I exhale a defeated breath, ready to admit—only to myself— that Logan looks good. Better than good in his tailored dress pants and white button down shirt, sleeves rolled up. I smile, thinking back to our Homecoming dance again. Logan is one of those guys who is drool worthy in jeans in a T-shirt. Put him in business casual and panties will melt.
My bartender, a dark-haired cool drink of water with a smile that reaches his eyes, sets a small napkin square in front of me. “What can I get you?”
A new family? A ticket back home? Or how about a time machine so I can go back and erase everything between Logan and I? A groan that morphs into a laugh escapes me. I wouldn’t erase the past, even if I could. “Well, the man who shattered my heart is about to become my step-brother. So, something good.”
My bartender grimaces. “Ouch. That’s rough.”
I chuckle, grabbing the hotel’s bar menu and scan my options. My stomach is too twisted to eat, but having the plastic trifold in my hands makes me look less nervous than I feel. “Tell me about it.”
“Which one is he?”
I twist in my seat and scan the pool deck. My gaze finds Logan almost instantly, now flirting with one of the waitresses. I can’t see her face, but she’s thin and blonde and top heavy—everything he liked back in the day. My stomach lurches when she reaches out and squeezes his shoulder. The jealousy I’m feeling is annoying because Logan and I are worlds away from being together. Also, I’m not stupid. He’s a gorgeous man, even more so than when we were in high school. Just because I haven’t been with anyone since we split doesn’t mean he’s been celibate.
Logan looks past the waitress to me. I hate that I want to smack her hand off his arm. Stupid emotions.
Our gazes lock and I allow myself to get sucked into his dark brown eyes for all of two seconds before looking away. “Dark hair. White button down. Talking to the walking Barbie over there.”
Mr. Bartender picks up on my jealousy and chuckles. “Melody has a way of bringing the worst out in women.”
I groan. Of course her name is Melody. What better icing to this shit-filled wedding cake then a nod to the biggest bitch I’ve ever met? “I knew a Melody in high school. She was a world class bitch.”
“Could be the same woman.” Mr. Bartender leans on the counter, his broad muscles flexing. I try not to stare, but the man is handsome. The corner of his lip lifts when he catches me checking him out. “Not like that’s a common name these days.”
I flip to the desert section of the menu then change my mind again and look at the mixed drinks. “That would be my luck.”
Mr.Tall-dark-and-handsome inches closer, tempting me to stare into his eyes. Blue like the Georgia sky on a warm summer’s day. “Do you want something sweet or strong?”
I shrug, forcing my gaze to stay on the plastic menu. If I look up I might be tempted to do something stupid, like pull the bartender’s lips to mine to see if I can get a rise out of Logan. Not that I’m thinking about him. “It’s been so long since I’ve drank anything other than five-dollar wine from the grocery store, I don’t even know what I like.”
Tall-dark-and-handsome smirks, seemingly understanding my plight. Although, with a nice gig like this, full of rich wives ogling his pretty face, I’m sure the dude makes out like a bandit. I reckon he gets a good number of girls like me here, too. He probably hears their sob stories and sympathies while realizing we’re a dime a dozen. Still, he smiles and pours me a drink, making me feel for a few moments that life’s not so bad. He slides a short glass filled to the brim with red liquid to me. “Try this one.”
I take a sip from the black straw, one hundred percent aware that he’s watching my lips and smile against it. “This is better than sex.”
He leans against the back counter and runs a hand through the back of his hair. “Sounds like you haven’t had a real man then.”
Heat climbs my neck to my cheeks. It’s been years since I flirted with anyone. I tried dating once but it was a disaster of epic proportions. The dude spent our whole dinner complaining about his ex-girlfriend. If he hadn’t paid for everything, I would have called it quits right then but I understood. My heart was still hung up on Logan, I was keeping my pain to myself.
I even overlooked the sketchy side door to the basement apartment of his mom’s house. But the deal breaker was when he put on Boys 2 Men I'll Make Love To You and tried to serenade me.The guy started crying mid verse. He was not ready to move on and I realized I wasn’t either.
But Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome doesn’t seem like the break down in tears while serenading me with song type. He reminds me of one of the guys from the dirty romance books I read, in the best of ways, and it’s kind of turning me on. “Know where I can find one?”
“I’ll take a Jack and Coke,” Logan says from beside me. Fucking cock block.
I take breath, exhaling through my nose and force a smile. “You looked like you were having fun with big-boobs over there.”
Logan chuckles. Tall-dark-and-handsome slides him a short glass, but hovers close. Logan brings the rim of it to his lips and smirks. “Jealousy looks good on you, Danika.”
“I’m not jealous.” I sip my drink, hoping
the alcohol hits hard and fast because I do not want to spend the night thinking about Logan and that big tittied waitress. Especially if she is, in fact, Melody Fox from high school.
6
Logan
“You and Melody looked cozy.”
I lift my glass, finishing the amber liquid with one swallow. Ice clanks, melting in the summer heat, as I set my cup back on the bar-top. I raise a finger and signal the dickbag who had the nerve to flirt with Danika that I want another. He acknowledges me with a curt nod then busies himself behind the bar. “I’m surprised you remember her. She doesn’t remember you.”