“And the celebrities you must hang out with,” Hope added.
Stephanie only shrugged. “But it’s not…” She waved her arms around the table. “This.”
“You think this is special?” It was Hope who asked, but there was nothing sarcastic in her question.
“I do. Very special.” Stephanie lowered her head a little and shook it before looking up with a shrug. “I mean, I know this is going to sound pretty stupid, but I’m actually really jealous of you all. I was an only child, and you had your sister.”
Faith and Hope automatically flashed identical smiles as they looked at each other.
“And Logan and Levi? You guys had each other and all of you…well, you grew up together.”
“We did.” Faith rolled her eyes. “And trust me,” she shot a look at Logan that he was sure was supposed to be sarcastic, but all he felt was a flash of desire deep in his gut, “it wasn’t always as awesome as you think it was.”
Stephanie laughed. “I’m sure it wasn’t. But what I wouldn’t have given to experience a little bit of that myself.”
She looked so wistful and innocent, that, for a moment, Logan completely forgot that she was quite literally a mega celebrity sitting in their kitchen, chatting with them all as if she were just a regular person.
“Well then, you should.” The words were out of Logan’s mouth before he’d actually registered what they meant.
Everyone at the table turned to look at him with questions in their eyes.
It was Levi who picked up the ball and ran with it. “Yes,” he said with a slap on the table that rattled the glasses. “Why don’t you move in here until the wedding?”
“What?”
“What?”
Both Logan and Faith asked at the same time. Logan hadn’t been sure what he’d meant when he’d said what he’d said, but it definitely wasn’t that. After all, they were totally lying to the poor woman, and having her under the same roof would surely only make that a million times harder. Beneath the table, Faith punched him in the thigh.
“What the—” He spun to face her, but the words fell from his tongue as he saw the look she was giving him. A look that said very clearly that having Stephanie Starz move in with them was the worst possible thing that could happen, and it was all his fault.
Maybe it was.
She was going to kill him.
But…
“Absolutely.” Logan ignored the way Faith’s hand squeezed his thigh in a vise grip. “It’s only for a few days, really. Maybe she could use the baby’s room?” He looked directly at Hope. “After all, it’s only for a little bit, and you still have plenty of time to get it ready.”
Logan was well aware that he’d used an argument directly in opposition to what he had said in order to convince Faith to let him move in to her room, but it was just a means to an end. Because if Stephanie stayed in the spare room that would one day become the baby’s room, then there was no way he’d be able to stay on the couch again, which meant…
Still ignoring the increasing pressure Faith was putting on his leg, he slipped his own hand across to her thigh and squeezed gently.
He was going to be once again in her bed, a place he very much liked to be. And now there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
Not that he thought even for a minute that she wanted to.
She put on a good show, but Logan wasn’t a fool. He knew damn well that she wanted him there just as much as he wanted to be there.
Now, all he needed to do was get her to admit it.
He gave her a final squeeze of her thigh, to which she responded with a hard pinch of his. “Ow! Dammit!” All eyes turned to him, so Logan did his best to grin as he caught Faith’s hand in his own under the table and held it tight to prevent it from doing more damage. “I just realized all the work I need to get to today,” he said as a pathetic cover. “That barn isn’t going to clean itself after last night’s wedding. It was a good one, wasn’t it?”
Faith glared at him, but begrudgingly nodded. “It was a tricky one, but it turned out perfectly.”
“They’re all a little tricky in their own way, aren’t they?” Hope’s face lit up, talking about weddings again. She really was a true romantic. She absolutely loved this stuff. “But don’t you find them all just so…” Her hands fluttered to her chest. “Romantic.”
Faith groaned a little but she smiled. “Truthfully? I think I do.”