Try (Temptation Series)(61)
* * *
Logan sat quietly as he took a third bite of his burger, and internally he cursed at himself for being a giant asshole. It wasn’t Tate’s fault that he’d just happened to ask him the one thing that pushed all his buttons.
He could tell Tate was trying to think of something to say, but he seemed to have given up for the moment. When the waitress appeared with two more beers, neither of them acknowledged her. This time, they were just sitting in brooding silence.
Come on, man, snap the fuck out of it. You finally have him sitting across from you, and you’re screwing this up!
Lifting his beer to his lips, Logan opened his mouth and continued on the fucking stupid route of doing everything wrong this evening. “So, how long were you married?”
Tate had been halfway to bringing a wing to his lips but paused and glanced at Logan, lowering it back down to the plate. Wiping his hands on a napkin, Tate slowly picked up his Corona and took a long gulp.
“Sorry,” Logan told him. “That’s none of my business.”
Rubbing a hand over his face, Logan thought, Why am I screwing this up so badly? I’m never like this, especially with people I want in my bed. Get with the program, Mitchell.
“Four years.”
The words came out like a curse, and as Logan met Tate’s eyes across the table, Tate continued, “I spent three and a half of them trying to work out how to leave.”
“And in the end?” Logan asked curiously.
“I woke up one morning, opened the front door, and walked out.”
“Just like that, huh?”
Nodding, Tate answered, “Just like that.”
“She’s an idiot.”
Tate picked up the wing that he’d put down. “Why do you say that?”
Logan watched him move his left hand over to the blue cheese sauce where he dipped the chicken in and then brought it up to his mouth.
“Because I’d never let you just walk out.”
Tate swallowed once before he challenged, “What would you do instead?”
Logan shrugged. “Probably fight with you, and then drag you to the bedroom.”
“Is that how you’ve solved all of your past relationships? I hate to point this out, but you’re single.”
“I’ve never been in a relationship,” Logan admitted, picking up a french fry.
“Ever?”
“Ever,” he confirmed and stuffed the potato in his mouth.
Tate grabbed his beer again and took a long gulp before managing, “Wow.”
Not wanting to make a huge deal out of it, Logan explained, “I just wasn’t interested.”
Tate, of course, was not letting him get away with that. “And now?”
“Now?” Logan repeated back, like he hadn’t understood the question.
“Yeah, now?”
Logan felt a genuine smile cross his lips as he very openly inspected every inch of Tate that was visible. “Now, I’m really fucking interested.”
“I don’t know about all of this, Logan.”
Logan felt his heart pounding in his chest as he pushed his plate aside and leaned across the table toward the man currently holding—
What exactly…my happiness? In his hands.
“Look, I know you probably think I’m the worst choice you could ever make.”
Tate said nothing to disagree with that, but ran a hand up through his hair.
“But you already know all the bad shit about me. Come on, what else is worrying you?”
“Really? You’re asking me that?” Tate questioned incredulously almost as though he thought Logan was crazy. “Let me list it for you. Let’s say I do this, all of this, and for a week, you’re happy, content, and you get what you want. We continue, and my coworkers start asking questions, my soon-to-be-ex-wife somehow finds out, and God forbid, my family does, too. Then, you get bored a week later and say, ‘I’m sorry, Tate, but it was fun.’ That’s all that’s worrying me—the entire upheaval of my life. And all because you want to sleep with me.”
Logan sat back, and this time, he straddled his legs out and around Tate’s before he pulled them in, trapping the other man’s between his own.
“First off, I would never do that to you.”
“How do I know that?” Tate demanded.
“You don’t. You’d have to trust me.”
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? I’m sorry, but do you know what I see when I look at you?”
Logan was pretty sure that this was not going to be flattering, but he went ahead and asked anyway, “No. What do you see?”
“I see reckless. I see untrustworthy. I see someone that I’m terrified to take a risk on because I don’t know if he’ll be there to grab my hand if I jump off that cliff.” Pausing, Tate leaned in. “You said earlier that I’m a rebel. Well, I’m not. I’m boring, I’m everyday normal, and I haven’t dated since I left my wife. But you came along, and now, I don’t know what to think.”