Blame It on the Cowboy (14 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“N
O
WAY
IN
HELL
,”
Reese told Sissy Lee.

Reese didn't have to think about it, either. If Sissy Lee was right, Helene was throwing some kind of big party on Friday night, and Logan would be expecting Reese to go with him. But Sissy Lee had to be wrong about this.

“You're sure you wouldn't want to show up at Helene's fancy to-do and give her what for?” Sissy Lee asked.

Reese wasn't exactly sure what Sissy Lee meant by that, but if it involved her going to a party as Logan's date, then it wasn't happening. Of course, Logan wouldn't allow it to happen, either.

Probably for several reasons.

When Reese had left Helene in Logan's flat earlier, the woman's smile had made it crystal clear that she was there to reclaim her man. A man Reese was unworthy of. Helene had punctuated her claim with the scalp-to-soles glance she'd given Reese. The woman didn't have to say a word to let Reese know that she wasn't acceptable in Logan's and her social circles.

And Reese didn't want to be acceptable.

All right, maybe she did, but not like this. Not showing up with Logan just so she could rub it in Helene's face.

“What are you going to wear?” Sissy Lee asked.

“I'm not going.” Reese finished the burger she was making, plated it and slid it to Sissy Lee, hoping that would put an end to this conversation.

Apparently not.

“I'm wearing the purple dress I wore to my prom,” Sissy Lee declared, helping herself to one of the fries on the plate. Since Sissy Lee was in her midthirties, it had been a while since that prom had taken place.

“You might want to take that order to the customer,” Reese reminded her when Sissy Lee ate another fry. Much more of this, and Reese would have to make a second batch, and since the lunch shift was nearly over, she didn't want to do that.

Sissy Lee finally headed out into the dining room, but she had no sooner walked out when the swinging doors to the kitchen opened again. At first Reese thought Sissy Lee had forgotten something, but it wasn't the waitress.

It was Logan.

“No, I'm not going to Helene's party,” Reese said right off.

He huffed. “I see the gossip made it here ahead of me.”

“Hours ahead of you.”

Which was her way of reminding him that it'd been nearly half a day since Helene had shown up, and he hadn't called Reese to give her any hint of what had gone on in the loft after she left. Judging from the buzz that Logan wanted to take Reese to the reception, it hadn't gone well.

Reese tried not to smile about that.

Logan opened his mouth to say something, glanced out at the diners who were watching them and then he pulled her to the side so they'd be out of sight.

“Look, I'm busy,” Reese said. “Lucky and Cassie's engagement party is only a week and a half away.” Of course, what she wouldn't tell Logan was that she already had everything planned out because then he would argue she was free to go with him to the reception.

But even though she didn't say that, he argued, anyway. “I can hire someone to help you with the engagement party, but if I don't show up at the reception, it'll look as if I'm licking my wounds.”

“Are you?” Reese came out and asked.

He made a face. “I hadn't realized how disgusting that sounds. But no, I'm not. And I want you to go with me.”

“So you can…what? Show Helene that you've moved on? I'm sure you can find a more acceptable date for that. Besides, I don't have anything to wear.”

“I'll take you shopping.” Judging from his dour expression, doing that would be about as much fun for him as sliding down razor blades while naked.

“I don't need you to take me shopping. If I were going, I could find something on my own.” That was possibly the truth. Possibly.

Logan glanced around, then up at the ceiling as if asking for divine guidance as to what he could say that would make her change her mind. But there was nothing he could say.

Except what he said.

“Please.”

That was it. A single word from him attached to a desperate expression.

Reese considered having another go at convincing him to take someone else. Anyone else. Or even his going alone. But then she gave that some thought. Did she really want Logan alone at the party with Helene? Helene might see that as an open invitation to pursue him.

Something she was likely to do, anyway.

Still, why make it easier for her by serving up Logan on a silver platter?

“You're going, aren't you?” Logan asked. He pulled out the big guns. A smile. And a dimple flashed in his cheek.

Good grief. How could she say no to a dimple like that? And the
please
?

Reese huffed first before she answered. “All right, I'll go.”

Another smile. Logan dropped a quick kiss on her mouth. “You won't regret this.”

He was wrong about that. Because Reese already did regret it.

* * *

A
ND
R
EESE
CONTINUED
to regret her decision to go.

However, what she regretted even more was that she'd brought Jimena with her on the shopping trip to the San Antonio mall. Her friend and she clearly had different ideas about what constituted a suitable dress.

Jimena studied the latest one Reese had tried on. Electric blue and with enough sparkles to possibly trigger seizures in some people. It was also far shorter and tighter than Reese preferred. Call her old-fashioned, but she didn't like the idea of someone discovering the color of her panties if she happened to lean even an inch in any direction.

“It's not slutty enough,” Jimena insisted. “You want to wow Logan's ex when you walk into that party.”

She would wow Helene, all right, but not in a good way. The woman already thought Reese was trash, and this dress would go a long way toward proving it.

“In a slut contest, this dress would win,” Reese argued. “I'm definitely not getting it.”

Jimena looked shocked, though Reese didn't know why. So far, Reese had vetoed every dress that Jimena had chosen for her to try on. In several cases, she had vetoed without even trying on the outfit.

Maybe it wasn't too late to tell Logan to find another date. Or for her to leave town. Of course, that was probably what Helene wanted her to do, and the reminder gave Reese enough of a resolve to go back into the dressing room and try the next one. It was another of Jimena's selections.

Acid green and, yes, sparkles. The back was what Jimena called a crack back. Reese hadn't asked for clarification, but she doubted her friend had meant the dress was suitable for selling drugs or a spinal adjustment.

“So, did I tell you I dumped Elrond?” Jimena asked.

“Really?” She gave Jimena a dose of that same
shock
Jimena had given her with the dress. It wasn't a shock at all. Jimena went through men as quickly as Reese was going through these dresses. “Was it because of the clown outfit?”

“No. I actually sort of got into that. Did you know there's an entire clown fetish thing?”

“Didn't have a clue.” She paused. “Did he ever confess if he was the one with Helene?”

“Never. In fact, he denied it all the way up to the time I dumped him. And you know what? I believe him. Who does Logan think it was?”

“He doesn't know.” And this conversation wasn't making her feel any better about any of this. Here she was trying on dresses to go with Logan to his ex's reception, and he was still obviously concerned about the identity of Helene's lover.

Nope, there was no chance of Reese getting a broken heart over this.

Reese put the crack back dress aside and went to the next one. One of her own selections. It was black, plain. And boring. She could be a wallflower in this dress, which was the exact reason she tried it on. She came out of the dressing room ready to hear Jimena make the fake gagging sounds she'd made at all of Reese's selections.

And that's exactly what happened.

“The idea is for you to look good,” Jimena pointed out, her voice flat. “So good that the ex will turn green and Logan will want to have sex with you on the hors d'oeuvres table.”

Those were high expectations for a mere dress, but Jimena did have a point. As long as she was going to be there at the party, she might as well wear something she knew Logan would like.

With her mission clarified, Reese went back into the dressing room, looked through the choices she had left and came up with a tomato-red dress. No sparkles, but it was silk and had a shimmer to it. That silk whispered over her skin when she put it on, and Reese knew that even without Jimena's approval, this was going to be the one. Not because she loved, loved, loved it, but because she was tired of shopping, and it was on sale.

As she'd done too many times to count, Reese came out of the dressing room, prepared to twirl around to show Jimena how
enthusiastic
she was with this choice, but her enthusiasm sort of stalled in her throat.

Helene was standing there.

“Well, hello,” Helene said, giving Reese another dose of that creepy smile. “What a coincidence, running into you here.”

Reese doubted it was anything but a coincidence. Helene was checking her out. Literally. The woman's attention was lingering on Reese's bust area. Reese's B-cups obviously weren't measuring up to Helene's DDs.

Jimena looked at Reese, and she didn't think it was her imagination that Jimena was silently asking if Reese wanted her to punch the woman's lights out. She did, but that wasn't going to happen. If anyone punched out Helene's lights, it would be Reese.

“Is that what you're wearing to the reception?” Helene asked. A glacier wouldn't melt in that cool mouth of hers.

“No,” Jimena said at the same time Reese said, “Maybe.”

Helene's expression tightened, just enough to show her disapproval. “It doesn't do anything for your skin, does it? It washes you out. May I suggest something in yellow or green?”

Colors that were certain
not
to look good on her. Maybe Reese should put on the electric-blue one and try to trigger a seizure in Helene.

“Then again,” Helene went on, tapping her chin as if she were truly giving some input that Reese might take. “This one does make your stomach look flat since it skims over the body rather than hugging it.”

Reese figured that was a dig about the pregnancy rumors.

“I think it's perfect,” someone said.

Logan.

He wasn't exactly hurrying when he came into the viewing area of the dressing room, but judging from his slightly rapid breathing, there'd been some hurrying involved before his arrival.

“Logan,” Helene greeted as if everything were hunky-dory between them. She moved in for a handshake, maybe even a hug, but Logan made a beeline toward Reese.

“Sorry, I'm late,” he told Reese.

Reese didn't dodge the hug he gave her. Or even the quick kiss he dropped on her mouth.

Oh, Reese got it then. Logan must have heard that Helene had followed Jimena and her here to the mall, and he'd come to run interference. Or maybe he'd come to give Helene a little payback. Either way, Reese was glad to see him. Glad about the kiss, too, and not because it was possible payback but because a kiss from Logan always made things feel right.

Even when it was a fake kiss.

“There's a purple one in the dressing room that I think Reese should pick,” Jimena piped up. She gave Helene some stink eye, and coming from a woman who was even more beautiful than Helene, it was far stinkier than anything Reese could have squinted out.

“Purple, huh?” Logan said. “Maybe I should see it.” He took hold of Reese's arm, leading her back to the dressing area.

Thankfully, there were no other customers trying on clothes because this wasn't exactly a man-friendly zone.

“Sorry about that,” Logan added once they were in the dressing room. “Greg heard that Helene was coming here to the mall to shop, and I figured it was so she could follow you. I didn't know which store you were in so I had to go to six of them before I found you.”

It touched her far more than she wanted that Logan was looking out for her. “Thanks, but it wasn't necessary. Helene is just sizing up her competition, and I'm pretty sure she's decided that I'm not much competition at all.”

“You're wrong.”

It was one of those perfect things to say. Then Reese realized why he might be saying it. “Don't worry. I said I'd go to the reception with you, and I will. I just won't be going in this.”

She plucked out the purple dress Jimena had mentioned. The opposite of a crack back. This was more of a cooch front since the neckline plunged all the way to the navel and then some.

Logan eyed it, not at the absurdity of the design but with an interest that any red-blooded straight man would have. “It would, uh, get everyone talking. And drooling.”

“You're not the drooling type. But thanks for coming to my rescue.” She was about to usher him out, but Logan didn't budge.

The cooch front must have put some thoughts in his head, or maybe he was still in the “I'll show Helene” frame of mind. Either way, he kissed her again.

“Helene can't see us,” Reese reminded him.

Reese had figured that would get that gleaming look out of Logan's eyes. It didn't.

“Good,” he said. And he kissed her again.

This one definitely wasn't just some little peck on the mouth to get back at his ex. This was a full-fledged, openmouthed kiss that sizzled in all the right places. Of course, Logan had a way of sizzling just by looking at her.

“So, is this the dress?” he asked. But he wasn't really looking at it. He dropped a kiss on her neck. Then lower.