More, Please (14 page)

“It’s not like that, really,” I inform
her, because it isn’t. Getting laid really isn’t my motive tonight. (Okay, it’s
my fantasy. Not my motive.)

But Logan told me about his PTSD in
confidence, and I’m not about to tell anyone else, least of all Cass who tends
to let things slip more easily than she should.

“Sure it’s like that.” Her eyes flash
knowingly.

“I couldn’t.” I’m shaking my head as my
small voice repeats weakly, “I couldn’t.”

“Sure you could, kid. What’s the worst
thing that could happen?”

“He opens his door and has some hot
blonde there sitting on his hotel bed.”

Cass shrugs. “I might put up with a
threesome for a guy as hot as Logan.”

I laugh, smacking her on the arm.

“Come on, Allie. Didn’t you tell me he
was trying to get you to be more spontaneous?”

I stare toward the front door, knowing my
car is beckoning me on the other side. What would I do in this situation if it
were Cass or Kim sitting in a hotel room with PTSD, unable to sleep? I’d haul
my ass to Akron with a bottle of wine and a deck of cards to kill the hours.

Why should I be any different with Logan?

I nod slowly. “Okay, I’ll go.”

Cass enthusiastically claps her hands in
glee. “I’m totally psyched. And not because you’re getting laid, but because I
get to spend a night away from my psycho roommate.”

Laughing, I reach into the kitchen drawer
for the extra key Logan gave me and hand it to her. “You’re sure you don’t
mind?”

“Not a bit. Now run upstairs and pack. I’ll
be here by eleven tonight to let out the dogs. I promise.” She leans in and air
kisses me on both cheeks—something I’m betting she picked up in New York,
because it’s not something we generally do in Ohio.

As she darts out my door with her boxes
of samples, I realize there’s no turning back.

And Lord knows, I have no plans of
turning back anyway.

- LOGAN -

Exhaustion eats away at me as I plug in
my cell phone to charge it and set it on the marred nightstand. The furniture
in this hotel room could really use some updating, but I’m not one to complain.
Compared to some of the places I’ve slept in my life, this is a five-star
luxury resort.

Of course, I haven’t actually slept much here
yet, just laid on the stiff king-size mattress, staring into the darkness and listening
to the hum of the digital clock that’s probably been sitting on that nightstand
since the late 1980s.

The only thing that is updated in the
room is a flat screen TV on the wall, and I’m grateful for it since I spent plenty
of last night watching yesterdays’ stock ticker scroll by and Cindy Crawford
trying to get me to buy facial crème on an infomercial.

The TV should have lulled me to sleep,
but it’s a trick that rarely works for me. My brain tunes out the chatter and
replaces it with haunting memories.

I’m trying to focus on the good news of
the day. I get to bring Kosmo home tomorrow morning. I miss my townhome, my
hammock out back, and strangely enough, I really miss the little brunette who
has moved in next door. It’s so easy to like Allie.

I pick up the flyer I found in the hotel
lobby and look up a pizza place on Yelp to see if there are any good reviews. It’s
bad enough being stuck here for another night, but there’s no need to be eating
sub-par pizza.

I hear a knock at the door and don’t even
stand up before shouting, “Who is it?” Probably some kind of turn-down service,
but I’m surprised by that since last night I got in pretty late and didn’t find
any little chocolate mints waiting for me on my pillow.

“Allie,” the voice on the other side of
the door says. Immediately, my brain thinks the worst. It’s so damn predictable
with me. Too many years in the SEALs on 24-7 recall were spent waiting for the
other shoe to drop. I dart to the door and open it.

She’s struggling, juggling three bags of
Chinese food, a six-pack of Sam Adams, and a bottle of Chardonnay. And there’s
a deck of cards peeking out of the front pocket of her jeans.

“What are you doing here?”

She grins up at me, looking tentative and
tempting at the same time. “Being spontaneous.”

Stepping to the side to let her in, her
usual sweet scent is mixed with the familiar aroma of General Tso’s chicken, egg
rolls, and chicken and broccoli. My mouth waters, more from the sight of her
rather than from the smell of dinner. “You drove three hours just to bring me
dinner?”

“Well, actually, I have my overnight bag
in the car. I thought I’d sleep on your couch and snore for you. Make sure you
got some sleep. I didn’t like the idea of you being here by yourself right
now.”

My jaw goes slack. Honestly, that’s the
nicest thing a woman’s ever done for me. And if my dick wasn’t as tired as the
rest of me, it would probably be standing at full attention. But as it is, I
just pull her toward me instinctively and let her softness meld into my frame.
“That’s really nice of you, Allie.”

We just hold each other for a moment, and
it’s surprisingly soothing.

When I finally let her go, even though I
really don’t want to, she says, “So I brought dinner, drinks, and even some
cards if you’re really desperate to kill some time tonight and the snoring
doesn’t lull you to sleep.”

If I wasn’t so exhausted, I think there
are about fifty things I’d rather do with her than play cards to kill time. And
none of them are clothed.

“You really didn’t have to do this,” I
tell her.

Batting her hand through the air, she
blows me off. “’Course I did. You do plenty for me. It’s about time I did
something for you.” Pulling out the containers from plastic bags, she fills the
small hotel desk with food. “I got you chicken and broccoli like last time. And
I got egg rolls because I couldn’t help noticing your mouth watering every time
Hannah took a bite out of hers. You really shouldn’t deprive yourself like
that.”

I grin at her know-it-all expression and
realize that egg rolls aren’t the only thing I’ve been depriving myself of
lately. “You notice everything, don’t you?”

“I have been told I’m an acute observer.”

I don’t know about acute. But she sure is
cute. “I owe you dinner for this one.”

Stabbing a piece of chicken with a
plastic fork, she gazes up at me. “Do not. You just bought me dinner the other
night.”

“That was payback for the day at Buckeye
Land.”

She laughs. “Like you really wanted to go
to Buckeye Land.”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t. But watching
Hannah have so much fun made it one of the best days I’ve had recently.” Of
course, it hadn’t been just Hannah I had enjoyed watching that day. It was
Allie.

“So did I succeed?”

“Succeed?”

“In making you less jaded. Remember? That
was the deal. You make me more spontaneous, which obviously you did since I
just drove three hours to eat Chinese with you. And I make you less jaded.”

I stare at her thoughtfully. I really
want to say that she did. I know that’s what she wants to hear. But I’m still
the same guy I was the day before I met her. If I were different, I would have
slept like a baby last night. It’s just not in me to lie to her.

“I think I’m still a work-in-progress,” I
confess.

She surprises me with a flash of a smile.
“Good. Because if you didn’t need me anymore, then I might have to find
someplace else to live. And I’m still officially homeless.”

I’m glad to not have disappointed her. However
I choose to define Allie in my life, I can’t dodge the fact that she really
does matter to me. “Any news from your real estate agent yet?”

“Nope, and I know she’s sick of me
texting her. I just can’t resist, you know? I keep thinking a response from the
bank might be waiting in her email and she just overlooked it.”

“I don’t blame you. I’d be the same way.
That place is your dream.”

Her eyes are locked on mine as though I’m
the only person who really understands the significance of that kennel. And
maybe I am. I see it the same way she does—as a chance to really make a
difference.

I’ve always had a mission to focus on. And
without the SEALs, I’m grateful to latch onto someone else’s mission just for a
small taste of what I once used to feel to the core.

Watching the faraway look she has in her
eyes right now as she munches on a spice-laden chunk of meat, I worry a little
about what might happen if she doesn’t get that foreclosure. The place is an
eyesore, and pretty far off any main roads. But someone else might take an
interest in it, someone with a lot more money than her. I don’t feel
comfortable asking her what she offered on the place. My dad brought me up to
believe that money, religion, and politics were cards you held close to your
chest. But I’m guessing she couldn’t make a full-price offer.

I could have sweetened the pot, I
consider. Money isn’t exactly lacking in my family and thanks to the money my
grandfather settled on me after his death, I don’t have to wait in line to get
it.

“You know, I’m not sure what you bid on
the place, but if you need some money to bulk up your offer a bit, I’ve got some
funds that aren’t tied up in anything right now.”

Her jaw drops about an inch. “Are you out
of your mind? You’ve got five townhomes you’re trying to flip, Logan.”

“I can afford to invest in something
worthwhile.”

Laughing, she wads up a napkin and tosses
it my way. I think she’s being playful till she touches her finger to my chin
to wipe a few pieces of rice off my five o’clock shadow. The feel of her skin
on mine, even briefly, sends the faintest blip of awareness to my fatigued
groin.

“You’re in serious need of help if you
think dumping your money into a flailing nonprofit like mine is a worthwhile
investment,” she retorts.

She’s ignoring my offer, and I let her. Being
raised in my family, I can recognize stubborn pride when I see it. “You think
it’s a worthwhile investment,” I point out. “Why shouldn’t I?”

Shaking her head, her smile is still wide
on her face. “Because for me, it comes from here.” She knocks her chest with
her fist. “When I walked into that dog pound for the first time, well, it was
like my dad was talking directly to me. He always made a place in our home for
any abandoned animals. Our house was crawling with secondhand dogs.”

I smile. “And what did his voice tell
you?”

“Well, I was looking at all these dogs, trying
to find the one that needed me the most, and I heard him whisper, ‘One is not
enough.’ So I tapped on the worker’s shoulder as she’s taking out the poodle I
had decided on, and I said, ‘I think I’d like more, please.’ She honest-to-God
looked at me like I was nuts and said, ‘You want more? I got more,’ and handed
me two more that were slated to get euthanized later that day. She didn’t want
to see them die any more than I did. Then that night I called my boss and asked
her how she set up her nonprofit.”

“When did you find out about the
foreclosure?”

“Kim actually told me about that. She
drives by it every day taking her son to pre-K. It was out of business before I
even knew her, but when it started to fall into disrepair, she started
eyeballing it for me, waiting for a ‘for sale’ sign to go up. It was on the
market for a while at a price way too high for me. But when no one bought it,
it turned into a foreclosure.”

“Seems like it was meant to be.”

“I’d like to think so.” She leans back in
the weathered desk chair and sets down her fork. “So what about you, Logan? I’m
always talking about my silly dreams. What kind of things are floating around
in that serious looking head of yours?”

I take a moment to bite into my egg roll
and my mouth absolutely waters as the fried goodness seeps into my mouth. As I
chew, I think about what to say and realize I’m coming up dry. “I haven’t got a
clue what I’m doing actually, Allie. Being a SEAL was everything to me. When my
dad got sick, I let myself get caught up in the initial drama of it, you know. I
can say I was trying to be supportive and helpful to my family, but I wonder if
I was just using it all as a distraction from the fact that I don’t really know
what the hell I’m going to do for the rest of my life.” In those few sentences,
it was the most honest I’ve ever been with a woman. It was the most honest I
had ever been with myself.

“Well, back when you were a SEAL, had you
thought about what you’d do when you got out of the Navy? I mean, you can’t
stay in forever, I’m guessing, right?”

“Yeah. I guess I thought I’d settle down
in San Diego. Buy a nice sailboat. I figured I’d have a family by the time I
retire, you know, have a couple kids that I can totally mess up the way my dad
did for me.” I laugh.

“Your dad did a great job with you.” She
gives me a playful pat on my thigh and the proximity of her hand to my crotch in
that instant puts my hormones on high alert.

Shrugging as I pop the last bite of my
egg roll into my mouth, I lean back in the stiff chair I had pulled up to the
side of the desk, aching to stretch out on the bed. “He did a hell of a job
with my brothers. The jury is still out on me.”

“How can you say that? You were a Navy
SEAL. You protected our country. You got the Silver Star.”

“So, I
was
something great. Now
I’m just some guy trying to flip a few townhomes.” I move to the bed, unable to
suppress my need to get horizontal. “My brothers, however…”

Wiping her mouth on a napkin, she moves
to stretch out alongside me. “I don’t care if your brothers are freaking
millionaires, they can’t top your achievements.”

My brothers
are
freaking
millionaires, I want to tell her. So am I, technically, though it’s something I
don’t care to admit, even as I sip a Sam Adams and feel more relaxed than I
have in days. Truth be told, JLS Heartland has kicked my family right into the
status of billionaire, though my mother will never admit it and I tend to share
her quiet view.

It’s only now that I realize how little Allie
might know about me, unless she has been punching my name into a search engine.
I know she’s aware that Ryan is acting CEO of JLS, but I doubt she’s pondered
how a thirty-one-year old got to such a lofty position.

She’s just 24, I remember. Thirty-something
probably sounds like the end of the road to her.

Some days it sure seems that way to me.

“Want your fortune cookie?” she asks, turning
on her side.

“I think I’d rather not.”

“You’re no fun,” she pouts. “I’ll read
yours.” Eagerly, she cracks open the cookie. “‘Be careful of the company you
keep at night.’” She reads, her eyes lighting up.

“Does not. Give me that.” I pull it from
her grasp. “Careful of the brunette next door. She brings disaster,’” I pretend
to read. I feign a gasp. “My God, it’s what I’ve been thinking all along.”