“No.” A shake of his head. “I didn’t lie when I said she and I have been strictly platonic. But...” He thought of that moment in her kitchen. “We, uh…we did almost kiss the other day.” Their lips touched, so technically,technicallythey had. “It just sort of happened, and I don’t even know who initiated, to be honest. But then my truck alarm went off, and we had to deal with that whole mess, and…” He blew out a breath. “Anyway, now you know.”
“You planning on telling Nat you love her?”
“Not at first, no. I mean, she’s my closest friend. Hell she’s Hunt’swidow, for fuck’s sake.”
“Exactly. She’s his widow. Hunt’s gone, man. It sucks, and it still pisses me off every single fucking day. But no amount of anger or guilt is gonna bring the guy back. And Arch was right that day on the lake when he said you’d be good for her. You are good for her. Look at what you’re doing for her now.”
“I’m just trying to keep her safe.”
“Exactly. Her safety is always your top priority. Has been since you moved to Seattle. And who better to be with her than a man who will do whatever it takes to protect her?”
He’s right. There’s no one else on the planet who would love her more than you.
“I was going to tell her tonight,” he confessed to his friend. “That’s why I was waiting in her driveway when she got home. But then we went inside and discovered her place had been tossed, and…now we’re here.”
Now he needed to quit worrying about his would-be love life and focus on figuring out why the hell someone had targeted Natalie. Evidence or not, connected or not, Logan’s gut was screaming she’d been targeted by someone.
And he wouldn’t stop until the threat had been eliminated and the woman he’d just admitted to loving was safe.
“Look, none of my shit matters right now. Just focus on finding out what you can about the people she works with. Oh, and while you’re at it, add Glenn Frost and Dennis Atkinson to the list.”
“The Frost Avionics guys?” A low snort hit Logan’s ear just before he heard, “You’re kidding, right?”
“Natalie’s firm handles all their financials, and she was recently handed their auditing account. She’s been working at their corporate headquarters here in the city for the past week. Maybe someone there has—”
“Wait,” Lucky cut him off. “You’re telling me the tires and the break-inbothhappened at the same time Nat started conducting an audit for a multi-billion-dollar company?”
Son of a…
“Shit, Jason. I never even put the two together. But yeah. The tires happened the night before her first day there, and she’s been working on it ever since.”Fuck.“New plan. Start there, and then work through her accounting firm.”
“Copy that, Boss. And hey, about the other…”
Logan’s throat worked a hard swallow. “Yeah?”
“I’m happy for you, brother.” A slight pause. “Of course, that’s assuming she feels the same way. Which Ireallyhope she does. And soon.”
His face fell flat. “The bet?”
“Dude, you get her on board before next month, I win the pot!”
Get her on board…
With a shake of his head, Logan couldn’t keep from huffing out a soft chuckle. “Out of curiosity, how much we talkin’?”
“Four hundred Benjamins, baby!’
Jesus.“Let me know what you find. I’ll call if anything turns up on our end.”
“Will do. Oh, and Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“You and Nat…it’s a good thing, man. Truly.”
A rush of emotion knotted in his throat, and it took two tries before he could even speak. “Thanks, Jason. Talk soon.”
Ending the call, Logan grabbed his bottle and walked back into the house.