Page 70 of Sapphire Sunset

“It’s not really my place to tell you to hold off,” Logansaid.

Well, we’ve sure made progress in the hour or two sinceyou tried to hijack my meeting,Connor thought, but he figured the commentwould pick at the scab rather than help it heal.

Connor rounded the edge of the desk until only a few feetseparated them. “I’m making it your place. I’d like you to be my securitydirector.”

The silence between them was electric. It was, if his emailswere any indication, a position Logan had wanted for years. Would sexualtension with Connor be his reason for not accepting it?

“I’m not sure how your other department heads will feelabout that,” Logan said.

“I’m not asking them.”

“And you.”

“My feelings on the matter have just been made clear.”Connor crossed his arms, a gesture that was starting to feel like a method forhiding his feelings for Logan from Logan. He was pretty sure it wasn’t working.And he wasn’t sure he wanted it to.

Logan studied him head to toe, then studied the floor at hisfeet, then cleared his throat. “I just…want to be sure that you’re not…that ourhistory doesn’t…”

“What part of our history, exactly?”

“Not what happened in the caves… Just… What I’m saying is…”

“Are you usually this resistant to a promotion, Mr.Murdoch?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had one in years. I’m out ofpractice.”

“Fair enough. Let me be direct then. I’m giving you thispromotion because you deserve it. Your emails made clear you know the lay of theland here better than anyone except Gloria. And yes, our history does play a role.But not in the way you think.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Five years ago I assumed the worst of you based on almostno evidence and a very unreliable source. Now I’ve been presented with ampleevidence to the contrary, so you deserve for me to assume the best of you.”

Logan looked into Connor’s eyes as if he was savoring thesewords but didn’t want to let him know how much pleasure they’d given him. “Thankyou, Mr. Harcourt,” he finally said.

“Now’s the part where you promise not to let me down.”

“I promise not to let you down.”

“Okay. We need to shoot for a press conference by thisevening. Before then, we need to reach out to all the county offices—”

“Wait. A press conference? Seriously?” Logan asked.

“Yes. I don’t mean to sound cold blooded, but we’re doingthis to separate the hotel’s name from Rodney’s actions, and so we need to rollthis out now, loud and hard. Sylvia Milton’s posting new hate tweets every few hours.His arraignment’s tomorrow morning, and then he’ll be out and talking to press.I want to own the story before then.”

“I just…who’s going to give it?” Logan asked.

“I am.”

“Connor…”

“You don’t think I can handle it?”

“No, I know you can handle it. After the way I saw you handlethe department meeting, I’m pretty sure you can handle anything, but I…”

“I don’t remember you being this tight-lipped, Logan.”

“It’s been a few years.”

“I meant since this morning,” Connor said.

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