“Well, shit. You should’ve said something earlier.” He pushed himself to his feet, immediately gathering up the plates, forks, and napkins from the small outdoor table. “I could’ve fixed the dryer and left.”
Natalie took her time standing, picking up their half-empty glasses without urgency. “I didn’t say anything, because I wanted you to have a nice meal for a change.”
“Hey, now. I take offense to that.”
“Really? When was the last time you ate something green?” As an afterthought, she hurried to add, “And the salad you had tonight doesn’t count.”
Logan pressed his lips back together because…yeah. Before the delicious Caesar salad he’d eaten tonight, he honestlycouldn’tremember the last time he had something green. And the vixen arching a cocky brow his way knew it.
Because she knows you better than you know yourself.
Balancing the short stack of dishes in the crook of one arm, he held the back door open while she passed by. “Pretty sure I had a green Life Saver the other day,” he teased, just to get a rise out of her.
“Nice try.” Natalie walked across the kitchen and carefully set the two glasses in the otherwise empty farmhouse sink. “You can just set those in here,” she referred to his haul. “I’ll deal with them later.”
“You have work to do. I can wash them real quick before I—”
“Not a chance.” She took the dishes from his hands and put them in the sink herself. “I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten enough free labor from you for one night. Or more like a lifetime.”
“Told you a million times, I don’t mind.”
“I do, though.”
The soft-spoken words were so low, Logan thought for a moment he’d imagined them. But then those eyes he loved so much found his once more, and he knew he hadn’t misheard a damn thing.
Resting her lower back against the counter behind her, Natalie wore an expression of gratitude and remorse as she crossed her arms at her front. “I honestly don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you for all you’ve done these last couple years.” Her delicate throat worked with a hard swallow. “But I also know why you’re always so willing to drop everything to rescue me from my latest crisis.”
She did? “You do?”
How the hell could she possibly—
“Hunter told me.” A sad smile lifted the corners of her rosy lips. “At our wedding reception. We were dancing, and he looked over at you chatting it up with Archer and Lucky. Hunt told me he’d bullied you into promising to take care of me if something ever happened to him.”
Ah, hell. “He, uh…” Logan cleared his suddenly thick throat. “He told you about that, huh?”
For a second there, he thought she’d somehow figured out the truth about his feelings. The fear she was going to tell him to get the fuck out of her house had been instant.
But talking about this—with her—was damn near just as terrifying.
“We told each other everything,” Natalie confessed. “Well, everything except all that classified SEAL stuff. But yeah. Hunt told me he needed to know I’d be taken care of if the worst happened. And I have been, thanks to you.” Her eyes glistened with what he suspected were burgeoning tears, but she blinked them away before they could fully form. “You’ve been nothing short of amazing, Logan. And I’ll never forget that.”
“But?” Because his gut was screaming one of those three-letter bastards was headed his way.
“But, I think you’ve done more than enough to repay any debt you feel you owed him. And if he were here, he’d tell you the very same thing. I know he would.”
Okay,somaybe shewasabout to kick his ass out. Sure as hell sounded like it, anyway. Not that he could blame her.
He’d overstepped, and now she felt uncomfortable around him. Now she was asking him to back off. Even so, he had to know for sure.
“Where’s this coming from, Nat?” Logan rested his hands low on his hips.
“Nowhere, really. It’s just…” A low exhale. “Earlier, when I was in here and you were finishing up with the dryer, I realized…this isn’t fair to you.”
“What isn’t fair?”
“This.” She motioned between them. “Us.”
“Us?”