Page 16 of Trick or Trouble
“He says he’s not leaving until you come out and talk to him,” Pamela reported through the wooden panel.
Darcy rolled her eyes.Could this situation get any more ridiculous?“I’m in the shower,” she retorted, standing up and turning the water on in the bathtub.Shedding her pajamas, she quickly stepped under the hot spray, ignoring Pamela’s irritated grumble about not being a go-between anymore because she didn’t care anyway.
“Tell him I’ll call him tomorrow,” Darcy added.
Hopefully, he’d take the hint and leave.Men didn’t like having to wait.They were great at telling women what to do, but didn’t take direction well when it was their turn to be ordered about.
Sighing in bliss, she let the hot water soothe her rattled nerves and lower her blood pressure.She shampooed her hair with her favorite coconut scent and shaved under her arms, taking her sweet time.After turning the water off, she paused to listen.No sounds were coming from the living room at all.He must have left—thank God.She was wringing out her hair with her hands when a bath towel was thrust inside the curtain.Weird.She hadn’t heard the door open.
“Thanks, Pamela.I forgot to grab a clean towel.The one on the rack appears to have mold growing on it.You really should wash it more often.”
Darcy wasn’t particularly anal about using a fresh towel every time she showered.She was usually good for a week or so with just one, but Pamela took water conservation to a whole other level.
“Did you get rid of him?”she asked, wrapping the towel around her and then pushing the shower curtain aside.Her blood froze instantly when she looked up.
“You’re welcome for the towel, Darcy,” Logan growled, looking all predatory and authoritative at the same time.His dark eyes slid up and down her toweled figure.“And no, she didn’t get rid of me.I’ll be waiting in the living room for you to get dressed.Don’t make me wait much longer, or I won’t be as patient as I’ve been so far.”
As he turned and left the room, Darcy’s heart rate shot through the roof.He’d been in her bathroom like a common peeper?Her feelings alternated between sheer outrage at his audacity and relief that he hadn’t seen her naked.She didn’t like being nude in front of anyone, and she’d thought Pamela was in the bathroom or she wouldn’t have wrapped up before she stepped out.
Wow—close call.
She eased the bathroom door open and heard voices coming from the living room.Hurrying, Darcy slipped into her bedroom and locked the door.She wondered if Logan was sitting on the couch or pacing the room like an impatient tiger.She hoped it was the couch, which would be karma in her book.The little prick of guilt that tried to rear its head was easily dismissed.
Snickering, she dressed in a pair of comfortable sweats and a long-sleeved Kansas City Chiefs t-shirt.With her towel wrapped around her head and her irritation with him still hot, she marched into the living room ready to verbally fillet him, then stopped dead in her tracks.
Logan was sitting on the loathsome couch, but the old sofa had never had it so good.Her pulse accelerated when his eyes pinned her in his smoky stare, making her squirmy inside.As good as he looked in his cream knit sweater and blue jeans, she could tell he was upset with her.
“I was just keeping your friend company,” Pamela purred, oozing even closer to Logan on the disgusting couch.
Ugh and double ugh.Darcy gritted her teeth.“I’ll just bet you were.”She wasn’t prepared for the hot thread of jealousy that flared through her like a flame running down a line of gunpowder.Tearing Pamela’s bleached blonde hair out and giving her a black eye would be so appropriate right now.
Her eyes shifted to the man on Pamela’s right.Bob...Brad...she couldn’t quite remember his name, but it was something different.Buck...his name was Buck.Poor old Buck didn’t look too happy at the situation either, especially since Darcy was closer to Logan than she was to him.
Buck stood up and shot Pamela a jealous glare.“Are you ready to go for some food yet?I’m getting hungry.”
“I’m sure she’s ready to go,” Darcy replied in sugar-coated, syrupy words that echoed her roommate’s style.“Aren’t you, Pamela?”
Pamela shot Darcy an angry look and got up with a huff.“Oh, alright.Come on then, Buck, let’s get this over with.”
Darcy could tell Buck was in the last death throes of their relationship, and didn’t know it if his puppy dog eyes on Pamela as they made their way out were any indication.He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, a little taller and more muscled than the last guy.He had a baby face, though, and dirty-blond hair spiked in the back, which gave him a Dennis the Menace look.If he’d had a leash around his throat, he couldn’t have been any more subservient unless he was on his knees.Maybe she liked the lost little boy look.Who knows?Darcy was just glad they were gone.
She turned to Logan.He sat forward, his elbows on his knees, hands hanging between them, still studying her.“How attached are you to that couch?”she asked, staying out of his reach.
Logan lifted his eyebrow.He looked at the couch and then at Darcy’s smirking face, and she could see the moment he figured it out.He shot up fast with a grimace of disgust.
“And here I was planning on hauling you over my lap,” he replied, shaking his head.
“Not on that thing you won’t.”
His sudden lazy grin lit up her insides.“That wasn’t a definite no.I’ll take that as a yes to a different location.”
“You will never get a yes to spanking me,” she retorted fiercely.“What are you doing here anyway?And how did you find me?”She flopped into the leather recliner and flipped it back so she could put her feet up as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
Logan pointed to the plastic Walmart bag by the front door.“I brought your witch costume back, since you sneaked out in the middle of the night without saying goodbye.That wasn't nice, by the way.Neither were the cops when I went to the police station to make sure you were safe and not roaming the streets of Independence alone at night.You told them quite a little story.I’ll have to watch my back when I’m at Holly’s now.”
Darcy felt a slight flush of guilt rush up her throat at his disapproving tone.“I roam the streets alone all the time, thank you very much.I haven’t needed anyone to keep me safe yet.”
“Not without money, phone, or transportation.”
