For the Night: Complete Box Set (51 page)

‘My arse
is
not
scrawny,’ I
retorted, as I burst out laughing. ‘James, you really are one amazing man.’

‘Well Mrs. Smith would whole heartedly agree,
Sir,’ he grinned. ‘But I’d better make you aware that I’ve activated the child
locks, so until you make that call you’re going nowhere.’

‘I really appreciate the arse kicking, James, on
my perfectly formed, muscular and
sexy
arse. It was needed and it’s done
the trick, but I’m going to have to ask you to place some faith in me, to trust
that I’ll do it. I don’t want to have quite possibly the most important call of
my life while you’re listening in, it’s something that I’d like to do alone. I
plan.
Logan Steele
plans. I need to plan what I’m going to say if I’m
not going to fuck this up again.’

‘Very well, but if I find out that you haven’t
made that call at some point before the day is over, I shall call her myself to
tell her that you’re an idiot and she needs to steer clear.
Sir
.’

‘And where would you get her number?’ I laughed.

‘You’re not the only one with connections and Ian
Smith owes me a rather large favour, which I’ll be calling in tomorrow, so I
can check on your phone logs if I have to.’

‘You wouldn’t dare!’ I gasped.’

‘He who dares, wins.’

‘That’s outrageous, James. Besides, “He who dares,
wins” is the motto of the SAS, you were a Royal Marine. Yours is “Per mare, per
terram.” By sea, by land.’

‘So, you’re really not as stupid as I’d recently
been led to believe,’ James grinned. ‘Anyway, mottos aside, just remember that
I can see if you’ve made that call. Logan Steele isn’t the only sneaky covert
operative with an IT hacking expert on the side. What’s good for the goose is
good for the gander.’

‘You are one
funny
man,’ I replied with a
shake of my head. I picked up my phone and sent a message to Trey, asking if he
was free to meet me this evening for drinks to discuss taking over my entire
client bank, before I changed my mind. I opened Eve’s file and typed in a
single word. Transfer. A word that I needed to write on every single current
and pending client, except for Summer of course. I immediately deleted her file
again, I didn’t need it anymore. I’d memorised everything about her. Besides
she was no longer a client, she’d never really been a client in my eyes. She
was more, so much more. I couldn’t believe that just sending that one text to
Trey had me feeling as if some of the weight on my shoulders had been lifted.
Even forgetting about the situation with Summer, taking that completely out of
the equation, was I really doing this? It was a major change to my life, no
more all-nighters, no more sex because I was obliged to, no more faking it and
finally having my weekends back. All of that suddenly sounded rather appealing.

But what really made me smile, was best of all I
could be me again, the
real
me.

Logan

I waved James off, headed
in and grabbed myself a glass of water and lime, planning on drinking it then
heading for a shower, to try and figure out a plan of action with Summer, but
was halted in my tracks when I felt my work phone vibrate in my pocket. I
nearly dropped the glass when I saw who the email message was from. It was
her.
I quickly put the phone on the granite surface of my kitchen island and pushed
it away from me, as my chest started to heave with the increase in my
breathing. A week, a whole week and she hadn’t contacted me on my personal
phone. Now she was emailing me on my damn work one? Just as I was about to get
personal with her? What the hell? I wasn’t good enough to date, but she was
prepared to book me to fuck her again? So, she really just saw me as an escort,
after everything I’d said or done to try to show her I could be more? I turned
around and hurled my glass against the wall in fury. If she thought I’d even
consider fucking her for cash again she really had me wrong, or maybe I had her
wrong. Maybe in seducing Summer I’d woken another Camilla or Yasmin, a sex addict
who just wanted to use me. Fuck that.

I went to cool down in the shower, scrubbing
myself so hard I nearly exfoliated the top layer of my skin off as I seethed. I
cursed when I cut myself shaving, my hands shaking with the anger flowing
through my veins. I wrapped a towel around my waist and went to clear up the
fragments of glass off the floor, cutting my finger as well in the process.
Damn it. I’d just sorted my life out, I was going to pursue her as a man with
no dubious profession hampering him and now this? I circled the island with an
eye on my phone again and again, like a restless tiger, trying to decide
whether it should go the way of the glass, or if I should actually read what
excuse she’d come up with to book me, to fuck me, but not
be
with me.
The more I thought about it, the more thoughts of our last night together kept
coming back to me, her blushes of embarrassment, the adoring looks, how she’d
said she was falling for me too. I’d believed her,
really
believed her.
What if she was genuine and she was just scared, like Eve had been, like I’d
been? Maybe she
did
want me, but was too ashamed of what her family
would think if my past came out. I took a deep breath, snatched the phone off
the island and opened her message. I had to know, one way or another.

I
had
to know.

Logan, don’t worry, I won’t email you again,
it’s the last time you’ll hear from me. Consider this a last ditch attempt to
contact you to try and understand why you’d do this to me? You seemed so
sincere last week, as sincere as I was, was it all some sort of game to you? I
just don’t understand why after all that you’d give me a fake number? I’ve
always prided myself on being a good judge of character and you’ve blown that
to hell if you’re playing with me. If it makes you feel even better, if you’re
really that twisted, I only waited ten minutes to ring you after James dropped
me home. That’s how hard I’d fallen for you. You’ve no idea how hurt I was to
find your number wasn’t valid. I kept trying it again and again, and it’s taken
me all week to pluck up the courage to email you to risk being rejected, yet
again. Did I really get it so wrong? Part of me just refuses to believe that I
did. It tells me that you
were
being sincere, but for some reason you
changed your mind and disconnected your number to avoid dealing with me. See,
I’m pathetic! I’m clutching at straws because I can’t stop thinking about you
Logan Steele. If there’s a genuine reason, if this has all been some huge
misunderstanding then I’m prepared to listen, but it’s going to take a lot of
effort on your part to build up my trust again. If I don’t hear from you, then
I guess I’ll have to face facts that I was just one in a long line of fallen
angels. Summer

‘Fuck, fuck, FUCK,’ I yelled, as I slapped my hand
to my forehead. I’d upgraded my bloody personal iPhone by moving network
providers and had changed my number at the same time, the day before I turned
up at Summer’s premiere. I must have written my old number down out of habit,
it was ingrained on my memory after so long, whereas I still hadn’t memorised
my new one. I grabbed my new phone to look for the right number, I’d already
programmed hers in after she left last Sunday, but of course she didn’t know I
had it, that Ian had “sourced” it for me. Did I risk pissing her off even more,
calling her on a number I shouldn’t even have? I decided I was skating on thin
ice as it was and grabbed my work phone again, hitting reply to her email. So
much for me slamming the door in her face, I was like an over eager puppy where
Summer was concerned, however much I’d protested I was done with her, she had
me by the balls and I knew it. All this time she’d wanted to see me and I’d
been wallowing in self-pity, instead of being the dominant guy I was and not
taking no for an answer. ‘
Idiot,
’ I muttered, as I quickly tapped a
response.

Summer, you’ve no idea how happy I am to hear
from you. You didn’t read me wrong, I’m not playing games, I promise you, on my
mother’s life. And I love her dearly, I don’t care how unmanly I sound admitting
that to you. I changed private phones, and numbers, the Saturday of your
premiere and must have automatically written down my old number by mistake. I’m
so sorry. You didn’t get it wrong and you’re not pathetic, I am, for being
stubborn and defensive in asking you to give up your career without me being
willing to do the same. With a client I’m in the zone, I know how to act and
behave because there’s no emotional attachment. With you, well I’m kind of out
of practice with wooing a girl that I really like. I’m human and I fucked up,
badly, I know it. I do want to meet, you have no idea how much, but I’ll prove
it. If you don’t call me back on the number below in the next hour, I’m going
to drive over to your parents and hammer on your damn door until I break it
down if that’s what it takes to see you again. And you’re not one of many,
you’re the only, on a God damn pedestal Summer Beresford. No one even comes
close angel. Don’t make me run out of oxygen a second time. Logan

I added my new phone number and pressed send with
shaking fingers and a deep exhalation. I tossed that phone aside and picked up
my new one, pacing back and forth as I watched it, biting my lip. It was ten
minutes before her name came up, the longest ten minutes of my life.

‘Summer,’ I answered with a sigh. ‘Thank God.’

‘My parents can’t afford a new front door, Logan.
So, after thinking it over, I figured it was easier to call than to wait and
see if you were messing with me again.’

‘I’m not messing with you,’ I replied, as I closed
my eyes and luxuriated in her soft sexy tones over the phone. God I’d missed
her.

‘How can I be sure?’ she asked, her voice
wavering. I grimaced. I’d hurt her, being so damn stubborn last Sunday about my
career and then unwittingly giving her the wrong number.

‘Because as soon as we agree a date and you put
the phone down, I’m going to screen print a text I sent to another male escort,
asking him to meet me to discuss taking on all of my clients. I’m giving it up,
Summer.’

‘For me?’ she whispered, an element of hope
evident in her voice.

‘For both of us. Until I met you I didn’t know
what I was missing. It’s like I’d found a niche that I fitted into being an
escort and I’d have happily carried on like that forever.’

‘And now?’

‘I thought you’d changed your mind about me, about
getting to know me. It shattered me. It made me realise that I wasn’t happy, it
was just an illusion masked by the perks of the money and the gifts I was
given. It turns out escorting was just something to tide me over until I met
someone who could offer me more.’

‘And you think that could be me?’ she asked,
quietly.

‘No,’ I replied and heard her take in a sharp
breath. ‘I know it
is
you. Don’t ask me how, I’ve no idea how you’ve got
to me so badly, but you have. Now I have your number, if I’m not allowed to
knock down your parents’ door, I’ll ring and text you constantly until you
agree to a date, if you block my number I’ll come for you. Trust me, there’s
nowhere on earth I won’t find you Summer, wherever the hell you try and hide
I’ll drag you out kicking and screaming if I have to. I’m not walking away
again.’

‘Logan,’ she sighed, as her voice cracked.

‘It’s not Logan, angel. If I need to earn your
trust again I’ll start right now. I told you before that Logan Steele is my
professional name, and this stopped being a business transaction the minute I
kissed you and you woke me up from the haze I was living in. I’m Sleeping
bloody Beauty, Summer.
You
woke
me
up, with a damn kiss.’

‘
You’re
Sleeping Beauty?’ she giggled.
‘Even you wouldn’t look good in a dress.’ I grinned, she was thawing, I could
feel it. ‘So what is your name? You were on the verge of telling me last time
weren’t you? Actually wait, you’ll have to lie to me if it’s Anthony, I
couldn’t bear to call you Anthony.’

‘No, not Anthony,’ I reassured her. Me having the
same name as the dickhead who tried to rape her would suck. ‘My initials are
actually the same, LS.’

‘Logan I … I don’t want to do this over the phone.
If you’re going to be honest with me I need to look into your eyes, I believe
you when I’m looking in your eyes. Can we meet and talk? You can tell me your
name in person, but make it soon. I begin filming again in a few weeks and my
schedule’s going to get crazy.’

‘How about today?’ I replied, as a big smile
spread across my face to have her agreement. I didn’t care I’d been awake all
night, sleep could wait. Summer couldn’t. ‘I have plans this evening, but I’m
free now.’

‘Clients?’ she gasped.

‘No!’ I shot back, ‘I’m done. I promised last time
that I wouldn’t lie to you, Summer. It’s a meeting with my colleague, Trey, to
discuss a financial agreement for taking them all off me, you’ll see when I
send you the screen print. Call it my retirement fund, it’s important.’ I
scrunched up my face, praying she wouldn’t ask when I’d last had a booking,
telling her I’d fucked a client only five hours ago might crush her. Regardless
of whether I’d come or not, I didn’t think the distinction would matter to her.
I wouldn’t lie if she asked, but I wasn’t going to volunteer it.

‘Ok, but you’d better not be messing with me, this
is it, no more chances. I’m at home, my parents are out, but don’t get any
ideas. This is a strictly platonic relationship for the foreseeable future,
getting to know each other for real. I couldn’t … I couldn’t sleep with you
again until I fully trust you, in all areas. I also need to understand your
sexual preferences with this Beady sex stuff and feel comfortable enough to
maybe want to be your girlfriend.’

‘BDSM,’ I chuckled.

‘Whatever, pedantic domineering sexpert,’ she
replied, with a teasing voice. ‘I’m serious about what I just said though, if
you can’t handle that, we call it quits now. Friends first and maybe in time we
can take it further.’

‘Angel, if I have to wait a damn year for you to
be my girlfriend, it’ll be worth the wait, but understand that there is no
maybe about it. Platonic or not, you’re mine from this moment on. You won’t be
looking at anyone else let alone dating them. I’m hanging up right now because
I need to see you, sooner than later, and the longer we talk the longer it is
until I see that beautiful face of yours again. But if you think I’m not
kissing you today, after the week from hell wondering why you hadn’t called me,
think again, Summer Beresford.’

‘See you in a while then, platonic non Logan
Steele,’ she whispered breathlessly, making my cock painfully stiffen in
seconds.

‘See you in a while, angel.’ I quickly terminated
the call and punched the air, exhilarated. I took a picture of the text I’d
sent to Trey and emailed it to her as proof, then ran to get dressed with a
ridiculous grin threatening to crack my face. Logan Steele was all about sex,
and while he may be a larger part of me than I’d ever cared to admit, I was
going to show her that I could be different to the escort. She’d see that I
could be respectful of her platonic wishes, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going
to woo her arse off in the meantime. I may have no idea where we’d end up, but
today was a new start, a chance with her, which was a damn sight more than I
had even an hour ago.

Today, at last, I was a happy man, there was no
point regretting the past or worrying about the future. I just needed to take
things one step at a time and see where they led.