Page 3 of Break the Barrier

“I—” I glance to the right where my sisters are far enough away not to hear, but I don’t want to talk about this here.

Logan follows my line of sight. “You in trouble?”

I let my head give a small nod. “I can’t talk here.”

“Okay.” He leans closer, and I don’t even know if he realizes that he’s doing it. “We need to talk about this. If you’re in trouble, I want to help.”

“Logan,” I start, but he raises a hand, settling it on my neck and tilting my chin up to see him.

In the entirety of our friendship, he’s never once touched me like this. I’ve never been open tobeingtouched like this, not for a long time, but I’m suddenly hoping he never stops.

“Thea, I don’t know if you know this.” He licks his lips and my eyes…well, they linger there until he speaks again. “But you’re my friend, and if one of my friends is in trouble, I’m going to do what I can to help them.”

I knew it was a bad idea to ask him.

“It’s not fair to put you in this position.”

“I’m putting myself in it.” He speaks matter-of-factly. “So, get on board because whether you like it or not, I’m going to help you.”

God, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

2

logan

The fresh Coloradoair whips through my trusty pickup’s windows as I enter the long drive of the Three Rivers Ranch. The Trevors family has owned this plot of land for as long as anyone can remember, going back at least four generations.

CT is one of my best friends, and last year brought me and my brother Stetson on as permanent help for him and my cousin Dani, who is soon to be his wife.

It wasn’t what I ever pictured my life would be like, but not a lot about my life is what I dreamed it to be.

I always thought I’d join some rodeo circuits, travel the world, ride some broncs, and win some money.

The reality is, when I was nineteen, a beautiful baby girl showed up on my mom’s doorstep, where I was still living, with a birth certificate and a note saying she was all mine.

The news had hit me pretty hard, and I hadn’t been able toform actual words for a minute there, but the proof was in that little girl’s face.

She looked exactly like me.

Luella was the light of my life, and I would do nothing to change how she came into it.

So, at nineteen, I said goodbye to any kind of rodeo work and set about training new horses for locals and as far as fifty miles from home, while on the side, I worked odd jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies.

I lived with my mom for a while, letting her help me raise Lue so I knew what I was doing, but after I was twenty-two, and Lue was two, I knew it was time for me to find us something else and start to take care of what was mine.

A few months ago, CT offered me a job to help him out on the ranch, and ever since then, I’ve been doing so much more than I ever thought I could want.

I pull into the spot in front of the barn and hop out. There’s a car next to mine that I recognize as one of my cousin’s clients.

Dani is an equine therapist and recently got a grant for the ranch to get specialized equipment for her work, so she could take on more clients with bigger needs.

The ranch was blossoming into something really great. Between CT and Dani’s show records in reined and working cow horses, CT’s client list building, his cattle ranch booming, and Dani’s therapy work, they were a power couple.

Something in my chest twists at the thought of it.

I’ve always wished and hoped for something like what they have. Even when we were teenagers, and they were together, everyone knew they’d be the endgame. There’d been no doubt.

But for me, I’ve never been in love. I’ve never even found someone I wanted to seriously date.