Logan mentally reset himself and sat in the chair beside the couch, ignoring the raised eyebrow she shot his way. He needed to keep his distance if he was going to get this out.
The game was on a commercial break, and he had her attention. It was now or never.
“Jeni,” he began, but the words got stuck in his throat. How was he supposed to say this?
She waited a moment, and when he couldn’t seem to keep going, she said, “You said you had something for me?”
“Oh, yeah.” Thankful for the opportunity to delay the conversation he’d planned, he jumped up and retrieved the bag from his bedroom. He handed it to her and sat back down.
She pulled out the Chiefs T-shirt and tiny helmet then shoved them both back into the bag, dropping it at her feet. “I hate you,” she said, lips fighting a smile.
Logan jerked his head back theatrically. “Is that how you thank someone for a gift?”
“A gift like that? Yes.”
“I just thought you might want to cross over. See what it’s like to root for a winning team.”
“We’ll see you in the playoffs.” She glared at him, and his grin widened. It was sexy as hell when her eyes flashed like that.
Damn, she was incredible. A tiny voice in the back of his mind asked what on earth she could possibly see in him, but he forced it down. “I look forward to it.”
She huffed out a breath and leaned back. At least she hadn’t stormed out the door.
The game came back on, and they watched in silence for a while, except for the occasional comment about a play or referee call. He peeled at the label of his beer bottle, and when the next commercial began, he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“I…I have something to say,” Logan announced. What the hell was wrong with him? Was that a necessary preamble?
Jeni’s brow furrowed, but she simply waited for him to keep going.
“I want to date you, Jeni,” he blurted, just as surprised by saying the words out loud as she appeared to be hearing them.
Her frown deepened. “What did you just say?”
“I want to date you.”
“Were you listening the other night? I said I don’t want a relationship.”
He nodded. “I heard you. But I’ve done a lot of thinking since then. About what you said that night and the night we ate at Mateo’s when we talked about my, um…sexual past in particular. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed, but I did start to reflect on it. And I think you made a good point when you said real connection comes from a place deeper than the physical.”
She bit the corner of her lip, and his eyes dropped there, desire filling him.
Ignore it. Keep going.
He took in a shaky breath and stood up, needing to move. “I don’t seek out physical-only relationships, but it seems to be where I usually end up. Maybe I haven’t had a long-term relationship because I have unrealistic expectations about sex too, just in a different way. Every time I’ve gone there with a woman, things end pretty quickly because one of us feels like something’s missing. I suddenly realized that maybe it’s because of me and what I was hoping sex would bring to the relationship. I thought I was connecting with those women, but the only place I got to know them was in the bedroom.” He put his hands in his front pockets. “So, I want to try something different. I want a relationship that starts without sex as the primary element.”
Jeni looked stunned. She pointed to her chest. “And you want that with me?”
“Yes. When I was with you, it was different. Nothing was missing. It was damn near perfect. I don’t want to mess that up like I have with everyone else.”
She stared at him for a second, and then her countenance completely changed. She threw her hands in the air. “What’s wrong with you?”
A lot of things, probably. “Nothing.”
“I told you I wanted a fling. A no-strings attached, just sex, no-relationship-expectations-type thing.”
“And I want the complete opposite.”
“That’s ridiculous. A real relationship would never work with us.”