“Sure.”

Maybe their OCD-like focus on finishing the task at hand had been an effort to keep from acknowledging that other thing. Her ass.

Why. Why had she had to hurt herself there? He had done everything he could to behave as professionally as a doctor. It was just skin. Just a scratch. Everyone had a bum. That one happened to be hers.

That one also happened to be spectacular. Round and firm and the shape and the freckles would be imprinted on his eyeballs for the rest of his life. He had wanted to kiss it.

It was Friday night so the DJ was in the pub. Other than that thumping melody, the village was quiet. As they passed the wharf, Logan sent a habitual look across the marina, always keeping a mental inventory of the vessels moored there. He was never shy about dropping by to ask for a tour if he saw something new and interesting.

Sophie clicked on her phone’s flashlight as they left the lights around the village buildings and entered the darker shadows where his driveway peeled up from the lane that led to hers.

An empty house again. Great, Logan thought glumly.

“Oh shit. Bear.” Sophie grabbed his arm to halt him.

“Where?” Logan reflexively pulled her close into his side and followed the point of her finger to the boulder-sized silhouette at the side of the lane up ahead.

Two eyes glowed. It didn’t seem to have the hump of a grizzly, but it was big enough to be a cranky brown bear with cubs, even though he didn’t see those, either.

“We’re going this way,” he called out, shoving Sophie behind him as he sidled up his own driveway. “You keep doing your own thing over there.”

Sophie flashed her light at it a few times while they gained the higher ground of his driveway.

The bear turned away and crashed into the bushes, going the opposite direction. They turned and hurried up to the house, not talking because they were both listening to be sure the bear didn’t change its mind and come back this way.

“I’ll post that on the community page.” Sophie tapped her phone as soon as they were inside.

“Did someone leave garbage out?” Logan asked.

“No, there are berries there. He’s just being a bear.”

“I left the truck down at the shop. I can’t give you a lift home.”

“I’ll walk in a little while.”

“You will not.” God, this woman sometimes. “There are several beds here. Call Art and tell him you’re going to stay in one of them.”

“I love how you think you’re the boss of me.”

“I am literally the boss of you. Do you want a beer?”

“Thanks.” She brought her phone to her ear and said, “It’s me. I just saw a bear at the end of our driveway so I’m at Logan’s. I’ll walk home—No, Gramps. I’ll walk—No. It’s a bear, Gramps. Not a cougar. Okay, yes, you’re right. Okay. Logan said I could stay here. Okay? Okay. That’s what I’ll do, then. I love you. Good night. Oh my gawd.” She ended the call. “He’s on his way to bed but wanted to come get me with his Gator. That thing can’t outrun Biyen, let alone a bear.”

“So you had the same argument with him that I had just had with you? How did it feel?”

“Oh bite me.” She accepted the beer and followed him outside where they sank into a pair of loungers facing the water and starlit sky.

“Are you afraid someone will say something about your spending the night here? Is that why you don’t want to stay?”

“Afraid? No. I expect it. Which is not cool for Biyen, but I’ll explain.” She picked at the label on her bottle.

Right then, if he could have gone back and taken her away from this place when he’d had the chance, he would have. He hated that she couldn’t escape the history he’d inadvertently caused her.

“The worst part is, I have this passive-aggressive bitchiness in me that says, If they think I’m up here fucking you, I might as well be doing it.” She didn’t look at him, only took a long gulp from her bottle, but he sensed her side-eye.

“Wow.”

“Oh, don’t pretend we haven’t both been thinking about it since you saw my ass earlier.”

His brain briefly flatlined. He absolutely had, but he wasn’t going to admit it.

“You drive me crazy, Logan. You make me absolutely fucking nuts. But what am I supposed to do? Let you use me again? Use you just because I haven’t had sex in four years?”

“Sophie—” Did she think he was doing any better over here? “Sure. Yes. Use me. Do it. Nothing would make me happier than for you to hate-fuck me as part of a bigger fuck-you to this place.”

She turned her head to stare at him.

“I’m serious. Not because I want sex.” He definitely wanted sex. “But because it would mean you were hitting me back. I could quit feeling like such an asshole about what I did to you.”

She looked out to the water.

“But don’t do it,” he said more quietly. “I am trying really hard not to fuck up this…” Civility? Ha. Camaraderie? “Ceasefire that we’ve found. I don’t want you to be angry with me anymore.”

“I’m not. That’s what makes me so nuts. I want to hate you and I can’t. No matter how hard I try.”

A huge weight lifted off him, one that allowed him to take a full breath for the first time since he’d arrived back here. Cold prickles of caution danced through his blood, though. Do not fuck this up.

Chapter Thirteen

Was she disappointed that Logan didn’t join her when she showered, or when she put on the T-shirt he loaned her and went to sleep in the bed in Storm’s room?

Yes. Much to her chagrin, she was quietly devastated that he didn’t even try. At least if he had made an advance, she could have shut him down. Or shared the blame with him for any weakness she showed.

Now that he was becoming noble, she had even less reason to hate him and more to like. Jerk.

After tossing and turning, she rose early and ran home through the dewy grass.

“What are you doing here?” Gramps asked when he got up to find her scrambling eggs and toasting sourdough.

“Making sure you’re not eating canned peaches for breakfast.”

“I’ll eat them after you’re gone if I want them.”

“You’ll be too full,” she assured him, filling two plates, then pouring each of them a coffee.

“This is nice, Sophie. Thank you.” He sat down with her at the table. “I don’t often get you to myself. When is Biyen home?”

“Tomorrow afternoon.”