“Someone told her that if she rode on the plane, I’d come home.”

Mom bit her lip and rubbed at an eyebrow with one finger. “I did tell her that. I figured you’d be more useful at home than here. I was wrong. We’ll figure something out to make this work.”

“Are you coming with us to the track?” Logan would be almost as happy as she was that she was staying and completing the project as she envisioned it.

Mom laughed. “To watch your boyfriend play with his bike?” She shook her head. “I think I’ll pass. I can get some work done before we have to catch our plane.”

“Is it okay with you that Birdie comes with us?”

“Of course.”

“Birdie,” Toni called to her sister, who was sulking in the corner, “are you too mad at me to go watch Logan ride his dirt bike?”

“Yes!” Birdie said.

“Logan will be sad. He wanted you to see him do a trick. I thought you were his friend.”

It was probably wrong of her to manipulate her sister, but Birdie would get over her anger quickly if she was having fun. And who could be around Logan for more than ten seconds without having fun?

“I’ll go,” Birdie said. “But I’m not sitting by you.”

“Don’t be cross with Toni,” Mom said as she rose from her chair. “I’m the one who told you she was coming home.”

“I’m not sitting by you either!”

“This should make our flight home interesting,” Mom said under her breath as she walked toward the door. “Make sure you’re back here before three.”

Toni nodded and sent a text to Logan. Meeting is over. Went well. I’m bringing my equipment and my sister to our room. You might want to hide the toys.

His reply came a few seconds later. OK. Where am I supposed to hide them all?

IDK! Use your imagination.

I’ll meet you in the hallway. Just knock.

He was right; it probably wasn’t the best idea to allow Birdie into their suite. No telling what she might see. Still upset that she’d been lied to, Birdie followed begrudgingly. Her attitude changed entirely when Toni knocked on the suite door and Logan appeared with two long-stemmed white roses.

“For the pretty ladies,” he said.

He offered a flower to Birdie first, who lifted the blossom to her nose and sniffed. Toni was too busy ogling the gorgeous spectacle of Logan’s ass in his thin red race pants to give a fig about a flower.

“Thank you!” Birdie said. “It doesn’t smell good.”

“It stinks?” Logan asked, smelling the rose he was still holding.

“No.” Birdie laughed. “I mean you can’t smell it.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” Logan said, tossing his rose on the floor.

“But I love it!” Birdie rescued the discarded flower from the hall carpet as Toni nudged her way into the suite and dropped off her bags.

While Logan occupied Birdie in “safe” territory, Toni grabbed a couple of sweatshirts. She had no idea what the weather would be like in Denver in May.

By the time they were settled in the waiting limousine outside the hotel’s front lobby, Birdie was too distracted with awe to hold on to her anger toward Toni. Birdie fiddled with the television and other various buttons, while Logan and Toni snuggled close together in the seat.

“Is it stupid that I missed you?” he murmured close to her ear.

She probably should force some distance between them when a young witness was in their midst—those pants of his left very little to the imagination and she knew what kind of effect she had on the man. But she found herself squirming to get closer and burying her face in his neck.

“Not stupid, flattering,” she assured him.

“Tell me about the meeting,” he said, and then whispered to her out of Birdie’s earshot, “to distract me from my desire to devour you.”

“My little sister is watching,” she reminded him.

“Which is the only reason I haven’t made you naked.”

If Birdie hadn’t been present, Toni was quite sure she’d be enjoying one of his fabulous lessons.

“Uh, the meeting,” she said. She placed a hand on his chest to steady herself, not finding the rapid beat of his heart steadying in the least. “Right.”

She told him what had happened—trying not to overstate what a bitch Susan had been to her—and he listened. Somewhere in the middle of her recap, she realized that she liked having him as a friend. And that if this relationship between them didn’t work out, she’d lose so much more than a fantastic lover. She’d lose a confidant, her champion, her partner. When had she started thinking of him like that? Probably in the wee hours of that morning when he’d been squinting blurry-eyed at video footage and searching for the perfect thirty-second segment from their record store signing.

“I’m glad you get to stay,” Logan said.

Looking up into his tender blue eyes, she was sure she’d have stayed with him for as long as possible even if her mother had given the job to Susan.

“I’m not,” Birdie said crossly. “I want Toni to come home.”

“Birdie . . .” Toni began.

“Aren’t you proud of your sister?” Logan asked Birdie. “She’s been working hard to make me look good.”

“That is a hard job,” Toni teased.

He poked her in the belly, but didn’t reply to her barb. “And no one believed she could do it. Not your Mom. Not Susan. Not the guys in the band.”

“Susan is mean!” Birdie said.

“But your big sister did an excellent job, and now everyone realizes how amazing she is. That’s good, isn’t it? She couldn’t do that if she was at home.”

Birdie nodded. “I proud of her, but I miss her so much.” She dropped her head forward and plucked at the petals on one of her roses.

“And I’d miss her if she went home with you,” Logan said.

Birdie lifted her head, her eyes alight with the excitement of discovering a perfect solution to everyone’s problems. “Then you come home with her!”

Logan laughed. “Maybe I’ll visit someday.”

Was he serious? Toni couldn’t imagine him trapped in their quiet house in the wilderness. The man needed people and excitement. Neither was in abundance on a farm situated miles outside of the small town of Enumclaw, Washington.

“He has to perform in his concerts,” Toni said.

“You’ll come when you’re finished?” Birdie asked, giving her unscented rose another sniff. The blossom was already starting to droop.

“Yeah,” Logan said.

“And that’s when Toni will come home too?”

“Actually, I’ll be home months before then. Logan’s traveling to far-away countries this summer. Without me.”

Logan squeezed her shoulder. Maybe the idea unsettled him as much as it did her.

“But aren’t you getting married?” Birdie asked.

Logan laughed. “Uh, no.”

“Why not?”

The man was already jittery about commitment; Toni didn’t want uncomfortable questions to send him running into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, never to be seen or heard from again.

“We just met, Birdie,” Toni said. “Marriage isn’t something two people should take lightly.”

“Or even consider,” Logan said under his breath.

“If you kiss her, you have to marry her,” Birdie said.

Logan laughed again and rubbed at one eye with his fingertips. “I must have a lot of wives I don’t know about.”

Birdie looked utterly bewildered. Toni supposed it was time to have the talk with her. Or maybe Mom would do the honors, because Toni wasn’t exactly an expert on romantic relationships. Not yet.

As for marriage, Toni wasn’t ready for that level of commitment either, but someday . . . Did Logan mean he’d never consider marriage? She apparently needed to have an awkward talk with him too.

The limo drew to a halt and they stepped out into a cloud of dust. The hum of the dirt bikes on the track sounded like a horde of gigantic angry bees. Logan directed Toni and Birdie to a small set of stands where they could watch the action.

“I guess I should ask if you want to ride or just watch,” Logan said.