Reaching for the Moon by ThePekingNoodle
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Chapter Eighteen: When in Doubt…Regroup
In which our beleagured hero looks for a lifeline…
When Logan finished his shower and opened his bedroom door, he could hear the murmur of voices coming from the kitchen. He headed in that direction and heard Max's laughter, followed by Bling's. When he entered the kitchen he found Max sitting at the counter with a plate in front of her. She was laughing at something Bling had just said.
"Hey, Logan," Bling greeted him. Max stiffened but then turned to him with a smile.
"Good morning, Logan," she said her voice dripping with sweetness. Bling took one look at her face and Logan's, and quickly excused himself.
"I'll be in the computer room if you need me, Logan."
"Be there in a few, Bling. Why don't you get started with pulling up those files we were working on day before yesterday." Logan instructed him,outwardly calm and in control. Inwardly he groaned to himself as he watched Bling's retreating back. He'd been around enough women to know what Max's tone of voice meant. He was in a deep, deep hole and he had better figure out a way to climb out of it fast, or his life was going to be a living hell.
"Morning, Max." He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee, buying time while he thought rapidly. Shopping. That would do it. Females loved to shop and spend money. He'd take her shopping. Better yet, he'd send her shopping with another female. A day of spending all kinds of money, and doing whatever it was that females did together, was sure to put her in charity with him. He even had the excuse of her having no clothes.
"So Max, I was thinking. We need to get you clothes." His eyes went to the slender legs that were curled around the legs of the stool she was perched on, and his mind wandered to thoughts of those legs curled around him…
Max was looking at him, as if he had gone insane. Maybe he had. Maybe she was driving him there. "Clothes, Logan? You're worried about clothes? We're plastered all over the headlines and all you're worried about is my having clothes? You told me last night that what happened was no big deal and you were going to fix it today. Now you want me to go shop for clothes? What happened to fixing the mess we're in?"
Logan was stung by her response. Dozens of women would give anything they had to be married to him, and all she could do was call it a mess? He'd screwed up his entire life to help her out, and she was mad at him? Deliberately he ran his eyes over her body, taking in her perfect little feet, moving up her legs, past her tiny waist to her perfectly proportioned breasts, clearly outlined under his t-shirt. When he reached her face he was gratified to see that she was flushed. "If you're happy with what you have to wear, I certainly have no complaints, sweetheart."
Max met his stare and tossed her hair back refusing to give an inch. "Oh were you thinking I might go buy myself some pink silk? I'm not a pink kind of a girl, Logan.You'll have to look to Ashley for that, I'm afraid."
At the reminder of the morning's debacle, Logan sighed and his temper vanished as quickly as it had come. Max had been through a lot, and he couldn't blame her for being on edge. He reached over to push a piece of her hair back from her face and tilted up her chin. "I'm sorry about this morning, Max. Ashley is past history. Forget about her. And I am going to fix what happened, I just don't know how yet. Friends?"
Max wanted to stay angry at him, not only because of Ashley and the newspaper, but because she knew she needed to keep her defenses up. Anger was a good way to do that. She wasn't about to melt all over Logan the way he was clearly accustomed to. But when he gave her that look, she found her anger vanishing, replaced by something else. She stared up into his eyes, unconsciously running her tongue around her lips which felt dry. Logan's eyes dropped to her lips at the motion, and suddenly the atmosphere was charged, the way it had been the night before…
"Logan?" a new female voice called out. Max jerked back from Logan, wondering how in the world her lips had gotten so close to his once again, and glared at him. How many women did the man have dropping into his place all day long, anyway? Logan didn't notice her glare, because he had already turned and was hugging the female who had entered the kitchen. Another blonde, Max noticed. What was with Logan and blondes, she wondered.
Logan turned keeping his arm around the blonde and grinned at Max. "Max I want you to meet, Kendra." He noticed Max's look and quickly added, "my cousin, Kendra."
Max refused to acknowledge the sense of relief that washed through her at the word cousin. The girl was already hurrying over to Max, talking a mile a minute.
"Max, I'm so glad to meet you. I just had to come over as soon as I saw the papers. I'm so excited. We all thought Logan would never get married again after Valerie, and then he goes and practically elopes with you. It's just so romantic; he must really have fallen hard. I can see why now that I've met you. Mother is livid of course but she's never happy unless people do what she tells them to so don't worry about her…"
Kendra kept going and Max looked at Logan helplessly. He just smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey Ken, time out." Kendra finally stopped for a breath, and he spoke before she could start again. "Now that you're here I need to ask you a favor. The airline lost Max's entire set of luggage and she has no clothes to wear. Think you could take her out today and get her new clothes?"
Kendra glanced at Max and a knowing look came over her face when she saw what she was wearing. "If you're really sure you want me to."
Logan just gave her a look and she subsided.
"Logan, I can't exactly wear these out to shop." Max pointed out to him, drawing his attention once more to her attire. Her, no his, shirt had ridden up revealing a bit more skin and his mind started to think about how it would feel to lean over and drop a kiss right there…
He dragged his eyes away from her with an effort, aware of Kendra's interested gaze and managed to say, "Your clothes are washed. They're folded on top of the washing machine. Let me show you."
Max hopped down from her stool and followed Logan out of the kitchen. He handed her the clothes and she started to head back to the guest room to put them on, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Better go into my bedroom. Kendra is a sweetheart but anything she knows, all of Seattle will know," he said softly.
Max flushed at the reminder of the role she needed to play and headed into his room to dress, leaving Logan to entertain Kendra. The minute the door closed behind her she was faced with the expanse of Logan's king size bed facing her. That led to thoughts of the night before and Logan's lips on hers…
With a muttered curse she turned away from the bed, and fled into the bathroom where she could safely dress. While she was out maybe she ought to see if they still sold such things as chastity belts. If Logan kept looking at her like he wanted to have her for breakfast, lunch and dinner, she didn't think her resistance to him was going to last very long. And it didn't look like he had any resistance at all, if the vibrations she'd been getting from him all morning were any indication. It was no part of Max's plan to fall easily into Logan's bed even though she had no objection to driving him crazy, wanting her to.
Once she was dressed and her hair was brushed out into a gleaming fall of silk, she squared her shoulders and headed out to the other room. Logan might think she was going with Kendra to buy herself a typical society girl wardrobe but he had another think coming.
She giggled to herself as she thought about the fun that was ahead. By the time she was done Mr. Logan Cale wouldn't know what had hit him. And he certainly would be over his ridiculous fascination with blondes…
End of Chapter Eighteen…TBC
