The Billionaire's Kiss(70)

“You’re kidding, right? The fate of your father’s legislation, a bill that could help produce thousands of green jobs and help lay the groundwork for renewable energy up and down the East Coast, all lies in the hands of your college drinking buddy?”

“Small world, isn’t it?” Logan quipped.

“A little too small if you ask me,” Callie said. “So Jack’s afraid of looking like he’s playing favorites by passing a law that would benefit his family friend?”

“I don’t think so. I mean I know they’re grooming him for a run at higher office, Senate, President, you name it. There’s no lack of ambition in that family. If he’s the one holding it back, it’s for other reasons. It’s a green energy bill?”

“Yeah, windmills, solar, that kind of stuff.”

“You don’t think it’s because his family still has a vested interest in oil do you?” Callie asked.

Logan shook his head. “Oil was a side business, a hobby, one that didn’t make the family much money if I remember correctly. No, I think the reason is a lot more personal than that, and if my father didn’t even want his political fixers going near it, I definitely want to find out what it is. I swear if this has anything to do with me, I didn’t know.”

“Think you could arrange an off the record meeting between us?” Callie asked.

“No, but I can talk to him,” Logan said.

“You’re asking me to leave the fate of months of work in your hands?”

Logan grinned. “Yes.”

“What’s so funny?” Callie asked.

“I take back what I said earlier,” he said. “This is a wonderful date.”

“For you. I feel like I’ve just been bent over.”

“I thought we were saving that for later,” Logan said with a laugh. “Don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do. Maybe we can find a way to extend your stay here indefinitely.”

Callie tipped back her wine glass and finished off her drink in one large gulp. “Maybe you can hold off on talking to Jack until we have everything under control here. Anyway, I think I’m going to need something a little stronger than wine.”

Logan laughed and looked around. “Yeah, what were you thinking?”

Callie reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a blindfold. Logan perked up at the sight. “If you’re asking me to trust you, you’ll have to trust me too,” Callie said.

“A blindfold?” he asked.

She watched his excitement. He had no idea what she had in store. “Yeah, the rest is a surprise.”

“What’s next, handcuffs?” he asked.

He really did only think of one thing. “Play your cards right, and we’ll see.”

Without another word Logan took the blindfold from Callie and covered his eyes. “Let’s go,” he said.

“Easy there, killer. We still have some wine to drink, besides, the reservation isn’t for another hour and a half.”

“What am I supposed to do with the blindfold, then?” He slipped it back above his eyes like a headband.

Callie grinned. “I can think of a few things, but they’re probably best saved for later.”

Logan yawned and pulled out his phone. He kept looking over at Callie as he tapped away at a message.

“Talking to anyone good?” She asked.

“Just writing myself a little note,” Logan said.

In the bright afternoon light, Callie couldn’t see what he was writing, but she was fairly sure that it wasn’t a note to himself. Try to trust him, she thought, if even just for one day. See if you can do it. What’s the worst that can happen? It wasn’t like he could get into too much trouble on their date. Besides, she wasn’t planning on letting him out of her sight anytime soon.





***

Callie watched the smile spread across Logan’s face as soon as he stepped foot into The Independent. She stopped him in his tracks and adjusted his blindfold to make sure he wasn’t peeking from under it. But there was no way for him to have seen anything. She had been careful. She had even driven the car up and down every hopelessly quaint side street in Newport just to throw his sense of direction off before heading to the brewery. There was no way for him to have known where they were going. She had even gotten lost once or twice along the way herself. Maybe she didn’t give him enough credit for his perceptiveness.#p#分页标题#e#

“You chose well,” Logan said.

“You don’t even know where we are yet.”

Logan laughed. “I know the uneven pavement outside of the front door better than I know the path between my bedroom and the bathroom. I know the sound that front door makes when it opens, the feeling of the antique wood planks on the walls on the way in, and I know the smell of the brewery as well as almost any other, but the real giveaway was the sound, the people talking and laughing, the lull of the ocean outside the windows.”