Page 26 of He Has Santa

She laughs, but it’s a nervous laugh and I take a deep breath against the unease.

“Too late,” she says, but I’m not sure what she means. She pulls away and heads for the door. “I’ll go and let you dress.”

“No need.” I jump from bed and grab my shorts to ease her discomfort, my wood all but gone. “Let me see you out. Give you a proper good-bye.” She shrugs into her coat and I follow her past the door to the garage to the front door.

“Hey wait a minute, I drove you—”

“I got an Uber. It’ll be here in two minutes. I… had a great time.”

“Great time? How about monumental?” I quirk my mouth into a smile and she nods her head, a pink flush spreads on her face. “That’s more like it.”

“Logan, I don’t know what to say, where to go from here.”

“Don’t overthink it. I’m not going anywhere—except I do have a trip to the west coast for a string of away games coming up. We’ll talk when I come back. We’ll go to the Brawlers Holiday Festival. It’s in two weeks. Nicky will love it.”

She nods and I step outside with her into the freezing cold in my boxers. She laughs a real Junie laugh.

“What are you doing? Trying to torture your poor little—”

“Don’t call him little, not even when he’s shrunk to microscopic.” She laughs more and I shiver, but it’s worth it to see her happy, to see that sadness gone even if she is still unsure about us.

Her car pulls up and I give her a quick kiss before she runs down the walk as if she’s escaping.

“I’ll text you,” I say. She jumps in the car without looking back.

Well hell. Maybe she is trying to escape. Maybe all she wanted was a quick one-nighter from me.

Maybe one night doesn’t change anything and she’s still mourning her husband, still someone else’s Junie. Still no more than the mother of my child.

Nicky. Did we just make a big mistake?

CHAPTER 12

JUNIE

I hope to hell we didn’t make a big mistake by letting our hormones get the best of us. Genie’s out of the bottle and he doesn’t want to put it back inside—or maybe he does.

If our texting back and forth during his west coast trip is any hint, the genie is only getting hotter to get back inside. But I’m torn. Our chemistry feels like a runaway train that’s going to crash and burn and what would that do to Nicky—and us—if it does?

Sorting through the tangle of lust and emotions is impossible and it’s killing me—not to mention killing this cake batter because I’ve just over mixed it into a frothy mess, losing track of where I am and what I’m doing. It’s early morning, too early for a text from Logan and he’s returning tomorrow. My heart speeds up, palpitating at just the thought of his return. I look up at the clock again. “Shit.” I say out loud to no one because I’m alone at the Tilt-aWhirl. It’s my day to do the early morning baking and open the place at seven a.m. for the morning coffee and pastry crowd. Though it’s only five a.m. and too early at to have a civil conversation with anyone, I pull out my phone and pray Sharon will forgive me.

“Are you kidding me?” Those are her words when she answers her phone on the fourth ring. She yawns as I apologize and then she adds, “Wait, is everything alright? What’s wrong?”

“If I wanted a worry wart, I’d have called my mother. I’m fine. Sort of.” I sigh deeply. Not at all. But I’m a lousy liar and I can hear her shuffling, probably to her kitchen to get coffee. I decide to wait until she’s had a sip before I unload on her. Besides, do I even know what to say? I had mind-blowing sex with Logan that transported me back to the most blissful time of my life and now I’m scared doesn’t sound right.

In fact, it would make me sound like a nutcase, like I should be calling a therapist instead of my best friend. She’ll only laugh at me, accuse me of being the same old scaredy-cat I always was and that she’s disappointed because she thought I’d grown up since high school and got over my stupid insecurities.

Or maybe it’s me who’s disappointed.

“Okay. Got my coffee. Let’s hear it. I bet it’s about Logan.”

I pause a beat, chew my bottom lip and make up my mind. “Sure. He’s invited me and Nicky to the Brawlers Holiday Festival and I don’t know what to wear. To make him hot for me.” Now there’s a longer pause.

“Are you shitting me? That’s why you called at … five-fifteen in the fucking morning. Pardon my language, but—”

“You’re right. It’s stupid. I’m stupid. One night with Logan and I’ve regressed six years in maturity level. I can handle him. I can handle his notoriety. I can handle whatever girls throw themselves at me because he proved that he cares, proved that he’s matured too, didn’t he?” I take a deep breath.

“If you say so… wait, back up to the part where you spent the night with Logan—”