Reaching for The Moon by ThePekingNoodle
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Chapter Fifty-Six: Back to Square One
In which our hero and heroine take a new look at each other…
When Max woke for a second time, she was alone in the bed and Logan's spot was cold, indicating he had been gone for a while. She stretched luxuriously feeling in complete harmony with her world. Then she rose and headed for his bathroom, where she washed up and brushed away the nighttime taste from her mouth.
She smiled when she returned to the bedroom and saw that Logan had evidently gone to her room and brought her some clothes to wear, neatly folded on the chaise lounge next to the windows. Max found herself humming as she slipped into the jeans and casual top Logan had brought her. Then she stopped short.
What the hell is going on with him? If I didn't know better I'd think he was courting me.
Courting? Who uses a word like that anymore? He probably just liked what he was getting while you were in heat, and now that he knows its safe, for a while anyway, he wants to make sure he keeps getting it.
No. He isn't like that.
He isn't? You met Ashley, and Kendra told you about his reputation. C'mon get real Max. You're here, he's stuck married to you and that kind of puts a crimp in him getting' it on with anyone else. He's a man in his prime. He needs it. He wants to make sure he keeps getting it is all.
No.
Think what you want. But don't be cryin' when he figures out a way to get out of this whole fake marriage thing and leaves you high and dry.
Max resolutely pushed her doubts to the back of her mind. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. For now anyway. So there.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Logan hadn't gone back to sleep when Max had drifted back off. For a long while he had been content to lie there holding her in his arms while he watched her sleep. He figured she must have been exhausted to sleep so deeply and so long, since she had told him that normally she didn't sleep much at all. Finally she stirred and rolled away from him, and he stretched out and sat up. Max looked like she was going to be dead to the world for a while yet so he figured he might as well get some work done. He started to get up but then unable to resist, he leaned over and dropped a light kiss on her head.
Max stirred and mumbled "Logan…"
For a moment he thought he had woken her up but then she settled back in again with a soft smile on her face. Logan realized he had one on his own as he watched her sleeping in his bed.
Don't get used to it. She's just exhausted from the heat is all. Once she's herself again she won't be able to get out of here fast enough.
Maybe not.
Yeah and maybe so. Face it, you were a convenient piece of ass for her while her body was craving sex with a male. Any male. Even the idiot would have done.
No. It was more than that between us. I've had that kind of sex enough times in my life. There's more there. She just doesn't understand that yet.
Sure. Tell yourself what you want. You're twelve years older than she is and in her eyes you're nothing but an unregenerate playboy. Once you figure out a way to let her out of this phony marriage, she'll be gone finding herself someone more like her.
Logan put a cap on his doubts and slowly walked out of his bedroom. I'm gonna wait and see. Max feels something for me, I know she does. The trick is not to frighten her off while I figure this thing between us out.
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Logan was deep in his computers when Max strolled out of his bedroom and came looking for him. He didn't hear her padding down the hallway and stopping in the doorway of his computer room to watch him.
Max smiled as she watched his fingers flying over the keyboard. She noticed that he had donned a pair of small wire rimmed glasses. She decided that she liked them on him. Instead of the charming playboy she had grown used to, he looked like a very sexy intellectual with them on.
She must have made a sound, because suddenly Logan stopped typing and turned in his chair to face her.
"Oh hey, Max. I didn't hear you get up." Self consciously, he reached up to pull off his glasses.
"Leave them on. I like them." Max smiled. "I didn't know you wore glasses."
Logan shrugged, "Have for years. Just that normally I have my contacts in, but my eyes needed a rest today."
"Well I really do like them. They give you a very…"
"Dorky look?" Logan asked wryly.
"I was going to say intellectual if you had let me finish."
"An intellectual computer nerd?"
"Would you stop. A sexy intellectual computer nerd is more like it." Max teased.
"Well I am a computer nerd. It's just that no one knows it. Except you. It's my deepest darkest secret. Imagine if Seattle society found out that Logan Cale, man around town, was nothing more than a boring computer techie."
"Your secret is safe with me.' Max grinned at him.
Logan grinned back. "Come here," he said, suddenly serious.
Max walked over to him. "What?" she asked nervous at his apparent change of mood.
He reached up and pulled her down into his lap. Staring into her eyes he pondered, "How do I know you won't reveal my black secret and ruin my reputation?"
Relieved Max let out a small laugh. "I promise?"
"If you were a man we could shake on it but I dunno, I never shook on something like that with a woman." Logan pretended to be lost in thought. "Okay, I have it."
"What? Write it in blood?" Max shot back, getting into the spirit of their game.
"We could do that if you really insist." He paused then said with a twinkle in his eyes, "I was thinking more along the lines of…"
"Of what?"
"This." With that, his hand went around her neck and he pulled her to him for a long, sweet kiss.
Max sighed at the feel of his soft lips moving gently over hers. His hand was playing lightly in her hair, while the other was around her waist, holding her close to him. Like his last kiss the night before, this kiss wasn't demanding of anything more than the simple enjoyment of being close to each other. Max could sense his underlying passion, but it was banked and held under his complete control. When he finally raised his mouth from hers and looked at her, all she could do was look back at him, stunned by the feelings such a simple act had evoked in her.
"Oh." She managed to get out.
"Oh?" Logan teased. "As in?"
Max pulled herself together. "That was…nice."
Logan looked at her askance. Her reaction didn't bother him because he had felt her response as he kissed her. "I'm not sure if nice was the word I had in mind, but it'll do for now."
Before Max could answer that, there was a soft chiming from his computer. Logan turned to look. "Email coming in." He pressed some keys. "Now that's interesting."
"What?"
"One of my companies has been contacted by a friend of ours, looking to buy some of their technology. He mentioned it to me but I wasn't sure if he was serious. Guess he is."
"Let me guess, it's Lydecker."
"You win the prize."
"Now what?"
"Now the trick is figuring out exactly what he wants and why he wants it. Then we figure out how not to give it to him without tipping him off that we know who he is. This could get very interesting."
"Logan, he's dangerous. You have no idea."
"Max, tell me, would you rather be the mouse or the cat who's toying with it?"
"The cat of course."
"Bingo." He looked at her seriously. "That's my plan in a nutshell. You in?"
"Do I have a choice?"
In answer he simply said, "pull up a chair and lets figure out what our friend is up to."
End of Chapter Fifty-Six…TBC…
