Smart, Sexy and Secretive (12 page)

He nods. “I’ll try.”

“
Try harder.”

He nods at me again.

I leave Trip standing in the kitchen.
As I’m walking back out to the living room, my bedroom door opens,
and Logan steps out. I have to catch my breath at the sight of him.
He’s wearing black trousers, a black turtleneck, and he has on a
royal-blue button-down shirt with long sleeves that’s open at the
throat. He’s not wearing a tie, and he doesn’t need one. Goodness,
he looks like he just stepped off the cover of a magazine. He has a
jacket thrown over his shoulder, hooked by his index
finger.

He lifts the edge of his pants for me.
“Are these socks too much?” he asks. He has on socks with
multi-colored stripes. He grins.

I shake my head. “None of it’s too
much.” I sweep my eyes from his head to his feet and back again.
God, he’s handsome. “You look amazing.”

“
I guess I clean up okay,
huh?” he asks. He looks unsure of himself.

“
Logan, you look fabulous,”
my mom says. She claps her hands together like she’s at the
theater.

My dad is looking down at his phone.
“Can we leave now?”

Logan helps my mom into her coat and
then helps me into mine. He leans down close to my ear as he spins
me away from him. “You look good enough to eat.”

My heart leaps.
So do you
, I
sign.

His brows arch.
Don’t talk like that. I’m wearing some silk
boxers your mom picked out.
He adjusts his
pants.

I grin at him. We get in the
elevator, and he signs to me from the back.
Are you all right? You look upset?

I’m fine. Just told Trip he
has to find a place to live
.

He rolls his eyes.
He already did.

He’s working on
it.

I’ll believe it when I see
it.

Henry rushes forward and opens the door
for us when we get downstairs. “You look lovely, Miss Madison,” he
says to me as Trip gets into the limo. I squeeze Henry’s hand. He
holds the door of the limo, and I slide inside. Logan gets in next
to me, and I don’t feel at peace until his shoulder touches
mine.

You sure you’re
okay
?
he asks. He
tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, his hands lingering at my
temple. I arch into him like a cat and pull his hand down so I can
kiss the center of his palm.

I lean my head on his shoulder and nod.
I am okay, as long as he’s beside me.

Logan

I don’t know what happened while I was
getting dressed but something did. I can tell it by the way Emily
holds herself, as though she’s suddenly made of ice and she’s
bracing for the break of a hammer against her fragile surface. I’m
on one side of Emily, and Trip is on the other. His thigh touches
hers, and she moves over closer to me, inching away from him. He
spreads his legs wider. I lean forward to look at him around her
and look down at his leg. He shifts subtly as his chest bellows
with a heavy sigh. But he’s no longer pressed along her
side.

Her parents sit across from us, and her
dad is buried in his Blackberry. Her mom watches my subtle exchange
with Trip, and she smiles at me. “Have your fall classes started
yet, Logan?” she asks.

I take Emily’s hand and thread her
fingers through mine, our palms facing each other’s. “Yes, ma’am. I
started a week ago.”

“
Shouldn’t you be at home
getting your schoolwork done?” her dad asks suddenly, looking up
from his phone.

“
No, sir. I already did all
my work.”

“
What’s your major?” Mrs.
Madison asks.

“
I’m double majoring in Art
and Advertising,” I say.

Emily tugs on my arm as she sits
forward in her seat. “You should see some of his art. It’s really
amazing.”

“
Do you do paintings,
Logan?” her mom asks.

“
I use different mediums,” I
say. “It depends on what fits the situation.”

She points to the tattoo on Emily’s
wrist. “Like that one?”

“
Oh, he didn’t do this,”
Emily says. “His oldest brother Paul did this.” She strokes her
hand down the inside of her forearm. “It was a surprise for
Logan.”

“
How did you two meet?” she
asks. She tilts her head to the side. Something tells me that she
already knows the story, but her husband has set aside his
Blackberry and is listening now.

Emily looks up at me and blinks her
pretty brown eyes. “I went into his tattoo shop to get a tattoo.”
She grins. “And he put the moves on me.” She nudges me in the side.
“Can I tell them what happened next?” I can feel her laughter
against my side.

“
She punched me in the face,
Mrs. Madison.” I reach up and absently stroke across my
nose.

“
He tried to put the moves
on me, and I was angry.” She shrugs, but she’s still laughing.
“I’ll never forget the look on his face.”

“
One minute I think I’m
going to get to spend some time with a pretty girl,” I say. Emily
squeezes my hand when I say “spend some time” because we both know
I tried to lay her, just like I used do with every woman I met.
“And the next, she breaks my nose.”

Emily laughs. She tugs my sleeve until
I look down at her. “You never tried that move on anyone else, did
you? After that?”

“
You cured me of that
particular move,” I say. I laugh because it’s funny now. It wasn’t
nearly as funny then. It fucking hurt.

“
Was it love at first
sight?” her mom asks.

I look down into Emily’s eyes. I was
intrigued by her the moment I saw that tattoo she wanted. There was
so much in that drawing that made me want to get to know her. But
she wouldn’t let me. “It was almost instantaneous for me,” I
admit.

Trip jabs a finger toward his throat
like he wants to make himself throw up, but I think I’m the only
one who sees it.

“
It took me a little
longer,” she says. “He and his brothers let me stay with them for a
little while.”

Her father arches his
eyebrows.

Emily rushes on to say, “He slept on
the couch and let me have his bedroom.”

Her father glares at me. I only slept
on the couch for half of that first night. The rest of the time, I
spent in bed with her. I didn’t have sex with her, though, not
until she was willing to open up to me. She had too many secrets in
the beginning.

“
My family would like to
have you over for dinner one night before you leave town. So
everyone can meet.” I hadn’t told Emily that yet, but Paul brought
it up. It’s a good idea.

“
I think that sounds lovely,
Logan,” Mrs. Madison says.

“
Sounds like an interesting
night,” Mr. Madison adds.

“
I got my class schedule
nailed down last week,” Emily says, changing the subject. Her
father huffs, his chest bellowing with air.

“
I hope it’s not going to be
too difficult for you, dear,” her mom says. Emily
stiffens.

“
I’ll be fine with
it.”

“
Anything exciting with your
music, dear?” her mom asks. At least she tries to look like she
cares.

“
There’s a big show coming
up at the end of the week. I have to prepare an original piece to
perform.” Her brow furrows, and I can tell she’s unsure about
it.

“
Sounds exciting,” her mom
says with a smile. She tugs on her husband’s sleeve. “Doesn’t it,
darling?”

He shrugs her hand off his arm. “Sounds
like a waste of time.”

“
Emily’s a talented
musician,” I break in. I won’t let them put down her art. “You’ve
never even heard her play.”

“
And you have?” he shoots
back.

“
I might not be able to
hear, but I can see the passion in her eyes and feel the joy in her
heart when she’s playing, Mr. Madison.” I take a deep breath. “The
crowd loves her. And she loves music. So, I love to watch her
play.” I lean down and kiss her forehead. “I’ll be at your show, no
matter what.”

She smiles up at me and lays her head
on my arm.

“
So will we,” her mother
declares. I’m not going to hold my breath.

“
I hope you’ll get this
music idea out of your system soon and get back to real
life.”

I stiffen, squeezing her
hand.

“
This is real life, Dad,”
she says. “This is my life. And I’m living it the way I
want.”

Her mother winks at her. “Let her be,
darling,” she says sweetly. But there’s some steel behind her
words, too, if her posture is any indication.

Everyone in the limo stops talking. I
look from person to person, just to be sure I’m not missing
anything. But no one is saying anything. Emily is looking past me,
out the window. And there’s a noticeable divide between her
parents. Trip is cool and collected. The fucker.

Emily

Logan is the most handsome man in the
whole room. And I’m not just saying that because he’s mine. There
are a lot of models wearing Madison Avenue clothes, and none of
them wear them as well as Logan does. He’s just darn
handsome.

My dad’s new ad campaign is displayed
on bulletin boards around the room. Logan stops in front of one and
scrunches up his nose.

“
You don’t like it?” I
ask.

He shrugs. “It’s fine, I
guess.”

I tilt my head, trying to see what he
sees in the pictures. “What’s wrong with it?”

He shrugs again. “Nothing really. I
just think it could be better.”

Trip claps a hand on his shoulder.
“I’ll be sure to tell the big guy how much you like his ad
campaign.” He winks at me. He’s such an ass. I can’t believe I ever
considered marrying him at all.

“
Your dad will have one more
reason to hate me,” he says. He squeezes my hand,
though.

One of the models approaches us and
lays a hand on Logan’s arm. “Would you like to dance with me?” she
asks.

He shakes his head and politely
declines. Then he adds, “I’m going to dance with my girl.” He takes
my hand and pulls me out onto the floor. He smiles down at me. “I
can’t feel the beat to this kind of music.”

He looks around at the other couples. I
see my dad step onto the floor with the model who approached Logan,
and I roll my eyes. Logan takes me in his arms, his hand holding
mine. He pulls me close to him, just a breath away, not touching,
and my heart starts to flutter. Will I ever get used to being with
this man who makes me feel so perfect?

He picks up the rhythm of the music by
watching the other dancers. “You’re pretty good at this,” I say. He
just smiles and shrugs. “Mom made us all take dance lessons when we
were young. Paul did a year of ballet before he grew enough balls
to tell her he wouldn’t do it anymore.” He chuckles. I’ll never
enjoy a sound more than that of his laughter.

When we first met, he didn’t speak at
all. He started talking again for me, and it took him even longer
to learn to laugh. Sometimes he can’t tell how loud he is, and he
doesn’t alter his voice well enough for the situation.

This is one of those times.

My dad shoots me a glare. I look up at
Logan and just smile.

“
What’s bothering you?” he
asks.

“
Not a thing,” I say. And
it’s not. I’d trade my right arm for his voice, if someone told me
I had to choose between the two. Hearing his words, his laughter
and his thoughts means the world to me.

My dad dances close to us, and
suddenly, he’s pulling us apart and taking Logan’s place. “You
don’t mind if I cut in, do you?” he asks Logan, but he doesn’t look
at Logan when he says it.

Logan raises a curious brow
at me. I mouth the word
sorry
to him. He smiles and shakes his head.

My dad abandoned his dancing partner on
the floor, and she approaches Logan and holds out her arms. Logan
looks down at her for a moment, and I see his chest bellow with a
sigh before he takes her hand in his and puts one on her waist. I
don’t like it. Not at all.

“
Stop looking like that,
Emily,” my dad warns. “The boy is doing fine.”

“
I’m not worried, Dad,” I
protest. Well, I kind of am. Logan isn’t used to these kinds of
parties. There are a lot of people here who make a lot of
money.

“
Mmm hmm,” he hums. He spins
me around in a circle, and surprisingly, it makes me laugh. My dad
looks happy.... Something is up. I can feel it.

He skirts around the edges of the dance
floor until I lose sight of Logan completely. “You can do better,
Em,” he says. “A lot better.”

I grit my teeth together. “Define
better, Dad,” I toss back. “I highly doubt that I can do better
than a man who loves me like crazy, who will care for me and be
there for me for the rest of my life.”