She finished her drink, and Logan signaled to the bartender she wanted another, and his hand fell to rest on my hip, his arm around my back. The bar was getting crowded, and I liked being pressed against him, almost in a possessive way. I was his.
“I’m curious,” Payton said, “why did you ask Tara to stay and watch?”
He gave her a tight smile, and I could sense his shields were getting ready to come up. “How far are you planning to go into my sexual preferences?”
“As far as you’ll let me.”
“I asked her to stay because I thought she was hot. I was hoping she’d want to join in.”
The bartender set down a new drink, but Payton ignored it. Her gaze was fixed on him, serious. “You’re lying.”
She’d always been so good at reading people. Even the perfect actor Logan Stone didn’t have her fooled. From the sharp inhale of breath, I could tell he was off-guard. He didn’t like being called a liar, even if it was true.
His dark eyes never glanced my direction as he spoke. “Fine. I asked her to stay because I wasn’t sure I could go through with it.”
chapter
TWELVE
This was truth that he’d hesitantly revealed.
“Because you were my boss?”
He finally looked at me and his face was a mess. “Because I wasn’t planning on taking off the blindfold, so I wasn’t sure I could be that guy. The one you were forced to sleep with to fix a mistake that was as much mine as it was yours.”
The guilt he carried over my mistake was crushing. Still crushing him. I never wanted to kiss him more than I did right then.
“That mistake brought us together,” I whispered in his ear.
He blinked, stunned, and realization slowly washed over his face. The hand on me tightened subtly.
Payton looked pleased and snatched the drink up off of the bar. “Keep that in mind, Logan. I am the human lie detector, so don’t bullshit my girl.”
“Understood.”
“Did you like performing for Tara?” She waved to a guy across the way from us, who shot back a, “Who, me?” look. She nodded, motioning for him to come over. “Would you want to do that again?”
Logan and I exchanged a look.
“Why are you asking?” I said.
She shrugged. “Tara said you two together were, like, the hottest thing she’d seen.” The guy she’d waved over was working his way through the throng of people. “I want to watch you two fuck.”
Logan had no response. He turned to me with those same stunned eyes.
“Payton,” I said, “I’m not comfortable with that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not sure I’m comfortable with anyone watching, and you’re my best friend. That’s . . . it’s just too weird.”
Again, she shrugged and tousled her hair when the guy walked over.
“Do I know you?” he asked, a curious smile on his face.
“No,” she replied. “Wouldn’t you like to?”
I had warned Logan during the drive into the city that Payton was direct, and sexual, but even this request had shocked me.