Page 43 of Under the Mistletoe
“No, so when I found out you were coming to the party, I decided to ask you out.” He wiped up the mess and set it aside, then met her eyes with a sigh. “I spent all day gearing up to talk to you. I mean, I knew it was a possibility that you might say no or that you were dating someone already. It’s just…when you walked in as Liam’s date?—”
Devin clenched her hands into fists. “I. Wasn’t. His. Date.” She gripped the edge of the table and drew a slow breath. “Don’t you think Liam would have told you if we were dating? Aren’t you guys super close?”
“Yes. We talked about everything?—”
“Then don’t?—”
“Except one subject.”
“Girls?”
“No.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “We don’t talk about you. At least, not after we discovered we were both planning to ask you out after that first Thanksgiving. That was the last conversation we had about you.”
“Even after Liam had no interest in me? Why?” She collapsed into her chair and dropped her elbows on the table. “Why was I a taboo subject?”
His jaw ticced. “Because Liam knew how I felt about you, and we could both see how you felt about Liam.”
“I didn’t?—”
“Yes, you very much did.” He picked up the glue but just shuffled the bottle between his hands. “Don’t even try and deny that you liked him. Even if you didn’t date him, you wanted to date him. Just admit it.”
Devin blinked at him. She had never seen him this worked up about anything in all their years of friendship. But she hadn’treallyliked Liam. “Maybe, but it was the crush of a young girl who didn’t even know what she wanted back then.”
The timer in the kitchen went off, and when it stopped, the room seemed twice as silent. Maybe it was time to finally have all this out in the open. She lowered her voice and swallowed hard. “All the girls wanted to date him, and looking back, I think we were all caught up with the idea of him. He was the life of the party, the big man on campus, mysteriously intriguing.”
He sighed and went back to writing out the next name. “I get it. Trust me.”
“Get what?”
“He’s been more intriguing my whole life.”
“That’s not…” She groaned in frustration. “I’m saying that the more I got to know him, the more I knew he was a great guy, just…not my type.”
Logan pushed the stocking in front of him to the side. “The best-looking guy in the room who was also the most popular guy on campus isn’t your type? I don’t buy it. I’m pretty sure Liam’s everyone’s type.”
“To young, immature Devin, maybe. To grown-up Devin, nope.” When he gave a dismissive laugh, she was so tempted to throw something at that thick skull. If Logan was really like Luke, then she’d guess whatever spoon Hannah threw was deserved.
“It’s true.” Her voice was a bit firm. “I prefer the quieter type.”
He didn’t lift his head. His dark hair was falling in his eyes and highlighted his strong jawline, and the way he hunched over the stocking drew attention to his wide shoulders.
What would she have done had he asked her out a year ago? She would have said yes. A hundred percent yes.
She cleared her throat. “And I never thought Liam was the best-looking guy in the room.”
He seemed to swallow extra hard, but didn’t comment.
“Why didn’t you ask anyone else out?” Her question came out breathy, and she cleared her throat again. “Surely your brother didn’t show up at a party with every girl you liked.”
“He did, actually.”
“I doubt that’s even mathematically possible.” She laughed.
But instead of laughing, Logan’s amazing blue eyes found her. Heat, regret, and longing were all rolled into one expression, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.
Devin’s heart pulsed through her ears.
He held up his stocking. “Do you think thisAlooks all right, or do I need to make a new one?”
