Logan fumbled a little, the first real sign that he’d had too much to drink.
“You should sit down.” What the hell was she going to do now? She couldn’t stay here with Logan. And was he right about the male assistants? At first she’d kind of assumed that Win had gotten her the job. She’d asked him if he wouldn’t mind being a reference. Two days later, Stark Software had called and said they’d heard she needed a job.
She’d been surprised it was for the CEO, but Win had powerful connections. When she’d thanked him, he’d sworn he had nothing to do with it. She’d just thought he was trying to make her feel better.
“I’m fine,” Logan rumbled back at her, but he took the seat across from her anyway. “This just makes my day complete, sweetheart. I get to come back to the scene of all my crimes. What fun. Where the fuck am I going to stay now?”
He really could be a giant asshole. “Please stay here. I’ll leave tomorrow.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Georgia,” Seth said as he dragged in her suitcases and slammed the door behind him. “Except to bed. I apologize for the behavior of my friend. He’s actually civilized when he’s sober.”
“Yeah, you don’t know me that well anymore, man.” Logan just sat there, looking at her, his eyes blank like she wasn’t really there.
All in all, it wasn’t how she’d thought a reunion between them would go.
“I know him. We met in Dallas.” Georgia stood up and wondered if she could find a hotel nearby. Did they have a cab that could pick her up? “We don’t exactly get along.”
Seth set down the suitcases and met her halfway, a gentle smile on his face. He was Logan’s opposite. He was all civilized good looks where Logan was a massive hunk of man meat. Seth was manly, but he was a metro tiger where Logan had never once left the wild. “You looked like you were getting along pretty well from where I was standing.”
There wasn’t a hint of jealousy in those words, and Georgia sighed inwardly. Nope. Why would he be jealous when he didn’t want her, either? “We have a bit of a history.”
He reached out for her hand. He did that a lot. He was a touchy-feely guy. “I brought you here to meet him, Georgia.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because he’s my best friend and you’re…you’re perfect.” He kept his voice low as though he didn’t want Logan to hear.
Emotions rolled through her but mostly it was all confusion. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He pulled her close and, for the first time, wrapped his arms around her. “It means I think you can help.”
She shook her head. “He doesn’t want my help. Not now. Not ever.”
And yet it was so obvious Logan needed someone’s help. He sat there, his shoulders squared, but his eyes were old and tired. What the hell had happened to him? He was young. Younger than her, but there was a weariness to him that made her want to hold him, to lift him up.
“I came back to help him because I’m worried that if I don’t break through his barriers, I’m going to lose my best friend,” Seth whispered in her ear.
“Did you know I knew him?”
He shot back, his eyes wide. “How would I have known that?”
She’d never mentioned him. “You brought me here to set me up with Logan? Seth, I’m so sorry. He doesn’t like me.”
“But I like you.” His eyes strayed back to where Logan sat.
Something fell into place. She’d talked endlessly about Chase and Nat and Ben. Once she’d realized Seth wouldn’t judge her, she’d felt so free to talk about how much she admired what they had and the odd relationship of theirs. She’d been so sure he liked her. Like really liked her. She’d been so sure they were connected, but he’d put her off.
Her mind went back to that moment in the limo. She’d leaned over and tried to press her lips to his. All night long, he’d held her hand and showed her off like she was something other than his assistant. She’d felt like a princess that night, and he’d been the one making it happen. For the first time since she’d left Willow Fork, she’d forgotten she loved Logan and she’d known she had fallen for Seth.
And he’d turned her away, his lips finding her forehead instead of her mouth, and suddenly the words he’d said to her made a weird kind of sense.
It’s not time yet, love.
“Seth?”
“I want to try,” he said, pulling her close. “I grew up with him. This was my heaven, Georgia. Please. Give it a try for me. If it doesn’t work out, we can go back to New York and I won’t ever mention it again. Please. I just wanted the two of you to meet, to see if there was any attraction there, and you two were like a volcano. I had to walk away because I wanted to join in but I thought I would scare you.”
She sagged against him. Damn. It was everything she could want and nothing she could have. She felt tears forming in her eyes and wished she’d taken Win up on his offer to leave New York, but no, she just couldn’t leave Seth. Whom she loved. Seth, who needed a ménage with a man who couldn’t stand her despite the fact that she couldn’t get him out of her head.
“Give it a chance,” Seth urged. “I’m sorry how it started. Do you know what happened to him? Do you know why he wouldn’t come home?”
Walk away, Georgia. Walk away and save yourself. She had a deeply practical inner voice that she almost never listened to. Because it was boring. She was the dumbest girl ever. She was because she just kept getting her heart broken and then begging for more. And she wanted to know Logan. God, he’d pushed her away and she still wanted to know him. “No.”
Seth leaned down and brushed his nose against hers. “Give us a chance. I will make sure you’re taken care of. Georgia, please trust me, baby. I’m not taking you back to New York as my assistant no matter what happens. I’m taking you back as mine. With him or without him. But I have to play this my way. I’m so sorry to bring you into a situation that makes you uncomfortable, but I still think it could work.”
She shook her head, hating the tears that made her vision wobbly. “He doesn’t want me.”
“He fell in love with a girl in Texas. When I met you, I was sure you could make him forget.”
“I was in Texas. That was where we met, but he didn’t love me.” Except she’d thought he did. When he’d ridden in to her rescue, she’d been so sure he loved her. She would have bet her life on it.
“Are you sure? Or is he the kind of man who would push away the woman he loves because he thinks he didn’t deserve her?”
“What are you two talking about?” Logan asked, turning his head their way. In the low light, she couldn’t mistake the way his eyes narrowed. “If you’re going to fuck, you should go to the bedroom.”
God, why did she love him? She was a masochist. She obviously hated herself. She needed therapy.
“Stay,” Seth said, his voice aching.
Go, that very practical side of her pleaded. You don’t need to know what happened to make Logan the walking human bomb he is. You can’t save him. You can’t save yourself and it would never work. You could never handle Logan, and Seth’s world would eat you alive. You think LA casting directors are rough on a girl, try Upper East Siders.
“Stay with me. Stay with us. We need you, baby.” His lips brushed against her forehead.
“Okay. I’ll stay.”
She was the dumbest girl in the world.
Logan watched as Seth returned, walking down the gorgeous hall like he owned it.
Of course, there was a reason for that. He did. He owned every inch of this mansion. Hell, Logan was pretty sure Seth could buy the fucking world if he wanted to. He was smart. He’d always been so damn smart. Logan couldn’t keep up with him. And now Seth had Georgia.