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Going for a run at two in the afternoon at the end of June might have been a bad idea. But Logan needed to think. And he always did his best thinking when he was running. He had been running when he’d made the decision to become a photographer and then again when he’d made the decision to move back home to Cedarville.
And now he was running because it might be time to move away again.
Three years ago, he had decided that he wanted his home base to be in his hometown of Cedarville. So he’d bought a house and came home whenever he could between assignments. Which wasn’t that often. But then six months ago, he’d made the very easy decision to cut back on the number of jobs he took. He was sick of being on the road all the time and while he loved taking photos, he was getting sick to death of taking them of models who only wanted to be famous. He missed just taking pictures for the joy of it.
In Cedarville, there wasn’t much need for his photography skills. So he mostly did family sessions. But when he wasn’t doing the family sessions, he spent time just walking around taking pictures. The problem was, he hadn’t come up with a way to turn those photos into a career. Luckily, his years of photographing models for magazine covers had paid well. With that and a few good investments, he should be able to live out his life without ever earning another penny.
And that had all sounded perfect.
Until two months ago when something changed.
His friend, one of his best, had gotten hurt. And instead of seeing her as only a friend his head now conjured up images of her naked and spread across his bed.
At first, this fucked him up. Thinking of Mel as anything but a friend was too much. But then he started thinking back to all the times he had been away on assignment. And the person he had missed the most or had most wanted to talk to was always Melanie. She was the one he called or texted when he was sad or missing home. She was the one he would tell when he was coming home. Not his brother or his parents. But Mel.
And that got him thinking.
Was she the reason he had wanted to move back home to Cedarville?
There was a problem though. Recently, it seemed as if she disliked him. Hated him was actually a better word.
They fought all the time and whenever he was around she tried her damnedest to find a way to leave. And yes, he knew he was acting like a completely different person. But ever since she had walked in on someone in her house and been knocked out cold, he wasn’t able to control how he felt or, fuck even what he did. He wanted to be near her all the time.
He needed to take care of her. Protect her.
It seemed though, that his attitude switch was not something she was okay with. And that led him to only one thing: it was time to get out of dodge.
Turning the corner, his house came into view. It wasn’t fancy or built by hand like his brother Brandon’s. But it was his. And he loved it. It was a three-bedroom ranch that sat right on the lake. He’d remolded parts of the inside including the kitchen and the master bath, but everything else was virtually the same. He had figured he would be there forever and could take his time.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
Slowing his pace, he walked passed his house and headed for Brandon’s. Brandon and Leah lived two doors down in a gorgeous home that Brandon had spent years building. He knew his brother was home because his car was in the drive but Leah’s was gone.
Without knocking he opened the door. “Bran you here?” He shut the door behind him.
“In the office,” he heard his brother yell.
Making his way down the hall he found his brother sitting behind the desk. “Hey.”
“Don’t sit on anything while you’re all sweaty or Leah will kill you.”
Logan shook his head. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“What brings you here?” Brandon pushed back from the desk and stood.
“Can’t a guy just come and see his brother?”
He rounded the desk and Logan followed him out of the office. “I just saw you last night. Isn’t that enough.”
Logan wasn’t sure what had brought him there but he knew he wanted to talk. He watched as Brandon grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge. Handing him one he said, “Let’s go outside.”
Sitting down, Logan opened his water and took a long drink.
“So what’s wrong?”
“How do you know something is wrong?”
“I’m your brother, man. I know you.”
“Remember how I said I might take that assignment?”
“Yeah, you said you still weren’t sure? Have you decided?”
“I think I am going to. I need to get away. Clear my head.”
“Just six months ago you were saying you hated traveling and wanted to be here. What changed?”
He huffed out a breath. “She hates me, man. I can’t be here, be around her when all I want to do is touch her and be near her, when she hates me and gives me angry looks.”
“I should have guessed we were talking about Mel.”
“I think leaving again might be for the best.”
“For who, you?”
“Yeah.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you hated being gone. Couldn’t wait, in fact to have no more assignments that took you away.”
“I did,” he hung his head. “Do. But I just can’t be here and see her every day.”
“So don’t fucking see her every day.”
“If it were that simple don’t you think I would have thought about that?”
“Why isn’t it that simple?”
Logan wanted to pace, felt like sitting there in a chair looking out at the lake was too tame. But he didn’t move. Instead he said quietly, “If I know she is close, I can’t stop myself from being near her.”
“Well, this fucking sucks.” Brandon sat forward, his elbows on his knees. “I just got you back and now you want to leave again.”
Logan snapped his head up. “What do you mean you just got me back? It’s not like I cut you out of my life when I wasn’t living here.”
“Pretty damn close,” Brandon said. “You barely called and when you did it was all superficial shit. I like having you here, man, where I can give you shit face-to-face and actually know what is going on in your life.”
Logan looked at his brother. “I didn’t mean to cut you out of my life. It wasn’t on purpose.” Until that moment he hadn’t even realized he’d done it.
“Fuck,” Brandon swore. “I know that, man. And I can’t fault you for being out there and making something of yourself. I just missed my brother.”
Standing up, Logan said, “If I go this time, it won’t be forever and I will do a better job of staying in touch.”
“Just don’t leave without saying goodbye.”
“I won’t.”
Logan left his brother’s and walked back home. He had a lot to think about. He loved his new life in Cedarville and loved being able to see and talk to his brother every day. And he hated the thought of going back out on assignment, sleeping in hotels and dealing with ungrateful people. That was not the world he wanted to live in anymore. His life was here or at least he hoped.
He just had to find a way to deal with his Melanie obsession.
It was becoming increasingly harder to be near her and not follow through on the pictures and thoughts in his head.
––––––––
Later that same night, he was out on his parent’s boat, taking in the warm summer air and still trying to make a decision.
He was almost positive he was going to take this one last job, at least. It paid well and it was only for a week. One week for him to clear his head of all things Mel.
One long torturous week without seeing her.
He’d never make it. But he had to try.
Docking the boat, he by-passed his parent’s house and jumped in his car. It was late and he didn’t want to disturb them plus conversations with them always seemed to last hours. He just wanted to go home and get some sleep.
Pulling into his drive, he saw a dark silhouette sitting by his front door.
“Hello,” he called out.
“It’s me,” he heard Mel’s voice say.
Halting his steps before he could see her, he asked, “What are you doing here?” He didn’t want her there, or at least that was what he told himself. He had worked really hard not to be alone with her for fear that he would do something insane like profess his love.
“You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
“I just pulled in,” he said confused.
“No,” she said moving forward into the light, letting him see her clearly. “You’re leaving Cedarville.”
“Oh.” He wasn’t sure how she had heard this fast, but knowing how Cedarville worked, it didn’t surprise him. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Why?”
“Why does it even matter to you?” he threw back at her.
“Because we’re friends.”
“Correction...we used to be friends. You seem to fucking hate me now.” He was pissed and he hated being pissed. He was an easy-going guy by nature. He walked to where she stood but instead of stopping he unlocked his door and went into his house. He left the door open for her to follow if she chose.
“How can you say that,” she said loudly and slammed the door.
He turned, to do or say what, he wasn’t sure. But the look on her face and her eyes full of fire stopped him. This was one of those moments that he wished he had his camera.
“I don’t hate you,” she whispered, her head shaking side-to-side.
“You do a damn good impression of it then.”
“I shouldn’t have come here,” she said and turned to leave.
Warning bells went off inside his head. If he was going to leave and purge his feelings for Melanie from his mind, wasn’t this his one chance to taste her lips? His one chance to know how she felt in his arms?
“Melanie,” he said and even to his own ears he sounded desperate. He reached out and touched her shoulder. When she turned, he didn’t give her a second to even think before his mouth was on hers.
He knew he had to be shocking the hell out of her with the kiss but what he expected and what he got were two different things.
She opened fully to him, her mouth his for the taking. But that wasn’t where it stopped. Her arms came up and around his neck forcing his to do the same to her. Now they were in a full embrace and with her height, they were almost lined up perfectly.
The kiss went on, their tongues battling for control until he pulled back.
Wide-eyed she asked, “What was that?”
He stepped back further, forcing himself to let go of her. “I needed to know before I left.”
Eyes that had just seconds before been filled with heat and desire, flared with anger. “So you are leaving?”
Before he could even say a word, she turned her back to him, grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. “Goodbye, Logan.”
He stood there, watching her leave.
That kiss had rocked his whole world. So much so that he was unable to move or even speak. For all that he thought kissing her would be, he had never imagined that it would be like that. So consuming, so electric.
She hadn’t given him the chance to tell her that now, now that he’d kissed her, any thought of him leaving was gone.
Because for as little as he did know about women, he was smart enough to realize that a kiss like that, with that much power, meant something.
There was no way he was leaving Cedarville, at least not for good.