His brows lifted at that. “Would you, now.”
“Yes, of course I would. And you’d love it.” She smiled back. “That’s an open, standing invitation.”
His slow grin was so sexy it made her toes curl. He finally nodded and said, “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”
She ignored the way her skin heated as he eased back into his section of the love seat. His movements were fluid, utterly masculine. And he was sitting close enough for her to know he smelled good. Not bathed in cologne, but clean and woodsy . . . She made herself talk. “I didn’t grow up in New York City, by the way. Grew up on Long Island, like I said. That’s the suburbs.”
He scoffed at that. “You don’t strike me as the suburbia-girl type. You’re a city girl through and through.”
Grinning slightly, she admitted, “Well . . . my suburb wasn’t like most suburbs, that’s true. Kingston Point is very affluent. My family goes back generations there, I went to private schools, all of that. I traveled, and I did things that most small-town suburban kids don’t get to experience.” She shifted, recrossing her legs, grateful for the easy comfort of her black leggings and knee-high black Uggs. “But I have a feeling you kind of knew that, didn’t you?”
“I looked up the Harrisons when you became my clients, I won’t lie.” Logan shrugged. “But I didn’t really know where you grew up, just how you likely grew up.”
Tess folded her hands on her lap and leaned back. “Different than most.”
“I’m sure.”
“But with problems and difficulties like most everyone else, Logan. I’ve had hard times.”
He sighed. Yes, it must have been very hard to never worry about all that money.
She caught it and frowned at him. “What?”
He shook his head, tamping down his thought.
“Just say it.”
“I didn’t take you as one to do the ‘poor little rich girl’ thing,” he said quietly. “That’s all.”
Her eyes flew wide. “I wasn’t.”
“Kind of sounded like it.” He drew another heavy breath. “Tess, you’ve never had to worry about money, or security, in your whole life. Your ‘hard times’ are likely not as hard as most people’s hard times. You get that, right?”
Her cheeks flamed. “Of course I get that. I’m not that out of touch with reality. When I say I’ve had hard times, I’ve had losses. And while I’ve known financial security, I’ve never had much in the way of emotional security. My parents’ ugly divorce, and my mother leaving us, were stellar examples of how wealth can make bad things a million times worse.” She focused on him as the song changed from a slow, twangy groove to a more up-tempo one. She’d always liked Stevie Ray Vaughan, and his “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” made her want to shimmy in her seat, even as her stomach churned. Whether or not he’d meant to slight her, she felt slighted. “Should I leave?”
“What? No! Tess . . .” Logan met her gaze and leaned her way. “I wasn’t trying to smack you down. It just, at first, sounded—”
“I get how it may have sounded, but it’s certainly not how I intended it to sound.” She huffed out a sigh, brows drawn as she frowned hard. “Am I naïve to think you’ll ever separate who I am from where I come from and what I have? I was born into a very wealthy family. I had no control over that, and I don’t have to apologize for it.”
“And I’m not asking you to.”
“It seems to keep coming up.”
“Do you think I asked you out tonight because of how rich you are?”
“No, of course not. If I thought that, I never would have accepted.” She moved a stray curl back from her eyes. “But I think you do make assumptions about me because of it, and you either don’t even realize it or just won’t admit it.”
His eyes narrowed as he considered that. She found herself holding her breath.
She didn’t want to argue, but goddammit, why did their conversations seem to circle back to a theme: his assumptions about who she was? It was more than frustrating, it was starting to wear on her.