Her Favourite Maverick. Christine Rimmer
have a little fun? Nothing lasted forever and he liked it that way.
It was chemistry, pure and simple. Sexual attraction. And damn, it felt good.
His dad was still talking to the other two women, while Xander just stood there looking midway between vaguely intrigued and slightly annoyed by what they were saying.
Logan, on the other hand, felt downright invigorated. He hadn’t felt like this in years. Maybe never. Lately, he’d been kind of off his game when it came to women. He just had no drive to hook up and hadn’t been with anyone in months.
But everything had changed the minute he set eyes on Sarah.
Just let her be single. That was all he asked.
She emerged from the back room with a backpack-style diaper bag hanging off one shoulder, a giant leather tote dangling from one hand and a pouty-faced infant in a baby carrier on the other arm. “Sorry, everyone. We’ll just be going.”
Uh-uh. Not yet. In four strides, Logan reached her. “Here. Let me help you.” The baby stuck a fist in her mouth and stared up at him, wide-eyed.
“No, really.” Sarah seemed flustered. Her cheeks had turned the sweetest shade of pink. “There’s no need. I’m good.”
He ignored her objections and eased the diaper bag off her shoulder. “What’s her name?” He took hold of the tote. For a moment, she held on like she wouldn’t let him take it.
But then she let go. “Sophia,” she said. “Her name is Sophia.”
“Pretty name. How old is she?” He wiggled his eyebrows at the baby, who had a pink cloth flower tied around her mostly bald head.
“Five months,” said Sarah.
The baby took her slobbery hand out of her mouth long enough to announce, “Ah-da!” and stuck it right back in.
Behind him, his dad started flapping his jaws again, apologizing for trying to set them up. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t see a ring on your finger and I assumed—”
“You assumed right,” Sarah responded coolly. “I’m not married.”
Excellent. “But are you engaged?” Logan rattled off the pertinent questions. “Living with someone? Dating exclusively?”
“None of the above,” she replied. “It’s just me and Sophia.” As if on cue, the little girl let out a goofy giggle around the fist in her mouth. Sarah added, delectably defiant, “Just us. And we like it that way.”
So she’s free. It was all Logan needed to know.
Unfortunately—and for no reason Logan could understand—Max moved in next to him. “Son, Sarah has to go. Give her back her things.”
Not happening. Not yet. “Give us a minute, would you, Dad?” He turned his back on his father and moved in closer to Sarah and little Sophia. That caused Sarah to retreat a step. Logan closed the distance. The process repeated—Sarah retreating, Logan eliminating the space she’d created—until they reached the door.
A glance over his shoulder revealed that Max had started talking to the wedding planners again. His dad and the blonde wedding planner shook hands. Logan made a mental note to find out what that was about as he turned his attention back to the irresistible brown-eyed girl.
She said, “I really do have to go.”
Logan held on to her tote and diaper bag and started talking, pulling out all the stops, flirting shamelessly with both the woman and her baby. He made silly faces at Sophia as he coaxed information from Sarah, learning that she’d moved back to Rust Creek Falls a month before and had a cottage in town.
“Truly, Logan.” Sarah’s pretty white teeth nibbled nervously at her plump lower lip, driving him just a little bit crazy. He wanted to nibble on that lip himself. “I’m not interested in dating. I’m way too busy for anything like that.”
He nodded. “I understand. Let me help you out to your car.”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Yeah, it is. You’ve got too much to carry and I’ve got a couple of perfectly good free hands.”
Her sweet mouth twisted with indecision—and then she gave up. “Well, um, okay. Thank you.”
He walked her out to her white CR-V and waited while she strapped the baby’s carrier in the back seat, handing her the giant bag and backpack when she was ready for them. She set them on the floor, shut the door and went around to the driver’s door. Admiring the view, Logan followed after her.
“Well,” she said with an overly bright smile as he held open the door for her. “Good luck, then—with the ranch and all.”
“’Preciate that,” he replied. She jumped in behind the wheel, her denim skirt riding up a little, giving him a perfect glimpse of one smooth, shapely thigh. “Drive safe,” he said and shut the door.
She waved as she pulled out. He stood in the warm June sunlight, watching her drive away, thinking that he would be good for her, that she needed to get out and have some fun.
Sarah Turner deserved a little romance in her life and Logan Crawford was just the man to give her what she deserved.
“Logan, it’s a bad idea,” his father said. “You need to forget about Sarah Turner.”
It was past six that evening. Logan, his dad and Xander were out on the porch of the ranch house at the Ambling A enjoying a beer after spending a few hours plowing through the stacks of boxes that weren’t going to unpack themselves. At some point, one of them needed to go inside and hustle up a meal. But for now, it was nice out and the beer was ice-cold and refreshing.
Logan stared off toward the snow-tipped mountains. The sky was cloudless, perfectly blue. “I like her, Dad. And it’s not your call.” He didn’t point out that he was a grown-ass man and would do what he damn well wanted to do. Max ought to know that by now. “I’m curious, though. She’s single, smart and pretty. She works for a living. She’s got it all going on as far as I can see. What have you got against her?”
“Nothing,” Max answered gruffly. “You’re right. She seems like a fine person.”
Xander rocked back in his chair and hoisted his boots up onto the porch rail. “So what’s the problem then, Dad? I was standing right there when you struck that crazy deal with the wedding planners to find us all brides for a cool million bucks. To me, that means you want us all to get married. Whether that’s ever gonna happen is another question entirely. But the way I see it, if Logan’s found a girl already, you should count your blessings.”
A million dollars to marry them off? Logan hadn’t heard that part. Sometimes his dad came up with the wildest ideas. Logan had no plans to marry anybody. But that wasn’t the point. He followed Xander’s lead. “Yeah, Dad. You were eager enough to hook Sarah and me up until the baby started crying.”
Max sipped his beer. “I do want you boys married. It’s about damn time. But when kids are involved, well, things get too complicated.” He pointed his longneck at Logan. “Take my word for it, son. You don’t need that kind of trouble. Viv will find you someone perfect—someone sweet and pretty without a baby hanging off her hip.”
“I’ll say it again, Dad. I like Sarah and I’m going to move on that.”
“I don’t want you—”
“Stop. Listen. There is no problem here. You don’t want me marrying Sarah Turner? Great. I’m not going to marry her—or anyone. The last thing I want right now is a wife, with or without a baby in the bargain, so you can save that million bucks. When my time comes to tie the knot—if