Inspired by the movie Life As We Know It

For the Harlequin Challenge

Nothing Comes For Free

Georgie and Logan, GH

Chapter Nine

June 2016

Logan told Georgie "I guess it wasn't such bad timing that you heard me say I'm missing my farm, after all. It makes it a little easier to bring up that I do need to make a trip back there pretty soon. I boarded my horses and left my dog with a neighbor. I was thinking I could have the horses transported here, if you don't mind, since you got a stable and all, and I'll bring Charlie back when I come back."

She found herself frowning at the thought of being separated from him. In the just three short weeks, she had grown fond of him and used to seeing him each day.

For eight long years, she never let anyone new get close to her, not able to trust when her own ex-boyfriend had been a serial killer who tried to kill her, but Logan had snuck in under the wire. He got past her usual defenses. She put up with him at first for the kids sake but now she was starting to forget what life was like before Logan was living at Wyndermere with her. She was starting to count on waking up each day to banter with him, drool over his muscular body and feel safe in the knowledge that he loved the kids just as much as she did. How quickly things had changed.

She asked "How long would you be gone?"

"Maybe a couple of weeks. The drive out there and back is a long one, and I would want to handle some business with my property while I was home...there. Put it up for sale."

"You're selling your farm?"

"It wouldn't make sense to hang onto it when my life is here now- with you and the kids."

"You could keep it for a second home- a vacation spot. I know the kids loved visiting there each summer. It's just something to think about. Of course, it's your property and your finances so I'm sure you'll figure it out without my help. But, you know, if you really are thinking about selling than maybe myself and the kids should go with you on this trip, so they can say goodbye to the farm."

His face lit up. He leaned closer to her. "You'd wanna come home with me?"

"I think it would be good for the kids, if you don't mind us tagging along?"

"We're a family now. Of course, I don't mind."

She couldn't help the smile that curved her lips. "Okay, great. So when were you thinking we could go?"

"The kids' summer break starts next week so maybe we can go then, if that works for you, doll?"

She chuckled at the endearment. Back in the day, she used to get so uptight when she heard him call women doll, sweetheart, darling, baby and all sorts of other cutesy names in his southern accent, but when he called her doll she flushed and couldn't help the way her heart fluttered in response.

Or maybe it was his striking sky blue eyes that made her heart stutter when he turned his full attention on her. Whatever it was, she liked it. She had almost given up on every feeling like this about a man again.

Logan might not be the smartest choice to get all gooey over, considering they were stuck living together and the kids needed stability and not the adults in some messy affair, but she wasn't trying to feel this way about him. It was just happening, with greater and greater frequency. At first she told herself that it would have been the same if she was in close proximity to any man because she had shut herself off from dating for eight years but, as the days went on and she got to know Logan better and better, she found that was just another lie she had used to try to ignore what her heart was screaming at her.

Logan was not just any guy who looked good, and talked sweet. He was the only guy who had made her feel this way in eight years. The only man, not related to her, that she was willing to trust now. The only man she was happy to be planning a future alongside. Even if that future was just a trip to Texas next week as co-guardians.

Georgie said "I look forward to it, Logan. Thank you for letting me and the kids tag along. I know they'll be excited when they hear about it."

"I think you'll fall in love with the farm. It's a little slice of heaven."

"I haven't slept somewhere without a security guard in years. I even take security on my book tours. But I wouldn't want to bring them along this time. I think it would scare the kids. It's one thing for them to be here, where we are on an island far from local police, but it's different on a family vacation. I just hope...I've had some issues with PTSD. I hope I'll be okay without my guards."

"I'll make sure you're safe, Georgie. Anyone wants to get to you, they will have to go through me. I had Cooper's back during the war, and he had mine, and now I got your back for the rest of our lives. You will always be safe as long as you're with me."

"The rest of our lives, huh? Not just until the kids go to college?"

"By that time we'll be old friends. I couldn't turn my back on my favorite cat lady at that point."

She poked his shoulder. "Watch it." She smiled at him. "I will have you know that cat lady is an offensive term insinuating that a woman is somehow less if she doesn't have a man in her bed. I wouldn't want to school you on the history of patriarchy in our culture, but if you keep calling me Cat Lady you will force my hand."

He threw up his hands. "Okay, okay, I won't call you that again. I don't want you to take me to school."

"I'm really glad you stuck around after the way I acted when you first came back to town. I wouldn't have blamed you if you at least moved into a motel rather than put up with my attitude back then."

"You were grieving. We're both still grieving and we will be for a long time. I came here to do right by LJ and Frankie and that meant living here with you, according to Maxie and Cooper's grand plan in their will. I wasn't gonna cut and run just cause the going got tough. You can count on me, Georgie, to stay, no matter what kind of attitude you give me."

"Good because I don't want to do this without you, Logan."

"Good because I wouldn't let you do this without me, Georgie."

They shared a tender look before she said "I should get some writing done. I like to write 10 pages a day."

"What if you aren't inspired?"

"Then I edit or read or work on a different project. I don't like to skip a day because it's hard to get back into the groove. Plus, writing is good for my mood."

"I would hate to see you if you got writer's block then," he teased.

"Trust me, you don't wanna be within a ten mile radius when that happens."

"I believe it but I guess I'll have to learn how to handle it cause I'm intending to stick around."

"I know it's still early and we have a lot to talk about still, a lot to figure out, but each day I start to feel more and more like Maxie and Cooper were right to say we needed to raise the kids together. You can give them things I can't- like teaching them to be brave and how to fish and how to play guitar and how to never give up on your family, even if they deserve for you to give up on them- and I can teach them things you can't, like the history of patriarchy in our culture."

Logan wore a very tender expression on his face when he lay a hand on her arm and said "We make a pretty good match, huh?"

She stared at his hand. She hadn't let a man touch her in so long.

He noticed her discomfort and stepped back. "Sorry. I didn't mean to spook you. I learned a long time ago not to put my hands on women without asking."

"Logan, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I just need time to get used to...you. This. Us. Whatever this is."

"We'll figure it out together?"

She smiled softly. "I'm counting on that." She hurried out of the room with the excuse that it was time to work on her novel, before the kids got home from school.

But really she just needed a breather from a man who was making her think and feel things she wasn't sure were a good idea. What if she let her heart tumble into his hands and they turned out to be not as steady and safe as she hoped? What then? Living for years with a man who had done her wrong.

Why would she ever even think about doing something that could be such a big disaster? But she was thinking about it. She couldn't help thinking about it, the more she got to know Logan Hayes.