Free Two Times as Hot by Cat Johnson

You’ve had too much to drink.”
    “Don’t sound so judgmental about it. Everyone else was drunk, too.” She dropped her
     hands and folded her arms across her chest.
    This was good. He could handle an angry Tara much better than an amorous one. Now
     that the immediate danger of her fondling him had passed, what she’d said struck him.
     “Everyone else is drunk, too? Like who?”
    When he and the guys had left the party to go to the hotel for Tuck’s bachelor party,
     there’d been friends and relatives milling around drinking coffee and eating cake.
     What could have possibly happened after that to get everyone drunk? Shots of after
     dinner cordials? Doubtful.
    “We girls went out for drinks for Becca’s bachelorette party. It was Emma’s idea.”
    The mention of Emma got Logan’s attention. He pictured how different things might
     have been if Emma had appeared out of the darkness and wrapped her arms around him
     instead of Tara. That thought had his body starting to wake up, just when he’d assumed
     it was as drunk as his brain and ready for sleep.
    “Is Emma staying here with Becca tonight?” He glanced at the house, and pictured Emma
     inside.
    “Nah, we had the cab drop her at the hotel then bring us home. Becca’s in Tuck’s room,
     and because she won’t let him see her in the morning before the wedding, Tuck’s on
     the sleeper sofa in the den. Full house over here, but your house isn’t. And your
     room is all the way at the other end of the hall from your parents’ room.” Tara ran
     her hand up his chest.
    “Tara, listen to me. You need to turn around, go inside, and head directly for bed.
     Your own bed. Tuck and your parents are counting on you to be in top shape for tomorrow.”
    “But I’m not tired.” She pouted, which reminded him of a time when she was five and
     he’d told her she couldn’t play baseball with the big boys.
    “Then just lie down and close your eyes.” He’d used that line a few times during his
     babysitting days when Tara and Tyler had refused to go to sleep. Hopefully it worked
     as well with drunks as with children. With a hand on each shoulder he turned her to
     face her house.
    She glanced back over her shoulder, her lids sagging heavily over her eyes. “Want
     to join me?”
    Logan was truly in hell.
    “No.” He hadn’t used the scary commander tone that he used with cadets, but it was
     stern enough to leave no doubt that what she’d suggested was not happening.
    “Party pooper.”
    “Yeah, whatever.”
    She took a few steps and then called back. “See you tomorrow. Save me a dance at the
     wedding.”
    Logan had a bad feeling all of this—the drinking, the flirting—was going to be repeated
     tomorrow and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
    Feeling a lot more sober now, he watched until Tara disappeared around the corner
     of the house, and then he made his way to the safety of his own parents’ home unmolested.
     The whole way there he envisioned Emma, back in her hotel room after the bachelorette
     party, all tipsy and tempting in a big king-sized bed all alone.
    Good thing Emma wasn’t spending the night with Becca, temptingly close next door.
     So close Logan might have been tempted to knock on her window. Maybe invite her on
     a moonlight stroll in the rose garden. Drunk as he was, he could have done it. Probably
     the only thing that would have stopped him was the fear of running into Tara again.
    The encounter with Tara, and now all these thoughts of Emma, had knocked the weariness
     right out of Logan. That figured. Chances were he wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon.
     He’d be tired and hung over tomorrow for the wedding.
    Resigned to his fate, he headed for bed. Logan had faced worse in his career. He’d
     get through this.

Chapter Four
    “U gh.” Emma glared at her reflection in the hallway mirror. “Becca, next time you get
     married, can it be in a month when the relative humidity is less than