the question before Roberto comes out here with about a hundred lawyers.”

His gaze lowered to her lips before he spoke. “Tell you the truth, Freddy, right now, I’ve completely forgotten what we were talking about.”

The kiss came at her like a bird of prey—smooth, fast, powerful. In response, her heartbeat rose in a startling pounding of excitement. When he finished with the first kiss, he took another two.

“I don’t like the feel of wet shoes anyway,” she whispered when his lips left hers.

He smiled against her mouth. “There are more at the office.”

She matched his smile with one of her own. “I guess I’m forgiven for all this?”

He ran his finger across her lips. “When you ambushed me at the office, I have to admit, I was pretty angry. I had a big project in the works and my future on the line. I didn’t realize it then, but I was about to embark on an adventure that would change everything I thought I knew. These past few weeks, spending all this uninterrupted time with you, had me doing some self-discovery.”

“And what did you discover?” she whispered.

He cupped her face. “That I’m more whole and more happy when you’re around, and that I don’t want to go on a dream vacation, any vacation, anything at all, without you.”

For a minute, she thought it was raining, just like it had been the first night they spent in the mansion, but then she realized it was because she was looking at him through tears.

“But Roberto said we had to follow the script. How did you…” Her voice trailed off when he leaned over and kissed her.

“Would you please let me win this one?” he whispered against her lips.

She knew if she tried to say anything, her tears would pour. She could hardly believe what was happening. She was with the man of her dreams, and he wanted her instead of one of six of the most perfect women in the country. She looked into his incredible eyes and nodded.

“Freddy, I love you. I think it all started when you knocked me on my butt on the football field.”

“It did?” She blinked, and a single tear trailed down her cheek.

“I probably didn’t know it for sure then, but, thinking back, yes, that’s where it began. You proved my equal, my match, first as a friend and now, as something more.” He pulled her into his arms and whispered into her ear. “A whole lot more if you’ll let it.”

Against his chest, she could feel his heart hammering at the same insane rate as her own. She pulled back as much as he would let her. “What are you saying, Logan?”

“I’m saying that I want to be more than just your friend. I’ve known you almost forever, and thanks to that picture you took and this game we ended up in, I know me better, too.”

He stepped back and took her hands, kissing each one before dropping to one knee.

“I want you to be my wife, my lover and…”

Was she imagining it or were Logan’s eyes suddenly glassy?

“…and the mother of my children.”

His voice cracked on the last word and did her in. She dropped to her knees opposite him and threw her hands around his neck. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

He stood and pulled her up with him. “I have never been so sure of anything in my life.” He cupped her face again and kissed her, the kiss gentle, promising that he would never leave.

When the kiss ended, she dropped her chin, but held his gaze. “Maybe we should date for a while before we jump into marriage and having children. In all the years we’ve known each other, we’ve never dated, you know. We could, like, really have nothing in common.”

He laughed and shook his head, before taking both her hands in his. “Okay then. Rikka McAllister, want to go out with me?”

She launched herself into his arms. “You called me Rikka!” Logan caught her and nodded.

She looked into the pair of eyes she wanted to look into every day from this moment on and nodded. “Maybe I’ll give you a shot.”

“One long overdue.”

“Your own fault.”

“How long am I going to have to atone for that?”

She looked up at the sky. “Fifty years or so.”

“Do I need Roberto to draw up a contract?”

“Not this time.”

His gaze moved slowly across her face and settled on her eyes. “I love you, Rikka.”

She cupped his cheek. “Until I’m sure you’re going to notice things, for a while I’m going to be pointing out that I love you, too.”

Logan’s smile broke wide. “And that would be just fine with me.” Then he pulled her close and kissed her the way he had wanted to kiss her since that night in the kitchen during the blackout.

Behind them, someone shouted, “Cut!”

Roberto nodded in satisfaction. “And that’s a wrap.”

The End

Special thanks to my husband, Donald, who lets me do my thing and never complains if he has to eat takeout. Love you, baby.

And to my forever friend, Judy, who reads everything I write and always asks for more.

And not in the least, Patt, my writing soul mate, who always tells me we’re going to make it someday.

Photo by Glamour Shots, 2005

A native of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Quick has been writing since the sisters of St. Casmir’s Grammar School gave her ruled yellow paper and a number-two pencil. She originally planned to earn a PhD and run for president of the United States, but opted to become a writer instead. She is a past president of the New Jersey Romance Writers and a founding member of Liberty States Fiction Writers, a multigenre writers organization dedicated to furthering the craft of writing. Her novels include ’
Tis the Season, Sapphire
, and
Daughters of the Moon
, as well as
Firebrand
, which she cowrote with Patt Mihailoff, under the pen name P. K. Eden. When she isn’t writing, she works for the Somerset County government and enjoys life with her husband, Donald, their sons, and their grandchildren.