The bag crinkled as she peered inside, and Logan couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.
“What happened to the girl who wouldn’t touch a donut from a store if she was starving and it was the last piece of food left on the planet?”
Rachel raised her head and pinned him with a feral look. “She got knocked up by your brother and is now a raging lunatic if her food requirements aren’t met. I wanted it hot, cheap, and easy.”
“That sounds dirty, Mrs. Madison,” Logan quipped. “Does your husband let you speak that way to everyone?”
“Oh, shut it,” she grumbled, pulling a donut from the bag to take a huge bite. As she chewed the mouthful, she gave Logan a glazed grin full of mischief. “You’re in trouble.”
Figuring she didn’t deserve to have so much fun at his expense, Logan snatched the bag out of her hands and placed it behind his back. He got immense satisfaction when she gave a small growl of annoyance and then frowned at him.
“Give that back,” she managed around another bite.
“Not until you apologize for—”
“Taking delight in your impeding doom?”
Logan narrowed his eyes, and as she stepped aside and gave an impish grin, he asked, “Does Cole ever win with you?”
“Not if he’s smart.”
He leaned in and kissed the side of her head. Then he brought the bag back out and gave it to her. “Here. Take them now, or you may have to pry them from my cold, lifeless fingers once Cole’s done with me.”
She took them and rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.”
“Well, do you blame me?” Logan searched the hallway and then gazed back to Rachel. “How angry is he?”
The way she screwed her nose up and shrugged didn’t bode well for him. It had him wanting to tuck tail and run—something he never usually did.
“Okay. Where is he?”
She pointed to the second shut door on the left. “In the library.”
With a nod and a tight smile, he muttered, “Wish me luck.”
Before he got two steps away, he heard Rachel say his name. When Logan looked over his shoulder, she gave him a soft smile that made him think what a wonderful mother she was soon going to be.
“You won’t need luck. He’s upset because he cares. We both do. You deserve so much better than whatever Chris gave you. And now, you have it with Tate.”
He swallowed and wondered if she was right. Did he deserve better than Chris? Do I deserve Tate?
He certainly hadn’t been an angel, and he was the first to acknowledge that he hadn’t walked away from Chris when he should have. He’d stayed and allowed years of meaningless nights push him to one night he would do anything to forget.
He couldn’t find any words for her in that moment, so he gave her a nod and pushed the door to his brother’s library open.
When he stepped inside, he expected to see Cole as he usually was—behind his desk, working on his computer. Instead, he had a phone to his ear and his back turned toward him. So Logan wandered over to the wall lined with books from floor to ceiling, pretending to take great interest in them, all the while thinking back to Tate’s refusal to move in with him.
He said that he can’t move in with me, but why? Because of this thing with Chris?
Logan pulled his phone out and opened up a new message. He decided to remind Tate that he hadn’t forgotten what they’d been talking about, and it would only be a matter of time before the topic was once again under discussion.
He wanted Tate in his house, his bed, and his life twenty-four-seven. And if it took him hours of conversation and weeks of constant reminders as to why living with him was an amazing fucking idea, then that’s exactly what he would give him.
* * *
Tate stood in front of his mirror and tied his black work tie. He needed to be out the door in the next five minutes if he wanted to make it on time. He’d landed double shifts for the next two weekends after both he and Logan had traded with Amelia for his days off. So that basically meant he had no life for the foreseeable future. At least, not one that took place on the weekend.
He tightened the knot at the base of his throat before smoothing a hand down the front of the narrow material and raising it to tuck the thinner strip into his white shirt. Shrugging into his black vest with the words After Hours embroidered on the pocket, he was reminded of his first day on the job at the upscale bar.
The day I met Logan. The day that forever changed his life.
Tate could remember every single detail from that first meeting. From the confused way he’d felt and responded, to exactly what Logan had been wearing. It was unbelievable to think back now and realize that, in that precise moment, he’d met the one person who would turn out to be the most essential in his life.