But it was the first time she’d heard the words in Hunter’s voice.
I can’t do that to you, Hunt. I would never—
I’m gone, baby girl. The best thing you can do for me now is to be happy. And Logan can do that for you.
A well of unshed tears threatened to spill, but Natalie blinked them away before they could ruin the papers held tightly in her hands. Those weren’t Hunter’s words. It was just her overactive hormones trying to manipulate her into making a move on a man she had no business seeing in that way.
If you shouldn’t be thinking of Logan like that, then why is thatallyou’ve thought about since that near-kiss in your kitchen?
With a rough shove, she put the reports into their corresponding folders and tossed them angrily into the nearest box.
So what if she’d spent the entire last week thinking of a barely-there kiss that had literally made her toes curl? And who cares if the memory of Logan’s hot breath hitting her lips a millisecond before their mouths touched had her toes curling in her shiny black heels this very second?
It didn’t mean anything. Itdidn’t.
And she needed to put it out of her head and move the hell on. Because this kind of obsession wasn’t healthy. Especially when the object of that obsession was her closest and dearest friend.
So there it was.
Decision made, Natalie silently sentenced Logan to life in the friend zone without the possibility of parole. For his sake and hers.
Because she couldn’t keep doing this. She couldn’t keep torturing herself morning and night with questions that would forever go unanswered.
Things like, what if she’d stayed in that laundry room—in his arms—rather than turning tail and running? Or what if she’d lifted onto her tiptoes and slammed her mouth to his?
Would he have kissed her back? Held her close? Lifted her on top of the washing machine and had his way with her right there?
Or the most agonizing mystery she wished like hell she could solve…
What would have happened if the person who’d sliced and diced their tires had picked a different block? What if he’d gone to a different part of the city, and the unexpectedly wonderful moment she and Logan had shared wasn’t cut short by that damned truck alarm?
You know exactly what would’ve happened.
Natalie shook her head—and the thought—away. She was tired and hungry, and it was a complete and total waste of her time to even imagine an alternate ending to that night.
The fact of the matter was Logan’s alarmhadgone off, and the moment had effectively been destroyed. The. Freaking. End.
Except…
I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking abouthim.
Even now, as she was actively trying to fill her mind with anything else, all Natalie saw was the way he’d reacted in that moment.
The switch from would-be lover to warrior had been an instant, seamless transition. Without hesitation, Logan had sprang into action, having instructed her to go inside, lock the doors, and call nine-one-one.
On his way out the door, he’d drawn the concealed pistol he always kept low on his back and vanished into the shadows. The weapon held so naturally in his powerful fist, it was like an extension of the man’s hand.
A few minutes later, when he’d returned from checking her home’s perimeter a few minutes later, she’d let him inside. The pair had spent the next fifteen minutes waiting for the cops to arrive.
During that time, Logan had asked her ridiculous questions. Things like whether she knew of anyone who’d have a reason to want to come after her like this.
To which she’d responded with a sarcastic…
Uh…last I checked,I’mnot the former Special Forces bad ass with countless enemies all over the world. Oh, and in case it’s not clear, that would be you.
Of course, the infuriating man had simply stared back at her with an infuriatingly arched brow and waited. That expectant look on his handsome face was one she was powerless to deny. Still, her answer had been a resounding no.
She didn’t have enemies. Natalie certainly couldn’t think of anyone who’d want to hurt her. Not like that. Not inanyway.