Page 40 of Fighting Happily Ever After

“What if you’re right?”

“Iamright!” Hope almost vibrated with excitement. “I knew it.”

Faith shook her head and looked down at the bedspread. “I don’t want to get hurt, Hope. I don’t know if I could handle it.”

“You could.” She reached for her sister’s hand and squeezed. “You could handle anything. You know that. Stop hiding. Besides, protecting your heart from hurting might save you from a potentially excruciating pain, but it also stops you from experiencing the greatest form of pleasure and happiness. There is no gain without risk. And that’s no way to live.”

Faith let her words sink in.

“Oh, Faith. Why didn’t you tell me any of this? Why did you keep this inside?” She shook her sister’s hand.

“I wanted to protect you, Hope. I didn’t want you to hurt, too.”

Her sister pulled her into a tight hug. “Now it’s my turn to make sure you don’t keep hurting, Faith. You deserve love, sis. More than anyone else I know, you deserve it. And now that I know everything, I can’t keep sitting back watching you hurt yourself so badly by keeping love away.” She pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “You don’t know it yet, but by keeping Logan at a distance, you’re robbing yourself of so much.”

When she didn’t say anything right away, Hope added, “Think about it, Faith. I mean, really think about it. Okay?”

She nodded and after a moment she spoke, her voice little more than a whisper. “But what if I’m the only one, Hope? I mean, I’ve always been a game to Logan and with this bet…”

“You know you’re more than that to Logan.” Hope’s voice was stern. “You know that.”

She shrugged. She thought she’d known that. But…it was so hard to know what was true or not. And even if he did have feelings for her, too…

A tear slipped down her cheek. “I think it’s too late,” she said softly. “I think I finally got what I thought I wanted and pushed him away for good.”

Hope released her from the hug.

ChapterFifteen

Logan had been avoidingFaith for the last few days. Not because he didn’t want to see her; he did. Badly. He also wanted answers. Answers that he deserved, goddammit. But he knew he wasn’t going to get them. Not yet. He knew Faith well enough to know that if he pressed her, she would shut down. Just as she had the other night after they’d made love and she’d told him it was over and turned her back on him.

He’d tried, but there’d been nothing more he could say to get her to talk to him and tell him exactly what was really going on. Faith was a champion at shutting down and shutting him out.

He’d spent as much time as possible out of the house: mowing the yard, tending to gardens, fixing fences, staining deck boards. Pretty much anything that was on the list of things thatshouldbe done at some point. They all of a sudden became priorities on his to-do list. Anything that kept him out of the house.

At night, he usually made some sort of excuse about going to check on his mom or spending time with her because she was lonely. Logan was a strong man, but he didn’t think that even he was strong enough to lie next to Faith in bed and not be able to touch her or talk to her or…

So he’d slept at his childhood home, in the bed he’d spent so many nights before. Only now it felt wrong. And it no longer felt like his bed or that he belonged there.

He belonged back at Ever After Ranch in Faith Turner’s bed, holding her in his arms as her heart slowed after their lovemaking that had left them both breathless.Thatwas where he belonged. Without a doubt.

The only problem was, he had no idea how he was going to get back there.

“Hello? Earth to Logan.” Next to him at the airport, Levi snapped his fingers and pulled Logan from his trance. The trance he seemed to be perpetually in. “Maybe you should wait in the car.” Levi shook his head. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for five minutes and you haven’t even acknowledged me. You’re kind of useless to me out here right now, you know?”

“Sorry.” He meant it. “I’m here. I was just daydreaming. But I’m good now. What were you saying?”

Levi laughed. They’d made the trip into the city to pick up Dax Combs for the wedding that was supposed to take place the next evening. They’d been given strict instructions to keep everything on thedown lowand use as much subtlety as possible so as not to attract attention. Not that Logan had any idea how they were going to do that given how high profile the man was, but he’d try. For Stephanie’s sake. Just like everyone else in the family, he’d come to really care about her. And just like everyone else, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she wasn’t Faith and Hope’s long-lost sister. It had been a long shot, for sure, but still. It would have been kind of perfect.

“I was just wondering what you think this guy will be like?” Levi laughed. “Will he be all rich and famous arrogant asshole, or will he be more like Stephanie? Frankly, I always forget she’s a mega star. She just seems like one of us. A Glacier Falls native.”

“I agree. It seems so funny now in hindsight that Faith and I were so worried about pretending to be a couple just to impress her. The wedding of the century.” He shook his head. “Pretty dumb, right?”

“Not dumb,” Levi said seriously. “Honestly, you know I don’t agree with the whole lying thing, but I know why you did it. And I think that’s pretty special.”

Logan knew his cousin was talking about how they’d lied to get the business and put Ever After on the map. But that wasn’t really the truth.

“I did it to get close to Faith,” he admitted. “Everything else was just going to be a bonus.”

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