“For what? It’s not your fault they couldn’t get along. The blame for that lies on my bratty older brother.” His lips twisted slightly, and she figured he was joking. About which part, she wasn’t sure.
“What’s your brother like?”
“I hate him, so it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Toni couldn’t imagine hating a sibling. Her sister meant everything to her, and she missed Birdie terribly.
“Why do you hate him?”
Logan lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Why do you care? Is all of this going to end up in your book? Poor Logan has never been in love, you’ll write, and then you’ll offer up some sob story about a broken home and an irreconcilable feud between brothers.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” She didn’t know whether she should be hurt or angry that he thought she would betray him.
“Go ahead and include it. I might get some sympathy pussy out of the ordeal.”
Toni scowled. “You can be a real jerk when your feelings are hurt.”
“But I don’t have feelings. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
She shook her head at him. “I don’t believe it for a second.”
“All those loving things you claim I said? I only say things like that to get in your pants.”
Toni’s face went numb with shock. That couldn’t be true, could it?
“I say things like that to every girl I meet.”
“Hundreds of them,” she said dully.
“Exactly.”
She stared at him, noting the tension in his shoulders, the crease in his normally smooth forehead, and the way his eyes refused to meet hers.
“You’re lying.” She hoped.
“Why do you say that?”
“You can’t even look at me, Logan.” She touched his hand, surprised when instead of drawing away, he turned his hand over to clutch hers in an iron grip. “At least look at me while you break my heart.”
“I don’t want to break your heart, Toni.” He lifted her hand and pressed it into the center of his chest. His heart thudded against the back of her hand. “Not when seeing you upset breaks mine.”
And she wasn’t supposed to take those words as him having deep feelings for her? Maybe he simply wasn’t ready to admit how he felt. Or maybe she was thinking wishfully.
“I know you don’t like me to refer to you as a friend,” he said.
She cringed automatically. Her dislike was that obvious, was it?
“Hear me out, Toni.”
She nodded, resisting the urge to shield her delicate heart with her hand. As if that would help.
“All the relationships in my life have been fucked up. All of them except those with my friends. My friends have always been more like family to me than my actually family ever was. So when I call you friend, I don’t want you to take it lightly.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. She hadn’t realized he’d attached special meaning to the word. She’d assumed it was his way of forcing her to keep her distance, not his way of drawing her close.
“It’s not a marriage proposal either,” he added, giving her hand a squeeze.
She laughed hollowly, more from tension than any semblance of good humor. “I’m sorry for pressuring you.”
“You are?” He lifted his eyebrows at her, meeting her eyes now, making her heart thud and her belly quiver with just a stare.
“Uh, well, I’m sorry you didn’t react the way I’d hoped.” She bit her lip, searching his face for answers she didn’t find. “Are we still friends?”
“And lovers.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and the tension melted from her muscles. She took a steadying breath. He hadn’t dumped her. They were okay.
“So do you want to finish the interview,” he asked with an ornery grin, “or learn to appreciate anal sex?”
Her buttocks clenched automatically, causing her spine to lengthen and her to sit ramrod straight. Ram rod? He would not be ramming that rod up in there if she had any say in the matter.
He snorted at what must have been her most horrified expression.
“Interview it is,” he said, inclining his head in her direction.
Flustered, she touched her overly hot cheek with cool fingertips, tucked a poof of hair behind one ear, and then licked her lips. Okay, let’s see how he likes to be thrown off guard.
Knowing him, he’d probably relish every moment.
She pretended to read from her legal pad. “Rumor has it that anatomically correct robot prototypes have been crafted in the images of each member of Exodus End,” she said in her most professional voice. “Can you explain why there is so