Page 30 of Break the Barrier

He grins at me. “Lue is great. She had her audition today, so we should finally find out if she got the part she wanted soon.”

“Oh, good.” I smile. “She’s so talented. She had me believing every word out of her mouth.”

“She is,” he replies fondly. “I can’t tell you how grateful we were that you came over and helped her out. She wouldn’t stop talking about it.”

“Oh.” I wave my hand. “It’s not a big deal. She’s a great kid.”

“She is,” he agrees, his head bent down slightly.

The waitress interrupts, and we get our food order placed. After she leaves and takes the menus, there’s nothing left to distract us from talking.

“So.” I laugh nervously. “How do these fake dates usually go?”

His eyes lock onto mine, and I feel myself blush slightly. “I’ve never been on a fake date before.”

“Oh, right.” I clear my throat, folding my napkin over and over in my lap. “Me either.”

Silence descends between us, and I start people-watching, feeling incredibly awkward all of a sudden. Logan’s never made me feel awkward. Maybe we should just stick to being friends, we’re good at friendship.

“Hey,” he says, tapping the table in front of me. “How about we just do what we’d do on an actual date? Instead of forcing the fake part.”

I blink at him and try to decipher his words. “An actual date?”

Logan sits up straighter and looks at me head on. “Yes. An actual date.”

“I…” Trying to figure out if he means act like we’re dating or be on an actual date together, it takes a minute for me to get words out. “Okay.” Yeah, real eloquent.

“Great.” He grins at me again and sits forward, resting his arms on the table and bending forward. I mimic the pose, hoping that I’m doing, well, anything right.

“So, how was your day?”

I laugh a little at his simple question. “Um, good?” I chuckle. “How was your day?”

“My day was great. I got up and got Lue to school on time, which is always a great start to the day, then I went to work and gave CT shit for a while, then I helped Dani install some new equipment for her equine therapy stuff. Then I rushed home, got cleaned up, dropped Lue off at her friend’s house, and picked up the most beautiful woman for a date,” he finishes with a confident smile.

I blink at him for a second before chuckling again. “Wow. Sounds like a successful day.”

“Well, the success of the day is to be determined.”

“Oh? By what?”

He looks at me, a little gleam in his eye. It makes me wonder what he was like as a kid, and I bet he was just a little bit ornery back then.

“By the way this date ends, of course.”

“And how do you want it to end?” I ask, inching forward slightly.

“Well, it could end with a nice hug when I drop you off, I could say it was fun, that I had a good time, and you would reciprocate. Or.” He stops and rubs a finger over his lip, as if he’s thinking hard about it.

“Or?” I ask impatiently, my heart beating overtime.

“Or,” he starts again, a little smirk starting at the corner of his mouth. “I could pull you close, give you a hug, and hold you for a minute.” He pauses, his hand drops, and his eyes move from mine to my lips. “Then I could lean in close and kiss you just like I’ve wanted to do for the last three years.”

I blink in surprise, shocked by his admission.

Here I was, coming on this date, thinking how it was so weird to go on a fake date with him when he was helping me out so much. How I was just going to keep him company, so Lue didn’t feel tied down.

And he…he was taking this seriously.