Chapter 0187
I wasn’t mad at Logan. Just… disappointed.
A night of celebration with the man of my dreams turned into another fun night with my friends. I loved my friends, and was always happy to spent time with them. But this was supposed to me my first real date with Logan.
And he had bailed for work.
Was this what our relationship would always look like?
The thoughts stuck in my mind all through the night, even after my friends went back to their place and I spent my first night in a long time in an actual bed.
I stared at the ceiling and tried to imagine what my future looked like. It seemed very lonely.
Eager to start a new day and put the past one behind me, I arrived at work early in the morning. This early, most of my fellow employees would still be at home getting ready, so I anticipated a quiet morning to settle myself and ease into the day.
Yet, when I went to the elevator in the lobby, I was surprised to find Logan already there waiting for it.
He looked at me, and I looked at him. Every nerve in my being urged me to step closer to him and eliminate the distance between us. But I held myself back.
Glancing behind us, I reminded myself of the receptionist and the security guard both sitting at a large desk near the door. Any closeness between Logan and I could be tracked by them and sent on to HR. So I kept my feet firmly planted.
Logan did too.
“Good morning, Hazel,” he said.
“Good morning, Logan,” I replied,
“I trust you and your friends had a nice time last night?
“Yes. We did.” It wasn’t the housewarming party I’d wanted, though, which kept me from revealing too much of what happened. I guessed in some sense, I wanted to punish him for bailing on me. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but it still hurt.
“Good,” Logan said. He took the hint and didn’t say anything else.
Side by side, we waited in silence until the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Logan motioned for me to enter first, then he stepped in behind me and pressed the button for our floor.
We both faced the elevator doors as they slid closed.
“Hazel,” Logan started.
“It’s fine,” I replied, even though it wasn’t. I was working very hard on letting this go, and if he kept bringing it up, I wouldn’t be able to move on.
“It’s clearly not fine,” he said. “Don’t lie to me.”
Chapter 0187
+25 BONUS
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, too sharply maybe, because he instantly swiveled toward me.
He was holding a cup of coffee in one of his hands, but his free hand lifted to cup the side of my jaw. With my face prisoner, he stared down into my eyes with such an intense focus that it stole my breath away.
“Logan…” I whispered with my final exhale.
“I mess up last night,” Logan said. “I shouldn’t have left you, I should have made some excuse. Maybe I shouldn’t have answered the call at all.”
“Work is important,” I said.
He inched closer to me, his body a hair’s width from mine yet still, impossibly not touching me.
“It is,” he said. “But so are you.”
Gently, he coaxed my face up farther still and then began to lean down. He was close, oh so close, when the elevator chimed and the doors slid open.
We both jumped away from each other at once. Some of Logan’s coffee spilled down onto my blouse.
“How clumsy of me.” Logan said quickly. At once, he had a handkerchief in his hand and passed it to me I keep spilling my coffee this morning.”
“Yes…” I said, glancing at Cameron as she looked curiously between us. She stepped onto the elevator.
