Authors: Rochelle Alers
Once he’d left the city limits of Wilmington and headed south along Route 17, Logan felt as if he had shed all of the pain and bitterness that seeped into his being the moment he opened Nina’s bedroom door to find the woman he had fallen in love with and pledged his future to in the arms of his best friend. What was deceit was magnified twofold. The people he had trusted most had the power to hurt him the most.
Once burned, twice shy.
It would never happen again. He would never trust another woman.
He pulled into a parking lot behind a row of stores, shut off the engine, and chanced a quick glance at Caryn. Her face was flushed with color, the tip of her nose bright red, and a sheen of moisture dotted her smooth forehead and cheeks. Wisps of black curls clung to her damp neck, bringing his gaze to the spot. The warm, clean feminine scent of her body rose sharply in his nostrils, reminding him that Caryn Edwards was the epitome of femininity.
He didn’t know when he had mentally cataloged everything about her, but he knew without looking at her the delicate shape of her small hands and feet, the graceful curve of her neck which made her appear taller than she actually was, and the luminous glow of the gold-green eyes which seemed so incongruent to her black hair. But what he had consciously noticed was the lush fullness of her mouth. A mouth that pouted and one that curved in the most beguiling smile he had ever seen on a woman.
He stared at her mouth behind the lenses of his sunglasses, watching it move and form words. But it took several seconds before he realized Caryn was addressing him.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “My mind was somewhere else.”
“I said that I’m going to the supermarket. I’ll meet you back here.”
Logan nodded. “Okay.” He leapt from his seat and came around the front of the Jeep and opened her door. His fingers curved around her waist, and he swung her effortlessly to the ground.
Caryn stared up at him, momentarily stunned by the gesture, then glanced over his shoulder. “Is there something you’ll need that I can pick up for you?” His hands fell away from her body as he took a backward step.
“No.”
Her eyebrows shot up at his sharp retort. What was it about him that made his moods so mercurial? The sooner she settled into the house and established a routine where she would not come into contact with him, the better.
Clamping her jaw tightly, she turned and walked away from him. She knew the heat scorching her back was not only from the sun but also Logan’s burning black eyes. She took a quick glance over her shoulder and saw him leaning against the door to the Jeep, watching her intently.
The heat in her face increased when she realized she wanted him to watch her. As ill-tempered as he was, she wanted him to find her attractive.
He’s dangerous
, whispered a small voice in her head.
Shrugging a slender shoulder, she walked into the minimarket through the parking lot exit, temporarily dismissing the image of her summer housemate.
He was dangerous only if a woman chose to become involved with him, and she had no intention of becoming involved with him or any other man—at least not this summer.
Caryn pulled a shopping cart from the stack of more than a half dozen lined up along the passage leading from the minimarket to the parking lot.
She walked up and down the narrow aisles, filling the basket with dairy products, flour, sugar, and several different varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. Impressed with the appearance of what appearded to be quality meat, she selected packaged steaks, chicken, and hamburgers.
Steering the cart to the checkout counter, she quickly scanned her purchases, hoping she did not forget anything.
The tall, blond checkout clerk flashed her a winning dimpled smile. “Good afternoon.”
She offered him a friendly smile in return. “Good afternoon.”
“Are you here for the summer?”
Caryn continued to unload her shopping cart, placing her purchases on the counter. “Yes.”
The sun-bronzed youth wiped his right hand down the front of his white apron, then extended it. “Chris Barnett.”
She took the proffered hand. “Caryn Edwards.”
Chris’s gold-flecked brown eyes swept appreciably over her face and body. “If you need someone to show you where the
real
action is let me know.”
Withdrawing her hand, she nodded. “Thanks for the offer.”
He continued ringing up her order, his practiced smile in place. “Where are you staying?”
She knew if she didn’t tell him, he would find out within an hour. “I’m staying at the Crawfords’ place.”
“Cool spot,” Chris drawled. “If you need help settling in or if you get lonely sometime … call me. I work during the day, but I’m free at night.” Reaching for a small paper bag, he scrawled a telephone number on it and handed it to her.
A large dark hand swept the bag with the number from her fingers before she was given the opportunity to glance at one of the digits. “Forget it, kid,” Logan drawled, his voice low and threatening.
Caryn felt faint as her heart pumped wildly in an erratic rhythm. And judging from the loss of color in Chris’s face, he also hadn’t noticed Logan when he walked into the minimarket.
“Logan!” Her own voice was low and angry.
Ignoring her, Logan turned on the hapless young clerk. They were of equal height, but Chris had yet to put on the bulk of a man who had left adolescence behind fifteen years ago.
“Pack up everything! Now!”
Chris threw articles haphazardly into paper sacks while Logan reached into a pocket of his jeans and withdrew a gold monogrammed money clip. Tossing five twenties on the counter, he stacked the bags in the shopping cart.
He turned his midnight gaze on Caryn, and for a brief moment she saw a hint of rage lurking beneath the surface of his composed features. “Please go and check on Domino,” he ordered quietly. “I’ll bring the food out.”
She vacillated, knowing Logan wasn’t finished with Chris, and what she saw in the young man’s startled gaze
was fear. Managing a bright smile, she said, “It’s been nice, Chris. I’ll see you around.”
Chris shook his head, but Caryn did not see his last gesture of desperation as she turned and walked out to the parking lot.
Logan waited until she disappeared before he leaned in close to the quaking store clerk. “Stay away from her,” he warned, “or I’ll show you what real action is.”
Holding up his hands in a sign of surrender, Chris displayed his perfect white teeth. “Look, man, I didn’t know she belonged to you. I … I was just trying to be friendly.”
Logan’s lips twisted into a cynical grin as he patted Chris’s cheek. “No harm done, kid.”
His head bobbing up and down like a buoy on the water, Chris totaled Caryn’s purchases. He picked up the five twenties, handing two back to Logan. “You gave me too much money.”
Logan, pushing the cart away from the counter, shook his head. “No, I didn’t. It’s a tip.”
The fact that he had just faced possible bodily injury because he had come on to another man’s wife faded quickly as Chris computed that the man Caryn had called Logan had given him a fifty-dollar tip.
“Cool, man,” he shouted to Logan’s departing back.
Yeah cool
, Logan thought as he pushed the shopping cart out to the parking lot; what he had wanted to do was shake Caryn until her teeth rattled. He couldn’t believe it when he saw her flashing her brilliant eyes at that boy; and that was what he was—a boy. He doubted whether Chris was old enough to be served alcohol.
Damn! Talk about bad luck. If he didn’t have bad luck, then he wouldn’t have any luck!
The woman he had wanted to carry his name and bear his children slept or had been sleeping with his best friend, while the woman with whom he was to share a house for the summer batted her lashes at men who weren’t old enough to buy her a beer.
Caryn was seated in the Wrangler with Domino in her
arms. His tiny pink tongue darted out as he tried licking her chin. Logan warned her about spoiling his dog. He wanted Domino as a companion. Give her a week and she would turn the puppy into a mush.
Staring straight ahead, Caryn’s eyes narrowed behind the lenses of her sunglasses. Her rage had ebbed slowly, and only now had she regained control of her temper. All Logan had to do was say a word—a single word—and she would let him have it. They had been thrown together for less than two hours, and he was doing to her what had taken Thomas Duff two years to do—make her decisions for her.
Logan noticed the set of Caryn’s jaw and decided it best they discuss what needed to be discussed behind closed doors. He loaded the back of the Jeep with her purchases and returned the cart to its proper place, then slipped into the four-wheel-drive vehicle beside her. Their return to the house was accomplished in complete silence.
He parked along the side of the house and wasn’t surprised when she didn’t wait for him to help her down as she cradled Domino carefully in her arms. Sitting down on the top step of the porch, she sat and watched the waves wash up on the stretch of beach as he unloaded the car and took everything into the house.
Domino whined and wiggled, trying to free himself of her protective hold. She put him down on the porch, and he sniffed along the boards, his tiny black nose examining his new world.
The screen door opened and closed slowly with a soft click, and Caryn knew without turning around that Logan stood behind her.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she warned him softly.
“Did you get a sick thrill out of teasing that boy?”
She went completely rigid, then rose slowly to her feet. Standing this close to Logan made her realize that he towered over her by at least six or seven inches. She was five-five and he had to be at least six-one or two.
“For your information, I wasn’t teasing him. I was just being polite.”
Logan’s sweeping black eyebrows nearly met as he frowned at her. “Polite!” he drawled. “The boy wanted to show you some
real
action, Caryn. Do I have to spell out what kind of action he was talking about?”
Sweeping off her sunglasses, Caryn turned her back. “It would never come to that.”
“You tell Chris the Golden Lover that. He was salivating every time you leaned over to take something out of your shopping cart.”
Glancing down at the front of her sundress, she realized quite a bit of cleavage
was
visible if she leaned over. And that meant Logan had also gotten an eyeful as he stood over her.
Spinning around, she rose on tiptoe. “Jealous, Mr. Logan?”
His gaze fixed on her mouth. He shifted an eyebrow. “Not of a boy, Miss Edwards.”
A smile crinkled her eyes. “You could’ve fooled me.”
Throwing back his head, Logan let loose with a deep peal of laughter. He was still laughing when a young couple in an ancient Volkswagen Beetle pulled up in front of the house. He dropped an arm over Caryn’s shoulders and waited until the two college students climbed out of the car.
A tall, lanky man extended his hand as he climbed the half dozen steps to the porch. “Mr. Logan, I’m Steven Shelton and this is my twin sister, Stephanie. My grandfather said you needed someone to clean up for you for the summer.”
Logan shook Steven’s hand and nodded to his sister. “Forget about the mister and call me Logan.” His arm slipped from Caryn’s shoulder to her waist. “And this is Caryn.”
“Mrs. Logan,” Steven and Stephanie chorused in unison.
“I’m not—” she protested quickly, not wanting them to believe she was Logan’s wife, but he interrupted her.
“Caryn and I would like you to come at least three times a week to dust, clean the bathrooms, and keep everything in order. I don’t care how long it takes you to get everything done as long as it’s done well. The pay will be the same whether it takes you an hour or four hours.”
Stephanie, as tall and lanky as her red-haired, green-eyed brother, said, “When do you want us to start?”
“How about now?”
“Good!” they said in unison.
Caryn waited until they returned to their battered car before she rounded on Logan. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m making certain you won’t have to clean up after me.”
“You didn’t have to go and hire help,” she argued.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Caryn.” His strong fingers tightened slightly on her waist before he released her. “I’ve never cleaned up after myself. And now that I’m thirty-five, I think it’s a little too late to learn.”
The admission told Caryn more than she needed to know about the man she would spend the summer with. There was no doubt Logan was privileged.
Her curiosity piqued, she wanted to know exactly who he was, where he had come from, and why his wedding was canceled a week before he was to be married.
The Shelton twins returned to the house carrying mops, brooms, and a box filled with cleaning supplies.
Logan dropped a kiss on the top of Caryn’s head. “Come, sweetheart, tell the kids what you want them to do first.”
She glared at him before making her way into the house to direct the brother and sister team to the kitchen.
Stephanie made quick work of cleaning the refrigerator
while Caryn rinsed fruits and vegetables before storing them in their respective bins.
Stephanie removed the dust covers from the furniture and wiped away layers of dust from the highly polished pine floors. The odor of wax mingled with the tangy smell of salt water as French doors were opened to take advantage of a rising ocean breeze.
Logan and Steven carried a gas grill from the second-level storage room and set it up at the rear of the house. Logan took the empty tanks into town to fill them with propane while Steven carried the white wicker porch furniture down the staircase and set them where Caryn directed him to place each piece.
Logan returned with the filled tanks, and he and Steve set up the grill, making certain it was operable. The smell of hot charcoal wafted in the evening air as Steven and Stephanie completed their chores. They thanked Logan effusively when he paid them, promising to return again in two days.
Caryn sat on a cushioned love seat on the porch, her bare feet cradled on a matching cushioned wicker ottoman. The whirling blades of the overhead fans managed to cool her moist face. It was almost seven o’clock, and she hadn’t realized how tired she was until she sat down. She’d been up before five, on the road at six, and the twelve hours had blurred into one. She had planned to take her time settling into the house, but with Logan’s intervention it was accomplished in less than six hours. Her stomach rumbled, but she was too tired to get up and prepare something to eat.
Logan made his way slowly up the porch steps, his gaze fixed on Caryn as she lay sprawled on the love seat. He knew by the slight drooping of her eyelids that she was exhausted.
He had fed Domino, walked him, and put him in his cage for the evening. It would take another couple of weeks before he trusted the puppy enough to have the run of the house.
Taking a chair opposite Caryn, he stretched out his legs, crossing his feet at the ankles. “What are you doing for dinner?” he asked quietly.
“Nothing,” she replied, not opening her eyes.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
She smiled. “I’m starved, but I’m too tired to even attempt to get up.”
“What would you say to eating out tonight?”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. The sun was behind his back, making it impossible for her to see his expression. The rules she had set up were falling away quickly. She didn’t want to see Logan any more than she had to; and there was certainly no need to share her meals with him. She needed to be alone to sort out the uncertainties in her life, and she couldn’t do that if he intruded at every turn.
“I’ll pass,” she replied. “Thanks for the offer.”
Logan rose to his feet and walked around to the rear of the house. Moments later she heard the sound of his Jeep as he sped away. She waited until the sound faded completely, then stood up and went into the house.
Pulling her weary body up the staircase, she made her way down the hall and into her bedroom. Somehow she managed to go through the motions of brushing her teeth and showering before she collapsed, facedown, on her bed. A cool breeze swept over her naked body as the sun set and a full moon rose, silvering the room with an eerie light.
She didn’t hear Logan return or Domino’s excited barking as he was released from his cage for his final walk for the evening.
And she didn’t hear or see Logan as he walked into her room to check on her, stopping short when he saw her bare form sprawled out across the bed.
Retreating quickly, Logan closed the door, gasping painfully as his body reacted violently to the scene inexorably branded in his head.
Even after he stood under the icy spray of a shower, he
still could see the perfection of Caryn’s long, slim legs, rounded hips, and the lush fullness of her breasts against a floral sheet. Her unbound hair flowed down her back like curls of black ribbon, and it took all of his willpower not to lie down beside her.
His mind said no while his body had betrayed him. It took more than an hour for the heaviness to leave his lower body and with it came sleep. A deep, dreamless sleep.