Cassie (The Mitchell/Healy Family #7)(48)

Still, a man could dream about it, and that’s exactly what I’d done last night, with her in the bed beside mine. I wanted to feel bad about it, but something wouldn’t let me. Then I got a great idea to make a pit stop and do something fun. At least I could fill her with fun times before I left her in shock and hating me. “Have you ever been skiing?”

“Sure. My uncle in Kentucky had a place in the mountains. I used to love going there with my cousins.”

“Then it’s settled. We’re hitting the slopes as soon as we make it to the other side of Colorado. Are you game?”

“Hell yeah.”

Knowing we were about to have some quality time together, aside from our long journey, made me feel better. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet. The only problem with my new and exciting plan was the idea of having too much fun and never wanting it to end.





Chapter 25


Cassie


This guy was making it hard for me to focus on everything else going on in my life. He’d taken me in, provided me shelter, clothes, and food. Now he was taking me places, and going out of his way to make sure I was comfortable. I wanted to believe he was just being a good agent, but I wasn’t that na?ve.

I may have had terrible luck with men, but I knew when one was interested more than being a friend. This trip was the perfect opportunity to get to know him on a more personal level, and I’m not talking about what color his sheets were at home. I already knew that from doing the laundry. I’m talking about the chemistry I felt when we were in certain circumstances together. I hadn’t noticed it before, back when I’d first come to live with him. It was more in the recent couple weeks. He’d been different. It’s what made me want to apologize and start over. I could tell it bothered him that I was still holding a grudge. He’d done his job. Yes, I’d lost my boyfriend because of my involvement with the authorities, but Brant was in the wrong, not Logan.

After leaving the diner, I decided to drive for a while. Logan seemed to be in a good mood. He moved his hands to the beat of the music and sang along to a few songs. Then we got on the conversation of favorite bands. From there we talked about our favorite movies, coming to learn we had similar tastes.

Throughout the day we discussed many books, childhood experiences, and even some things we did as teenagers. The longer I spent confined to a small area with Logan, the more I wanted to know. He was the most interesting man I’d ever known. I kept thinking how much my parents would have approved, which made me want to cringe. This was the guy they would have picked for me. He had a good paying job, he was responsible, he had values, and most of all, he wasn’t a criminal. He’d saved my life in more than one way.

He was also another reason why I couldn’t go home. I didn’t want them knowing I was living with another man; one I could see myself getting closer to. They’d say I was moving too fast; that I’d pushed myself into his life, or that he only helped me because I’d turned my back on them.

Another thing that made me nervous was the fact that some things are just too good to be true. There had to be flaws about him. There had to be something he was hiding from me. No man could fit so perfectly in my life. There were no exceptions. He either had deep dark secrets or I’d died and this was all some alternate life in a purgatory reality. Maybe I was seeing things that weren’t there at all. It was possible he was just a nice guy trying to help. Maybe the chemistry I thought was there was just courtesy. For all I knew, he could have been gay, just like Charlie. Maybe he thought I was disgusting, after being strung out and sleeping with my criminal boyfriend, knowing he’d been running around on me. The reasons were almost endless.

It was obvious I was making excuses for not wanting to see if something was happening between us. I’d be a fool to think a couple days at a ski resort wasn’t going to result in either an opportunity for something new, or proof that I was losing my mind.

Almost a month ago I’d lost the man I thought I loved wholeheartedly. Believing someone was my future and finding out he was everything but that had crushed me. My poor judge of character left me vulnerable. I wondered if it was love at all. Can you love someone you don’t fully know? If it was love, why was it getting easier to let go? Why was I imagining someone else making me happy?

With so many questions hovering in my mind, I feared I was acting out of desperateness. Perhaps I was codependent, and needed someone in my life to be happy. It was all too much to think about, especially with one of the men in question only twelve inches from where I sat.

Logan navigated us through the mountains to find the resort we’d be spending the next two days. When we pulled up into the parking lot I felt like I was dreaming. It was beautiful. The cedar logged lodge was more like a mansion. It was three levels with huge windows surrounding the whole building. Since it was a weekday, it wasn’t very crowded. I was able to pull into a front parking spot to make it easy to carry in our bags and get registered. Of course, Logan handled my bag, insisting it wasn’t a big deal.

Right before he walked up to the front desk he stopped and turned in my direction. “I forgot to ask. Are you okay sharing a room again, or do you want me to see how much two will be?”

I didn’t know how to answer. If I told him it was okay to share, he might think I was easy. If I said to get two rooms, he might think I didn’t enjoy being around him. “Um, you pick. It doesn’t matter to me.”