Page 69 of Under the Mistletoe
Logan didn’t know what had happened over the last six hours, but this was not the same happy Devin he’d dropped off at the community center. He cast a quick glance at Devin, who was staring out the side window as he navigated back to the property he’d visited earlier. He’d gone home and called Hannah first thing. She’d seemed to think it was a good deal, so he’d put in an offer. It was all moving quickly but yet it felt right. The idea of leaving his cabin churned inside, eating at him.
He loved his cabin, but being alone didn’t have the same appeal anymore. Of course, right now Devin looked like she was regretting the date, so maybe he needed to rethink this. Or at least figure out what he’d done wrong. “Is everything okay?”
Her head spun toward him. “Where’s your cabin?”
“Near Thompsonville.” Not that many knew where that was. “If you drew a line between Traverse City and Manistee, it’d be about halfway. Too bad no roads go in that direction. Why do you ask?”
She shrugged, the distant look returning. “I just realized that I don’t even know where you live.”
“Funny you should bring that up.” Logan turned down the winding drive. He came to the end and parked facing the small lake. He drew a slow breath. He wanted this to come out right. Like he was sharing his heart, not proposing after six hours of them having a relationship.
He hadn’t even thought much about how this might sound until she had become all jittery on him.
“Logan?” She scanned the area.
“I just made an offer on this property.”
Her face jerked toward him. “Why?”
Well, that wasn’t quite the response he was expecting—or hoping for. Evidently, he’d come across more as a psycho than he intended. He shifted into park. “Because I think I am tired of living so far from family. They’re all here. You’re here. When I have kids?—”
“Kids?” Her voice squeaked.
This was going from bad to worse.
“I am not saying—I’m just saying in theory someday I may want kids.” He turned his shoulder as much as he could to face her. “Do you not want kids?”
“I want kids someday.”
“Okay.” He was completely lost. All he knew was that she was freaking out and he had no idea what had set her off or how to bring her back. “What is really going on, Devin? Do you regret the kiss?”
“No.” The word was just above a whisper.
“Do you regret telling me you loved me? I know it’s soon and if you didn’t mean to say it, I understand?—”
“I meant it.” She finally met his gaze. “I definitely meant it. I love you.”
He reached across the space and interlaced their fingers. “And I love you. So what has you so scared right now?”
Her finger began to toy with his. “What if they move my job back to Detroit?”
He hated the sound of that. Heritage was one thing, but going back to live in a city was something totally different. And yet, for Devin he would. “Then we’ll figure it out. I can write anywhere.”
“What if you buy this property and we break up?”
Everything in him fought against the idea. Now that he had finally gotten her to be his, the last thing he wanted to think about was her walking away. But he also knew it was a real possibility.
“My parents are still here. And if I changed my mind about living here, I can sell it. We don’t have to have the whole plan on day one.”
“You’re right.” She dropped his hand and pulled her gloves from her pocket “So what are we doing here?”
“One thing first.” Because maybe she was right, that they needed to make sure they were on the same page with the big things. One thing specifically. Because as much as he already knew he loved her, he needed to know. He drew a deep breath and ran a hand down the leg of his jeans. How did he explain this without sounding psycho?
“Now you’re making me nervous. I already know you’re Victor Holt. What else is there?”
“Over the last week, I started to have this strange nudging that I need to look into adoption.”
“Adopting who?” That was a reasonable question. One that he didn’t have an answer to, which only made him seem a little more off.
