Natalie chuckled. “Pretty sure my sister would be more than happy to dispute that fact with you.”
“If this is about last week, I should have apologized a long damn time ago. I made you uncomfortable, and that’s the last thing I ever—”
“You didn’t make me uncomfortable.” She shook her head, and then tilted it just so. “Okay, that’s a lie. Youdid,but not in the way you’re probably thinking.”
Logan’s dark brows twitched, those breath-stealing eyes of his filling with curiosity. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Damn, this was hard. So much harder than she thought it would be. “I wasn’t mad that we almost kissed. Or did kiss. Or…whatever. You know what I mean.”
The tip of his tongue peeked out with a quick swipe across his lips. A purposeful move, or subconscious? Either way, Natalie took it as a good sign, continuing to get out what she was struggling to say.
“Anyway, I wasn’t mad. I’mnotmad. And I wasn’t mad at you for wanting to stay at my house to protect me. I could never be upset with you for that.”
“You said I was being an overbearing ass and you needed some space.”
Yep. She’d said those exact words. But now…
“Logan, I’m sorry.” Natalie shifted her position so she was sitting up a little straighter. “I never should have said those things to you. And you’re not an overbearing ass.”
“Well…” He gave a chagrinned smirk.
She smiled, knowing that was his goal all along. “I lied about the overbearing ass part, but not about the needing space part.”
“Okay. Wanna tell me why?”
No.
Yes.
Damn it.
“Lately I’ve…” She drew in a deep, deep breath and let it out slowly. Really,reallyslowly. “I’ve started having these…feelings.” A hard, loud swallow. “For you.”
She wanted to look away, but try as she might, Natalie couldn’t tear her gaze from his. Stealing herself for the rejection she was terrified to hear, she schooled her expression, held her breath, and waited.
Logan blinked, those dark lashes of his flashing once. Twice. And by the third time, she was sure he was going to burst out laughing.
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t so much as smirk. Instead the sexy former SEAL lifted a slow, cautious hand to her face and cupped her cheek. “I have feelings for you, too, Nat. That’s why I came to your house tonight. Last night. You know what I mean.”
She nodded. “You came to tell me you have feelings for me?”
“Yes.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “That night, when we were in the laundry room, it took everything in me not to kiss you. And then later, after dinner when we were in your kitchen…” Another swallow. “The truth is, if that alarm hadn’t gone off, I don’t know that I would’ve been able to stop at just a kiss.”
Oh
“If that alarm hadn’t gone off, I’m not sure I would’ve wanted you to stop.”
Her eyes filled with a rush of emotion she wasn’t expecting. But Natalie did her best to power through because she needed to get this out. She needed to unburden herself of the guilt and shame and everything else that had come with these new feelings she’d discovered.
New feelings that were so overwhelmingly consuming, they’d even overshadowed the fact that some asshat had broken into her home hours earlier.
But that mess would still be there in the morning. This mess, however…this was something she needed to clean up now. Before it was too late.
Before I lose him for good.
Reaching up to the hand on her face, she curled her fingers around his and gently pulled it away.
“I need to get this out, and if you’re touching me like that, I’m afraid I won’t be able to. And I really just need you to listen to it all before you respond. Can you do that?”