Your Captivating Love (13 page)

His grip on the panhandle tightens. “Your dad?”

“Left when I was five.”

I don’t feel overwhelmed, the way I always do when I remember those hard years. Instead, I’m relieved. I tend to loosen my tongue when I’m around Logan. I trust him more than I’ve trusted another man, and that scares me.

“Now I understand,” Logan murmurs, pushing the pan away from the stove before turning his attention to me.

“What?”

“Why you don’t accept help easily.”

“I do—” I catch myself. “I really don’t, do I?”

“Nope.” He smiles brightly, his delicious dimples making an appearance. “You don’t trust people will stick around, or follow through on their promises. But don’t worry, I’m more stubborn than you are.”

I appreciate his light, playful tone and that he isn’t prodding me with more questions.

“Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

“Sure. Can you give me some plates? They’re in the cabinet behind you.”

I take out the plates and, when I turn around to Logan, I catch him in a compromising position.

“You’re checking out my ass, aren’t you?” I ask him.

“Guilty.” Grinning, he adds, “In my defense, you have a fine, fine ass.”

After dinner, we start kissing in the living room, never making it to the bedroom.

This man will turn my world upside down.

Will I survive it?

––––––––

W
aking up in Logan’s bed instantly brightens my morning. We only eat a quick breakfast then head to the store.

“How long can you stay today?” I ask on the way there. “Until you leave for your parents’ house?”

“Oh, I don’t have to go anymore.” Logan peers at me cheerfully.

“What? No, Logan.” I come to a halt, elbowing him. “Sunday is your family day. I don’t want you to miss it.”

“I’m not going to miss it. Now, move your delicious ass or we’ll be late, and last I checked, you had a million things on your to-do list.”

“Don’t mock my to-do list. It’s the only thing keeping me afloat. And coffee. Let’s not forget coffee.”

“I don’t even get an honorary mention?”

“I’ll consider putting you after coffee.”

Logan’s mouth forms an O. “You’ve wounded my pride.”

“You’re distracting me from your family thing. What did you do? Why don’t you have to go?”

“Hurry up, you’ll see.”

Closer to the store, he adds, “Remember what I said about not overthinking our relationship?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Hold on to that, because I’m about to introduce you to my parents.”

“You—huh?”

I sneak glances at Logan as we walk, but he doesn’t show signs of wanting to continue the conversation. I focus on the birds chirping all around us instead, wondering how they can be so energetic and cheerful in the morning. I’ve always envied them.

When we arrive at the store, I see exactly what Logan meant. His entire family plus Ava is camping in front of my shop, carrying toolboxes and wearing rags.

Ava and Pippa wave at me.

“We arrived a few minutes too early, but the shop across the road has excellent coffee,” Ava says.

“The cupcakes are also yummy,” Pippa adds.

My cheeks turn red. Now I understand why Logan was in a hurry.

“Let’s get introductions out of the way, shall we?” Logan says. “Nadine, this is my mom, Jenna, and my dad, Richard.” I shake hands with his parents.

Logan looks exactly like his father; they have the same tall, muscular build and dark eyes. His mother is small and there’s something very feminine about her, even though she’s wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Alice is her spitting image. “You already know Pippa and Alice.” Both of them smile at me. “This is Summer.”

Summer is a beauty. To her sides are two of the brothers I haven’t met.

“And these are—” Logan begins.

“Blake and Daniel,” I finish for him. He frowns as everyone walks into the store, except for the twins and us.

Blake cracks a smile. “Ah, we don’t even need an introduction.”

“Our reputation precedes us,” Daniel says.

“You’ve met?” Logan asks doubtfully.

“Ava showed me a family picture,” I say.

“And out of the gazillion Bennetts in it, she remembers us,” Blake says. “You have fantastic taste.”

“I beg to differ,” Daniel says. “She would’ve had great taste if she went out with one of us. Instead, she chose Logan.”

The twins grin and, even though their appearance is nothing alike, their grins are similar. Daniel winks at me, and I decide to play this for all it’s worth.

“There are some delicious male genes in this family,” I affirm, and Logan growls.

Seemingly satisfied with having gotten their brother riled up, the twins enter the store.

“Delicious genes, huh?” Logan asks, encircling my waist.

“Easy, caveman. You’re so territorial. They’re your brothers; we were messing with you.” After a pause, I add, “What is everyone doing here?”

“Well,” Logan starts, “remember how I told you I have a family thing today?”

“Yeah.”

“And you needed major renovation help, so I decided to ask them if they’d like to join us here. That way, you have a renovation team, and I spend the day with you
and
them. Everybody wins.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I look inside the store as the family mills around. “I’m not sure how much of a win it is for them. I mean, I’m sure they had way better plans for their Sunday.”

“Nadine, relax.” He takes my hands in his. “My family loves to help. I’ve told them about you and—”

“When did you tell them about me?” I ask suspiciously.

“While you were in the tub last night. Also, I told them about the rotten floor. We’re going to fix it.”

“Thank you for doing this,” I tell him. Mentally, I calculate how much time this one day will save me.

As if reading my mind, Logan says, “That'll cut your work time.”

“Yes. Maybe I can even open before Christmas. Ohhh, I can’t wait to decorate my store.”

“You have a miles-long to-do list, and the first thing on your mind is Christmas decorations?”

“Hey, a girl needs to have her priorities straight.”

“Indeed.”

“How can I thank you for doing this?”

“Mmm, I can think of a few ways. I’ll whisper them to you tonight when we’re alone. Now, let’s work.”

Once inside, Logan says, “Listen up everyone. Nadine will tell you everything that needs to be done, and then we’ll divide the work among us.”

I tell them everything as quickly as possible. While I list the tasks, the Bennetts exchange glances, pointing at each other, already dividing everything among themselves. I have a feeling they’ve done this before. While I’m certain the older siblings had to shoulder a lot of the physical work at the ranch, that need wasn’t there anymore when the twins and Summer grew up. Yet they all look ready to work. I can’t believe my luck to have them on my side. After taking a punch at every turn, this seems almost too good to be real.

“You don’t worry, Nadine,” Mr. Bennett tells me. Putting a hand over my shoulder, he adds, “We’ll take care of this together. Everything will work out.”

I blink, staring at my hands, my eyes stinging all of a sudden.
What must it be like to grow up with a dad—a family—you can count on?

“It’s a good thing we each brought a toolbox,” Sebastian says, pointing at the twins and his dad. “That way, there’ll be no waiting time.”

“You each have a toolbox?” I ask, my eyebrows raised.

“Men and their toys,” Pippa says. “Don’t try to understand.”

“I brought no toolbox, just my humor,” Summer chimes in. “I can’t hit a nail to save my life, but I can crack jokes.”

“You’re not wiggling your way out of this, little sister,” Pippa admonishes her. “You’re here to work, not entertain.”

“I’m happy to do work if you find something that won’t put me at risk of cutting my fingers,” Summer retorts.

Within seconds, Pippa finds Summer a job cleaning the back room. “No danger of harming yourself here, Summer.”

I was expecting Summer to protest, but she happily nods. “This place will be kick-ass,” she remarks.

“Thank you. I have great plans for it.”

“Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help,” Alice offers. “I opened a restaurant, and Summer regularly has events at galleries. We have some experience.”

“That’s very kind of you to offer.”

“Girls have to stick together.” Alice winks at me.

Pippa looks at her with disbelief. “Since when is that your creed? You always wanted to be one of the boys when we were young.”

“I grew up,” Alice says, throwing her hands in the air, though I have a slight suspicion there is more to it than she says. By the way Pippa looks at her, she thinks so too. Not wanting to see Alice cornered, I step in.

“You had in-family gangs?” I ask.

All three girls roll their eyes. “When you have so many siblings, there’s no other way. We had cliques,” Pippa says.

“Pippa stuck with Sebastian and Logan,” Alice says. “The twins each had their group. I was gravitating between everyone.”

“And absolutely everyone loved me,” Summer chirps. “Being the little sister has its perks.”

“Oy,” Sebastian calls from the front. “How about we don’t make a working clique and a non-working clique? No one’s allowed to slack. Come on.”

With a smile, Summer heads to the back room. Pippa, Alice, and I start working on the walls while the twins and Logan take care of the rotten floor.

***

“I
haven’t worked this hard in years,” Daniel complains as we work on the floor.

“Great. You should be reminded what hard work feels like now and again,” I reply dryly. Blake and Daniel have lived the high life ever since our family started making money. When we set up the company, Sebastian and I decided to give every family member shares, so Blake and Daniel receive a good income without being involved in Bennett Enterprises. That’s not to say they don’t work... occasionally.

They do small projects of their own from time to time. Fun projects. One’s more likely to find them partying on a yacht rather than working. The Bennett work ethic seems to have skipped these two. Sebastian says they’ll get their shit together
eventually
. I say if we’d cut their monthly allowance,
eventually
would become
right now
. Yeah, I’m all for tough love. I should cut them some slack, though; they didn’t hesitate to show up here today, and they’ll always have my back. Family comes first for them too, just as it comes for me.

“Don’t be a dick,” Blake says.

“I’m not.”

“I meant Daniel,” Blake continues, winking at his twin before addressing him directly. “Nadine must be very special to him if he made us all bust our asses on a Sunday.”

“She is,” I reply.

Daniel shakes his head, moving on to patching up a portion of the floor a few feet away from Blake and me.

Nadine’s with my sister on the opposite side of the room. I smile, seeing how well she blends with my family. I knew they would embrace her, but I wasn’t sure how she’d react. I remember Sylvia scrunching her nose every time I mentioned my family, coming up with excuses to slip out of family gatherings. Thankfully, Nadine is nothing like her. In fact, she’s unlike any woman I’ve dated. When I passed her and Summer earlier, my sister was telling Nadine how stressful the next gallery show would be. Instead of politely giving her sympathy, Nadine offered to help her in any way she could, even though she has a lot on her plate.

During our second date, she didn’t hesitate to try to cheer up Pippa with a girls’ night. Nadine always puts everyone else first. That’s why that bastard ex of hers took advantage of her, but she didn’t become bitter or hateful, which makes me admire her even more. Finding out about her childhood made many things click. This woman is a fighter, but even fighters need to rest. It’s time someone took care of her, and I’m up to the challenge.

Right now, watching her from across the room, I know my relationship with her will not be like the ones I’ve had since Sylvia. I don’t want superficial, and I’m not so sure about putting an expiration date on it. That last part scares the crap out of me.

Blake’s staring at me.

“What?” I ask aggressively.

“I know that look,” Blake says. “I patented it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That look says, ‘I feel too close to this woman. It’s time to panic and do something stupid.’”

“That might be your way, but not mine.”

“Maybe. But you’ve still got that look,” Blake continues with a proud smirk. “If you screw things up with Nadine, I’d be happy to take your place.”

“Did you just make a pass at my woman?” A vein pulses in my neck as I grip the cloth in my hand tighter. “’Cause brother or not, I’ll rearrange your face.”

Blake breaks into laughter. “Relax, man. I wanted to prove a point.”

“If I were you, I’d make that point quicker, or I’ll punch you. So you realize I’m serious.”

“You always were all ‘shoot first, ask questions later.’”

“Point, Blake.”

“The point is if you find a woman, and you can’t stand the thought of losing her, keep her.”

I loosen my grip on the cloth. “If you’re an expert, why aren’t you fighting for a woman?”

He shrugs. “’Cause I haven’t found that woman yet.”

I swallow a sardonic remark. Maybe I can learn something from my little brother, just this once.

***

A
fter Summer finishes cleaning the back room, Ava and I take over.

“This place will be beautiful once it’s finished,” Ava says.

“I can’t believe this is finally happening.”

“I’m so proud of you for sticking with your dream, even with all that happened.”

Her words tug at my heartstrings. “I can’t believe I have a roomful of people helping me.”

“The Bennetts are lovely.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this for me.”

“Well, technically they’re doing it for Logan. But they all heard plenty about you, trust me. How
are
things with Logan, anyway?”