Page 22 of Break the Barrier

“You keep looking over at the bar. You lookin’ for someone?” Stetson is not good at subtlety, and his way of getting information out of me is obvious, but at least his blunt question was easy to redirect.

“Like you have room to talk.”

My little brother’s ears turn pink, and he turns his head away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Yeah, right. Ever since those Weaver sisters moved here, he’s been smitten with Annmarie. She in no way reciprocated thosefeelings, but it was obvious to everyone who paid attention that my brother had himself a crush.

“Okay, fine. Then leave me alone,” I tell him, reaching for my own beer.

In the moment, I take another quick glance at the bar, and my heart thuds in my chest when I see what I’ve been looking for.

Thea.

“Be right back,” I say over my shoulder, not looking to see if my brother hears me and, frankly, not really caring one way or another.

I make my way through the tables, careful not to jostle anyone on my way and find myself in the same position I was in a week ago, on the other side of her bar, waiting for her attention.

“Dorothy.” I love her name. I thought it was unique and pretty, just like her. But every time I use it, she gives me an irritated look like she’d rather never hear that name again, and because I am me, I want to use it as much as possible just to see that look over and over again.

“Cowboy,” she returns, and I let a smirk cross my lips. “How’s league going?”

I glance back over at the guys. So far, they weren’t missing my presence, but that wouldn’t last long. “I noticed the new scoreboard.”

We’d been surprised when we showed up tonight and found a brand new, electronic scoreboard in place of the chalk one we’d been using.

“Great.” Her reply is nonchalant, and she continues to restock the beer cooler while I stare at her.

Her hair is up in a messy bun. It looks like she just threw itup there, with pieces of it falling out around her face, but she’s never looked prettier to me.

I was in so much trouble.

“What happened last week?”

I’d intended to come by sooner, maybe without an audience, and find out what her real excuse was for missing our first date. But we had some cows break through a fence over the weekend, and between rounding them up and fixing said broken fence, it had taken us damn near three days to make everything right again.

“I forgot about a meeting I had.”

“A meeting?” I ask, skepticism high in my tone. “At night?”

She shrugs her shoulders and glances back down at the beers again. I notice she’s not meeting my eyes.

“Well, okay, how about this week? Any secret meetings we can avoid, so I can take you out?”

Finally, her gaze lifts to meet mine, and I see how vulnerable she is about our deal. I know it’s not in her favor, having to move things around, lying to her sisters, lying to everyone else, and making sure her ex stays off her back. It’s weighing on her.

A song plays over the speakers. There’s no one playing live music tonight, but the vibes are still there when Brad Paisley’s voice comes over the speakers, and I grin over at Thea.

“Come here.” I wave my hand at her, and she looks up, startled at my change of subject.

“What?” She stands up straighter, and I wave her over enthusiastically. She can’t stop the small grin that tries to escape, but she rolls her eyes and walks under the bar where it lifts.

“What are you doing, Logan?” I ignore her question, grabbing her hand and dragging her behind me at a quick pace to the dance floor.

When we get there, her eyes hold a question in them, but I just grab her hands, positioning them the way I want and wrapping her up in my hands, pulling her close enough that my hat shields us both from the bright overhead lights.

“You didn’t even ask if I wanted to dance,” Thea grumbles, her hands holding tight exactly where I placed them.

I grin down at her, excitement coursing through me. “Thea Weaver, may I have this dance?”