“I was working. I finished school and I started Stark Software. It was really intense. The programming was just the start. And then contracts started rolling in. I’ve barely looked up from my computer for the last four years.” It had been a whole lot of hard work, but everything was in place now. He could breathe a little.
“It was funny. I rather think we all believed you would move out here after college, or at the very least spend some time with Logan. That first summer you didn’t show up was a surprise.”
Whoa. He’d always thought of Henry as the father he wanted, but now he was sounding way dad-like with the guilt tripping. “Granddad died. My dad sold the place right out from under me. I think granddad thought that my father would do the right thing and keep it in the family, give me a chance to make some money and buy it, but Dad sold the cabin two days after we buried him. I’ve been working my ass off so I could come home in style.”
“I don’t think anyone was worried about style, Seth,” Henry murmured. “We just wanted you home. I think Logan’s felt abandoned.”
“You wouldn’t know it. Henry, it’s not like I didn’t call. I called at least once a week, and then eighteen months ago he stopped talking to me. Oh, he would answer the phone, but I got nothing out of him. The only way I knew he’d been in the hospital was Momma Marie called me.”
“But you didn’t come to visit.” Everything Henry said was with an even, calm tone.
“He told me not to.”
“And you listened to him?”
“He promised me he would come to New York and then he went to Dallas instead. God, Henry, I didn’t know how bad it was. When Marie talked to me about it, she said he’d been in a work-related incident.”
Henry’s eyes went slightly cold, and Seth could see that John Bishop was still in there, buried deep. “Marie has a habit of understating things. He was brutalized. He was tortured for hours by a member of the Russian mob, and I think it broke him in ways not even he understands. I was very happy to hear he’s been working with a therapist. That’s why he went to Dallas.”
He’d known it was bad. He’d suspected Marie was understating it. Why hadn’t he come home? “I know. Jamie called me when some guy named Wolf wanted to set everything up. Logan was supposed to go there on some sort of payment plan, but I didn’t want him to have to worry about money. I paid for his membership at some club that the therapist insisted on. A BDSM club. Apparently the therapist uses BDSM to help control impulse issues. I’ve been studying up on it, actually. I’ve been to a Manhattan club.”
Henry watched him for a moment. “I wouldn’t pick you for a lifestyler.”
“I probably wouldn’t be but Logan needs it, and I think the woman I love needs it, too.”
Henry pointed at him triumphantly. “Ah, there’s your plan. I knew it would be in there somewhere.”
Damn it. Why did that make it sound cheap? “It’s not a plan. I’m just trying to bring us together.”
“Let me see if I can guess what’s going on here. You’ve found a woman you like.”
“I’ve found a woman I love,” Seth corrected.
“Fine. You’ve found a woman you love, and you’re ready to move on but you want the ménage you’ve always dreamed of and Logan’s not where he needs to be. So lucky you. You manage to find a naturally submissive woman. Logan is a trained Dominant male. You intend to ask him to teach you how to top your girlfriend. Are you going to give him rights to her body?”
Guilt was gnawing at him. It sounded a little dirty when Henry put it like that. But it was going to work. It had to work. “Yes. It won’t work if he doesn’t have sex with Georgia.”
“Sex could bind them together. For the female, it will be very difficult for her not to fall for him.”
He was a little sick of feeling like the bad guy. It brought out the beast in him. “Oh, Henry, you see this is where you’ve underestimated me. You want to make me the villain? You haven’t gone far enough. Georgia knows Logan. She spent time with him six months ago, and I believe they fell for each other then, but his mental state kept them apart. Well, that and her deep stubborn streak. I was lucky enough to find her. I intended to simply hire her and keep her safe for Logan, but I took one look at that blonde with her bratty mouth and her soft heart and I knew I would keep her for myself if I had to. Six months. I’ve kept my hands off her for six months until the time became right for me to bring us all here and under one roof. I will maneuver them both into a situation where they are living together, sleeping together, playing together, and I will get what I want in the end.”
A slow smile crossed Henry’s face. “There’s the Seth I expected. It’s an interesting play. Where do you fit? If Logan is the Dom and this Georgia is the sub, what is your role? How do you know that once you manage to get them together, they won’t need you anymore? Ah, there’s the rub.”
Henry had gotten really obnoxious since he hit forty. John Bishop hadn’t talked this much. Of course, John Bishop had also tried to kill him once, but Seth had been cock blocking the man, so he understood.
“It won’t happen.”
“It could happen. You could end up feeling like the second dick or worse, just the guy they keep around because they feel guilty.”
This hadn’t gone down the way he’d hoped. He utterly lost his appetite. Seth felt his body flush, and he took a deep breath to banish the unwanted emotions that threatened to take over. “Well, I can see what you think of me. Uhm, I’m going to get back home. Give Nell my love.”
Henry’s hand shot out, grabbing Seth before he could stand. “Don’t. I know you thought you could walk back in here and everything would be roses and moonlight, but if you want to live here, if you want to be a part of this family, you’re going to have to change your expectations. I know you think of me as a father figure.”
This was the part of the day where he would normally tell whoever was making him feel like crap to fuck off and walk away. If it had been his biological father, he certainly would have done that. “If you don’t want me to bother you anymore, Henry, I won’t.”
“See, this is what I’m talking about. The minute you come against something you can’t barrel your way through, you drop it like a hot potato. Stop. Take your little boy hat off and listen to me. You think of me as a father figure and I love you like a son. That means I’m going to poke at you and try to make you the best you can possibly be. It’s what parents do. I’m worried about this. I’m not worried that you won’t have a place in this relationship you want. I’m worried that you won’t see it. You get so damn caught up in a problem that you don’t see the emotional ramifications of what will happen when you get what you want. You’re obsessive and you tend to let the rest of the world fall away when you’re focused. I think this could be very good for you. I think you and Logan have always balanced each other, and you two got into serious trouble when you no longer had the other to count on. You drifted into your work and he could not cope with having his innocence stripped away. You two need each other. Don’t look at this like one of your plots, Seth. It’s too important.”
“It’s everything,” Seth concurred, relief flooding his system. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d come to depend on Henry being there. “Henry, I understand what you’re saying and I appreciate it. I’ll think about it, but I think we all need this.”
“All right.” Henry sat back. “Looks like breakfast is here. Scrambled tofu and veggies. Damn. Nothing gets a morning started like that.”
The waitress put a plate in front of Seth, but he had to force himself to eat. As Henry started talking about everything that was going on around the county, all Seth could see was Logan, battered and bruised. What if he was wrong? What if he didn’t understand what the problem really was? What if love couldn’t cure Logan?
Chapter Seven
Georgia stuck her head out of the door and wasn’t immediately assaulted by a giant raging beast.
It was the first thing that had gone right all day long.
r /> She stepped out on to the deck that faced the river. Wow. She wasn’t all nature girl, but there was no way to not find that view spectacular. The river was wide and the sound of it rushing by was soothing. It was the sound that had put her to sleep the night before.
It wasn’t like she’d never camped in her life. Her brothers had loved camping, and despite the fact that she’d been so young and had gotten into trouble a lot, Win always made sure she came along. At first she’d thought he felt guilty about everyone else getting to go because her brothers all went together, but later she learned that he’d left her behind once and when he’d gotten back her nanny was in bed with their father and she hadn’t been fed in two days. He’d never allowed her to be alone again.
She felt alone now. Was she always going to be that kid other people had to look out for? A burden. An afterthought.
Seth and Logan had practically run out the door this morning as though they couldn’t stand being there with all the tension between them.
Jerks. If they’d stayed, they would have gotten her world-class frittatas. She’d offered to make breakfast, but they had both turned a little green and went running out the door. Seth had a housekeeper in New York and when she’d known Logan, they had been at a resort. Neither man knew she could cook, and it looked like it might stay that way. She’d cooked her own breakfast, read the manual for the single-cup coffeemaker, had some awesome coffee, cleaned up, and then decided to bake some cookies because she was bored out of her mind. She had a horrible sweet tooth and baking soothed both her need for sweets and her nerves. She liked the kitchen. It was big and had every type of tool she could possibly want. Whoever Seth had hired to fill the place had known what she was doing.
After clearing up all of Seth’s e-mail and requesting some changes to the quarterly reports, she’d stuck her head in the fridge, found a whole chicken and dressed it with garlic and basil and stuffed it in a Crock-Pot for dinner. It was an old trick she’d learned in college. If she could get a chicken in early enough, it would be tender and perfect by the time dinner came around. There were potatoes in the pantry, and at three o’clock she’d peeled them and cut them and put them in the pot. She’d found fresh asparagus and steamed it with some garlic and citrus and made homemade biscuits, cut with a juice glass because the only thing she couldn’t find was a biscuit cutter. She’d grown up in LA, but their longtime cook had been born in New Orleans. Georgia had spent long hours of her life with Rene in the kitchens learning how to make roux and properly shuck oysters.
She’d spent the day wandering around because no one had come home and no one had called her to ask her to meet them. It was like they had forgotten she existed. At least in New York she had a job to do. She had a purpose. Here all she had was her e-reader. She’d restarted J.R. Ward’s books, organized her makeup, hung up her clothes, and wondered what the hell she was really doing here.
She wondered if they would even try her meal. Logan probably wouldn’t. He’d made it plain that she wasn’t good for much, and she’d probably reinforced the idea because she could be nasty when she felt threatened.
She’d gotten dressed in her nicest jeans with the most bling on the butt, her Elie Tahari blouse and new Gucci boots, and placed her brown sugar blondie cookies in a basket and headed out to meet the neighbors.
She stopped, staring at the cabin next door. She didn’t have long before dinner was done, but she didn’t know when Seth and Logan would be back. She didn’t even know if they would be back. Maybe they would have dinner somewhere else and she would be alone tonight.
What was she doing? She didn’t live here. Seth lived here apparently. Logan definitely lived here. She was just passing through. So why did she have the most insane urge to make a good impression?
Because these people mattered to Seth and Logan. Because even if they didn’t really care about her, she cared about them.
She looked back at the door. She should go inside and hide. She didn’t belong here.
What was that? A footprint?
It was there on the side of the deck, a thick muddy print. She moved across the deck and stared down at it. It wasn’t Seth’s. He’d been wearing size thirteen Louis Vuitton loafers. These were much smaller. Maybe a men’s nine. Logan was a ridiculously overgrown fifteen. No way it matched him. The print was round and curved in the middle before coming back out and rounding at the back. Sneaker. There was a second print, but it was only of the toe and pointed right under the big window that graced the living area. Someone had gone up on their toes, right foot dangling off the deck, as they tried to look into the cabin.
Maybe it was a worker. Seth had mentioned that the place had just been finished.
Yeah, that had to be it.
Except it felt wrong. She shouldn’t follow her instincts. Did she even have instincts? Usually her instincts were about men and sex, and they were almost always wrong. But it wouldn’t hurt anything to look around. The tracks came from the yard, and apparently the ground was soft enough that the imprint was still there. Had it rained in the last couple of days?
The tracks ran off to the west. It couldn’t hurt to follow them. They likely led to the driveway. Except they didn’t. She could see clearly where the tracks led back to the river. Someone had walked up to the cabin from the river.
“Hey, baby.” Seth walked around the house. She hadn’t heard the car pull up.
This morning she’d discovered that he’d had an Escalade purchased and waiting for him in the drive. The keys had been on the bar. She’d walked him out to the car because she’d kind of been hoping he’d take her with him, but all that had happened was he’d found a nasty note about the vehicle’s fuel efficiency taped to the windshield. She’d been offended, but he’d just smiled and folded the note up and shoved it in his pocket like it had been a love letter.
Logan’s truck was parked in the garage. He’d gotten a ride in from Seth. Apparently he would be coming home in a county vehicle.
“Hi.” She felt so damn awkward. What the hell did a girl say to a man who was her boss and had also made some sort of plans for them to become boyfriend and girlfriend in the future? She kind of wished he’d given her an exact date. She nodded toward the comfy-looking cottage next door. “I’m going over to say hi to the neighbors. I baked some cookies for them. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
He practically leapt onto the deck. “No. Oh, Georgia, honey, that’s not a good idea.” He tugged the basket out of her hands. “That’s Nell and Henry’s place. They are total vegans. They don’t eat cookies. I’ll just set these aside for me and Logan. Now, how about you get ready and we’ll head into town and have dinner and drinks.”
“I made dinner.”
She flushed with embarrassment as he obviously tried to figure out how to get out of eating at home. She could see the way his brain was trying to find any possible out.
“You did? Well, that’s really great. Uhm. I thought we would go into town.”
She heard the crunch of gravel this time and didn’t wait around to hear all the reasons Seth didn’t even want to try her food.
Logan parked his massive SUV. It was another Escalade, but it had county colors on it and was emblazoned with the words Bliss County Sheriff’s Department and had a set of lights on the top. “Dude, is this your doing? Because this ride is so fucking boss.”
Seth walked out behind her. He’d stashed her cookies somewhere because his hands were empty. “I thought the county could use an upgrade. I bought four and donated them to Nate. He was pretty happy with me. I might be able to avoid a ticket for a week or two. I’ve heard the dude is crabby.”
The two met in the middle and slapped hands and then did that guy thing where they halfway hugged and then proceeded to beat the hell out of each other’s backs. She stood in the background, completely ignored.
They started talking about everything that had happened during the day as they walked back toward the house. The tension from the night before seemed to have
passed, and it was easy to see that they had been friends for a long time. Seth reached out for her hand, but he let her go without a protest when she stepped back.
They walked into the cabin, neither of them bothered by the muddy footprints on the deck. She probably shouldn’t be either. She frowned when she saw that Seth had set her basket behind the woodpile like he was trying to hide it. She picked it up and followed them inside.
Logan’s hat was on the bar, and Seth had set his keys down. Seth had the refrigerator open and passed Logan a beer.
“So I thought we could talk a little tonight. Maybe head into town. You said there was a new tavern, right?” Seth asked.
“Trio,” Logan replied. “It’s Callie’s place.”
Seth smiled. “We grew up with Callie. She’s a complete sweetheart, Georgia. You’re going to love her.”
She bet she would. She bet that if Callie had cooked dinner for them, they wouldn’t be planning how to get out of eating it. She just nodded and sat down at the bar. They didn’t seem to need her input.
“What exactly is it you want to talk about?” Logan asked, his voice tightening.
Seth set his beer down and took a long breath. “I want to talk about D/s.”
She heard him vaguely, but her mind was wandering. Guys changed when they got around other guys. Seth had been so sweet when they had been in New York. She’d felt like the center of the world. She didn’t need to be the center of everything, but she hated this feeling, like she wasn’t in on the joke. Or worse, like she was the butt of the joke. She got that a lot. Guys could be great when a girl was alone with them, but sometimes when a guy got with his friends, he changed. Seth seemed to be changing.
“Georgia?” Logan was staring at her, a serious look in his eyes.
“What?”
“Are you sure you want to go along with this?” Logan asked. “What he’s asking for is some serious shit. It would be very serious for me.”
Serious? Shit. What had she missed? Did she want to admit she’d drifted off? Wouldn’t that just make her look that much dumber? Stall them, Georgia. Maybe she could figure it out. “Sure. Uhm, why don’t you go over it again while I get the plates out for dinner?”