Crazy for Her (4 page)

“Are you going to answer my question, Logan?”

He looked up from his pizza. They’d decided on the Wild Mushroom for lunch, and though the food was great, the music was so loud it hurt his ears. Also, the attitude of their waiter—along with the dreadlocks and rings in his eyebrow and nose—annoyed Logan to no end. The kid flirted with Dani as if Logan were invisible.
Her husband died for your right to look like an idiot.
He scowled at the waiter, satisfied when the boy scurried away.

“What question?” he asked, though he had heard her.

Dani sighed, then ignored him, tearing off a chunk of pizza crust and giving it to Regan to gnaw on. She was seriously annoyed, and he didn’t blame her.

“She won’t choke on that?”

Green eyes flashed with irritation. “No, the piece is too big. She’ll just gum it. Stop stalling. What happened? Why did you take off like that?”

There it was again, the question he wanted to go away. Pushing the remainder of his pizza aside, he glanced at the baby girl with Evan’s hazel eyes. “I thought I saw Evan.”

The blood drained from Dani’s face. Without giving it any thought, he slid around the table and pushed in next to her. “Dani, I didn’t see him. Listen to me. I didn’t see him. Whoever it was just looked a little like him.”

She angrily pushed him away. “Stop it. They told me he’d been killed.” Fat, heartbreaking tears rolled down her cheeks. “Do you think it was him?” she said, hope in her voice.

“No, I know it wasn’t.” Hurt that she didn’t want his comfort, Logan reluctantly moved back to his side of the table.

She busied herself with putting Regan into the carrier. Once the straps were securely over her shoulders, she stood. “I want to go home.”

After paying the bill, he escorted her and Regan to the car, all the while keeping an alert eye out for a man who resembled Evan. He glanced at Dani. Her day out had been ruined, and he didn’t know how to make it better.

As soon as they arrived home, she’d disappeared into her room with Regan and the diaper bag, only coming out once to grab two jars of baby food. They’d been in there for hours. Logan stood in the hall and glared at the closed door. Was she all right?
Stupid question, Kincaid
. How could she be after learning the man stalking her not only sounded like her dead husband but also looked like him?

Lifting his wrist, he pushed the button that lit his watch dial. Two in the damned morning. He paced the hallway. On the way downtown, they’d stopped so he could overnight the teddy bear to Buchanan to see if he could lift any fingerprints. It would be a day or two before the results came back. There must be something else he could do in the meantime.

He liked missions where he knew his target and had all the background intel on the bad guy. There was never any doubt who he was going after, what the dude’s habits were, or where he hung out. By the time he and his team finished studying him, they knew how many times he visited his mother and how many times he got laid, along with when, where, and for how long. With this creep, he was stumbling around in the dark, ineffective and useless.

It pissed him off.

With one last scowl at the door, he went to the kitchen and rummaged around in the refrigerator. He was hungry and tired of waiting for Dani to emerge from her room. She hadn’t eaten since their pizza at lunch. How was she supposed to keep her strength up if she didn’t eat? She was nursing, for God’s sake. Didn’t nursing mothers need nourishment?

Opening a plastic container that looked like leftover Chinese, he sniffed it. It smelled good so he set it on the counter. In the cabinet, he found a plate, cup, and coffee beans. The coffee started, Logan stared at the microwave until he found the express button.

“What are you heating up?”

One glance at Dani and his mouth went dry. She had on a soft, short robe the color of her eyes. Her hair was tousled, her feet bare. He did a double take. No, he hadn’t imagined it. Her toenails were painted sky blue.

“Wicked Blue.”

“What?” He had no idea what she was talking about, but he liked the sound of it.

She wiggled her toes. “The color. It’s called Wicked Blue.”

It was a good name. Who knew he would find blue toenails sexy? Unable to resist, his gaze traveled up long legs and over the curves her robe couldn’t hide. A cold shower would probably be a good idea. When he reached her face, what he saw immediately doused his desire.

“You’ve been crying.”

One shoulder lifted in a shrug as she walked past him, picked up the container, and put it back in the refrigerator.

“Hey, give that back. I’m hungry.”

“So am I,” she said. “But I’m in the mood for comfort food.”

“I was comfortable with that one.”

That earned him a small smile, and his mind went to work thinking of other amusing things to say to wipe the tears from her eyes and keep her lips in an upward curve. Unfortunately, he was not a witty man. Evan was always the one with the humorous quips.

“I’m going to make you something special.” She pulled a package of hotdogs out of the fridge.

“Seriously? Hotdogs are your comfort food?”

“Strange, but true. The coffee’s ready. Why don’t you make us a cup and then have a seat while I make you hotdogs like you’ve never had before.”

He saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”

She gave him a look, but he definitely saw her lips twitch. He made their coffee, left hers on the counter, and took his to the table. Reaching over to a radio tucked into a corner, she turned it on, tuning it to a jazz station. He liked jazz, but only late at night. Did she feel the same about the bluesy music? She didn’t seem to want to talk, so he sipped his coffee and sat back to watch her.

After filling a pot with water, she turned on one of the burners and dropped in a bag of rice. From the pantry, she took out a can of diced tomatoes, opened it, and poured the contents into another pot, then added ground pepper and some kind of spice.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Oregano.”

The hotdogs were sliced and then added to the tomatoes. The rice started to boil, and she turned the burner up on the hotdog concoction. Logan had his doubts about whatever she was cooking up, thinking he would have preferred the Chinese leftovers. If it made her happy to eat hotdog soup at two in the morning, though, he would gladly go along.

When she stood on her toes and reached for the bowls, her robe rose up her thighs. He barely managed not to groan. If the woman had a clue what she was doing to him, she would wisely lock herself back in her room. The best thing to do was to close his eyes to the too-enticing view and concentrate on the music.

Though he wasn’t sure, he thought he was listening to Miles Davis playing his trumpet. The sound was earthy and intimate, and he imagined making slow and easy love with Dani to the sounds coming out of the radio. How the picture formed in his mind was a mystery considering . . . well, considering.

His eyes popped open, and he shifted uncomfortably, glad he was wearing his sweats instead of tight jeans. She placed a bowl in front of him and sat across from him. Logan looked down at the contents, then up at her.

“This is the strangest use of hotdogs I’ve ever seen.” She’d poured the mixture over the rice, and it smelled surprisingly good.

“It’s my guilty pleasure,” she said, and dug into her meal.

He spooned some and took a tentative taste. Okay, that was good. Following her example, he dug in, scraping the bottom of the bowl. It was the perfect comfort food: simple, tasty, and filling. He caught her watching him and raised a brow.

“You were a doubting Thomas,” she said.

“You have me there. I couldn’t imagine hotdog soup could be so good.”

Her eyes shimmered in pleasure. “Hotdog soup? I like it. I’ve never been able to think of a name for it. Would you like some more?” Before he could answer, she rushed on. “No, let’s have the brownies and ice cream we never got around to last night.”

He glanced at the clock to see it was three in the morning. Sitting with her in the kitchen at a time when the world around them slept felt intimate. “I’ll make us another cup of coffee.”

Silently working together, they had the coffee and dessert ready and on the table at the same time. It almost seemed as if they’d done this many times before. Had she and Evan ever shared late-night kitchen forays?

“I mean it, Dani. I can’t keep eating like this,” he said, swallowing the last bite of brownies and ice cream.

She groaned and rubbed her stomach. “I wish I could run with you tomorrow, but I can’t leave Regan alone. Suppose you go first and then watch her while I run off some of these calories?”

Had she lost her mind? “No, I’m sorry, but you can’t. He’s out there and I’m not letting you take off on your own, out of my sight.”

The light faded from her eyes and she pressed her fingertips to them. “I forgot,” she whispered. “How could I forget?”

She walked out of the kitchen without a backward glance and disappeared back into her room. Logan wearily stood and washed the dishes, and dried and put them away. He turned off the lights and slipped out the back door, sitting on the steps of the deck. Listening for night sounds, he heard the chirps of crickets and the hoots of an owl and knew there was no one lurking in the dark.

Dani slipped a T-shirt over her head and pulled on a pair of shorts. Sliding her feet into a pair of Black Dog flip-flops, she took a deep breath and followed the aroma of coffee to the kitchen. After getting up at six to feed Regan and play with her until she was tired enough to go back to sleep, Dani had crawled back into bed and slept until ten. She was tired, cranky, and in dire need of caffeine.

“Coffee?” Logan asked when she stumbled into the room.

“Hot tea,” she grumbled, though she longed for the coffee. But she’d drunk too much the night before, or had it been that morning? As much as she loved nursing Regan, there were definite drawbacks. She aimed for the cabinet, but Logan stepped in front of her.

“Sit, I’ll make it for you.”

She frowned at him.

“Sit.”

There was an edge to his voice. It seemed they both weren’t in the best of moods. Was he angry because she had walked out of the room after they had finished their brownies? Was he that touchy? She shrugged and sat down.

Still in possession of a libido, even though it had lain dormant for almost two years, she gave him an appreciative once-over. A blue T-shirt stretched over broad shoulders and every time he moved, chest and arm muscles flexed. Tight jeans and black running shoes covered his bottom half. Did he have any idea what an awesome butt he had?

He turned with her cup of tea in his hand and caught her ogling his ass. Heat crept into her cheeks. His lips thinned and a muscle twitched in his jaw. Jeez, the man had muscles everywhere.

“Thank you,” she muttered when he set the cup in front of her.

With typical SEAL efficiency, ten minutes later a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast appeared in front of her. “Aren’t you eating?” she asked.

“I had my breakfast while it was still breakfast time.”

“What’s your problem, Logan?”

A cell phone rang from the vicinity of his marvelous butt. He pulled it out of his back pocket and looked at it. “I have to take this.” He walked to the back door. Just before it closed behind him, she heard him say, “Hey, Maria.”

Dani imagined a brown-skinned woman with lush curves and smoldering black eyes on the other end of the phone. Her long hair would shimmer blue-black in the sunlight. He’d greeted the caller with warmth in his voice, much different than the tone he had taken with her that morning. She pushed her half-eaten breakfast away.

As she washed the dishes, she watched Logan out the kitchen window. He sat on the deck railing with the phone to his ear, laughing at something the sensuous Maria said. Dani frowned. Of course, he had a life and the women he included in it were of no concern to her. Slapping the dish towel onto the counter, she turned away and left the kitchen.

CHAPTER FIVE

N
ot finding Dani in the house, Logan walked out to the front porch. Where the hell was she? He looked up the driveway and saw her coming toward him, the mail in her hand. “Damn it, Dani,” he muttered. If she thought it was safe to go to her mailbox, then he still hadn’t gotten through to her.

“Have you lost your mind?” he said, pleased with how calm he sounded.

She paused at the bottom of the steps and returned his glare. “Don’t yell at me.”

Okay, maybe not so calm. He paced to the end of the porch and took a deep breath, then turned and walked back. “I’m sorry, but you had me worried. I couldn’t find you anywhere in the house, and where are you? Outside. By yourself. What if he’d been waiting for you?”

Coming up the steps, she stopped in front of him and rested her hand on his arm, her touch calming him. How did she do that? Someday he would try to understand how he managed to stay ice cold under fire, but lost all sense of direction around her. Up was down and out was in. He needed a Dani GPS.

“I just went to get the mail. It wasn’t like I took off down the road. You were so involved in your conversation with Maria that I thought you wouldn’t even notice I was gone.”

Logan didn’t miss the drawn-out emphasis she put on Maria’s name and didn’t know what to make of it. “I noticed,” he said, and followed her into the house. “Next time, I’ll get the mail.”

“I was perfectly fine. Nothing’s going to happen in broad daylight with cars passing by.”

“You don’t know that. We don’t know who he is or what he’s capable of. So nothing unusual happened?”

“No, Logan, nothing unusual happened. A black truck slowed down, but that happens sometimes. I’m going to take a shower.”

She turned to leave, and he caught her by the arm. “What kind of black truck?” She looked at the fingers digging into her flesh. He loosened his hold. “Describe it. In detail.”

Her gaze lifted to his. “You’re scaring me.”

About fucking time. She had yet to take this as seriously as she needed to, and that was always the mistake of a cherry soldier. They just didn’t get it, until they did or died. If something happened to Dani, he would never get over it.

“The truck, describe it.”

She pulled her arm away. “It was just a black pickup with dark tinted windows. The kind of truck every third good ol’ mountain boy drives.”

Christ Jesus. The bad guy had been close enough to grab her. Up was down and out was in. If he had a damn Dani GPS, he thought stupidly, he might not have lost all sense of right and wrong. But he didn’t, so when he pulled her into his arms and soundly kissed her, he blamed her for his taking a wrong turn.

Logan was vaguely aware at first that her hands pushed against his chest, but when sanity began to creep back into his brain and he tried to pull away, she grabbed him around his neck and held tight. Her lips were soft, the inside of her mouth hot. He stopped thinking, closed his eyes, and lost himself in the kiss. He licked her teeth, he licked at the insides of her cheeks, and he sucked on her tongue. He did all that once and it was so good, he did it again. She tasted like heaven and he was in hell.

Remember Evan
. The two words were as effective as being doused with ice on an already cold day. He stumbled back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do that.”

Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Bastard,” she said, and walked away.

“You don’t understand,” he told the empty room. He did want to. Wanted very much to do it. Had since the day he first saw her in Sinner’s Bar. But she belonged to Evan.

What Logan wanted didn’t count.

Restless, he decided to go check on the camera he’d placed in the oak. Since Dani’s stalker had just driven by, it was a safe bet he wouldn’t be in the tree. Although Logan wished the man were there so this could end today and he could go home, safely putting seven hundred miles between him and temptation.

Dani slammed the bathroom drawer closed. Why had Logan kissed her if he didn’t want to? Adjusting the water temperature to warm, she stepped into the shower and lifted her face to the spray. She tried to recall the look in his eyes right before the kiss. He’d been angry, but also worried about her. Which emotion drove the kiss, the anger or his concern? Did it matter?

He was the most exasperating man. One minute he looked at her as if he might devour her and the next his expression turned guarded, his eyes distant. The kiss surprised her and so had her reaction. The last man whose lips had touched hers had been Evan, and that had been long enough ago to forget how good it felt to be held in a man’s arms and feel his mouth on hers.

She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, her question still unanswered. Why had Logan kissed her if he didn’t want to? Ever since he had arrived, needs long dormant were stirring. She had no interest in marrying again, at least for a long time. The life she’d created for her and Regan was near perfect, and she didn’t need anyone messing it up.

What she wanted was a torrid, mind-blowing affair with a hot, mouthwatering man. And she wanted that man to be Logan. A frustrated chuckle escaped. If he knew the direction her thoughts were taking, he would jump on his “it goes very fast” Harley and disappear before she could say Davidson.

In her bedroom, she grabbed a T-shirt and threw it on the bed. She stopped, looked at it, and smiled. Change of plans.

Once she was dressed, she went to the living room, pausing in the doorway. Logan sat on the couch, holding Regan. He brought a spoon to Regan’s mouth, and her daughter—obviously still in the throes of adoration if her intent focus on Logan meant anything—obediently opened her mouth.

“That’s my girl,” he purred.

Regan gave him a smile Dani had never seen before.
My God, the little stinker’s flirting with him
. Smothering a chuckle, she stepped into the room. Regan noticed her first.

“Mama!”

Logan glanced up, did a double take, and gave Dani a slow perusal, causing her body to ripple in awareness. Judging by the heat in his eyes, the little spaghetti-strap sundress made of fine white gauze was met with approval.

“Ah,” he said, drawing the word out.

He seemed lost as to where to go from there, so she took pity on him. “Thanks. I’ll take over now.” Holding out her arms, she said, “Come here, silly girl.” Regan’s face scrunched up and her little lips trembled.

The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement. “I think she wants me to finish feeding her.”

“Have at it, then.” Dani walked to the window, feeling the soft fabric swirl around her legs. She brushed her fingers over the skirt. The dress came to just below her knees, but had a slit to halfway up her thigh. Strappy red sandals, a thin red leather belt, and red dangling glass-bead earrings completed the look and were a daring contrast to the white gauze dress. The outfit said,
Look at me, I might be feeling naughty.
Would Logan get it?

She slid a finger under a blind and lifted it. It was a beautiful day, and she wanted to be out in it. There was a restlessness inside her, had been for a while, even before this stalker business started. The dress she wore had been purchased on impulse—on a day she’d needed cheering up—even though she’d doubted at the time she’d ever wear it. She glanced at Logan over her shoulder just in time to see him almost spoon Regan’s baby food into her ear.

Dani didn’t know whether to swoon or laugh. Logan—heat flaring in his eyes—was so focused on her that he had totally missed Regan’s mouth. Regan giggled when the spoon touched her earlobe. He jerked his eyes down and saw he was close to pouring pureed sweet potatoes down her ear.

Fascinated, Dani watched as red crept up his throat and onto his cheeks. She managed not to laugh. Oh, but it felt good to want to. He busied himself with feeding Regan, something Evan would never get to experience.

From the time she was born until the day two Navy men in dress uniform stood on her doorstep and asked to come in, her life had been blessed. Her parents were old money, lots of it. Not one of her friends’ parents could stand to be in the same room with each other, and she’d always felt special that hers deeply loved each other. It had been one reason her three best friends spent most of their time at her house. Her home was a happy one.

In addition to a mother and father who supported her in all ways, she had a trust fund left to her by her grandparents and a career she was good at and loved. Then Evan came along, completing the picture to perfection.

A hard lesson had been learned, though: beware of a life too good to be true. She’d never known loss or heartbreak, had never dreamed it could happen to her. Nothing had been right since the Navy chaplain took her hands in his and gently told her that her husband had been killed.

She wanted to feel again, wanted a man to want her, wanted to be touched, whispered to, and held tight in strong arms. Unfortunately, she wanted a man who didn’t want her. Well, maybe there was some kind of chemistry going on between them, but he didn’t seem happy about it.

Dani glanced down at her dress, saw that because of the way she stood, the slit was open, exposing her leg. Good God, she was dressed for trolling and was suddenly disgusted with her behavior.

If she was appalled, what must Logan be thinking? He was here as a friend to help her, not to provide stud service. But he was the one who’d kissed her and lit the match that started the fire.
Fine, it’s his fault I’m acting like a slut
. She glared at him, but he was too busy feeding Regan to notice.

Without a word, Dani walked out of the room—something she seemed to be doing a lot since he’d arrived. After changing into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she returned to find Logan on the floor playing with Regan. He glanced at her, but made no comment. She sat on the floor and for the next hour tried to forget her sorrows, her stalker, and the longings Logan stirred up.

Logan tickled Regan, amused by how giggly she became each time he touched her. “I’m gonna get your tummy.” He flicked his finger over her stomach. She was on her back, her feet and hands thrashing in the air, her shrieks of laughter piercing. If he tried to remove his hand, she grabbed his finger and put it back.

“More?” He tickled her again while keeping a covert eye on Dani. The dress she wore earlier should be declared illegal or at least come with a warning:
Beware, may cause loss of breath.
Her abrupt departure and change of clothing indicated something was going on in her mind, but damned if he knew what. He hadn’t missed the look she sent his way right before striding out of the room, one that said he was a shithead for some reason.

Now, she seemed to be attempting a happy front, but tension poured from her so thick he could cut it with his knife. Unfortunately, after Regan fell asleep he was going to ruin whatever peace she had left. Regan pulled his finger into her mouth and sucked.

“She’s getting sleepy,” Dani said, and popped a pacifier into Regan’s mouth.

Logan leaned back against the sofa and let out a sigh. “Thank God. Where does she get her energy?”

Heartfelt love filled Dani’s eyes as she gazed at her daughter. Had his mother ever looked at him like that? A no-brainer question. Never. The only person Lovey Dovey cared about was Lovey Dovey. One unwanted child had been an inconvenience. Then along came Maria and by the time she was three, Lovey Dovey, had decided two brats were intolerable.