Page 1 of Indulge

Chapter 1

Logan

“You have everything ready for this weekend?”

I grinned at my best friend, Stephan, across the table. “I have a few things to finalize yet.”

Stephan took a sip of his coffee and glanced out the window of the restaurant where they’d agreed to meet for breakfast. “It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a year since I introduced the two of you.”

A bright smile lit up my features. “Life before Lily was—”

“Peaceful?” Stephan’s comment was accompanied by a smile of his own.

“Boring.”

This time my best friend laughed. “Okay. We’ll go with that.”

It felt good to relax over a cup of coffee with Stephan. Since he’d taken over The Coleman Foundation his parents had started almost twenty years ago and I’d started a new PR job at the hospital, we hadn’t been able to get together as often as we used to. Being responsible adults sucked sometimes.

“Enough about me. How’s life after Tami?”

Stephan snorted at the mention of his former girlfriend. “Better than life with her.”

“That’s not hard to imagine.” I grinned at him over the rim of my cup. “You’re definitely better off without her.”

“On that we can both agree. I only wish I’d seen her for what she was at the beginning.”

I shook my head thinking back to all the interactions I’d had with Tami during the six months she and Stephan had been together. “She had us all fooled.”

Stephan’s smile had an edge to it. “Yes. That she did.”

“One of these days you’ll find someone you can’t imagine your life without like I did with Lily.”

My best friend raised his eyebrows and lifted his cup to his mouth, his eyes alight with amusement. “Not too much like Lily, I hope.”

I kicked him under the table. We might be adults now, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t kick his ass if need be.

Stephan chuckled. “Sorry. You know I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I can’t see myself with someone like Lily long term.”

As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. Stephan needed a good woman who would take care of him. At only twenty-four, he had a boatload of responsibilities. He needed a soft place to fall and someone who would love him for who he was and not how much money he had in his bank account. “The right woman’s out there. You only have to find her.”

“I hope you’re right.” His tone of voice said that he didn’t hold out much hope of that happening.

“I am.”

Ten minutes later Stephan’s phone rang. “I have to take this.”

While he answered the call, I leaned back in the booth and let my mind drift to Lily. So much had happened since that first night at the hospital gala where Stephan had introduced us. Little did I know that meeting Lily would change my life forever... in so many ways.

“I need to go into the office,” Stephan said as he slipped the phone back into his suit pocket.

“Problem?”

“Nothing unusual. Karl has found an inconsistency that needs my immediate attention.” Stephan stood and gave me a wicked look. “Have fun with Lily this weekend.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I plan to make it quite memorable for both of us.”

I finished my coffee before heading out. It was Thursday and Lily was working until five. We’d both taken off tomorrow and were getting out of the city for the weekend. As much as we loved Minneapolis, the need for privacy trumped staying home. The last thing we needed was another incident where her sister burst in while we were in the middle of a scene. Not only was it a mood killer, but Nicole hadn’t looked at me the same way since. I wasn’t sure she ever would.

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