“She wants you too much? Really? Is that what guys really think when women want attention? All we want is attention and reciprocity, Logan. Since I’m your best bud you should know all of this already. I can’t believe you think that.” She swatted at his arm. “That is terrible. Poor Lucy.”
“Not poor Lucy. Seriously. She calls and sends me texts all of the time, sends me pictures you don’t want to see—trust me. It’s not giving her attention that bothers me, it’s that she is so desperate sometimes.”
“Logan! Then ditch her. Don’t be the guy that strings her along only to break her heart. That’s not you.”
“I’m not stringing her along, Cinderella. She knows exactly what I want. And right now, she gives it to me.”
Gabriella’s eyes popped open. “Are you talking about sex? Oh gosh, I should have known.” She stepped away from the sink and looked at him. He suppressed his grin as she rolled her eyes, “that sex was all this was about.”
His hand came out and in his age-old gesture, he squeezed her cheek. “Don’t tell me you and Brody haven’t had sex yet and that’s not what your relationship is about. Not even a little? He, too, is a guy, Gabbie.”
Her cheeks went to a light pink and she threw her head back. “It’s Cody, first of all, even though I refer to him as ‘the chef’ sometimes, and second of all, well, we haven’t really gotten to that point yet.” She bent her head down, clearly embarrassed. “Close, but not close enough. I just…he just…well, there hasn’t been an opportunity.”
Now he felt like a major butthead. She was obviously bothered by the fact that Cody wasn’t interested in her enough to want to initiate sex. He had rubbed it in her face like everyone wanted it. Which made him wonder exactly why this guy wasn’t into it? Gabbie was quite breathtaking and she oozed sex appeal, whether she knew it or not. Come to think of it, Logan wasn’t sure which bothered him more: the fact that the guy didn’t want to sleep with her or the fact that the guy could be sleeping with her if he so chose. Logan let that thought drift away and responded truthfully. “Don’t worry, he will. He will find the opportunity. Guaran-fucking-teed.”
As he watched Gabriella finish cleaning up, he couldn’t help but wonder whom this guy was. Did he not see a good thing when it was standing right in front of him? More importantly, and Logan tried to ignore this thought, but could the chef’s loss ever be Logan’s gain? Would Logan ever have enough balls to find out?
Chapter Two
Gabriella grew up poor. Her mother and father could never hold a job for longer than three months, at best. Mostly, it was her father who would get some fly-by-night job and work long enough to earn a few paychecks—at least enough to spend the evenings at the bar. Her mother mostly stayed at home with Gabriella and her younger sister, Genevieve. She was the Queen of finding every government subsidy, scholarship, etcetera, to apply for and get for the family. That had been her full-time job. In Gabriella’s mind, the time she had spent scamming the system, she could have used to find an actual job. It wasn’t like her mother was ill or unable to physically hold a job.
Many times Gabriella crawled through Logan’s bedroom window to eat at his house because her family had no food. Big sister that she was, and wonderful people Logan and his family had been to her, she had always brought home something for her sister. Hidden, of course, because if her parents knew she had food they would take it for themselves.
Her mother and father’s off-again and on-again relationship made it easy for Gabriella’s mom to receive government aid because she always checked the ‘single’ box. There were times in her life where her mom was gone for a few weeks and times where her dad was gone for a few weeks.
Moments where Gabriella had no clue if social services was going to come and take her and her sister away. There were plenty of times in her childhood, that she had actually prayed for that to happen. At least then, there would be someone to count on. Gabriella hated her childhood. She was never physically abused by anyone, but she had experienced her fair share of emotional turmoil where her family life was concerned.
Seeking an outlet to avoid home, she had done the only thing she knew to do – she had gone to school and applied herself to her studies, above and beyond the call of duty. She didn’t do anything half-assed. She knew the only way she and her sister would ever be free of that life was to not follow in her parents’ footsteps, and to Gabriella that had meant excelling at school.
She eventually earned an academic scholarship to college and earned a master’s degree in Business with a special emphasis in Marketing and Finance. College had been a breeze for Gabriella and thank God she had Logan to lean on. Without Logan by her side all of these years, who knew what she would have done. There were so many times in her life where having Logan around had changed her life for the better. He had single-handedly pulled her out of the darkest corners of her life—unbeknownst to him in some cases. He had been a true friend. Often times, more often than she had done for him, he went above and beyond the call of friendship. He was, then and now, the best friend she could ever ask for.
She had her girlfriends, too. Her closest friend, aside from Logan, was Brandi Parker. She met Brandi in college, where they had been roommates. Brandi had come from out of
