Playing with Temptation (13 page)

He chuckled softly at something the other woman said. “You’re cute, you know that?”

Ugh. Raina shifted uncomfortably in her leather seat and glanced out the window, hating that she felt even a little bit possessive of a man who wasn’t even hers. What the hell was up with
that
?

“I know, honey, I miss you, too.” He went silent, clearly listening to the woman’s response before replying. “Tomorrow for dinner? And you’ll even bake me brownies? Wow, you know I can’t say no to brownies, or you.”

Raina inwardly cringed. Good, God. Could this get any more awkward?

“Yep, I’ll be there,” he said as he brought the car to a stop at a red light. “And I’ll be bringing a friend, too.”

Raina’s head snapped around so fast she was certain she’d given herself whiplash. She looked at him, horrified at the thought of being a third wheel on his date—his bodyguard services didn’t need to extend to his one day off on Sunday, which was her day off at Sugar and Spice, as well, since the store was closed that one day a week.

She shook her head furiously and mouthed the word no, but he merely grinned wickedly at her and continued his conversation through the Bluetooth.

“Yes, she’s very nice,” he said and returned his attention back to the road when the light turned green, ignoring any silent attempts Raina made to try and make him retract the invitation. “I think you’ll like her.”

Raina shook her head in frustration. All she could do was wait until he was off the phone to make it
very
clear she wasn’t joining him tomorrow evening with whomever was on the other end of the line.

He turned into the back lot for the store, parked the car, then turned off the engine. “Hey, sweetheart, I have to go, but I’ll see you soon, okay?”

They said their good-byes, and Logan turned off his phone and removed the earpiece. He glanced at Raina, and there was no mistaking the playful sparkle in his gorgeous green eyes. “That was my five-year-old niece, Hannah. I swear that little girl has me completely wrapped around her finger.”

“Your niece? I thought…” Relief trickled through her, and she closed her mouth before the silly words escaped. She wasn’t about to tell him what she’d believed and
look
like a jealous woman.

He blinked at her, much too innocently for an incongruous bad boy like him. “You thought what, sugar?”

Oh, he knew exactly where her mind had gone, the rogue. “Doesn’t matter.” She released her seat belt and grabbed the handle to open her door, but he caught her arm in his big hand and stopped her before she could escape.

“Look at me,” he said softly, his hold on her arm loosening, but he didn’t let go.

The words weren’t a demand but rather a gentle overture she couldn’t help but respond to, when she should have asserted her own fortitude and gotten out of the car. Instead, she schooled her expression and glanced back at him…and nearly melted at the sweet, caring look in his gaze.

“Just in case it
does
matter, I just wanted to clarify that I’m not seeing anyone else right now,” he said as his thumb stroked along the soft skin of her arm. “Just you, Raina.”

God, she hated that it
did
matter, and that was a very, very bad sign when she knew their affair would only last as long as his temporary assignment to protect her. “You don’t need to worry about me tomorrow or feel as though you have to entertain me, especially when it’s your only day off. I have plenty of things to do to keep me busy.”

He frowned at that. “If you have errands to run, I’ll take you. I don’t want you going anywhere alone.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s stuff I can do at home with my laptop. You go and have a nice time with your family.”

“My niece is excited to meet you,” he said oh-so-persuasively. “I can’t show up without you.”

She arched a brow in a silent
yeah, right
kind of statement.

He chuckled, the sound as warm and coaxing as the fingers stroking her arm. “Okay, so I
could
show up without you, but I really would like it if you came along. You’ll be cooped up in your apartment for most of the day, so it’ll be a nice break for you. Dinner at my sister’s is always low-key and casual, and tomorrow they’re barbequing burgers. Nothing fancy.”

“Logan—”

“I’m not taking no for an answer,” he cut her off in a suddenly stern tone of voice that got her full attention. “And I really don’t think you want to challenge me on this.”

A frisson of heat spiraled through her, and she cursed how easily her traitorous body responded to the authoritative gleam in his eyes. But that stubborn part of her decided to defy him right back. “Or what?”

He leaned across the console so that he was invading her personal space. So close she could smell the clean, masculine scent of him and see the gold specks in his green eyes. So close there was only a few inches separating their lips.

“Tell me no again, and we’ll sort this out in the bedroom tonight with a spanking paddle and see who comes out on top.” He smirked, making it very clear who the victor would be in that tussle. “Say yes, and I’ll actually
let
you have an orgasm or two tonight. What’ll it be, sugar?”

So, he was resorting to sexual blackmail. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. He was so cocky, so arrogant. So irresistible, and she had no doubt that he’d withhold her release until she screamed the word
yes
. But her acquiescence wasn’t about making sure she got an orgasm tonight… No, it had more to do with the fact that he truly seemed to want her to accompany him to his sister’s in a way that had nothing to do with his protective services.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”

“I knew you’d see things my way.” He kissed her softly on the lips, much too quickly for her liking, and moved back to his side of the car.

He got out of the vehicle, and she did the same, marveling at this man’s skill in manipulating her. She’d agreed to dinner with his family, but she definitely had reservations about it. It wasn’t a date, but she knew the million-dollar question
what do you do for a living
would undoubtedly come up during the course of the evening, which was a normal part of a casual conversation with a person you were trying to get to know, but always seemed to put her, and the recipient, in an awkward and uncomfortable situation.

Not that it mattered, considering Raina didn’t need anyone’s approval for what she did work-wise. Her affair with Logan was short-term, and his sister and brother-in-law would probably never see her again, so what did it really matter what they thought of her?

They headed into Sugar and Spice, and from the moment she unlocked the front door at ten a.m., the store was bustling with a steady stream of customers, which was normal for a Saturday. Raina worked the front counter with Aaron and assisted clients to find whatever they needed, while Callie put together website orders to mail out when the delivery guy arrived later that afternoon. At one point, it was so busy that even Logan, who was standing off to the side watching the store and patrons, was approached by a young woman who’d never been in the shop before and needed help finding a few items.

Instead of informing her that he was the store security as Raina would have expected, he went ahead and escorted the woman throughout the boutique, showing her the items she requested and upselling her on a few other things that intrigued her. He was surprisingly knowledgeable about the various products in the store, as well as engaging and incredibly persuasive. It was an irresistible combination, and clearly Raina wasn’t the only one who wasn’t immune to his masculine charm.

By the time the woman checked out, she’d spent over three hundred dollars in a surplus of sex toys, lubricants, bondage gear, and even some frilly lingerie.

As soon as she was gone, Raina turned toward Logan, who was standing near the register. “If you ever need another job, you’re hired.”

He chuckled. “Nah, I like sleeping with the boss too much to give that up.” He winked at her, then went back to patrolling the store and keeping an eye on the customers.

Technically, they’d yet to
sleep
together, but his comment still tugged at something deep inside her, made her feel as giddy as a smitten teenager—and put a smile on her face and a sway in her walk for the next few hours.

The afternoon continued on, the store constantly filled with customers, which made time go by quickly. While she was helping a longtime client select a G-spot stimulator for him to use with his wife, Raina heard the back door to the store buzz, indicating that Jared, their delivery guy, had arrived to pick up the website orders.

The store had gotten so busy that Callie had come out to work the floor as well, which she often did once the online packages were ready to go—which was one of the reasons Raina had given Jared a key card to the back door to use during business hours, so that he could start loading the parcels onto his truck until someone came and signed off on the pickup.

Once she finished with her customer, Raina headed to the back of the shop. As she neared, she heard Logan’s deep voice as he demanded to know who Jared was and what the hell was he doing in the office and storage area of the store. She quickly slipped behind the heavy curtain separating the main floor from the private area of the boutique and found the two men glaring at one another—with Logan looking far more intimidating with his muscular arms crossed over his broad chest and his assertive, domineering stance. In comparison, the sandy-blonde-haired delivery guy was a few inches shorter, his body not nearly as built or solid as Logan’s.

“Is there a problem here?” she asked, stepping up to where the two men were having a Mexican standoff.

“This jerk here seems to think there is,” Jared said angrily as he squared his shoulders in his beige knit shirt with the ICS logo, which stood for Independent Courier Service, clearly taking offense to Logan’s aggressive third degree. “Who the hell is he, anyways?”

“I’m the
jerk
who’s going to toss you out on your ass if you don’t answer my questions,” Logan growled and took a step closer to Jared, his gaze snapping with animosity.

Raina immediately moved in between the two men and placed a flattened hand against Logan’s hard chest. “Logan, stop,” she said and was surprised when he actually listened to her, though he never took his narrowed gaze off of Jared. “He’s our delivery and courier guy. He’s contracted to drop off packages and pick up the website orders that need to be mailed out. He’s here three times a week. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.”

Jared gave Logan a too-smug smile.

Logan’s jaw clenched and he finally glanced at Raina. “He was back here,
alone
, and I didn’t see him come through the front door.”

“That’s because he didn’t,” she said calmly and explained the system they’d established. “Jared has his own separate key card to the back door because I don’t want him traipsing through the store when customers are here, and especially on a busy Saturday. It’s easier for him to load and unload packages from back here anyway. He backs up his truck, opens the door, and does everything quickly and efficiently.”

Then she turned back to Jared, who was eyeing Logan with disdain—not that she could blame him after the heated and unexpected confrontation. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” she said and gave him a smile to smooth things over. “You can go ahead and get those packages loaded.” She waved a hand at the big pile of boxes and padded envelopes stacked against the wall that were filled with website orders.

Jared did as she said. He turned away and got to work, starting with propping open the back door so he could use a dolly to load the parcels in bulk and wheel them out to his truck.

Raina grabbed Logan’s arm and attempted to pull him away so he wasn’t in Jared’s personal space as he worked, but the man remained immovable.

“I’m not going anywhere while he’s back here,” he stated firmly, and if Raina wasn’t mistaken, there was a possessive note to his voice, too, which was ridiculous because there was zero chemistry between her and Jared.

She rolled her eyes but kept her voice low so Jared wouldn’t overhear what she said. “Yeah, well, you don’t have to stand here breathing down the poor guy’s neck like a rabid pit bull while he works, either.”

“Fine.” Logan moved away, but only as far as the wall that separated the two sections of the store. He still had an unobstructed view of Jared, and as soon as the other man wheeled the handcart out to his truck to load the boxes and was out of earshot, he said, “So, this bozo can come and go as he pleases?”

Raina ignored the name calling and now wished she’d remembered to tell Logan about Jared so the two of them wouldn’t have gotten off to a bad start. “During normal business hours, and as long as one of the key management employees is here, yes, he can come in the back door for deliveries and pickups. Once the store is locked down for the night, our exit pass code overrides his, so it’s not like Jared can come and troll through the store at midnight when no one is here. And just like the rest of us, his key card has a code that gets logged in every time he uses it.”

It was a solid security system, and Logan didn’t argue over the setup they had in place. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t done interrogating her just yet, either. “How long has he been your delivery guy?”

She thought about the time frame of when Jared had started as the new delivery guy. “About three months now.”

Logan frowned, and she knew his mind was turning over all sorts of scenarios and possibilities.

Before he could think the worst, she said, “He’s a nice guy, and I’ve never had any issues with him or any reason to believe he’s any kind of threat.”

She didn’t tell Logan that Jared had asked her out a few times—once for drinks, another time for dinner, and just last week for coffee. As nicely as possible, she’d turned down each of his invitations with the excuse that work kept her too busy, and that last time when he’d persisted and he’d told her that surely she could make time for coffee in the morning, she’d decided to tell him that she just wasn’t in the frame of mind to date someone right now. It had been a partial truth, the other being that he really wasn’t her type, though she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say something that might hurt his feelings or make their working relationship strained.