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remained
staring down at me thoughtfully the entire time until the nurse entered and
informed him it was time to leave.
    “I’ll see you in the morning, Cassandra. Sleep well,” he
said, standing and walking to claim his coat.
    “There’s no reason to come back. I’m done, Logan. You
can’t change how I feel.”
    He slipped his watch back on and unrolled his sleeves
before pulling on his coat.
    “Good night.”
    That was all he said as he left the room, leaving me
alone with my thoughts and resolute commitment to keep myself as guarded a
possible to protect myself from him, no matter what I had to do. I wouldn’t be
that girl again.

    The next morning, Logan was back
by the time breakfast was served. He removed the cafeteria tray I’d been
picking at and replaced it with a covered plate. He lifted the lid, revealing a
beautiful omelet with all the fixings. Ignoring him, I dug in. It tasted as
good as it looked.
    Concentrating on the food, I smiled when I heard Logan
leave the room. Was he really giving in? Taking the hint that he was wasting
his time? If so, then why would he show up to begin with? I held little hope.
    As I assumed, he hadn’t taken the hint. He was back less
than a minute later, with a file box in his hands.
    My brows knit together as he sat in the chair beside me
and opened the lid. I watched, too curious to look away, when he set the box
and lid on the floor and pulled out a stack of catalogs.
    Was he really going to do some shopping here? I swallowed
another bite, controlling the flurry of annoyance growing when he held up a
Pottery Barn catalog and red marker, smiling.
    “You don’t have to talk to me, but I thought you might
want to fight off some of your boredom by helping me finish the details of
Julia’s new place.”
    Julia’s house—the house I bet him she would love and, if
she did, he’d be my slave for a weekend. I grimaced at the thought of me being
indebted to him.
    “I was hoping to have it furnished by spring break and do
the big reveal to her then,” he continued, setting the items at my side on the
bed when I made no move to take them from his hands. “She still doesn’t know,
and I’m sure you’ll want to make it look perfect…unless you’re calling off the
bet?”
    I wanted to say, “Yes—the bet is off, and you’re crazy,”
and scream at him to get out of my room. But instead, I swallowed the bite of
egg in my mouth and nodded. “A bet’s a bet.”
    After breakfast, I scoured the catalogs diligently,
circling the most lavish, expensive items I found—ones I knew she’d love, but
would impact Logan’s bank account the most. The Restoration Hardware catalog
was just the ticket for that.
    It was in his hands, and I watched as he sat back in the
chair, leg rested over his knee, flipping through pages. He circled something,
then dog-eared a page. My attention was piqued—he’d been going through the same
book for over an hour, and only pulled the marker from his ear a total of five
times to note of something he liked.
    Curious, I dropped the catalog in my hand and snatched
the one from his. The whole picture of him sitting there browsing for furniture
was ridiculous, but still he sat there most of the morning. The page he’d been
on had a bright-green circle around a beautiful leather sofa with silver-stud
detail. The piece was gorgeous, but the fact that he’d picked it left me
unsettled. With a quick hand, I pulled the cap of my marker free with my teeth,
letting it protrude from my lips as I drew a giant X over his circle.
    “And what’s wrong with the sofa?” he asked, slightly
miffed. He must’ve really liked it, which further pushed me to veto it.
    “Too masculine.”
    He eyed me skeptically as I flipped through, starting
over from page one until I landed on another item he’d circled: a stunning blue
Moroccan area rug. I honestly would’ve chosen it, as well. With a shrewd smile
in his direction, I crossed out the item and moved to the next