Chapter Three
Andrew:I’m hungry. How about that free lunch today?
Unknown:It’s only 9:15.
Jeni:I assume the third person on this text is Logan.
Unknown:The one and only.
Jeni snorted, the sound immediately lost in the chaotic office, and saved his number into her phone. She clicked over to her Outlook calendar and took stock of her day.
Jeni:I can get away for lunch, just have to be back at 1:30.
Logan:Same.
Andrew:Yessss
Logan suggested a ramen place downtown. Jeni didn’t have much experience with Asian cuisine, having grown up in a tiny farm town in Nebraska.
Potato salad and coleslaw? Expert.
Buttermilk biscuits from scratch? You betcha.
Ramen? She only knew of the square kind wrapped in plastic with a full day’s worth of sodium content. But she was all about trying new things.
That had kind of been the whole point of leaving Nebraska in the first place.
The morning went quickly, and at exactly noon, Jeni walked into the restaurant.
Logan waited just inside the door. He wore a pale blue dress shirt with fitted slacks, no tie. Two buttons were open at the neck, revealing a sliver of tanned skin underneath. His wavy blond hair was in perfect disarray, and his blue eyes pierced her like a knife.
A tremor ran through her, and she hated herself for it.
She did not like Logan Davis like that.
Yes, she’d agreed to start over with the guy. But that had really just been a show for Andrew. She didn’t intend to spend more time with Logan than she had to.
But shit if he wasn’t gorgeous.
A tiny, aggravating part of per brain suggested he might be useful in her quest to try new things, and she quickly cancelled the thought.
Nope.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hi.”
“Andrew’s not here yet. Should we get a table?”
“Sure.”
The restaurant was small, and Logan walked right past the hostess stand like he owned the place. One wall was lined with a long, wood-top counter with several black-shirted chefs just beyond, preparing food for the onlookers. Each barstool at the counter was full, and Logan went the other direction, where several leather booths lined the opposite wall. Muted conversation and the hiss of raw food hitting a hot grill filled the room.
The second they sat down, a man with a wide smile approached the table.
“Logan! Good to see you. You’ve got a date with you, I see.” The man spoke quickly and tossed a wink in Jeni’s direction.
Logan’s voice was even and smooth. “Sam, this is my friend, Jeni. We’ve got one more, so if a guy named Andrew comes in, send him back here.”