I looked down at my feet. I wanted love at first sight to be real. I wanted this to be my fairy tale, but my shoes were covered in mud and leaves. I was no Cinderella.
“When I came back from Malaysia, I was sure you had forgotten me, that you had moved on and that all those feelings were only on my end. And then I saw you at that wedding,” he said softly. I looked up to see a sad smile traipse his face. “And then Maddy...”
“Maddy blabbed that I wasn't over you; that I had those same feelings,” I supplied. A ghost of a grin tugged at my lips at the memory. “I was ready to strangle her for that. I'm glad I didn't.”
“It put sunshine back in my world,” he confessed, looking back at the painting. “I thought... I thought I had a second chance. But you were mad, and you had every right to be. I thought maybe, with enough time, you'd see that I cared. I started looking for excuses to see you at social events. I always seemed to miss you at them, though.”
“That's when I started avoiding you,” I said slowly. “I hated that Maddy gave me away and I didn't want to remember that you broke my heart after just one date. So, I hid from you.”
He nodded slowly. Regret and lost hope filled his voice. “You don't want to know how many events I went to, hoping that you would be there—hoping I could get another chance—only to find you had left moments earlier or suddenly declined.”
I could imagine. After the wedding, I came up with a plan never to see Logan Hayes again. In addition to my constant Google searches, news article alerts, and myFace stalking, Twitter and all of its over-sharing socialites suddenly became my lookouts. I had alerts set on my phone for all trending posts about Logan Hayes. I had driven up to so many parties, only to leave without even getting out of the car because someone tweeted that Logan was there.
“When I heard you had accepted the invitation to this resort, I took Noah up on his offer to come see it.” He gave a dry chuckle. “I'm pretty sure I have a pissed-off employee whose place I stole.”
His weak attempt at humor made me smile. When he glanced over at me, I was flooded with emotions: regret, hope, loss, joy, love, sadness, and so many others that I couldn't even place all vied for a place in my consciousness. I stared at the picture of the peaceful ocean, trying to sort my thoughts so I could identify them. I didn't know what to say, so in a bid for time, I blurted, “Why did you go into the storm for Tyler? You didn't have to.”
“Because I knew you needed me to.” He stated it like it was a simple fact. Like the sky was usually blue and water was wet. “I could see it on your face. You were ready to head out the front door and start searching. I went out in that storm because I knew you were going to.”
“I didn't realize I was that obvious,” I admitted. He had read me like a book.
“You love Tyler. And he loves you. I had to make sure you were both safe. Losing him would devastate you. Losing you would devastate him.” He paused and glanced at me again, his voice going soft. “And me as well. I went out in the storm to keep that from happening.”
We both focused at the painting again. We were silent, but the roar of the storm outside reverberated off the walls of the sap lobby. I needed to sit down and think. Possibly with wine. No, definitely with wine. Possibly with 151 rum. I was done with emotional upheavals for the day.
One thought was clear, though, as it sailed through the storm in my mind. Logan had risked his life to save Tyler, and by extension, me. He loved me. He had always loved me, just as I had always loved him.
But that didn't matter. The original problem—the one that had kept us apart in the first place—still existed. We were competitors, and our love was too fragile to survive in the harsh business world. We'd already proven that once. As much as I was tempted to try again, I knew it would be a futile exercise.
So I stayed quiet, and didn't tell him how much I loved him back; how just one glance from him sent my whole day into a giddy daydream; how I had dreamed of him for two years straight.
No, to save ourselves from another tragic ending, I said nothing and just stood there, contemplating a painting and listening to the rain. I wished my life were more like the tranquil ocean waves of the picture.
“I talked to my father today,” Logan said after a long silence. I turned and looked at him. He smiled to himself, still focused on the picture. “I think I'm the first person in a long time to call him an idiot.”
I felt my eyes widen and my eyebrows reach for the ceiling. “You said that?”
“More than that. I told him he was wrong. That he was wrong two years ago. That he squandered a prime business opportunity because he couldn't see past his own prejudices. I told him if he didn't want me to take proof of his negligence to the board of trustees in not only this matter, but the six others that I have cleaned up for him, I was to handle all future merger and business acquisitions.” He stopped and took a breath before adding, “without him.”
I could hardly believe the words coming out of Logan's mouth. I stared at him. “You took him out of the process? In his own company?”
Logan shrugged as if it were nothing. As if he hadn't just defied thirty-two years of seeking his father's approval. “He's been talking about retirement for a while now. I simply put a timeline on it.”
“Wow,” I whispered. This was far more than just putting his father on track to retire. From what I understood, Gerald Hayes was not a man who liked being resisted. Part of the reason he was so successful was because he was ruthless and incredibly controlling. And now, Logan had threatened to revoke that control. It was Zeus taking down the Titans. “How did your father take it?”
“Not well,” he said flatly, shifting his weight slightly. “But I got what I wanted. If I took half of what I have to the board, he would be drawn and quartered right there in the boardroom.”
“I didn't know it was that bad.” I was back to studying the painting.
“He's made some bad decisions. I just finally realized that I don't have to be the one who suffers for his mistakes. He'll be retiring at the end of the fiscal year, and my brother and I will be taking over the company. He won't be running things anymore,” Logan explained.
“Wow.” I couldn't believe it. Logan had taken control of his destiny. “That's some bi
g news.”
“Yeah,” he said, cracking a smile. He ran a hand through his tangled curls. It was a relaxed and natural motion that relieved the tension in his shoulders. He was free of his father for the first time in his life.
I swallowed hard as I wondered about the question brewing in my mind. I decided to ask it. After today, the worst he could do was not to gratify me with an answer. “Did you do it for me?”