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.
“It’s a lovely view,” Toni said.
“It’s about to get real,” he said.
“No fear,” the recorded Logan yelled.
She heard a soft grunt from his footage and then suddenly the river was getting closer at a dizzying rate. She heard him yell in exuberance, but she didn’t see him hit the water. She slapped her hands over her eyes so she didn’t have to watch. She knew he’d survived the ordeal—he was sitting right beside her. But that didn’t stop her from cringing when she heard the splash, the sound of a cord recoiling, and then more excited shouts from the man she barely knew.
“You missed the best part,” Logan said with a soft chuckle. “I didn’t get hurt.”
“But you could have!” She still hadn’t removed her hands from her eyes.
“I could get hurt standing in the middle of an open field.”
“True,” she said, “but the odds of that happening are a lot less.”
“You can’t live your life by the odds, lamb. Besides, bungee jumping isn’t all that dangerous. Do you want to see something really dangerous?” he asked, tugging at her wrist.
“I’d rather not,” she said.
“Ah, come on. You already know I didn’t die.”
She lowered her hands and looked up at him. He really did seem to be excited about this stuff. Maybe she was overreacting. She glanced down at his video screen, and stretched before the camera was a spectacular view of a cerulean blue ocean. A waterfall spilled from the ground beneath the shot, water thundering over rocks on its way to the sea.
“I’m not going down that way,” yelled a voice on the recording. Steve’s face came into view as the camera turned in his direction.
“Then why in the hell did you climb up here?” Logan said onscreen. Toni couldn’t see him, but he sounded close.
“Up is my thing. Down is yours,” Steve said.
“How do you record the footage?” Toni asked, leaning closer to the screen for clues.
“I’m wearing a headcam. Maybe you’d like to borrow it while you’re following the band around. It would free up your hands for taking notes on napkins.”
He laughed—and she knew he was laughing at her—but a headcam was a wonderful idea. Why hadn’t she thought of it?
Toni gripped his wrist excitedly. “Could I really borrow it?”
“Sure. Now you have to watch.” He nodded toward his screen.
“You’re not really going to jump, are you?” Steve asked on the video.
“No fear,” Logan yelled, and suddenly the waterfall was the only thing in sight and seemed to slow until it stood still. Or maybe it was just falling at the same rate as the man who’d just jumped off the cliff. There was a brief glimpse of the craggy rocks sending water spraying toward the camera, then the rapidly approaching surface of the water below. Toni didn’t see the rest—she covered her eyes again—but over the rumble of the falls she could hear Logan yelling exuberantly.
“What a rush,” Logan said beside her. “I need to do that one again.”
There was a tremendous splash and gurgling sounds as water closed in around him. Toni didn’t uncover her eyes until she heard the distinctive sound of him surfacing and taking a deep breath.
“Fuck yeah, that was awesome!” he yelled on the video as the camera, with its view now partially blocked by water droplets, panned far, far, far up the waterfall and cliff face. “Come on, Steve. Get your ass down here!”
“You’re insane!” Toni heard Steve yell from a great distance. His voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of the waterfall. “I’m insane!” And then there was a loud whoop as Steve launched himself over the cliff.
Toni covered her eyes again. Yes, she knew that Steve hadn’t died that day either, but holy shit, he was almost as fearless as the man beside her. And here she was practically afraid of her own shadow.
She heard Steve screaming in terror all the way down, heard his entry splash. When he surfaced, he coughed several times and then yelled at Logan, “That fucking hurt like hell!”