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Authors: Lily Everett
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quickly, then their time on Sanctuary Island was drawing to a close.
And once they left this magical little hideaway and returned to the real world … she
and Logan would never be this close again.
Chapter 8
Logan sort of wanted to hold hands with Jessica on the way to the house—it was a garden,
there were flowers all around and the setting sun was flaming the sky with pinks and
purples overhead. A textbook definition of a romantic setting probably called for
something sappy like hand-holding.
To his surprise, he found he didn’t mind the idea all that much, although it was something
he usually avoided like malware and spam. Everything was different with Jessica. Take
cuddling in bed, for example. He hated cuddling—the clinginess of a woman he barely
knew expecting him to keep in contact long after the sex was over? Made no sense,
was sweaty and awkward, and he just … didn’t enjoy it. So he didn’t do it.
But with Jessica and her crazy rules about not having sex in bed, there was nothing
to do except lie close together, their heads on one pillow, and breathe each other’s
breath. Sometimes they talked, sometimes he watched her sleep until the steady rhythm
of her soft breathing closed his lids and pulled him under.
He didn’t mind it. Same with the hand-holding, as long as it was with Jessica—except
at the moment, his palms were too clammy and itchy with nerves to inflict on anyone
else.
Don’t be stupid, he told himself. This isn’t going to be some huge emotional revelation. You’ve already met your quota
for those today.
Dylan just wanted his brother to meet the woman he was seeing for more than a thirty-second
introduction in which Logan had inadvertently outed Dylan as a member of the Harrington
family. Which Penny hadn’t been aware of previously.
Jessica led them confidently up the back steps and rapped smartly on the window-paned
door, giving Logan flashbacks of arriving at the house a week ago.
Only then, they’d waited on the front porch, and he’d felt like a reanimated corpse
after weeks of nonstop work. Now that his brain no longer resembled a cracked-out
hamster trapped in an exercise ball, Logan could appreciate the storybook feel of
his family’s old vacation home.
Most of the Victorian gingerbreading was festooned over the façade in front, but even
from the back, the house was appealing. Three stories, gables, wooden shutters, the
whole nine yards. There was even a bay window overlooking the garden; probably a nice
spot to settle in and read a book.
Still, as footsteps sounded from inside and Logan braced himself for whatever was
about to happen, he acknowledged silently that he was glad Jessica had maneuvered
them out of the main house and down to stay in the cozy summer cottage across the
garden.
In the cottage, they had privacy and peace, and no … teenagers.
A lanky kid opened the back door and grinned at them from under a shock of dirty-blond
hair.
“Ha! Dylan, you owe me five bucks,” he shouted over his shoulder before pushing the
door wide and ushering them in. The kid studied them with open curiosity, his wide
hazel eyes lingering on Jessica in a way that made Logan suddenly, intensely aware
of how extraordinarily beautiful she looked. Dressed more casually than he was used
to in a linen button-down shirt over a pair of jeans, Jessica took his breath away.
“You’re very lovely tonight,” Logan told her immediately. He should have said it before.
He should be saying it constantly. “Well, objectively, you’re lovely all the time,
but tonight you look especially beautiful.”
The blush that suffused her cheeks in no way detracted from her beauty, he noticed
with interest.
“Thank you. That’s very sweet—and awkward—of you.” Reaching past Logan, she put out
her hand to shake the kid’s. “Hi, I’m Jessica Bell. This is Logan Harrington.”
“Dylan’s brother.” The kid
And once they left this magical little hideaway and returned to the real world … she
and Logan would never be this close again.
Chapter 8
Logan sort of wanted to hold hands with Jessica on the way to the house—it was a garden,
there were flowers all around and the setting sun was flaming the sky with pinks and
purples overhead. A textbook definition of a romantic setting probably called for
something sappy like hand-holding.
To his surprise, he found he didn’t mind the idea all that much, although it was something
he usually avoided like malware and spam. Everything was different with Jessica. Take
cuddling in bed, for example. He hated cuddling—the clinginess of a woman he barely
knew expecting him to keep in contact long after the sex was over? Made no sense,
was sweaty and awkward, and he just … didn’t enjoy it. So he didn’t do it.
But with Jessica and her crazy rules about not having sex in bed, there was nothing
to do except lie close together, their heads on one pillow, and breathe each other’s
breath. Sometimes they talked, sometimes he watched her sleep until the steady rhythm
of her soft breathing closed his lids and pulled him under.
He didn’t mind it. Same with the hand-holding, as long as it was with Jessica—except
at the moment, his palms were too clammy and itchy with nerves to inflict on anyone
else.
Don’t be stupid, he told himself. This isn’t going to be some huge emotional revelation. You’ve already met your quota
for those today.
Dylan just wanted his brother to meet the woman he was seeing for more than a thirty-second
introduction in which Logan had inadvertently outed Dylan as a member of the Harrington
family. Which Penny hadn’t been aware of previously.
Jessica led them confidently up the back steps and rapped smartly on the window-paned
door, giving Logan flashbacks of arriving at the house a week ago.
Only then, they’d waited on the front porch, and he’d felt like a reanimated corpse
after weeks of nonstop work. Now that his brain no longer resembled a cracked-out
hamster trapped in an exercise ball, Logan could appreciate the storybook feel of
his family’s old vacation home.
Most of the Victorian gingerbreading was festooned over the façade in front, but even
from the back, the house was appealing. Three stories, gables, wooden shutters, the
whole nine yards. There was even a bay window overlooking the garden; probably a nice
spot to settle in and read a book.
Still, as footsteps sounded from inside and Logan braced himself for whatever was
about to happen, he acknowledged silently that he was glad Jessica had maneuvered
them out of the main house and down to stay in the cozy summer cottage across the
garden.
In the cottage, they had privacy and peace, and no … teenagers.
A lanky kid opened the back door and grinned at them from under a shock of dirty-blond
hair.
“Ha! Dylan, you owe me five bucks,” he shouted over his shoulder before pushing the
door wide and ushering them in. The kid studied them with open curiosity, his wide
hazel eyes lingering on Jessica in a way that made Logan suddenly, intensely aware
of how extraordinarily beautiful she looked. Dressed more casually than he was used
to in a linen button-down shirt over a pair of jeans, Jessica took his breath away.
“You’re very lovely tonight,” Logan told her immediately. He should have said it before.
He should be saying it constantly. “Well, objectively, you’re lovely all the time,
but tonight you look especially beautiful.”
The blush that suffused her cheeks in no way detracted from her beauty, he noticed
with interest.
“Thank you. That’s very sweet—and awkward—of you.” Reaching past Logan, she put out
her hand to shake the kid’s. “Hi, I’m Jessica Bell. This is Logan Harrington.”
“Dylan’s brother.” The kid
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