The Billionaire's Kiss(84)

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Callie gently teased. Logan could tell how eager she was to change the topic of conversation. It just bothered him that she was willing to do so much for other people but not herself.

“It’s just new territory for me, that’s all,” he said. He needed to tell her about the bill and the deal he had made with Veronica. Callie wasn’t going to be happy with him, but she had to know. He couldn’t let things go any further without telling her everything. “There’s something I need to tell—”

“No!” Callie said, cutting him off. She jumped up in her seat, braced herself against the table like she was getting ready to jump across it and stared at him. Logan watched her. Her sudden outburst surprised him enough that he spilled half his glass of wine onto the ground. Callie continued, “I mean, I think I know what you’re going to say, and I feel the same way. I just don’t feel like the timing is right with everything that happened today. I mean, we nearly got arrested, and now you’re trying to get me to stay, and I just don’t want to do it like this.”

Adrenaline rushed through Logan’s body. His heart leapt, and a hundred thoughts flashed through his head as he tried to figure out what to do next. She loved him. She had all but said it. His grabbed the arm of his chair and tried to take a deep, slow breath. He wondered how he looked to her. Scared? Nervous? Surprised? He didn’t know. He felt completely off balance. “You’re right,” he said, “some other time.” He looked off at the water and at her beautiful face. She deserved something truly special. She deserved so much more than a simple confession of love. He needed to give her a day to remember. “I have a few things I need to take care of. I hope you don’t mind if I call it a night.”

“Is this because of what I said?” Callie asked. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, I just want to make sure we’re both fresh for tomorrow. I have a few things I need to take care of, and, well, if I stick around here with you, I won’t be able to get a wink of sleep.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Callie said.

“Which is exactly why I have to go. Like I said, I still have a few finishing touches to put together.” More like I have an entire day to plan, Logan thought. He would need to call in every favor he could think of to make this work. Even then, he wasn’t sure if it would be enough.





***

Callie sat at the table and watched Logan head off across the water in his boat. What the hell just happened? Only a few minutes earlier, Logan had been asking her to stay with him. He had been asking her to start a life together, and now he had just up and left in the middle of dinner? It was time for her to do something about this. She pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed. It was time to set a few things straight.

“Hello?” Amy said.

Normally, Callie would have come up with a plan for talking to Amy. She would have mocked up a short script, outlined talking points and practiced the whole thing at least once through with Charlotte. Instead, she decided to wing it. “How are you, sis?”

“Very pregnant, and excited that you’re finally coming home. I don’t know what you said to Jack Coburn, by the way, but great work.”#p#分页标题#e#

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Callie said.

Amy laughed. “Sure. I’m all for plausible deniability, but how did you do it? I knew you wanted to get back to DC, but I didn’t know you wanted it badly enough to go after a family of political heavyweights like the Coburns.”

“I didn’t do anything, Amy. And I don’t want to go back to DC,” Callie said. She listened to the silence on the other end of the line.

“And why don’t you want to come back?” Amy asked.

“I just need some time, that’s all,” Callie replied. She tried to remember what Logan had said about standing up for herself. This had all seemed like a much better idea before she had called. Now she felt her confidence crumbling all over again. No, she thought. I’m not going to cave on this, no matter what it takes. I’m going to stand up for myself.

“This is about Logan,” Amy said. It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.

“This isn’t just about Logan,” Callie said. “ I just need to think a few things through.” Here comes the barrage.

“What did I tell you about getting involved with him?” Amy said. Her voice rose sharply and hung on that final word, emphasizing her disdain for Logan. “It was the only instruction I gave you. I told you not to do this, and now you think that you’re in love with him? Is that it? Could you really be that naive?”