For the next three hours, the two of them were locked together on the dance floor. Unable to see the world around them. Eyes focused only on each other.
For Logan, it was utterly bizarre. Three hours of dancing? He usually couldn’t go three minutes without looking for some kind of escape hatch. For Lacy, it was utterly surreal. This was the man she was dancing with? The one who’s picture was mounted on the office wall?
There was very little talking, just the occasional ‘would you like another drink?’ For the most part, they let their bodies do the talking. Swaying and twisting under the flashing lights. Melting into one another as they lost themselves to the hypnotic beat.
At first, they were cautious. Logan just as much so as Lacy. Never before had he met a woman who didn’t throw herself upon him. Never before had he met a woman who made him make the first move. When there was an inch of space between them, he was the one who was quick to fix it. When she spun around with a breathless grin, he was the one who pulled her back.
It didn’t take long for that caution to turn into something deeper. Something Logan had never felt before. A primal need to be close.
He lowered his head as she laced her arms around his neck, resting his chin lightly on her shoulder. They were cheek to cheek. He could feel the heat radiating off her body. He could hear each one of her shallow breaths as they whispered in his ear. For a split second, he closed his eyes—swept away by the magic of it all. Then he opened them up with a little smile, and did something that was very, very stupid.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
Lacy pulled back like she’d been burned, her eyes snapping open as though she’d received some sort of electrical shock. For a second, she simply stared back at him, her eyes searching his. Looking like someone who’d been awoken too early, and was trying to remember their dream. Then she blinked very quickly, and stepped out of his arms.
“I’m such an idiot,” she muttered, pacing away from him.
“Lacy—wait!”
Logan took off after her, knocking apart happy couples as he raced toward the door. It opened a second before he could reach it, hitting him in the face with a blast of cold air. He froze for a second, trying to get his bearings, then he spotted a head of blonde hair and his feet hit the pavement—sprinting after her down the street.
“Lacy—that’s not what I meant!” he called as he ran, leaping over fire hydrants and side-stepping taxis as he closed the gap between them. “Just give me a second to explain—”
&n
bsp; “What’s there to explain?!” She stopped so suddenly that he almost went barreling right into her, staring up at him with an icy glare. “This morning, you were having a steamy affair with another man’s wife. Now you’re not. And you have a black eye to prove it. What better revenge is there, than fucking the woman who caught you?”
“What?” Logan pulled back in horror. “Is that really what you—”
“What else can I think?” she interrupted, her eyes flashing with hurt and rage. “I know what you are, Dylan. I’ve seen the pictures.”
From her perspective, there was a great deal of logic in everything she was saying. But Logan hadn’t been programmed to take a verbal beating like that lying down.
“Don’t do that,” he countered angrily. “Don’t put your trust issues on me. If you don’t want to go out with me—fine. But don’t pretend like it’s because I’ve done anything wrong. Yes, I may have slept with other women, but I’ve been nothing but a gentlemen to you from the moment we’ve met.” She opened her mouth, but he cut her off first. “And don’t, for a second, pretend this is all about me. I bet there isn’t a man on the planet who could pass your little truth test. Whether you’d seen pictures of him or not.”
“Wow.” She pulled back, folding her arms across her chest. “Is that really the defense you’re going with? That everybody cheats?”
“Everybody lies,” he shot back. “At some point or another. Whether it’s harmless or not. No one is exactly who they say they are, one hundred percent of the time. Even you, Lacy.” He shook his head, glaring down at her in the dark. “And I don’t need to defend myself. The two of us weren’t dating when I was sleeping with anyone else. I was just minding my business today when you burst into my house with some lunatic hell-bent asshole wanting to kill me.”
“So then what do you want?” she cried, her voice rising in anger to match his. “You bail the guy out of jail, spend the night dancing with me—you don’t make any sense, Dylan! What the hell do you want?!”
“I want—” He broke off mid-shout, captivated by her all over again as she glared up at him in the dark. In an instant, the anger faded, the temper cooled, and he found the only thing he was able to do was smile. “I want you to let me buy you a cup of coffee.”
It took a second for her to change tracks. To realize that the yelling portion of the night was over. “Wait...what?”
Logan pursed his lips and tilted his head towards the huge flashing sign beside them. They had come to a stop right in front of what advertised to be Cleveland’s best local espresso.
“You have to admit...it’s nearby.”
She stared in disbelief for a moment, before a short-burst laughter escaped her lips. Her eyes narrowed, like she was angry that he’d tricked her into a smile, before she begrudgingly wound her arm through his.
“One cup of coffee,” she warned. “That’s it.”
He nodded with a gallant smile, feeling more alive in that very moment, than he had in the last seven years. Of course, before she could see, he rolled his eyes with a dismissive scoff.
“Please, Lacy, what else would I possibly want?” He gave her a little wink as she stomped past him through the door. “You really have to stop coming on to me...”
Chapter 17