Your Captivating Love (8 page)

“Why?” I ask, sincerely confused.

“Because you deserve it. You’re fun, honest, and hardworking. I love that. It’s refreshing. You’ve had enough bad luck, Nadine. Time for that to change.”

I gulp, moving away from his lap. “Okay.”

While I sit on the couch, I take in his ruffled hair, his wrinkled shirt. His breathing is as labored as mine. My control snaps just by
looking
at him.

“How about next Friday for that second date?”

I nod. “Eight o’clock?”

“I’ll pick you up.”

I watch Logan leave while sitting on the couch, and once I’m alone I grab the laptop. The folder with my portfolio stares at me as a reminder that I must focus on my career, on making the store a success. A man like Logan will never accept being second to anything. It’s not in his nature. If I’ve learned something from his kisses, it’s that no matter if he goes fast or slow, he demands everything.

T
he first thing I do at work the next morning is go to the Creative department to find Pippa. Stepping out of the elevator, I find the team bustling with life and energy. Pippa is at the other end of the room at her desk, holding a crayon in her hand, moving it furiously across a notebook. A look of intense concentration stretches across her features. Ah, I’d recognize that expression anywhere—my sister is in a creative mood. Pippa, like Summer, always had an imaginative spark. Sebastian and I worked with various designers when we first started out, and only when one of them dropped out did our sister step in, showing us some sketches. She was more talented than all the other designers we had.

We have advanced digital programs for designing our collections, but Pippa still sketches everything by hand first. From the numerous incidents in our childhood when I interrupted her from her drawing, I know that now isn’t the best time to butt in, but I’ll take my chances anyway.

“Hello, sister.”

Pippa startles, her shoulders quivering slightly. Furrowing her brow, she shoots me a look I recognize:
You’d better have a good reason for interrupting me
.

“Logan, this is a surprise.” Pippa pushes her sketch away.

“I can’t visit my sister at her workplace?”

She rolls her eyes. “Like I don’t come up to your office enough. You need something, don’t you?”

“I do.” Pulling a chair from a nearby desk, I sit down. “I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to be quiet until I finish.”

My sister’s expression changes from attentive to delighted. “You’re not here to talk about the budget for the next show, are you?”

“No, even though you, Ava, Sebastian, and I do have to talk it through sometime this week.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Pippa waves her hand dismissively. She’s never cared much about numbers. “What do you want to tell me?”

She’ll drive me bananas after I tell her, but there’s no way around it. “I went on a date with Nadine.” Pippa opens her mouth, but I raise my finger. “No, no, no. I talk, and you’re silent. That was the deal.”

She narrows her eyes. “I thought you meant something work-related when I agreed. No way am I keeping quiet.”

I groan, fully aware I’ve opened Pandora’s Box.

“Why were you pretending to be mad at us for trying to set you up?”

“I wasn’t pretending. I
was
annoyed that all of you meddled in my affairs, as though I couldn’t get a woman myself.”

“Oh, please, Logan. That’s what we
do
. We meddle in each other’s business, especially when we think the other person needs help. You should know; you do it all the time.”

“Are you going to lecture me, or do you want to hear me out?”

After a moment’s deliberation, she purses her lips. “Continue.”

“We ended up at her place after the date, and she showed me some of her designs. Have you seen them?”

“No.”

“They’re brilliant. Could we use them for our next collection show?”

Pippa was reaching for her glass of water, but her hand stops in midair as she snaps her head to me. “They’re that good?”

“Tell her to show them to you. You have the decision power over this, but I think her designs would be a great match.”

Over the years, Pippa chose to work with well-known fashion designers and new up-and-comers alike. “We’re already working with a designer for the upcoming show. I can’t drop him, but I’ll look over her designs, and if they’re that good, we can always use them in the future.”

“Sounds good.”

“Wish I could be bitchy enough to drop the current designer. He’s driving me crazy. He practically became a star after we worked with him five years ago, and now he’s acting like a diva. Rich people are asses sometimes.”

“Pippa,
we
are rich,” I remind her.

“Yeah.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, she says, “Last week, I woke up in the middle of the night convinced our parents are next door, trying to figure out how to make ends meet this month.”

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. Sebastian, Pippa, Alice, and I were old enough to remember the worst of times. I used to have the same nightmare, but that was more than ten years ago.
Why’s she having them now? Ah...
I remember Alice telling me about a therapy session she accompanied Pippa to after the divorce. Apparently, once you feel uncertain in one area, old insecurities and fears start showing too.

Well, there’s no reason my sister has to put up with this. Deciding to distract her—even if only momentarily, I offer myself as bait.

“So, back to Nadine. As I said, she showed me her designs last night. . .”

My words have the exact effect I was hoping for. Pippa’s frown melts, a grin appearing instead. “Wait a minute. What do you mean she showed them to you? Did she. . . model them for you?”

“No. She showed me pictures.”

“Okay, I’m building a little scenario in my head. Did you have sex?”

“Pippa, I’m not discussing my sex life with you.”

“Fine, talk to Sebastian about it. Or Blake. I’ll get it out of them.”

Why did I think that using my date with Nadine as a distraction was a good idea?
I. Never. Learn.
No one’s going to save my bacon now.

“Admit it. I was right.” Pippa stands up from her chair, swinging her hips in a little dance. I look around, but the rest of the department is not even remotely surprised. I suppose they’ve grown used to my sister’s personal brand of crazy.

“What about?” I ask, though I have an inkling of where this is going.

“About Nadine and you. I knew you’d be perfect for each other since before I officially met her.”

“You want to hear me say it, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Fine, you were right. We’re taking things slow, so please don’t build any scenarios in your head that take this too far.”

“You mean already playing with the idea of the color theme of your wedding is taking things too far?” Pippa asks innocently.

I groan, putting my elbows on her desk. No matter what I say, my sister will go on with her scenarios. I promised Nadine that we’d take things slow, without any pressure, and I intend to keep that promise, even though I felt like going one hundred miles per hour yesterday. Just remembering her sweet, soft lips and her delicious moans as I kissed her is undoing me. I will be patient, though. Nadine is stronger than all the women I’ve dated in the past, but I want her to trust me completely before I take things further.

“You’ve sidetracked me,” I say.

“Sorry. So, Nadine’s designs are great.”

“Yeah. You’re the creative genius of the company; you have to decide if they’ll work for us. Can you ask her to show them to you? Don’t tell her I said anything.”

“And why is that?”

“Because she doesn’t like favors, and I don’t want her to think I’m
overbearing
.”

“You're sweet right now. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know as soon as you’re overbearing.”

Pippa scrunches her nose at the last word. She was the one who announced it was the signature word to describe me.

“I can always count on that.”

“Can I ask you something?” Pippa inquires.

“Saying no never stopped you, so go ahead.”

She smiles as if I gave her a compliment of the highest order. “Why are you so interested in her success?”

“Because she has passion and determination, and she can’t catch a break. If there’s anything I can do to change that, I will.” Also, if her business fails, Nadine wants to move back to North Carolina. No way will I allow that. Damn it, she’s growing on me more than I like to admit, and that is
very bad news
.

“Okay, I’m on it,” Pippa says. “I’ll figure out how to ask her, and I’ll make sure not to mention that you put in a good word for her.”

“Thanks. She’s proud and wants to succeed on her own. We have someone like that in our family, so I’m walking on eggshells.”

Pippa nods in agreement. “We’ll pull an Alice again, don’t worry.”

We both grin. When Alice opened her restaurant, she announced she didn’t want to use the Bennett name for any favors. We were already famous by then and had enough money to push her restaurant to stardom, but she made us promise not to get involved. So we promised then immediately broke our word, of course.

Pippa, Sebastian, and I pulled all the strings we could to convince influential reviewers to check out her restaurant. Now here’s the thing: said reviewers gave her completely objective opinions. The food was great, so really, she did it all on her own. Still, Alice doesn’t need to learn what we did.

“Well, I’ll leave you,” I say. “What are your plans for the weekend? Do you want to do something together?”

“I’ll probably watch reruns of my favorite shows Saturday and Sunday, but Friday night...” She inhales deeply. “I have a date.”

I’m so stunned I can’t even speak for a second. “With a man?”

Pippa stares at me as if I’m the world’s biggest moron. “No, Logan, with a chimp. Of course with a man.” She points her index finger menacingly at me. “Don’t say anything.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

She raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, I was going to say you’re not ready.” A number of other remarks are on the tip of my tongue, but they wouldn’t earn me any points with Pippa, so I say, “Be careful, and call me if you need anything. Seriously. Anything.”

***

M
inutes later, I storm directly into Sebastian’s office, even though I have a million things to do. Family comes first, so I’m on Bennett duty today.

“Did you know Pippa’s going on a date?” I ask him without further ado.

Sebastian doesn’t look up from his computer screen. “No, but good for her. It’s about time.”

“What do you mean ‘good for her’? Who is this guy?” I slump in the chair in front of his desk, propping up both feet on his desk. “Do we know anything about him?”

“Well, Logan, since Pippa’s the one who’ll date him, I don’t think we’re the ones who’re supposed to know him.”

Sebastian raises his eyebrows at my feet, but I don’t move them one inch.

“I don’t want anyone to hurt her again,” I say.

“Neither do I, but she’s a grown woman. You can’t scare off all her dates like you did in high school.”

“I didn’t scare off
all
of them, just those who were asses. We can ask around, there’s no harm in that.”

“Except Pippa will cut off our balls if she finds out. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite fond of my balls.”

“So, what, we do nothing?”

“Exactly.”

“Bloody brilliant,” I say.

“You’re using British slang now?”

“Seemed like the most appropriate word.”

“Logan!” His warning tone annoys me.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll stay put.”

“To change the topic, what’s this I hear about you dating Nadine?”

I stare at him. “I told Pippa about it before I walked into your office. When did she have time to tell you?”

“Ava told me. She was very smug about it too.”

I snort. “I should’ve seen it coming.” Not wanting to talk about this with Sebastian, I switch topics. “Why don’t we schedule a budget meeting for this afternoon?”

Sebastian nods. “Excellent. I thought I was the only one working around here today.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

“I’m not. If I were, I’d grill you more on Nadine.”

“There’s no way I’m sharing any details.”

“You’re in this deep, aren’t you? I’ll enjoy watching you fall, brother.”

––––––––

I
wake up panting, my chest heaving up and down as I struggle for breath. Fanning myself, I push a strand of hair away from my sweaty forehead. I had a hot dream. Logan Bennett was starring in it and
holy hell
. This felt so real. It still does. The skin on my entire body simmers, and I ache between my thighs. I blame the hot kiss Logan gave me last night for all of this.

Damn. This felt
too
real.

Grudgingly, I leave my bed and prepare myself for the day. As I decide to skip breakfast, the doorbell rings. I open the door, half expecting to find my landlord in front of it, telling me he’s raising my rent. Instead, there’s a delivery boy.

“I have a delivery for you, miss.” He hands me a paper takeout bag without waiting for my answer.

“I didn’t order anything.”

He shrugs. “I’m just delivering. It’s already been paid for, so you might as well take it.”

“Fine.”

My heart hammering in my chest, I wait until he’s out of sight to close the door then tear open the bag. Inside it, I find two croissants and a note.

Two croissants, just as mademoiselle ordered.

Logan

A sigh escapes my lips, and my stomach flips. Warmth courses through me as I grab my phone and text Logan.

Nadine: Thank you for the croissants.

I hold my breath, waiting for his answer, which arrives in a few seconds.

Logan: Think about me while you eat them.

I’ve been thinking about him since he left last night, and this is dangerous. Sighing again, I take a bite of croissant.
Oh, they’re delicious
. I fiddle with my phone and write back to Logan.