“Boys were mean to you?” He chuckled. “They probably just liked you and didn’t know how to express it.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. “I think I know the difference between flirting and bullying, Logan.”
“Did that sound like I was undermining your pain and suffering? Because, you know, I like you and I’m not sure how to express it.” He poked the back of her hand repeatedly. “So poking you and pinching you and shoving you into walls won’t get my point across?”
She flushed with pleasure and laughed. “No, keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Okay, so then what? You went away to college, and your mother figured out how to raise her own kid.”
Toni shook her head. “No. I completed most of my degree online and continued to raise Birdie. I did my classwork while she was at school and we had the afternoons and evenings together.”
“And then after college you got a job . . .”
She knew he was trying to lead her somewhere, but couldn’t figure out where. “I did freelance work for my mother’s company.”
“Following bands around the country?”
She laughed. “Uh, no. This is the first assignment I haven’t been able to do from home. Until now, I’ve done almost all of my work remotely. Online.”
“Oh,” Logan said, slapping his hands on the table and making Toni jump. “Now I get it!”
Toni covered her racing heart with one hand and scowled at him. “You get what?”
“I couldn’t figure out how a beautiful, intelligent, funny, loving, sweet, sexy woman like you hadn’t already been snatched up by some lucky bastard.”
Her breath caught. She wasn’t used to anyone—much less gorgeous men—saying such wonderful things about her. Logan almost made her feel that they were true.
“Their loss is my gain,” he said.
“My gain,” she corrected. She wasn’t sure if he’d still be interested in her if she hadn’t been a virgin their first time together; he seemed really wrapped up in knowing he’d been her first. Her only. “So where did you grow up? Where do you live now?” She already knew his answers. She’d researched it all before she’d met him. But it would be far more interesting hearing it from his delectable lips.
“Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona.”
“Is that why you’re so hot?”
He grinned at her compliment. “It must be. My parents divorced when I was still in elementary school. I lived with my dad. My brother with my mom.”
He didn’t look at her when he said it. She wasn’t sure if he was hiding his emotions from her or if it hadn’t been that big a deal to him.
“I moved to Los Angeles right after high school. I heard that’s where all the ladies who were willing to have sex with mediocre bass players lived.” His gaze lifted to hers.
“Did you find what you were looking for there?”
He winked. “In abundance.”
“How did you get into motocross?” She’d been dying to ask him about it during the radio interview, but somewhere in the hectic activities of the day, the topic had slipped her overstimulated mind.
“Racing or freestyle?” he asked.
“I’m not really familiar with the sport. What’s the difference?” She picked at her chicken, not hungry any longer, but she wanted to extend her alone time with Logan for as long as possible, so she pretended to still be interested in her meal.
“Racing is just going as fast as possible without crashing into anyone or anything.”
She held his gaze. “Have you ever crashed?”
“Plenty of times.”
Her heart rate kicked up a notch, the way it did when her sister stood behind a horse or stumbled on the stairs. “Were you hurt?”
He shrugged. “I lived. But I’d say freestyle is the more dangerous of the two. I started freestyle when racing became too boring.”
“Boring?”
“I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie.”
If that were true, she’d never be able to keep his attention. She was the epitome of boring. The very definition of predictable.
“Want to see something cool?” he asked, pulling out his cellphone.
“Um.” She had no idea what to expect. “I guess so.”
He slid around the table and scooted in close beside her. She was so conscious of the feel of his body and his attention-shattering scent that she forgot she was supposed to be looking at something on his phone.
She looked down. The view of a wide green river caught her attention. “I’m ready,” his recorded voice said from off-screen.