“I don’t know you.”
He’s right. He doesn’t know me. We don’t know much about each other. “Exactly. Why do you care who I talk to or share a drink with if you don’t even know me or care about me?”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Cali,” he says, taking a step closer. He invades my personal space.
His scent is intoxicating. His breath is hot and warm, and my body tingles from our proximity. I want to kiss him, but that didn’t go over well upstairs in his place. I don’t need another repeat performance of him kicking me out. Although, this time, would he kick me out entirely of his resort or just demand that I go to my room like a child?
“Then correct me,” I say, my gaze meeting his, never wavering.
His stare is intense.
It’s hot, and my breathing grows louder and thicker.
He leans forward, and I swear he’s going to kiss me. But he doesn’t. His breath mingles with mine. His eyes remain locked on me like I’m the center of his world and nothing else exists.
“I do care about you, more than I should.” His words are like honey, and my insides tingle all over. “But you are practically a child. Sleeping with my brother will only end up hurting you.”
“I don’t want to sleep with your brother!” Why can’t he get it into his thick skull that the only man I have eyes for is him, Logan Henderson?
He shakes his head. “I don’t believe you. I saw the two of you laughing and having a grand ole time before I stepped foot in the bar.”
“It’s a crime for me to have fun with another man when I’m not even dating anyone?” I quip.
Logan shuts his mouth.
I expect him to yell, scream, tell me that I’m like his ex, and that he’ll never trust me again. But instead, he turns and walks away, leaving me standing there even more dumbfounded and confused.
Did Wyatt sleep with Jess? He’d mentioned a friend, not his brother.
Logan storms off down the hallway, and I wait a minute before deciding whether it’s safe to return to the bar or if I should just call it a night and go upstairs.
While I'm still standing awkwardly outside the entrance, Wyatt stalks up to me, beer bottle in hand. “I guess you two didn’t make up,” Wyatt says, noticing that his brother left me standing there in the cold, alone.
“He thinks I want to sleep with you.”
“Do you?” Wyatt asks, his gaze latched on mine, waiting for an answer.
I’m not looking for a winter fling, or any fling, for that matter. I usually fall hard and fast. Maybe that’s what’s happening with Logan, at least for me.
I rub my forehead. “No, I like your grumpy brother.”
“He is grumpy,” Wyatt says, and quirks a grin.
“Did you sleep with Logan’s ex?” I ask, still not understanding the dynamics or drama. Logan has some unresolved issues with his brother regarding his ex-wife.
“No, but years ago, Logan caught his wife making a pass at me. She was drunk, we were all on vacation together, and I tried to smooth things over by pretending that I was the one interested and that she had no desire to be with me and only wanted him.”
“Seems her eye wandered, and it wasn’t only with you,” I say. That should have been a sign, a red flag.
“Exactly,” Wyatt says, pointing at me. “You get it. Logan, well, he never did. He blamed me back then for what happened with Jess, and when she brought another man into his bed, he’s been a major pain in the ass ever since.”
“Love does strange things to people,” I say.
“Are you speaking from experience?” Wyatt asks.
“I plead the fifth.”
* * *