Page 31 of Landing Her Eagle
Kennie is a genius. That is an awesome idea, so I switch lanes to turn into the McDonald’s parking lot. I order burgers, fries, and sodas for everyone, along with a hot fudge sundae for Kendall.
“What? I have a fast metabolism,” she says defensively.
The scent of greasy, salty goodness rouses Daphne. She sits up and wipes drool off her chin as I pull into a parking spot so we can eat while it’s still hot. At least I won’t have to juggle fast food bags and my girlfriend into the house if we eat it now.
“Mmpfh, so good,” the beautiful woman next to me mumbles, taking a big bite of her double cheeseburger. The slurp of her Diet Coke is the next sound to come from her, causing Liam, Kendall, and me to laugh. Other than her usual Friday night rum and Diet Pepsi to celebrate the end of the work week, Daphne isn’t much of a drinker, so for her to imbibe so much tonight is surprising. I’m glad she had fun, but I suspect some of it is because of my upcoming departure. When we all finish our midnight munching, Liam collects our trash and walks it over to the trash can.
“I had fun! Thank you!” Kendall is very perky considering how much liquor she had tonight. I guess it’s true that the big cat shifters can process alcohol much faster than other people, even other shifters. She gives me a hug from the backseat and wishes me safe travels. Liam says to text him if I need anything before I go.
After dropping my cousins at their home, I take a shortcut to get to our house so I can tuck Daphne into bed ASAP. Experience tells me this second wind of hers will be brief, and she’ll crash again soon. Ideally, I’ll have her in our bed before she conks out for good. I guess since Lady Luck wasn’t with me at Devil’s Den, she favored me by keeping Daph awake and upright long enough to get in the house and ready for bed. Before she settles under the covers, I hand her two aspirin and a bottle of water to wash them down.
Sighing, she snuggles into her pillow. “I had fun tonight, Logan. It’s been so long since we’ve gone out.”
She draws her hands under her chin like a child. She is so damn beautiful. My heart hurts. Her lashes kiss her cheeks when she closes her sleepy brown eyes. I lean over and kiss her forehead.
I straighten and am about to leave the room to double-check the locks when I hear her sigh and softly say, “Why are you leaving me? I’m so tired of being left behind. Someday,someoneis going to stay with me.”
Forget hurting. My heart may be breaking. The last thing I want is for Daphne to be sad or feel like she’s being abandoned. I need to work. I need to travel to be a travel photographer. That’s why it’s called that. It’s not like there are international kite fairs happening in the backyard or the Portuguese National Horse Fair held at the Atlantic County 4H fairgrounds. I must go where the events are. I don’t know how to make her understand this. She would love experiencing these things if she’d give them a chance. I wish she’d go with me, but I don’t know how to convince her to stop being so stubborn.
After making sure everything is secure and using the bathroom, I return to the bedroom. Daphne is sleeping peacefully, lying on her side. I strip to my boxers and climb in beside her. Staring up at the ceiling, I watch shadows of the branches of an oak tree outside the window dance on her bedroom wall. I listen to the gentle breathing from the pillow next to me. She’s facing away from me since she’s most comfortable sleeping on her left side. I didn’t know that before this week of sleeping beside her. We’ve been best friends for years, but there is still so much we don’t know about each other. Little things you learn about a person being by their side, day in and day out. I want to know those things about Daph, and I want her to know them about me. I turn on my side and scoot over to spoon her. When I wrap my arm around her and snuggle up against her, she sighs and relaxes against me.
I press a soft kiss to her shoulder and whisper, “I love you.”
I wonder, when I finally say it so she can hear me, if she’ll say it back.
21
DAPHNE
“Make it stop.”I groan at the morning sunlight stabbing its beams into my brain. Why did I drink so much last night? Why did I drink those candy corn cocktails? They were cuter than they were tasty. My mouth feels so gross. Astroturf covers my tongue. Logan must have heard me stirring because he appears in the doorway with aspirin and water.
“Morning, sunshine. Feeling rough?”
He’s lucky I knowsunshineis a term of endearment and not mockery, because sunshine is my mortal enemy at the moment.
I sit up, amazed the room isn’t spinning, and take the aspirin from him. I reach for the glass of water and wash down the pills, praying they take effect quickly to ease the pain in my head. Turning the covers aside, I swing my legs out of the bed and sit there, inhaling deep breaths for a few moments before rising. Logan rubs my shoulder gently in a show of comfort.
“I appreciate you want to take care of me, but I feel cruddy, and your touch is annoying the crap out of me,” I grouse when I stand up to stumble to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. The Daphne staring back at me from the mirror appears like she’s recently crawled out of the swamp. I take care of my morning business and brush my teeth vigorously, swishing an extra helping of mouthwash to eradicate any lingering traces of last night.
“Good plan trying to drink away the pain, Daphne. How did that work for you?” My reflection doesn’t answer, so that must mean I’m sobering up. I pray Kendall feels as bad as I do, but I’m betting she doesn’t. Lucky duck…um…cougar. I whimper slightly when I run a brush through my hair to tame the oh-so-attractive bedhead I’m sporting. I resemble an electrocuted Muppet, and that’s not a good look for me.
I leave the bathroom, and seeing the bedroom is empty, I wander along the hall toward the kitchen. My tea is waiting for me on the counter, and Logan places a plate of toast next to it. The man is a mind reader. I’m not sure my stomach is ready for anything more than tea and toast this morning.
“Thank you. You are the best boyfriend ever. I’m keeping you.” I say it in a light tone, but I mean every single word of it.
He sits next to me at the counter with his coffee and bagel with cream cheese and presses a kiss to my temple.
“Try to get rid of me. You’re stuck with me. I enjoy taking care of you.”
My bite of toast suddenly tastes like sawdust when I think about being alone again after this weekend. I have two more mornings with Logan before he leaves for Spain. I don’t know how I’ll stand coming home to a quiet house and sleeping alone again. Wow! It’s not even been a full week that he’s been home, but it feels so…right, like this is how it should always be. I probably shouldn’t have drunk so much last night that a hangover ruined the morning. Oh, well. That ship has sailed, so there’s nothing to do but make the best of it.
I sip my tea to wash down the toast and look at Logan. He’s so handsome in the morning with his hair tousled and stubble dusting his jaw.
“I can’t believe you’re mine,” I say. “I’m so lucky.” I lean in to kiss his cheek. His whiskers tickle my lips.
“Was there anything special you wanted to do this weekend? Anything you need to get?” I take another bite of my buttered toast. It’s tasting more like bread and less like sawdust, so that’s good.
I caught Logan right after he took a bite of his bagel, and he chews and holds up a finger in await a minutegesture.
