Just a heads up, I didn't edit this yet. I'm crossing my fingers, hoping I didn't make any glaring errors. Feel free to point them out if there are. I'll take a better look tomorrow.
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"Best two out of three?" he suggested.
Tamara chuckled. "Are you chicken, Logan?"
Knowing how kinky she was made him a little bit nervous and he had hoped to even the odds by playing another few rounds, but the wicked look in her eye refused to let him back down. "Okay, what's my fate?"
"I dare you to take my phone into the bathroom just inside those doors there," she said, pointing to the doors just outside the basketball court. "And take a sexy picture of yourself nude."
He smirked. "You just can't wait for me to take my clothes off, eh!"
That was something he could do without revealing just how bad his back was. He'd never taken a nude photo of himself, let alone with someone else's phone. What if she got mad at him and chose to show it to the world?
"Are you sure we can't do another round, winner takes all?" he begged, taking her into his arms again. "I can just think of what I want you to do for me."
Linking her hands behind his neck, she said, "Nope, a deal's a deal. You gotta do it, handsome!"
"Me and my big mouth," he grumbled playfully, as he dug his fingers into her side, tickling her. "You're going to owe me later."
She giggled and stepped away from him, holding out her phone. "Here ya go."
"The things I do for you," he said, taking the phone from her. Glancing over, he saw the same guy still standing along the fence, studying the two of them. He looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't say from where. But there was no way he was going to let another guy get his hooks in Tamara. And it was for that reason alone, he strolled away from her and towards the bathroom.
Tamara watched him walk away, curious to see exactly how he'd pull off the photo, knowing full well that he was uncomfortable taking his shirt off. She wanted to help him get more comfortable with the idea of being naked with her and not just from the waist down.
She wasn't a psychologist, but even she knew that the more you did something, the easier it would get to do it. One just has to push past the initial barrier. Although it did irritate her a little bit that she was able to fall back into their easy routine, but he couldn't. Mind you, he went through a lot more than she did and some guys didn't do very good in the letting go of the past field.
Wandering over to the net, she greeted Jason. "Nose isn't looking too bad today."
"It's a little tender, but I'll live. Your man didn't look too happy with me."
"Don't worry about it. He's not a fighter."
"He does look like a man I ran into once at a military training operation though."
"Him?" Tamara laughed, uneasy rippling through her as she held onto the netting. "He wouldn't hurt a flea."
"Just saying," Jason shrugged his shoulders and then turned and looked behind him. "Well, I better go. My friend is waving at me."
"She finally made it back from her boy toy?"
"I don't know what goes on inside that girl's head. One minute she's into me, the next she's jumping in bed with someone else."
She couldn't imagine a man like Jason having any trouble finding a girl, but maybe that girl doesn't think she's worth his while because of his looks. The man could be a model and a television superstar if he let himself.
"Maybe she needs a man to show her the ropes in a way that no one else has," she said, winking at him suggestively. Leaving Jason to his own devices, she walked towards the door that Logan disappeared into. He was just coming out of the bathroom when she walked up to the door, his face red as a tomato.
He handed the phone to her, and then leaned in and whispered, "I swear, if you show this to anyone, I'll spank you until your butt turns red."
"Don't tempt me," she said in a sultry voice, batting her lashes at him. Clicking the buttons on her phone, she glanced at his picture just as two girls pushed open the door into the hallway. Tamara pressed the phone against her chest, waiting for the giggling yahoo's to continue on their way.
Logan snatched the phone back and stuffed it in his shorts pocket. "You can look at it later, away from prying eyes."
"Hey, that's my phone!" she said, reaching into his pocket.
He grabbed her hand and pressed her up against the wall, hands above her head, and one leg between hers. "I think you can wait until we get back to our suite later to look at my picture."
She wrestled with him, trying to get her hands away from him, but he was stronger than she was and that lit a warm fire in her belly, spreading to her extremities. His dark emerald eyes bore into hers with a desire that was suited only to the bedroom.
"Are you going to kiss me or what," she said huskily.
"If I kiss you now, I'll be dragging you into the bathroom behind me."
She looked up at him, a sexy smile passing over her lips. "Am I complaining?"
"Aw, hell!" he said, pulling her into the washroom.
***
Tamara and Logan sat down at their dinner table, contemplating the evening ahead. "I'd love to see the magician's act," she said.
"I saw him once in Los Angeles when I was on vacation. He's awesome."
"I've only seen the odd video about him. He went to Vancouver once, but we couldn't make the drive in to see him. My hours aren't exactly show friendly."
"What hours do they have you working now?"
"Four on, three odd, and then vice versa and my times are always changing. Sometimes I do day time, sometimes afternoon, etcetera. Speaking of work, you know the guy from earlier, Jason?"
Logan's eyes darkened. "The one who wouldn't take his eyes off you?"
"You look so cute when you're jealous," she said, leaning forward as she rested her forearms on the table.
"I'm not jealous!"
Tamara laughed. "You so are." He sent her a smoldering look that robbed her of breath. He looked like he wanted to eat her then and there, mark her as his. She was glad when the waitresses came out and brought their food to the table, breaking the intensity of his gaze.
"As I was saying, Jason felt like he's seen you at one of his military training operations."
Logan froze, his fork an inch from his open mouth. Shock registered on his face before he had a chance to mask it. "Really?"
Sitting back in her chair, she crossed her arms, studying him. "Spill it, Dupon!"
Why would he not want her to know if he was in the military. Hell, she was a cop. She lived under that line of work to a degree. She'd offered her time for a year herself. "Nothing to spill really."
It was too close to the whole truth. If Logan told her that, he'd wind up telling her everything and they had barely begun their new relationship. He wanted her to be sure about him, about wanting to stay with him before he brought his daughter into the picture. And then if she knew that he still worked for the military and wouldn't be able to move away from the East Coast, she'd drop him faster than a hot potato.
The military gave him the means to study forensics. He made it his life mission to find the evidence that other people didn't pay attention to so no one else would have to pay like he did for something they didn't do. His plan was to join a local police department's detective team, but when the government called him into their special ops program, it made it even harder to come home. Or maybe that was just an excuse to avoid rejection and having to explain his past.
It was in the military that he met Lyndi, Chloe's mother. They had a few lonely rendezvous for comfort, which had been the biggest mistake of his life, but out of it did come his daughter, so it wasn't a total loss. She tried to paint him in a bad light, but in the end she did herself in. Even her own parents realized how far gone she was and didn't put up any fight when welfare gave him custody.
"Come on, Dupon. You've got secrets racing across your face."
He couldn't tell her that he worked for the top secret team for the government, but he could give her the low down, he supposed. "I did do a few training stints and had to promise them a few years in exchange for them paying for my college training."
"You went to college? What did you take?"
"I studied forensics."
Dawning filled her eyes. "Makes sense. Did you do that on the East Coast?"
"Yes."
"I thought about joining the army, but I liked the idea of being able to stay close to home. I wouldn't want to be away for so long at a time. My family needs me."
That was another big fat red x in his favor. She'd never consider moving and he would never move back to the city that screwed with his life. They were at a stalemate, and he really had no idea where to go from here. All he knew was that he didn't want to lose her again. ***
And he could totally relate to being there for one's family. When he got custody of Chloe, it was only on the condition that he remained close to home. Thankfully, he no longer had to be out on the battle field and was able to find a position in forensics close to home. And his sister had put her dreams aside to be there for him and his daughter.
She said she didn't mind because he had helped her out while she was growing up. But he knew she couldn't do it forever. Thankfully he convinced her to take online courses that would help her get a job in the future. She'd started selling beauty products online, but that only got her so far.
"Did the military help you find yourself?"
"Kind of. Counselling is what helped me the most though."
Her eyes widened curiously. "You went to counselling?"
"Why does that sound so hard to believe?"
"Very few guys care about discussing their weaknesses with other people. They usually have to be dragged kicking and screaming to their sessions."
Logan drummed his fingers on the table. She really did hit that nail on the head. The only reason he had went was because of his daughter. Kids had a way of showing you what mattered most. And she was his world, so was Tamara.
"My job kind of requires me to be on the top of my game. When minds are busy, you miss things, and I don't want to be the reason someone winds up in jail and have them be innocent."
"Oh, so you're on a forensics team then?"
"Yes." In a manner of speaking. It wasn't the usual police forensics department that she was likely thinking of.
"With the RCMP?"
He shook his head. "I have worked on a few jobs with them, but I kind of have my own team." Despite the fact that she was on the police force, his details were on a need-to-know basis and it was a breach of his contract if he revealed it to her. He still had a few months left to go on his current contract. His clearance level far outranked hers.
Tamara leaned back in her seat, placing her fork on the edge of her empty plate. "You are kind of being pretty cryptic, you know." If there was one thing she was good at, it was reading people. And he read like a man with secrets, but little by little, she was getting to the bottom of what he was doing while he was MIA.
She could understand why he'd join the military after what happened, but it felt kind of counterproductive to her because it was ran much like a prison camp. You got up when they told you to get up. You did what they told you to do, when they told you to do it. If you didn't, you'd get in trouble. But it seems to have helped him a little, as he was back now. Kinda.
"Where are you stationed?" she asked.
"Ottawa. Have you ever been out there?"
"No. The farthest I've been was out to the academy in Saskatchewan."
His eyes brightened with an idea. "Why don't you come back home with me after for a visit?"
Her heart skipped at his suggestion and longing coursed through her. She wanted to be with him, but to what end? He was still carrying a lot of baggage around and she'd already been through enough in her past to know that she couldn't save him from himself.
"I don't think that's a good idea," she said, looking down at her watch. "If we don't hurry, we're going to be late for the performance."
"Mara, please, come home with me. You know you want to."