He kissed her. Again.

And it hadn’t stopped there. They had a full make-out session when he walked her to her apartment door—even though Malia and another guy were waiting in the car. After a little while, Ben had said screw it. He’d gone inside the apartment with her and texted their friends to leave without him. He stayed the night, and today Claire was falling all over herself, giddy and giggling.

I couldn’t remember her this happy since…was it high school? Since… I could feel the glow drain from my face. Since before my mother died and Eric left. Claire started to describe Ben’s girth, and I focused on numbing the feeling away. Only it wouldn’t go.

Logan.

I remembered how his hand had skimmed up my back. I remembered how his lips had grazed over mine, how he’d cupped the side of my face as he slid inside. I remembered arching my back, feeling his lips trail down my throat. I remembered the way he’d held me through the night, how he’d cradled my face to his chest and brushed his fingers through my hair, rubbing the back of my neck.

I remembered how he’d called himself Logan Sex Machine Kade this morning.

“What’s funny?”

“Huh?”

I looked up. Claire had stopped talking and the corners of her lips were pinched; she looked in pain. She pointed at me with a fork. “You were smiling.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Just hearing you talk about Ben, it—uh—reminded me of high school. I was thinking about the last time I saw you this happy.”

Her frown disappeared. She seemed to melt, her shoulders relaxing dramatically. “Oh, Taylor.” She blinked and pressed a hand to her chest. “You’re right. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. I mean, last year was—” She froze. She reached for her glass of water, but even her eyes stopped. They were trained on a spot on the table.

I didn’t want the mood to shift, so I asked, “Does Jason know Ben?”

That launched her on a whole other discussion. When they should meet? But, wait, she didn’t know if there was even a reason for Jason to be introduced. Were they a couple or not? She didn’t know, and over the next half hour, Claire questioned every comment Ben had ever made. When we finished lunch, she was still glowing, but the light had dimmed a little bit, and an anxious look formed in her eyes. She gripped her phone tightly as we walked out of the campus café together. I was about to ask her about her weekend plans when she threw a distracted “see you later” over her shoulder to me and headed off.

Well. Okay, then.

#LOGANSDICK

LOGAN

Last night was the best sex I’d ever had, and we continued to have great sex the next night, and the night after. The week after. The week after that, too. In fact, we had great sex for an entire fucking month, and I was in a glorious mood. The only thing not glorious had been my time spent away from the family. I’d been selfish, keeping Taylor to myself. We did the parties, but we spent a lot of those nights in either my bedroom or hers, and standing in front of the refrigerator, I couldn’t stop thinking about the upcoming weekend. Mason’s game was away and we were going to road trip to it, and by ‘we’, I meant the family. I owed them that time, but there’d been no mention of Taylor coming along. I knew that hadn’t happened by accident.

I wanted her to come. Shit. I think I was starting to need her to come, but then Sam snuffed that idea out.

“You’re going to hurt her,” she said, coming to stand behind me.

I was reaching for the juice, but I stopped and straightened up. She was in the kitchen doorway. Her eyes were troubled, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

I shook my head, letting the fridge door shut. “Don’t, Sam.”

“I didn’t like Kris in the beginning, and I know you really cared for her…” She trailed off, frowning, and looking at the floor.

I cared, but I hadn’t loved Kris. That was where Sam was going. I knew she’d started to care about Kris at the end. Was that what this was about? Sam didn’t want to start liking another girl and hurt for her when things ended with me? I propped a shoulder against the wall by the fridge and folded my arms over my chest as well. “Where are you coming from with this?”

She shook her head, but didn’t look up. “I don’t know,” she murmured. She uncrossed her arms, and her hands clasped together at her waist. “I like Taylor.”

“So do I.”

Sam looked up. I saw the surprise. This would’ve been the perfect time for a smart-ass remark, but this was serious. I narrowed my eyes. “I didn’t get the feeling you really liked her the first night.”

“That’s not true. I just—” She bit her lip and looked away.

“Sam.” I waited till her eyes met mine, and then waited another beat. I didn’t want her to look away. “You’ve never warned me off of a girl before.”

“You’re going to hurt her,” she repeated.

I frowned. Sam looked away again, and I got the sense she wasn’t talking about Taylor at all. “Okay. Well… Noted.” I kept frowning at her, but she was lost in her thoughts. “I disagree, and I’m still going to hang out with her.”

She let out a breath. “Don’t invite her this weekend, okay?”

I shook my head. “What the hell? You’re not like this.”

“I know. I just—it’s too soon. If you don’t want to fuck things up, like you say, go slow. You’re just sleeping together, right?” Her eyes met mine again, finally.