Page 31 of Break the Barrier

My stomach riots with butterflies, and I give him a small, shy smile. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to see how good your conversational skills are.”

He grins a wicked grin. “I suppose we will.”

“You did not!” I laugh, punching Logan’s shoulder as he pulls up to my apartment complex. I’d walked from the apartment to the restaurant for him to pick me up since I had to do some work before our date.

“I did too. I thought, man, she is a busy know-it-all.” He laughs with me, parking his truck and turning theengine off. Silence envelops us. I’m turned slightly in my seat to stare at him, and he turns his head to look over at me.

“I was not a know-it-all,” I retort, unhappy with his first impression of me. “I just knew what I wanted, that’s all.”

He turns in his seat, resting his arm along the back. He’s got an older truck, so his front seat is one long bench instead of two separate seats. I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to slide across it and get a little closer to him.

“I know. I admired that about you, you know. I saw you go after that restaurant with ferocity.” He rests his left hand on the steering wheel. “Even if you were bossy.”

I purse my lips and shake my head. “Someone had to be the boss.”

“Oh.” He chuckles. “We all knew who the boss was, there was no mistaking that.”

I gape. “Are you calling me demanding?”

“No,” he answers with that same grin still on his face. There was rarely a time when Logan didn’t have just a hint of a smile on his face. “I’m calling you determined.”

“Ah, that’s the new PC way of describing bossy people, huh?” I joke, leaning my head against the headrest.

Logan laughs out loud, shaking his head. “I guess it is.”

“It’s fine. I know I’m bossy. I have to be.” I shrug. “With my sisters looking up to me and a business to run, I have to be direct to get things done.”

“Hey.”

I look back at Logan’s face and see that he’s adopted a much more serious expression.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing.”

“I know,” I reply softly, giving him a small smile. “I guess Ican be defensive. My sister Tori, she’s always called me bossy. She, however, doesn’t mean it as a compliment.”

“You two butt heads?”

I think about it for a moment, it was a pretty astute observation for someone who’s never met Tori. “Yeah, we do. She’s just…stubborn. Or maybe we both just have such strict goals for ourselves that we compete. Even though it’s completely unnecessary.”

We sit in silence for a minute, my mind moving to my sister who hasn’t answered us in a couple of days. That’s not unusual, unfortunately.

“Where is she now? You said she travels?”

“Yup, all over the world. I believe she was somewhere in Asia, last I heard.”

“Does she update you?”

I give a little scoff. “When she’s feeling generous. I usually leave it up to Ann to reach out.”

He hums a bit and reaches his hand out, rubbing his finger over the back of my hand. I smile at the small touch.

Then, because my brain can’t stop, I think about his success meter for this date.

“I should go in, get to bed,” I hedge, hoping he’ll offer to walk me to my door.

“I’ll walk you in.”

I smile as I watch him grab his hat, slapping it on before hopping out of the truck and rounding to my side and opening the door. It’s amazing how little effort it takes to get my heart pumping, but a move like that, something gentlemanly that you don’t see all that often anymore? It works for me.