The Real Thing (5 page)

She set her mug on the coffee table and
dug
in her bag for her
eReader
, eager to get back to the romance novel she’d been readin
g
. She
was
so immersed
in the drama between the hero and heroine
she didn’t realize it was mid-afternoon until her stomach
growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten
anything but that small bowl of oatmeal.

Setting her
eReader
on the table, she
unfolded her
self
from the couch
and stretched her arms over her head.
Of its own accord, her gaze strayed to the door of Logan’s studio. Except for the time he’d come out to put more
wood on the fire, he’d been in
there all day.

She picked up
her empty mug
and
walked into the kitchen. Filling a small pot with water, she set it on the stove to heat, then opened a packet of cocoa and dumped the
powder
into her mug. While she waited for the water to boil, her gaze went to the door of Logan’s studio again
.
On impulse, she took a clean mug from the cabinet and emptied a second packet of cocoa into it.
Hoping
there
was something to eat in the
cabin other than beef stew
and tuna fish
, she opened the
cabinet closest to her
and was
relieved to see
a box of cookies. Quickly stirring
hot water into the mugs
, she
tuck
ed
the
box of cookies under an arm and he
ad
ed for Logan’s studio.

She
knocked, then
walke
d in without waiting for an answer. Logan
was
hunched
over a table, a
paint
brush in his hand, and he looked up
with a frown.

Raine gave him a small smile. “I got hungry
and I thought you might be, too.
”

She
set
his mug
down on the table and took the bo
x of cookies out from under her
arm.
It was as close to a thank you as he was going to get for coming out to get her.

Logan hesitated, then picked up
the mug and took a sip.
“Thanks
.
”

She opened
the box of cookies
and
took
out
two
, then handed one to him. She nibbled on hers as she studied the watercolor painting he was working on.
It was a snow scene with a wintry sky and a stream that was partially frozen.
In the foreground,
there was a
rabbit
, his ears perked as if listening
.

“
This is really good,
” she said.

His eyes narrow
ed. “You sound surprised.
”

“
I am.
”
She gave him a sheepish look.
“When you told me
you were an artist, I had
a hard time picturin
g it, but you’re very talented.”

Raine looked around the room.
There was
an
easel by the window, and another off to the side, as well as several blank canvases leaning up against the wall.

“
D
o you only paint in waterc
olor?”

“Oils mostly
.
I just s
tarted using watercolor
.”

You’d never know it. The painting he was working on was beautiful. “But you only
paint landscapes, right?”

“And wildlife.”

“Do you show in a gallery?”

“Up in Seattle.”

She nodded.
Maybe she’d stop by next time she wa
s in the area and check out the
rest of his stuff.
It wasn’t the type of artwork she hung on the wall, but her parents would love one of his paintings. She hadn’t sent a peace offering in a while, and since they weren’t going to get those grandchildren they wanted from her marriage to Cameron, an expensive original by a talented artist would have to do.

“
I saw
a package
of noodles in the cabinet,” she said. “I thought I
’d
throw
them
together
with that can of tuna and make
a casserole for dinner, if that’s all right.”

Logan looked surprised
. What, did he think she couldn’t cook because she made movies for a living? Admittedly, she didn’t do it often, but she knew her way around the
kitchen when she had to. Besides, if she didn’t take the initiative and make something for dinner, they’d end up having beef stew again.

“That sounds good,” he said.

“I’ll let you get back to work
.
”

Giving him a smile, she grabbed two cookies from the package
,
then turned and left the room.

Damn. Had he and the Diva
actually
had
a civilized conve
rsation? Maybe he and Raine
could s
urvive being cooped up together
after all.
As long as he spent most of his
time in his studio and she didn’t,
they’d get along just fine.

Logan
set
down
the
mug
of cocoa and
picked up his
paint
brush
, then
dipped it in the jar of water on the table.
Wiping off the excess water so the brush wouldn’t be too wet, he loaded the soft bristles with color
, but inste
ad
of
focusing on painting, his
gaze went
to the door.

Raine had left it ajar, and through the opening he
could see her curled up on the couch, reading. She hadn’t pulled the blanket around her, and from where he was standing,
he
had a perfect
view of her long, shapely legs
left bare by the skimpy shorts
.
He could just make out the slight curve of her ass
, too
.
The sight
of all that satin
skin
was almost hypnotizing
.
He swore under his breath as he felt his groin tighten
.

For a self-centered brat who irritated the hel
l out of him, she was damn hot. And her ass was just about as perfect as you could get. Something he’d noticed while he’d
been spanking her
.
He’d just been too pissed off to appreciate it.
That was one derriere he wouldn’t mind spanking for fun—which, up until last night, was the only reason he’d ever spanked a woman. Raine didn’t see
m
like the type who’
d go for it, though. Too
bad.

Ignoring his now rock-hard cock, he put some more paint on his brush and turned his attention back to the painting he was working on. While it didn’t completely keep him from thinking about Raine and her gorgeous ass, it managed to distract him. At least until she came back into his studio a few hours later. One look at thos
e long legs
and his erection was back.

“Dinner’s ready whenever you are,” she said.

He dragged his gaze away from her nearly naked body. “I’ll be right out.”

She n
od
ded and left. When he went into the main part
of the cabin, she was just taking the casserole from the oven. He would have helped by setting the table but by
the time he finished washing up, she had everything out.

The casserole not only smelled amazing, but looked incredible, and
Logan’s
stomach growled as she scooped some onto his plate. He picked up h
i
s fork and
immediately
dug in.

“Wow,” he said. “This is excellent.”

She gave him an amused look. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

“I can’t help it.” He loaded his fork again. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me as the domestic type.”

“I’m
not really. But thanks to my mom, I love to cook.” She shrugged. “I have a personal chef now, so I don’t get to do it as much I’d like.
Florian doesn’t like me messing with his kitchen.
”

Logan frowned. “But he does the cooking at your house, right?”

She nodded. “He’s very proprietary about the kitchen, though.
I only go in there on his days off.
His food is amazing,
and it’s sort of expected
I have a chef, so I put up with him
.”

That didn’t make a lick of sense to Logan, but if she was okay with the guy
taking
over her kitchen,
whatever. “
I take
it
he doesn’t like your mom cooking in there either
when she comes to visit
, huh?”

A momentary look of sadness streaked across her face. “My
parents
don’
t live in
LA
.
”

“
Oh. Where
do they live?”

“
Michigan
.”

He thought he
’d
picked up a little Midwest in her voice when she’d gotten mad at him last night. “
A
Michigan
girl? That must be where
you
picked up your intimate
knowledge of what
kind of clothes
to wear in a blizzard
then.
”

Considering that had been one of the things that had started last night’s fight, he probably shouldn’t tease her about it. But instead of getting offended, she gave him a
n
embarrassed
look.

“To tell the truth, I’ve been in LA so long, I didn’
t think about what the weather
would be like up here.”

He could have ri
bbed her good about how
isolated and fabricated LA was,
but decided against it.
H
e turned to what he thought would be a safer topic.

“
D
o your parent
s
come out to LA very often?”

Something that looked like pain flashed in her eyes, but she lowered her gaze to focus on her plate. She pushed her tuna c
a
sserole
around with her fork.
“They don’
t
come out to LA.”

From the way she said the words, he got the feeling
she didn’t want to talk about it
. He
should have let it go, but
for
some reason he couldn’t understand, he didn’t like seeing her upset.
The
spoiled actress he’d seen
last
night had been replaced with a
vulnerable woman he suddenly wanted to protect.

“You don’t get along with your family
,
then?”

She pushed her food around some more, her brow knitting. “
It’s complicated.”

“I’m a good listener. Or so my sister tells me.” He grinned. “
Then again, that could
have something to do with the fact that she talks so much I can’t get a word in.”

Raine laughed
.

“My offer to listen still stands. If you want to talk about whatever it is.”

She
played with her
food some more, then took a bite
. “My mom and dad didn’
t
approve of me moving to Hollywood to become an actress.
They saved every penny they made to send me to college, but I didn’t want to go. And when I told them? Well, let’s just say we had a huge fight that ended with me taking out all the money I had in the bank, packing all my stuff in my old Camry and driving to LA
the day after my high
school graduation.
”

“That was ballsy.”

“And when I look back on it now, pretty damn stupid.” She ate another forkful of food. “A lot of bad things could have happened to me
, but I was eighteen and I wasn’
t
going to let anyone or anything stop me from getting what I wanted.”