He didn’t respond and she couldn’t read his face. Part of him looked sad, the other part looked amused. They stood there in a standoff for a few moments until Logan took a step closer to her.
“That shirt looks better on you than it ever did on me.” Logan said, giving her half a smile with his head tilted as he looked down at her. Caroline paused and then realized what he was talking about, causing her face to turn bright red. She had completely forgotten that not only had she stolen his shirt, but she had worn it to bed last night and was still wearing it now.
She didn’t even know why she had stolen it, all she knew is that the smell of him against her skin had been the best part of her night and was the sole cause for the amazing night’s sleep that she had. She pulled down at the bottom of the shirt, trying to cover herself further. She was blushing wildly and cursing at herself in her mind.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Caroline didn’t know what else to say, she certainly couldn’t explain it to him since she couldn’t explain it to herself either. She had stolen the man’s shirt. There really wasn’t any coming back from that kind of embarrassment.
“I was wondering where I had left that shirt.” He told her, this time chuckling and smiling, taking another step closer to her. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest when he took that step and her nervousness was clouding her head.
“I’ll be right back, I shouldn’t be standing here in nothing. Hold on.” She said very quickly and then slid around him, heading into her bedroom. He had tried to reach out to her but she had slickly avoided his grasp and skated past him. She shut the bedroom door behind her and rested her back against it for a moment, calming her breathing. She couldn’t believe he was here, that he had just showed up! Why was he here? Where was his girlfriend? She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, she had no idea what she was going to do. She liked this guy, but he had a girlfriend and Caroline isn’t that type of girl. Or am I? She thought for a moment then smacked herself and assured herself that she was not.
She stepped forward and grabbed a pair of leggings that was on the end of her bed and pulled them on under the shirt. She quickly slipped on a bra and some socks and then pulled her hair up into a ponytail. She glanced at herself in the mirror, she looked like she was heading off to yoga or something. Exactly what she was going for, she didn’t want to look like she was dressing up for him or like she cared. He had a girlfriend after all. She closed her eyes as she grabbed the door knob to her bedroom door and just repeated girlfriend, girlfriend, girlfriend in her head. She couldn’t let herself forget. Logan has a girlfriend.
She walked into the living room where Logan was lounging up against her window seat, holding her sketch pad in his hands. He looked up at her and smiled, causing her to pause in her steps because his smile was just electrifying.
“You drew these?” He asked her inquisitively, pointing to the picture she had sketched earlier of the older woman. She blushed, she didn’t usually show her sketches to anyone.
“Yes, I drew that this morning. Do you normally have a habit of rifling through people’s things?” She asked indignantly, trying again to gain the upper hand by putting on a mask of confidence. She reached out her hand demandingly, insisting he hand it back to her. He complied and passed it to her, smiling.
“I don’t think you are in a position to talk about touching other people’s things,” Logan laughed and pointed at his shirt, that she was still wearing. She bit her lip and grinned. He got her there. The two stood there silently for a moment, Caroline squeezing the sketch pad in her hands.
“So, what do you want? Why are you here?” Caroline asked him, looking up cautiously at him with her chin dipped down. Logan took a step towards her so she straightened up and looked him square in the face. He stopped and stared at her for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts.
“I didn’t mean for last night to end the way it did. I want to explain.” He started.
“There is no need to explain anything to me. You have a girlfriend, Gina seems lovely. I hope you two are happy together.” Caroline said, rolling her eyes at him. She was trying to be the bigger person, but she definitely sounded sarcastic. Okay, so she wasn’t trying all that hard to be the bigger person.
“No, Caroline, that’s not… look, I know it didn’t go well. But, Gina and I have been over for years. We barely tolerate being around each other. At least, I can barely tolerate being around her. She is not the woman for me.” Logan told her.
“If you two are over, why did you call her your girlfriend. I saw you kiss her, for God’s sake. I mean, it’s one thing to have embarrassed me like that last night but then you come here and want to lie to me? Wow, you really are a typical rock star, huh? Just use people and then toss them aside. I think it is time for you to leave now,” Caroline said angrily, pointing towards her front door. Logan didn’t move.
“Caroline, she is my manager. She controls pretty much everything about my life. I can’t just break up with her without losing a shit ton of money. Plus she is a vengeful person, she would destroy me. With all of her music business connections, she would take me from A-lister to someone who can’t even get a show in Las Vegas. It’s just complicated, but I don’t love her. It’s just business.” Logan explained to her, trying to sound convincing.
He knew that this wasn’t going over well, there was really no way to explain who Gina was. He had to try though. Meeting Caroline had changed his life, something about her smile and even her squinting, angry eyes were overwhelming him in a way he had never experienced. She drove him crazy and frustrated him, but he couldn’t help seeing past that wall she put up to the tender and vulnerable girl behind. She was so beautiful, intoxicating, and he knew he couldn’t let her fall through his hands.
“I don’t need to hear it, Logan. She is your girlfriend, nothing else matters to me. I am not that kind of girl. Just go.” Caroline walked to the front door and opened it for him.
“Caroline, I know you are not.” Logan began to sound like he was begging, he walked towards her and grabbed her arms and pulling him towards her. She let go of the door and let him pull her against him. She was trying to stay angry but his skin against hers was like electric heat. He pulled her against him tighter and all she could think was how intoxicating he smelled, a mixture of shower gel and paint. Odd but delicious, it was making her head spin. Her knees went a bit weak and she couldn’t help but lean into him.
“Caroline, you did something to me. When I met you that morning in the coffee shop, something changed in me. I hadn’t realized how unhappy I was until I looked into your eyes and saw what happiness could be. The rest of the week, you were all I could think about. Every day all I could think is how I want to be waking up next to you, not Gina. She and I fight nonstop, she acts like I have to wait on her every need and do everything that she says. I’m not her boyfriend, I’m her hostage. I can’t break up with her because she will ruin my career. She has threatened to multiple times. I don’t know what to do. I had just given up and accepted that that was my life, but then you walked into that coffee shop and shoved all my papers to the side along with the rest of my life!”
Caroline blushed, smiling as she remembered the first time that they met. She felt so warm and perfect in his arms, like they had been made just for her. She looked up into his eyes, those piercing and deep, blue eyes that she just gets lost in.
“I can’t accept that that is my life anymore. I don’t want to go through each day dreading coming home, dreading seeing Gina every day. You have been my every thought for days, I don’t want to lose this. I know I screwed up last night, I am such a jerk. I had no idea what I was doing and I just panicked. Can’t we try this again?” Logan said softly, touching his forehead to hers. Caroline’s breathing became shallow as she felt him breathing against her cheek.
“Logan.” Caroline whispered, almost in a whine. “Don’t do this to me. You have a girlfriend. I can’t be the other woman. I don’t’ want to be with you.”
She looked up into his eyes, down at his full and perfect lips, and then back at his eyes. She felt her stomach flip flopping in her abdomen.
“You don’t mean that. Caroline, you know there is something here. I can see it in those beautiful hazel eyes, God Caroline, your eyes are intoxicating.” He whispered, pulling her closer to him.
His arms wrapped tighter around her waist and he leaned into her pressing his lips against hers. She didn’t even bother trying to stop him, she wanted it too. Her mind went completely blank as her hands came up and locked behind his head. Their lips refused to part as they fell deeper and deeper into their kiss, losing track of time and everything around them. All she could think about was how perfect he felt against her.
Every reason to say no was gone and all that was left was the undeniable chemistry between them. Logan kicked the front door closed and then lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her into the bedroom. He gently dropped her on the bed and climbed on top of her.
Caroline stared into his eyes that had turned a smoldering dark, blue color and she shivered with intrigue and excitement. He leaned down and kissed her again, their hips pressed together and their arms wrapped around one another. The moment was heating up by the second and the two were completely lost in one another.
RING RING! RING RING!
Caroline jumped as the phone rang, startling her. They both looked towards the phone on her nightstand and then back at one another. He smiled at her and then kissed her again, they had both agreed to just ignore the phone because this moment was too important to let pass. Caroline smiled in their kiss and ran her fingers through his hair.
The phone continued to ring for another minute and then switched over to voicemail, making a few clicking sounds. Caroline’s voice came on the voicemail with her greeting telling people to leave a message at the beep. She couldn’t help but blush when she heard it, she always thought her voice sounded like a four year-old voice’s through the phone.
She hoped Logan wasn’t listening to it, but then she doubted he was because she could physically feel how distracted he was against her. The answering machine beeped and Aralia’s voice loudly rang out through the speakers.
“Caroline! Get your ass out of bed. I know you are probably moping because of that jackass Logan, so I think we need to go out tonight and just get drunk, hit on hot guys, and forget all about that jerk. You don’t need him, I mean what kind of asshole hits on you when he has a girlfriend. You are way too good for that guy, you are nobodies other woman! Anyhow, girlie, give me a call back soon- I want to be dancing up against strangers tonight!”
The phone then beeped and the room went silent. When Aralia had begun talking about Logan, the two of them had frozen in place. Both staring into each other’s eyes while listening to the message. Logan sat up and swung his feet off the bed. Caroline sat up behind him and pulled her knees up to her chest. The two were silent. Logan dropped his head and sighed.
“I’m sorry, Car.” Logan sighed again, pushing his hair back with his hand. He turned to look at her.
“You deserve better than this. I shouldn’t of come here.” he said. Caroline nodded, not really meaning it.
“Logan, she is right. I don’t want to be the other woman. We shouldn’t have even done this. You have a girlfriend.” Caroline said, shaking her head. The two were silent again for a few minutes. Logan turned and moved back onto the bed, laying his arm across her legs.
“Caroline, I want to be with you. You want to be with me too.” he whispered, his other hand brushing some stray hair out of her face.
“Are you going to break up with Gina?” Caroline said, looking up into his eyes. Her thoughts were begging him to say yes, just waiting to hear it come out of his mouth. That he would pick her, that she meant that much to him. He was silent for a moment and his hand dropped from her face. He looked down.
“I can’t.” He said simply, hanging his head, feeling ashamed. Caroline could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and a knot building in her chest.
“Get out.” She said softly, trying to hide the shaking in her voice. Her knees were pulled tighter against her chest and she leaned her chin on them, refusing to look up at him.
Logan squeezed her leg softly, leaned over and kissed her forehead, then stood up. He adjusted his shirt and then walked toward her bedroom door. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at her, pausing there. She still wouldn’t look up at him.
“Caroline, please, don’t throw us away. You know there is something here.” Logan said, his hand against the door post. She didn’t say anything. She knew if she opened her mouth right now, she would just start crying. So, she just sat there looking down at her feet, concentrating really hard on keeping the tears from rolling down her face.
Logan stood there for another moment, but then realized that he wasn’t going to get a response from her. He hung his head and shook it, then pushed his hair back out of his face. He glanced at her one more time and then walked out. A few moments later, Caroline heard the front door open and then close. She stopped holding her breath and let the tears drip down her cheeks.
She just sat there and sobbed for about five minutes until she could finally get her breathing under control. She laid back in bed, stretching herself out and staring up at the ceiling. She couldn’t cry anymore, there was just no more tears coming. She breathed deeply and just allowed herself to be quiet and do nothing.
Her thoughts were rushing at her like boulders rolling down a hill. She couldn’t even begin to wrap her brain around the last hour. Logan Clay had just been in her apartment. One of the most famous rock stars of her time had not only been standing in her living room but had pretty much confessed his love for her. Okay, so she knew she was getting ahead of herself.
He didn’t say he loved her, but it certainly felt that way. He had kissed her. She had just kissed Logan Clay. Logan Clay had just been in her bed! Kissing her! She felt like she had just woken up from a dream and that it had never actually happened. It just was so unbelievable. Caroline was nothing special, at least that is what she always told herself. She certainly wasn’t a celebrity. Her family was rich but she lived a pretty average life. She had never met a celebrity before Logan and she didn’t ever think she would. She didn’t live in that world, but she had just been kissing one of Hollywood’s most famous bachelors.
Caroline rolled off the bed, sitting on the edge. She grabbed at the phone on the table and dialed Aralia’s number, waiting for her to pick up. The moment Aralia answered the phone, Caroline chimed in without giving her a second to talk.
“Aralia, we are going out. Put on your glitter stilettos because this is going to be an insane night we will never remember.” Caroline said to her friend with a chuckle at the end. Then Caroline just hung up the phone without giving Aralia even one chance to say anything. Caroline immediately stood up and walked over to the closet and started pulling things out and tossing them on the bed. It was a Sunday but she didn’t care, tonight was going to be a party night. It was early afternoon at this point, but she knew of several good weekend happy hours to get the day started.
After a few more minutes, Caroline found an assortment of clothes that she liked. She had picked out a short silver skirt that hit her mid-thigh and showed off a lot of leg. Her top was sheer and a light pink, almost blush, color that was very light and flowing. A tighter camisole underneath showed off her curves under the sheer top. Her hair was freshly washed and blown into soft curls down her shoulders and her shoes were pink stilettos that gave her an extra five inches and lifted her in all the right places.
Caroline gave herself the once over in the floor length mirror in her bathroom and twirled around. Smiling, she was pleased with herself and couldn’t help but thinking that Logan was really going to miss out on something great. Her emotions were continuously bouncing between being angry at him, thinking he was an idiot, to missing him and wishing her fantasy could come true. Caroline sighed at herself i
n the mirror, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and walked out of the bathroom. Logan was not going to cross her mind again tonight, she vowed to herself.
Chapter Seven
Caroline opened her eyes trying to figure out what the sharp, piercing sound was. She was staring at her bedroom ceiling and turned her head to the side to look at the clock. She grimaced as she realized her head was pounding and that the simple motion of turning her head had been like marbles were rattling around in her skull. She squinted at the clock until it finally came into focus, then her eyes flew open and she jumped straight up out of bed.
“CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!” Caroline kept repeating to herself as she jumped around her bedroom throwing her stuff in a bag and changing clothes.
Her clock said 10:37am which was over an hour and a half past the time that she was supposed to be at work. Caroline was still wearing her party outfit from last night, her makeup was a bit smeared and way over the top for business casual, and her hair was pointing in every direction except the right one. She was mentally kicking herself for being so stupid to go out on a Sunday night and drink so much.
The night had been great though, she couldn’t deny that. There was a point into the evening that everything was spotty in her memory afterwards but up until that point, she and Aralia had really enjoyed themselves. She even remembered dancing with several different men last night, and possibly even a little more. She and Aralia had done shots most of the night, which is why she had gotten drunk so quickly. Usually she was a wine or beer kind of girl, but last night had been all about the hard liquor.
Caroline finished getting dressed for work and rushed out of her bedroom. She was looking around for her purse in the kitchen when she heard a noise in the living room. She poked her head around the corner to peak into the living room.