Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,37

her. No way. Not Logan.

Faith turned her attention to pouring beers and passing them around. “How long have you been in Glacier Falls, Brody?” A lot had changed in the years since Faith had moved away, including a bunch of new faces that she hadn’t had a chance to get to know yet. Brody was a little different, as he owned the Birchwood restaurant and had done a bit of catering for some of the weddings at Ever After Ranch. Still, working with him hadn’t meant she’d gotten to know much about him yet. And besides the fact that he seemed to be spending a lot of time with her old friend Sarah and her young daughter, she didn’t know anything at all.

“I’ve been here just over a year now, I guess.” Brody didn’t seem to mind the questions. “It took me a little bit to settle in and get the restaurant set up the way I wanted it. The

The Michaels had done a great job with it,” he added, quickly mentioning the original owners who still lived in town, “but I had a different vision for it.”

“It’s fantastic.”

Was it Faith’s imagination, or had Sarah just gushed?

“Thank you.” He smiled and touched Sarah’s arm, letting his fingers linger. “I must admit,” Brody continued, “I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed cooking so much. This town and all of the residents, and of course the weddings,” he pointed at Faith, who shrugged. “Everyone has been so welcoming. It makes it a lot easier to start over somewhere new.”

“It’s good to hear, man.” Logan raised his glass. “Because we like having you and hey, maybe I’ve found a new riding partner?”

“What about Faith?”

Faith almost spit out the sip of beer she’d just taken. “Me?”

“You looked like you were keeping up with Logan pretty well,” Sarah offered. “The two of you seem pretty evenly matched.”

There was more than one thing that could be taken from that statement, and judging by the wiggle of her friend’s eyebrows, Sarah knew it too. But Faith was not going in for any of that. She and Logan were just…what were they? Not friends. Not really. They drove each other crazy. They were co-workers more than anything and that was only because her sister and Levi had forced them together to make them feel less guilty about leaving Ever After Ranch in their hands as they went to travel the world. It was definitely not by choice.

Faith looked over at Logan and shook her head right as he said, “There’s no way she could keep up with me. Not if I was really trying.”

“Is that a challenge?” She turned in her seat so she faced him. Logan grinned and turned to face her as well. She tried not to notice his hard chest under the too tight T-shirt he wore or the way it stuck to his biceps. It really had been too long since she’d been with a man. She was clearly becoming delirious if she was looking at Logan in any way other than a pain in her ass.

“It could be.” His voice was low and rough, and dammit if she didn’t think it was sexy.

Faith shook her head and forced herself to turn away and put both hands on her beer. “Whatever. It may have been a few years, but I’ve still got it,” she said. “Definitely not much of a challenge.”

Across the table, Sarah let out a low whistle and Brody chuckled. But it was Logan’s response that held her attention.

He kept his voice low, barely more than a gruff whisper, but she heard him loud and clear. “Oh, it’s definitely a challenge.”

The rest of the evening passed quickly over more beers and wings. But Katie and Damon never did show up to join them. Fortunately, the conversation steered away from Logan and Faith, not that there was even anything to discuss there, and after a bit, the men excused themselves to play a game of pool while the women chatted.

As soon as Faith had Sarah alone, she had to ask. “So, what exactly is going on between the two of you? Are you guys officially dating or…”

Sarah shrugged, but she wouldn’t meet Faith’s eyes. “Brody? Me? Oh no. It’s not…we’re just friends.”

“Seems like more than that.”

“I mean, we do spend a lot of time together. More and more over the last few months, actually. He probably spends more time at my house than his own, actually. And now that he’s started coaching