Stranded with a Billionaire (Billionaire Boys Club #1)(67)

“I’m not mistaken,” he told her, and the fingers under her chin began to caress her jaw. “I’m still in love with you.”

Her throat went dry at his husky words. “Logan, please.”

“I’m not fighting fair,” he told her. “I know. I don’t care. I want you back. I don’t give a shit about being fair or being the better man. I will be the most ruthless man in the world as long as I can have you at my side and in my bed. You’re the only thing that matters. I love you.”

“Love is not control, Logan. Love is partnership. Friendship. A wise man once said, ‘If you want to be loved, be lovable.’”

His mouth quirked. “I’d say that’s Plato, but I know it’s not. I’ve been reading the book you left me, you know. ‘The madness of love is the greatest of heaven’s blessings.’”

Tears stung her eyes. He’d been reading philosophy? To try and understand her better? Hope unfurled in her breast, but she forced herself to be calm, careful.

“I don’t know, Logan. We haven’t exactly had the most normal relationship. I never know how to act around you. I’m about as comfortable in the hurricane as I am at one of your society parties. Both scare the pants off of me.”

“Whatever you want to do, Bront?, I’ll do it.” He moved close, his mouth inches away from hers, and her pulse began to pound. Just an inch or two more and his lips would be on hers, coaxing hers into opening for him, his tongue thrusting into her mouth and conquering her all over again . . .

Bront? took a step backward, out of his grasp.

“Come home with me tonight, Bront?. We’ll start over.” Logan’s gaze was caressing as it moved over her.

“No.”

He stopped short. A flash of pain flickered in his eyes, quickly masked, and Bront? was both pleased to see that pain and saddened by it. Pleased because it meant he was genuinely invested, and saddened that she had to hurt him.

“Is this good-bye, then?” Logan asked.

“No,” she said again quickly. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. She needed more time to process how she felt about Logan. More time to pull herself together. More time to just be . . . her. An idea hit her, and she looked up at him with a bright smile. “I think we should date.”

“Date?” His brows furrowed, as if the concept were foreign to him.

“Yes,” she said, warming to her topic. “Date. You know, dinner and a movie. Bowling with friends. Going out for pizza and seeing the sights. Spending time together just to spend time together. A date. Several dates. I need to know that what I thought we had was real, Logan. And I need to know you want to be with me. I think we should date.”

“I want you,” he said, and his tone was nearly a growl of frustration. “Going to see a movie isn’t going to change that. I love you, Bront?.”

“But I need to date, Logan,” she said firmly. “No fancy parties, no buying of restaurants. No hurricanes. You and me, on a few regular dates like normal people. We can see if we’re truly compatible or if we’re just caught up in the madness of it all.”

She suspected that she was still head over heels in love with him, but dating meant that she’d have him all to herself and that they’d be on familiar territory. She wasn’t at home at fancy society parties. But at a pizza place or a movie? She could relax and just be herself.

There was a challenging gleam in his eyes that made her pulse flutter with excitement. “If you want me to win you over with romantic dates, Bront?. I will.”

“Great,” she said enthusiastically, and when he leaned in to kiss her, she ducked away again. “Call me sometime.”

“Let’s go out. Tonight.”

“Can’t tonight,” she said lightly. “I’m working. Call me.” She stressed the last two words and turned to the door, then glanced over her shoulder at him. “I’m serious, Logan. I want to date like normal people. Not like a billionaire and the waitress he just bought.”

She could practically hear his teeth grinding. “You know it’s not like that, Bront?.”

Then prove it, she thought. But she gave him only an enigmatic smile and opened the office door. “Then call me sometime.”

Bront? forced herself to walk calmly through the store room and back out to the main café. With calm hands, she lifted the bar, stepped in behind it, and then let it slide shut behind her again, taking her place next to the others behind the counter.

She immediately approached the line of customers, smiled at Gretchen, and then took over manning the register. A few moments later, her heart flipped in her breast as she watched Logan’s tall form walk past the bar and leave the café.

Had he given up on her? So quickly?

Confused, she concentrated on the complicated order a very patient woman was trying to place. Bront? had to ask her to repeat it twice, because her head wasn’t in the right place. Had she messed things up with Logan? Had he decided she wasn’t worth the effort?

“Seventeen ninety-one,” she told the woman as she completed her order. Just then the phone in her pocket began to vibrate. Bront? jumped and pulled it out with shaking fingers and turned away from the cash register.

Logan Hawkings, the screen read, and her heart thumped wildly in her chest. “H-hello?” she answered.