Reaching for the Moon by ThePekingNoodle

AN: Rabbits? Now where is your appreciation for romance? As if it's only about sex. They have even said the magic words to each other. And you still bring up rabbits. The Noodle gave you the ocean and a ship and all you can think of is rabbits. Huh. Just because those two can't seem to keep their hands off of each other. Would you prefer they practice celibacy? Hmmm…the Noodle supposes that maybe that could be done…if this keyboard will cooperate that is…and if that's what her readers really want…rabbits…hmpf…

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Chapter Ninety-Seven: Bon Voyage

In which the Colonel surprises our hero and heroine…

Max came out of the luxurious shower wrapped in a thick terry robe that had been hanging on a hook in the huge bathroom. Logan was sitting on the edge of the bed. He had donned his pants from the previous evening and his dress shirt hung open. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He had showered first and his hair was almost dry.

"Nice to see that someone has something to wear." Max observed dryly.

"You do seem to have an ongoing problem with your clothing don't you?" Logan teased her. "I'm not sure I can afford what it's costing me to keep you dressed."

"Very funny."

"Of course, I could just keep you naked and in my bed. It would certainly save some money."

Max just gave him a look. "And there's nothing in the least bit self serving in that scenario, is there?"

"Wait here, and I'll see what I can find for you." Logan rose and left the stateroom, choosing not to answer her comment with anything more than a smug smile.

Max went to one of the stateroom's portholes and stared out at the water. The sky had grown darker and a slight chop was evident, even in the sheltered bay that the yacht was anchored in. A storm was definitely brewing.

Her reverie was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and Logan's voice saying, "Try these. I think Kendra left them here."

She turned around and saw that he had placed a pair of black denims and a red boat neck pullover on the bed. "Thanks." She searched for her undergarments and spotted them lying on a chaise lounge, along with the remnants of her dress. Gathering the clothes up, she headed into the bathroom to finish drying off and to dress.

She had pulled on her bra and panties and was brushing her hair out, prior to putting on the rest of the clothes, when Logan walked into the bathroom. He swatted her butt lightly as he passed. "You look good enough to eat. You sure you want to get dressed? There was a bikini in Kendra's stateroom I could get for you. Maybe you want to catch some sun?" he teased her.

"Sure, if you want to take this thing somewhere that sun actually exists," she retorted.

Logan shrugged. "I could probably find a sun lamp that we could set up in the bedroom for you."

"Do you ever think of anything but…" Max started to say. "No, forget I even asked. You're a male."

She turned back to the mirror, ignoring his grin. Her hair was dry enough not to soak the shirt, so she pulled it on and then slipped into the jeans. They fit well enough, especially since both the jeans and shirt seemed to have their fair share of spandex. The shirt was cropped to just above Max's belly button and the jeans were low rise, giving Logan a view of several inches of smooth golden flesh when Max turned to face him.

"You'll do I guess."

"I'll do?" Max raised her eyebrows at him, not fooled for a moment by his offhand attitude. She had caught the look in his eyes as he ran them over her.

Before Logan could reply, his cell phone shrilled. He reached down to the table that he had left it on the night before, and picked it up. It continued to ring as he looked to see who was calling. Then he snapped it open.

"Hello, Donald," he said smoothly.

Max looked at him intently as she realized it was the Colonel on the phone.

"Funny thing about that." Logan was saying. "She's with me now. It was the strangest thing. On my way home last night I just happened to find her. In the warehouse district." He paused and listened for a moment. "She said to tell you that she's afraid she might have hurt one of your guys. Of course I told her that if we'd had a bit more time, I'd have done more than hurt him." He allowed his anger over what had happened the night before to come through in his voice. "Lucky for you I got there, and she was okay."

There was a silence and then Logan spoke again in that same hard voice. "I told you I'd work with you.

Your snatching my wife wasn't part of the deal. I'm afraid that I'm seriously re-thinking things right now."

Another silence. "You do that. You know where to reach me. But Donald, no more funny business. I have my own resources and I won't hesitate to use them to protect what's mine. That includes Max." He closed the phone with a sharp snap. He had a frown on his face.

"What was that all about?" Max asked him.

"It was odd. He didn't appear too concerned that his little kidnapping plot had failed."

"And?"

"And he said he's been called away. He has to go out of the country. He's going to get in touch when he returns, to discuss how we can continue our association."

"Oh." Max frowned. "That sounds strange."

"Yeah. He sounded like he was more worried about whatever it is that's come up than he was about you or me."

"So what do we do about it?"

"We head back to Seattle once I verify that he actually has left the country. And then I do some digging to find out what's really going on with our friend the Colonel. But right now I think we need to do something even more important." He gave her another hot look.

"What might that be?" Max asked him taking note of it.

Logan grinned. "Why breakfast of course. What did you think I meant?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him out of the stateroom. "My uncle has the most wonderful chef on board. You're gonna love his French crepes…"

End of Chapter Ninety-Seven…TBC…