Chasing Ava: A Bachelor of Shell Cove Novel (The Bachelors of Shell Cove) (10 page)

He squeezed them lightly, willing her to accept him.
 

“You have to eat. All I’m asking is for you to share the table with me.” He glimpsed the smile she fought to contain. Mischief danced in her eyes. The smile along with the glint in her eyes spoke to the cogwheel turning out an idea to slip out on him again.

“Ava,” he chastised. “This dinner is for two. No sidekick, chaperone, or feeding the needy soup kitchen dates allowed.”
 

On a gasp, her smile faltered. That was it. She was trying to get out of dinner.

“Say yes to dinner, you and me.” He closed the space between them. “Bury any ideas of double dates, community events, visiting animal shelters or any other crazy venue you could dream up to avoid being alone with me.” He flashed his best all American smile going for the touchdown. “Please sweetheart, give the doctor you work with a chance?”
 

“Logan, you don’t want to do this with me. I am an emotional tornado trying to avoid dry land.”

“I am your resident storm chaser reporting for duty,” he said, with a fixed look. She thought herself an emotional tornado.
Forewarned, is forearmed.
He’d take the risk.
 

“I’ll share one meal with you.”

“Pick the date. I’ll pick the time.” He’d play for keeps the next time he had her alone.
 

“I’ll go to lunch with you. Outdoors.” That was good. Ava was proud of herself. Nothing with dim lighting and quiet intimacy, besides she loved being outdoors.
 

“Lunch?” She would fight the attraction every step of the way. “Do you have to be in the house before the street lights come on?”
 

“Lunch Dr. Masters. Take it or leave it. Your choice.”
 

“We’ve had this discussion before, but since you’ve been scarce of late I will remind you to use my name. And lunch opposed to dinner makes no difference.” Maybe not to him, but with her jelly spine drop dead sexy pediatricians and moonlit skies were a cocktail best avoided. “When is your next day off?”
 

 
“I’m off this weekend. Saturday is best for my schedule.” His smile greeted her as she released the hold on his hands. During their conversation his grip had slackened, yet she had kept her hands nestled in his.
 

“Be ready at ten o’clock. Dress comfortably.”
 

“Okay, Dr. Masters.”

“Don’t call me Dr. Masters on our first date. Doctor is my title. My name is Logan. I want you to say my name Ava.”
 

“I won’t call you Dr. Masters on our only date, Logan.” If the day went as she planned she would eat a platter sized salad in silence, drink a gallon of water, make two trips to the bathroom and be back home in ninety minutes flat. No need to say anyone’s name.

Saying his name aloud made her stomach dip. And this conversation about dates, dinners, and alone time with him made the sensation more tumultuous. At this rate, she’d be seasick standing in the hallway.
 

“The sound of my name on your soft lips is sexy.” That was Logan with his wind tunnel effect again. She liked the sound of his name, too.
Logan, Logan, Logan. Stop it. Focus on the man standing before you.
He smiled bright and her heart skipped a beat.
 

“I’ve told you before don’t say things you don’t mean.” She had every intention on following through with the one date limit. Her foolish heart was considering other options.
 

“I don’t.” Not normally, but a woman had to protect her heart. A heart that seemed determined to sample the forbidden fruit that was Logan.
 

He stepped to her side and she instinctively took a step back.
 

“I think you do Ava because I remember everything about our dance. The feel of your body under my hand is a physical image seared in my mind.” His lips ever so briefly touched her cheek. “I could sculpt your body from clay with these hands,” he whispered close to her ear. Her breath hitched. Then he cradled her face in both his hands and her breathing increased and her skin warmed. Closing her eyes she willed her body to knock it off. “Your body responds to my touch.” Her mind reeled at his statement. He dropped his hold on her, stepping back. Thank goodness.
 

“Have a nice morning, sweetheart. Be ready for me on Saturday.”

Be ready for him.
Would she ever be ready for Logan? Ava’s heart raced. He knew she was attracted to him. It was too much to think about during working hours. On the way home, later that evening, when she was alone in bed, then she’d think about Logan.
 

Oh birds and turds, Logan is my heart’s desire. Dang it, she should have never gone to that gala.
She concentrated on keeping her body upright. Letting her head drift back until it came to rest against the wall, she rubbed a palm over her heart. The thought of being close to him had her breath coming in a short, choppy rhythm. “It’s only lunch Ava.”
 

Lunch was safe, but would she be?

Chapter 7

Logan took a minute to put his libido back in the box when Ava opened the door. She looked flawless and edible in a vintage pin-up girl sea foam green and pink sun dress that cinched at her waist, and draped seductively over her petite hips before stopping at her knee. Her hair was a shiny mass of curls framing her face as it cascaded down her back. Her fingernails were cut short and buffed to a shine. She was such a nurse. Nurses rarely wore nail color for fear of transferring bacteria to a patient, but pedicures were a different story. It didn’t surprise him to see crimson colored toes. An image of her legs wrapped around his waist flashed through his mind.
 

“You look beautiful.” He brushed his lips across her cheek while his hand palmed the back of her head. She softened in his grasp and he smiled. She was definitely affected by his touch.
 

“Are you going to let me come in?” He whispered the words across her ear.

“No! I meant that’s not necessary because I’m ready. Let me grab my purse and your jacket off the table.”
Not ready yet
. At the mention of his jacket, he smiled at the lunch plans he’d made. Forewarned is forearmed. His unwavering belief in those three words had served him well.
 

“You can keep the jacket. You will have something of mine to keep you warm.” He couldn’t see her face from the open door, but her back went ramrod straight.

“Where are we going for lunch?” Deflecting to another topic. Did she think he would forget the attraction they shared?

“It’s one of my favorite places. This place has a lot of variety.”

“What’s the name of the restaurant? I am kind of a food connoisseur.”

“I can’t remember the exact name, but I think it will meet with your standard.”

“What street is it on, I have probably eaten there before. I was born and raised in Shell Cove.”
 

With only a Lucite pink purse in her hand, Logan guided her out the door closing it behind them without answering her question. His jacket was still in the house maybe he would join it by the end of the evening.

 
“Ava, I have plans for us. That’s all you’re going to get out of me. And that the restaurant is not in Shell Cove.”
 

Logan had them on I-95 headed south in ten minutes.

Two hours later he pulled into a parking spot at the Disney World theme park. He killed the engine, pulled the keys from the ignition and disengaged the door locks. Telling Ava the restaurant was beyond Shell Cove kept her quiet for the first sixty minutes into their trip.
 

“Logan?” He turned to face her. Prepared to meet her ire with pure masculine determination.
 

“Yes, Ava?”

“We are in Orlando, Florida. You brought me to Walt Disney World for lunch?”
 

“Walt Disney’s Epcot Center to be exact. We can visit the International Pavilion for lunch.”
 

She stared at him, shocked and disbelieving.

“This can’t be happening.” She was more than an hour away from home in a car with a crazy person.

“Disney, Logan? Why not New York City or Los Angeles?”

“What? I happen to enjoy theme parks. Don’t tell me you’re anti-mouse.”
 

She snorted. Dozens of families exited minivans and SUVs, making a swerving conga line to the trolleys that would whisk them to the Magic Kingdom. She was experiencing somewhat of a magic carpet ride herself. There went her vision of a ninety-minute lunch and no complications. He had outmaneuvered her.
 

He chuckled at her response to Mickey Mouse. “We arrived in time for lunch.”

Ava took in a slow, deep breath and released. She repeated the process three times. She frowned. The experts didn’t know beans from buttons. She didn’t feel any calmer. She took in another big deep breath. This time she held it.

“Breathe easy Ava, it’s going to be all right. Listen to me closely sweetheart. It took you more than a week to say yes to a date with me. Did you honestly think I would settle for one or two hours of your time?” He looked at her quizzically.

“I don’t know what I thought.” She’d hoped to wrestle her attraction to him back into a pill bottle.
 

“Really? You avoided me for a week. An unusual response when you aren’t sure of a man’s interest?” His tone was one of knowing laughter.

“Okay, Dr. Phil.” Forming a coherent conversation proved challenging with her trying to devise a plan to get the desire back in the tamper proof container. She had to protect her foolish heart or she’d find herself falling for him.
 

“Logan, not Phil, and you underestimate my interest in you. I want you in every possible way and you’ll discover I’m not easily deterred.” His expression said this was a journey for which he was well prepared.
What the heck did in every way entail?

“I know you want me, just much as I want you. Now, let’s go get you fed.” He reached over the center console to stroke her cheek. Oh, his touch was an instant buzz and loads of dizzying side effects. Shaking her head she pulled away.

“What I want is to ride the roller coasters. Lunch can wait.” Denial was a woman’s prerogative. She released the door lock and stepped outside without sparing him a glance.
 

The lines to enter the theme park resembled a human ant colony. Ava looked down at her shoes and grimaced. A sensible pair of nursing shoes was what she needed.
 

“Come with me.” Logan took her hand, navigating them past small children with bungee-corded wrists, double strollers filled with sunscreen painted toddlers, and organized tour groups with matching shirts.
 

“Where are we going?” Ava asked looking up at him. She needed her sunglasses. The Florida sun was unforgiving, but she really wanted the shield between her and Logan. He had the uncanny ability to read her expressions.
 

“No lines for premium members.” He flashed that devastatingly handsome smile. And there was the corresponding sizzling in her veins. Kid-friendly theme park she reminded herself. No errant nipples allowed.
 

“You aren’t secretly married with a wife and kids, right?” With his all American looks and chiseled features he could have been a cast member of Mickey’s Club House.