One Night With Her Ex: The One That Got Away / The Man From her Wayward Past / The Ex Who Hired Her. Kate Hardy
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watched him from the corner of their eyes. Watched him because he was black-eyed and beautiful and sexuality clung to him like a second skin.
He stood as she approached. He took her hand and leaned closer and kissed her cheek and then withdrew. ‘First date,’ he murmured. ‘Easy as. That’s what I’m aiming for,’ he added and sat back down after she sat, and placed an elegant square box, about the size of her hand, on the table between them. ‘I couldn’t find any black-eyed daisies or paper parasols.’
The lid came off and the sides of the box folded down to reveal a life-sized origami hummingbird sipping from a bell-shaped flower.
‘It’s beautiful.’ Evie leaned closer for a better look, not game to touch it, so delicate was the detail. ‘Exquisite. But you didn’t get this from Papua New Guinea.’ This was a museum-quality offering, not a last-minute little something from a handy airport gift shop.
‘No.’ He gave a small shrug. ‘I got it today. I know I cut you short on the phone the other day, Evangeline. It was unavoidable. I know I should have called you back. I just didn’t know what to say.’
‘It’s okay, Logan. I don’t know what I want from you either.’ And it was far easier to say that in person than on the phone. Evie boxed the gift back up with gentle fingers and set it on top of her handbag in the far corner of the bench seat, far away from where the food would be placed. ‘Thank you for your gorgeous gift.’
Logan shrugged, shrugging it off. Don’t make such a fuss over it, he might as well have said. Doesn’t mean I care.
He’d seemed that way with his mother too, and Max to a lesser extent. Desperately trying not to care about them too much. If you didn’t care, they couldn’t hurt you. Oh, Evie knew that defence. She knew it well.
‘How was business in PNG?’
‘Unpredictable,’ he murmured. ‘In need of a strong hand.’
‘So it suited you,’ she countered, and he smiled that lazy wicked smile of his, the one that made her blood heat and her pulse quicken.
‘Yes.’
Hard not to admire a man who worked to his strengths. ‘Are you rich?’ He had to be wealthy in order to slip Max ten million so quickly, but exactly how wealthy was a question Evie hadn’t yet asked and Logan hadn’t yet answered.
‘You want a monetary estimate?’ he asked, and she nodded, and he named a figure that made her sit back and blink. ‘I inherited money early,’ he said. ‘My mother handed over every last cent of my father’s wealth the minute I turned eighteen and I took it and put it to work. The money doubles on a regular basis and that’s the way I like it.’
‘Because you never want to go hungry again?’ she asked.
‘Because I’m addicted to power and the wielding of it.’
‘Wow,’ she murmured. ‘A man who owns his flaws. That’s really rare.’
‘I wouldn’t call them flaws,’ he murmured with a crooked smile. ‘Exactly. What about you, Evie? Are you rich?’
‘Not at all, compared to you. I own my own apartment. I can sometimes afford an expensive treat but I don’t make a habit of it. As far as family goes, my father’s respectably well-off but not effortlessly wealthy; probably because he’s on his fifth wife. My mother was wife number three. I have twelve half siblings, no full siblings, and my mother’s now on husband number three. Max thinks I have no strong ties to family and no respect whatsoever for the institution of marriage. He’s probably right.’
‘So if a man wanted to marry you …’
‘I’d take some convincing.’
‘How long did it take Max to convince you?’
‘Ah, but Max had good monetary reason for wanting to get married. And it benefited me too. And it wouldn’t have been a proper marriage anyway. It was more of a business transaction. With a two-hundred-thousand-dollar windfall clause for the injured party every time one of us strayed.’
‘Honour system?’ asked Logan with a touch of incredulity about him.
‘No. The clause only kicked in if the straying became public knowledge.’
‘And Max agreed to this?’
‘I know,’ said Evie, making good use of her eyelashes. ‘I figured Max would be up for at least a couple of million before we were through, and that’s being conservative. Your brother’s got a short attention span.’
‘And no contract sense whatsoever.’
‘I had his back though,’ murmured Evie. ‘If Max got too far in debt to me I was going to start matching him, indiscretion for public indiscretion.’
Logan’s eyes narrowed. Evie smiled and sipped at her just-arrived soda. ‘You’re pulling my leg,’ he said finally.
‘Someone’s got to. You take life entirely too seriously.’
‘No, I take contracts seriously. There’s a difference.’
‘If you say so.’
‘You’re sunburnt,’ he said and Evie nodded agreeably.
‘That’s because I’ve been to the beach.’
‘Was it good?’
‘Very good.’
‘Maybe there should have been sunscreen involved.’
‘There was. Though possibly not enough.’
‘What else do you do in your down time?’ he asked.
‘I like to travel. Explore new places. Even a new-tome suburb will do.’
‘On your own?’
‘It’s better with friends. But sometimes on my own.’
‘Any special friends I need to know about?’ he asked.
‘You mean lovers?’ she said and he nodded, his eyes narrowing. ‘No. I may not be marriage-ready, but one lover at a time will do.’
‘Am I currently the one?’
‘I don’t know.’ Time for truth and if it burned then so be it. ‘I guess that’s what I asked you here to find out.’
‘I’m only here for a week, Evie.’ His voice held a quiet warning.
‘Sounds familiar.’ Hers held quiet challenge. ‘I like you, Logan, in case you hadn’t noticed. Baggage and all. It wouldn’t be a hardship to spend another week with you. Might even be fun.’
‘As opposed to …’
‘Intense, confusing, and ultimately heartbreaking. I’d like to think that we have enough experience between us now to keep those elements out of play.’
‘You don’t like intense?’
‘You’re right. There’s a lot to be said for intensity. That one can stay.’
‘You calling the shots now, Evie?’
‘Only some of them. Feel free to voice your requirements too.’
‘I want exclusivity,’ he said.
‘The feeling’s mutual.’
‘And freedom.’
‘I’ll do my freely exclusive best.’
‘Obedience.’
‘And sometimes you’ll get it.’ Evie edged closer, elbows to the table, so much for manners. ‘You don’t want to dominate me completely, remember? Or am I wrong about that?’
‘Just keep reminding me when I forget.’ He had his shoulders to the padded black