She (22 page)

A few minutes later I hear my phone ringing.
Shit
! I’m about to make a run for it, when Logan pops his head around the door, holding it in his hand.

“It’s Amber,” he says, reading the caller ID.

“Can you answer it, please? Tell her I’ll call her back.”

He nods and then disappears into the bedroom. He does not reappear as quickly as I expect him to and I immediately begin to suspect Amber’s up to something. Sure enough when Logan reenters the bathroom five minutes later (by which time I am done in the shower, but linger under the warm torrent of water waiting for him) he drops his towel and walks into the spacious shower, looking a little shellshocked.

I grin at him. “What happened?”

“We’re, um, having dinner with Amber and Seamus at your house tonight,” he says quickly. Then he adds, “Is, uh, that OK?”

I nod. “Sure... If you think you’re ready...”

“Ready?”

“For Amber,” I warn.

He smiles. “Course I am. We just organised the whole thing.”

“
We
?”

“Yes. Well, uh, actually, I guess
she
did most of the talking…” Realisation dawns on him: he’s been played. “She duped me!”

I laugh at his bemused state.

“Sorry, I should’ve asked you first,” he apologises. “Do you want to rearrange?”

“No, I don’t mind at all.” I’m
really
looking forward to when my best friend meets my boyfriend! “Do
you
want some more time to prepare yourself?”

He grins. “No, tonight is fine.”

“Good,” I smile back. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that if I tried to call her back now she wouldn’t answer.”

“Why not?” he asks.

“If she doesn’t answer, I can’t cancel.”

“Sneaky.”

“Yes,” I laugh. “Amber’s a little too clever for her own good sometimes. Brace yourself, Leary, it’s going to be quite a night!”

*

In the early afternoon Logan and I leave his apartment and take the Metro back to mine, stopping at a farmer’s market on the way to pick up our supplies. It’s a romantic hour we spend strolling through the market, passing stall after stall, tasting their samples and learning more about each other’s food habits. Happily I find that I love spending time with Logan, no matter what we’re doing.

We’re five minutes from my house when it begins to rain again.
Really
rain. By the time we reach my cottage we’re soaked through and need to undress and change. This unscheduled bout of nudity sidetracks us for a short time, before Logan pulls on his outfit for this evening, which he brought with him in his overnight bag, and I don a pair of sweats and a teeshirt. I’ll change again later, I decide. I’m overly aware that it’s the first time Logan has seen me wear something so casual. However, his comments suggest he approves.

Eyeing my outfit, he tells me, “I’ve never seen sweats look sexier.”

“I have,” I retort.

“When?” he sounds disbelieving.

“When I saw
you
outside the gym. Why else do you think I was so eager to invite you home?” I grin, cheekily.

Logan laughs. “Here was I, thinking that it was our undeniable chemistry that was irresistible to you, but you’re telling me that it was my sweat pants?”

I nod, laughing too.

Before the cooking commences, I do a quick tidy, though there’s not much to put away, while Logan sets the dining table; tonight will be my first time using it. Amber and Seamus will be here at five-thirty. I know they like to eat early, but today I suspect their eagerness has little to do with my cooking. Logan is not nervous, though, which I think is both brave and adorably naive of him. In the back of my mind I can just imagine Amber writing down a list of questions to bombard him with later. Oh, I am
greatly
anticipating this meal!

Time passes quickly. I bake a cake for dessert, after first prying the batter out of Logan’s grasp, and then we prepare the main meal. It’s going smoothly until I mention that Amber is a chef, at which point Logan’s confidence wavers.

“We’re cooking for a
professional
?” he stutters.

I nod. “This is all part of her ploy, Logan.”

Abruptly he smiles, relaxing fully. “So, she wants to spar, does she?”

“Yup,” I laugh. “She wants to see how you react under pressure.”

“Oh, I react very well under pressure, so Amber can bring it on!” he declares.

I laugh again. “That’s the fighting spirit that’ll win her over. Not that you
need
to win her over,” I hasten to add.

“You’ll love me regardless of your best friends opinion?” he asks.

I reach up and kiss him. “Absolument,” I smile.
Absolutely
.

He grins back at me. “Phew! In that case…” he suddenly spins me around so that I’m facing him, and lifts me quickly onto the counter top. His hands rest on the bottom of my back as mine naturally entwine around his neck. “…I’ll risk burning dinner,” he finishes his sentence. He kisses me, slowly, deeply.

“We’ll set off the fire alarm.
Again
,” I jest.

The expression in his eyes is torn between mirth and desire. Desire wins out.
Good
, I smile to myself. He kisses me again, more forcefully, and I can feel that he’s seduced. As am I. Time plays its tricks on us again, and we spend far longer in our delicious, sensual bubble than either of us realises. When we eventually break apart, both rather breathless, it’s already ten past five.

“Shit! I need to get changed!” I exclaim.

“You go, I’ll finish off here,” Logan offers.

I leave him with one more quick kiss that nearly derails us both. I’d like nothing more than to pull him after me into the bedroom, close the door and spend our evening making love, but we both know those desires have to be shelved, at least for the next few hours. I’m barely changed, into one of my new dresses, when the doorbell rings. They’re ten minutes early.
How very restraint of Amber
, I think sarcastically.

Logan meets me by the front door looking as cool and calm as ever. “You look incredible, Gemima,” he tells me, looking me up and down. The impressed expression on his face sends my confidence soaring. Quickly he whispers, “What does Seamus do?”

“He teaches high school,” I whisper back, before pulling the door open and smiling at the waiting duo.

Without so much as a
hello
, Amber looks from me to Logan, and says,
“So, this is the man who can bring a woman to orgasm just by looking at them…”

Oh,
fuck
! Amber, you little
shit
! I bury my face into Logan’s chest, beyond embarrassed! His arms automatically close around me, and then, blessedly, he bursts into laughter.

“Is
that
what she’s been telling the women of Paris?” Logan cries, his voice full of humour. Thank god!

I peer out from his chest just in time to see Amber stare pointedly into his eyes. I roll my own. What a ridiculous start we’ve gotten off to!

“It’s not working, Gem…” she says cheekily, stepping across the threshold and giving me a hug.

“I’m going to kill you for that!” I whisper hurriedly into her ear.

She giggles in response, and then holds out her hand to Logan. “It’s very nice to meet you, Logan,” she smiles.

“You, too, Amber,” he chuckles, leaning down and giving her a customary welcome kiss on the cheek.
Seamus follows her in, looking at me apologetically. The two of us know better than anyone else how Amber can be; her enthusiasm makes her even more candid than usual.

“We’ve been sitting in the car for twenty minutes. I held her off as long as I could,” he tells me, stepping forward to hug me as well.

I laugh at his confession, and accept the bottles of wine he then holds out. “Bottles?”

“Yes, plural. Amber’s orders.”

Ah-ha! So her plan is to get us all drunk…all the better for interrogating!

Seamus holds his hand out to Logan. “You’ll have to teach me that trick,” he grins.

Logan laughs, a little embarrassed. “I, uh, don’t know much about this trick myself. First I’m hearing about it,” he says, looking at me, his eyebrows raised.

He shakes Seamus’ hand and when everybody is inside and the door is closed the four of us stand staring at one another for a brief moment. Refusing to let things get anymore uncomfortable, I usher everyone into the dining room, and once seated my first instinct is to open the wine. Suddenly I’m glad there’s plenty of liquor! Silly, Gemima, that’s not very mature!
Fuck it
, I think.

Amber grins at me from across the table. She knows she has the power to make my life hell tonight. She revels playfully in it, the way best friends do.

Oh,
please
let me get through this without being made a total fool of!

*

It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Not nearly. Logan’s people skills are so advanced that Amber can’t get the up on him, something that she seems pleased by rather than hindered by. He maintains his composure through all of her questions, of which there are many, and he asks a significant number in return. They like each other, it’s obvious, and I’m glad. There’s no doubt having your best friend like your boyfriend will make life easier!

Towards the end of our main course Seamus and I start up our own quiet conversation, letting those two continue to hash it out. We chat back and forth about our jobs and the likes, and just thinking about mine reminds me…

“Your brother is going out with the receptionist at my work,” I tell him.

He looks unsurprised. “Another week, another conquest…that’s how Patrick rolls.”

I sigh, disappointedly. “She’s going to be crushed when he breaks her heart.” Poor, Layla.

“They always are,” Seamus says mournfully. “Maybe I’ll have a word with him, but he usually doesn’t appreciate it. He thinks he’s got it made, what with having a new woman every week.”

“Layla — that’s the receptionist — says she’s in love! Says she knew after one date,” I tell him.

“That’s a little premature,” Seamus thinks.

Hmm. “Not really,” I say with a small smile.

Seamus throws a lightning quick look in Logan’s direction and then grins at me. “I see… Well, you’d know. It was different for me. When I met Amber I thought, ‘
Aye, she’ll do.’
”

I laugh at his nonchalance, but Amber is too busy nattering to Logan and misses the joke.

Seamus continues, “When my family moved to Paris my parents thought I’d meet a refined French girl, but instead I came home with a loud-mouthed American.”

“You can always still trade her in,” I tease.

Seamus laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then his face falls a little and he suddenly looks wary. He throws another quick glance in Logan’s direction, before speaking again. “Listen, uh, Jerry called me this morning,” he tells me quietly, but obviously not quietly enough, because Logan stops mid-sentence to stare at the Irish man.

I stare too. “Really?” I ask bewildered.
Why
, I wonder. Seamus and Jerry were
never
very friendly. Why reach out now?

Amber rolls her eyes at her husband, evidently in the know about this phone call, but not overly impressed with Seamus’ timing. Seamus nods.

“What did he want?” Logan asks.

“Advice, I think,” Seamus says.

“About?” I wonder, though I feel I already know the answer.

Seamus doesn’t beat around the bush. “About how to get you back,” he says. Suddenly he looks a little flustered, caught off guard by suddenly being the centre of attention.

“What did you tell him?” Logan wants to know.

“I, uh, told him not to bother.”

“Good,” I say immediately. Perfect, actually.

Seamus goes on, “I told him you’d met someone else, that you were happy, and that he should leave you alone.”

I smile at him, and give Logan’s hand a squeeze under the table. “Thank you, Seamus. Let’s hope he listens.”

“Did you mention
my
name?” Logan asks, looking slightly amused.

“Yes, I did. It garnered quite the response!” Seamus grins at him.

Logan can’t help but chuckle.

“I’ll just bet it did!” I exclaim. I bet things are falling quite rapidly into place in Jerry’s realisation right about now! His ex-girlfriend…his ex-employer…
Good
, I think. The lying fucker! “I was just saying to Logan yesterday how happy I am that Jerry cheated.”

“Perhaps a thank-you card is in order?” Seamus jests.

We all share a laugh at Jerry’s expense. I smile at Logan and he takes my hand and lightly kisses the back of it. It takes everything in me not to lunge at him, pin him to the floor and make out with him for the next hour. The thought distracts me somewhat, and Logan smiles back at me, as if knowing exactly what I’m thinking, and I suspect he does.

“Aww,” Amber coos. “You guys are
so
cute! Just imagine how adorable your children will be!”

“
Amber
!” I roll my eyes, reluctantly looking away from Logan. “Don’t you think you’ve embarrassed me enough already?”

“Not nearly as much as I could…” she says, pointedly.

“
Really
?” Logan laughs, excitedly. “Please, elaborate.”

I stand up before she can say anything. “Oh, would you look at that: we’ve finished the wine! I’ll get some more from the kitchen. Amber, will you help me?” I ask and she shakes her head, grinning. “
Please
?” I press. It’s the classic maneuver: the mid-dinner timeout.

Seamus pushes her out of her seat. “Help your friend,” he tells his wife.

She walks haughtily to the kitchen and I follow her, giving Logan a peck on the cheek on my way. When we’re out of view Amber grabs my hand and jumps up and down in excitement. Her beaming face says it all, and I smile back at her, glad to have her evident seal of approval.