Logan picked up his beer. “Stupid to be upset about something I can’t change. Especially when that something isn’t loss of life or limb, like—”
He cut himself off with a sip.
Lori touched his arm, pretty eyes locked on his for a long moment. She didn’t tell him she was sorry again, or give any other platitudes. Instead, she leaned up, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and hugged him tight.
Everything inside Logan relaxed at the contact.
The past disappeared. The hurt faded to an ache.
The only thing that mattered was how good Lori felt against him, how incredible she smelled, how nice it felt to have someone to hold him.
“My bad day suddenly seems less life-y,” she murmured.
He grinned, leaned back when she dropped her arms. “This is what I was looking for last night in the bar.”
“A hug?”
He shook his head. “A distraction. Some comfort. Someone to talk to.”
Lori had tears in her eyes, but he watched her blink them back and smile up at him. “Well, anyone who knows me, knows that I can talk with the best of them. So, for as long as you’re around, you’ll be stuck talking to me.”
Logan opened his mouth to say that being stuck with anything—talking, hugging, texting, whatever—with Lori wasn’t a trial in the least, but then the buzzer rang, and she popped off the couch to answer it.
Then spent the next five minutes bringing the pizza and plates and napkins in, dishing up slices, then consulting him on what movie to watch.
Eventually, they settled on an action flick they’d both already seen.
But that worked for him, because Logan got to hear her commentary on why the hero was failing, ask questions to get her fired up enough to go off on one of those tangents her ex had supposedly hated, but that he found extremely charming, and he got to spend time with a beautiful—where it mattered most, on the inside—woman.
By the time he went back to Brandon’s condo, he was happy and relaxed and so full of pizza and beer that he didn’t have any problems falling asleep.
And because of that, he didn’t see Lori’s reply to his picture until the morning.
I think I like the first pic better.
But he did see it first thing in the morning.
And because of that, for the first time in more than a year, he went about his day with a smile on his face.
Chapter 6
Logan: You’re not late today are you?
Lori: Nope. No a-holes made me sleep through my alarm.
Logan: Maybe you need a louder alarm?
Lori: *eye roll emoji* Nice try, buster.
Logan: Want to have dinner at my place tonight? I saw your fridge. It’s in desperate straights.
Lori: Does that mean you’re buying?
Logan: If you steal some more of those chocolate-covered pretzel things from your work then, yes, I’m buying.
Lori: Good. Pick what you want to eat and get two. I’ll eat anything except for mushrooms.
Lori: *shuddering GIF*