Two identical twins. One kiss gone wrong under the mistletoe. Can Christmas get any crazier?
***
Chloe Cartwright has loved her best friend's brother for as long as she can remember. Jack and Logan may be identical twins, but they're completely dif...
He leaned back in his office chair, his eyes flicking to the clock. Half-past two in the morning. Brilliant. He stared glumly at the dark ring at the bottom of his coffee cup. The mug was empty — much like his soul at this very moment.
At least he had Kate here.
Not that she was talking to him, but hey — he'd take what he could get.
She was leaning over her laptop, a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose. Her dark hair was pulled up in a topknot. He watched, amused, as she stuffed another handful of yogurt-covered pretzels into her mouth. Yup. Kate definitely had a deadline soon.
"How's the article coming along?" Logan asked.
Silence.
"My article's fine, thanks," Logan continued, to nobody in particular. "Bit longer than anticipated, though. 5,000 bloody words. I might have to chop the bit about my heroic medical rescue."
He peeked at Kate. She was staring hard at her laptop, but her eyes weren't moving. Logan kicked his feet up on the desk.
"Alternatively, I could cut the part about Jack almost dying, but there's a really funny pun in there about how he was never nuts about cookies, so I think—"
"Can I help you?" Kate snapped.
"With the article?" Logan smirked. "Yes, please."
"This isn't funny, Logan."
"I disagree."
Kate spun in her chair to face him. "You should have apologized to Chloe straight away. After she found out the truth." She jerked her head towards the article. "I hope you've changed her name in that, at least."
Logan frowned. "Of course I have."
Christ. Logan might be insensitive, but he wasn't stupid.
And anyways, Chloe had given him permission to write about her; they had a surprisingly civil conversation outside the hospital yesterday. Logan had grovelled out a long apology, and Chloe responded by calling him a slimy, traitorous snake, but admitted that she was willing to forgive him for the sake of their families' friendship.
Then Chloe demanded that Logan pull a few professional strings and introduce Rowan to Lewis Capaldi, which he had acquiesced to.
So that probably helped, too.
Kate was back to staring at her laptop. Logan cleared his throat.
"I did apologize to her, you know," he said. "Yesterday."
"You did?"
Logan frowned. "You don't need to sound so surprised. And anyways," he said, fishing in his desk drawer, "you're hardly one to talk." A-ha! He pulled out a Caramilk bar. "You could have told Chloe the truth ages ago."
Kate flinched. "I know."
"But you didn't."
"No," Kate said, swallowing. "I didn't. And I feel really bad about it, okay?" She was blinking hard. "But for some reason that escapes me, I seem to have a soft spot where you're concerned, Winters. I always have."
Kate swiped at her face. Logan paused, the chocolate bar hovering halfway to his mouth. Ah, shit. Was she about to cry? He had expected yelling or barbed insults — anything to get her talking to him again — but he hadn't wanted this.
Not tears.
"Are you alright?" he asked gently.
"Fine."
She swiveled back to her laptop, her nails clicking on the keys. Logan took a bite of the chocolate bar. After a moment, Kate stopped typing, staring blankly at the screen.
"You always do this," she muttered.
"Do what?"
"Nothing."
There was another pause. Logan frowned. Well, damn; now he was curious.
"Do what, Kate?"
"Treat women like this," Kate said tightly. "It's disgusting. They're not toys for your amusement, Logan; they're people. Actual people. With real feelings." She slammed her laptop shut. "But you wouldn't know what those are, would you?"
Logan winced. Ouch.
"I have feelings," he said defensively.
"Like what?"
Logan paused mid-chew. "Hunger?"
Kate stared at him for a long moment. Then she shot to her feet, stuffing her laptop into her bag. "You know what, Logan?" She slipped into her camel-colored wool coat. "You stay here. I'm going to work from home."
Logan set down the chocolate bar, his mind spinning. Christ. What the bloody hell was happening right now?
"Calm down, Kate. I was just taking the piss."
"You're always taking the piss," Kate scoffed. "Honestly, Logan." She snatched up her bag, swinging it over her shoulder. "I don't know how you expect to be taken seriously if you never have anything serious to say."
He stood, bewildered. "Is this still about Chloe?"
Kate stared at him. "No, it's not about Chloe." She stomped towards the lifts, jabbing the down button. "You're so thick sometimes."
"But I—"
"Good night, Logan," she said firmly, and then shot into a lift.
Logan stared out the window, watching as the white snowflakes swirled outside, like earth's dandruff flakes. Or lint tossed in a drier. He paused. Damn, he must really be shaken up if he couldn't even think of a good simile.
But, seriously.
What the hell just happened?
He and Kate were friends, weren't they? Friends didn't just drop cryptic messages and then storm off into the night. Logan wasn't even sure what he was meant to have done. What on earth did Kate mean when she accused him of being insensitive? Did she—?
There was a ding.
He whirled around as Kate traipsed out of the lift, looking about as pleased as a cat thrown in a bathtub. She slammed her bag down on the desk.
"It seems I'm stuck with you," Kate said grimly. "We're snowed in."
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A/N: Keeping it short and sweet today! I can't believe it's only four days until Christmas now — this month has flown by.
We might not be able to have Christmas parties this year (well, at least where I am in Canada) but I definitely had fun writing the big party scene at the end. Buzz words: champagne, towering cakes, a kiss and snow. Only two chapters to go!
