Page 54 of Break the Barrier

I skipped lunch, working through a few things I needed to do just so I could be here to watch the man I was falling forrope a cow.

This…this was my life now.

I hear whistling and turn my head sharply to the right, and there, leaning against a fence, is Logan.

He’s got on his straw hat, a striped long-sleeve button-down shirt, jeans, brown boots, and a smile that promises trouble.

And for whatever reason, my brain points out that it’s very pleased that smile is pointed at me and no one else.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Dorothy Weaver,” he comments when I’m close enough.

I fight the blush that always seems to come up whenever he directs his comments at me and give him a sarcastic look. “You asked me to come.”

He tilts his head, that stupid five o’clock shadow framing his stupidly perfect teeth. It’s so not fair. “Technically, I asked my girlfriend to come.” He pauses, and I tuck my thumbs into my front pockets, comfortably waiting out whatever ornery thing this boy is about to say. “So, that’s you admitting to me that you’re my girlfriend.”

I let out a little laugh and look back at him. “I think it’s interesting how you can take a very complicated situation.” I give him another look so he’ll know what I mean. “And make it sound very, very simple.”

Finally, he pushes off the fence and closes the gap between us. He’s still not touching me, and I berate myself for begging in my mind for his strong hands to latch onto me in any way they can.

“See, that’s where you and I see differently.” His face is so close to me now that I can see every gold fleck in his eyes, his hat is basically shading us both, and his breath is fresh with the smell of mint gum and?—

Damn. Iwasin big trouble.

“You see this whole thing as some big inconvenience. You think because you needed a tiny bit of help.” I open my mouth to protest his downplay of our situation, but he continues. “That you’re inconveniencing me, that you’re putting me out and making me do something I don’t want to do.”

“Logan,” I say with a hushed voice, glancing around for anyone who may be watching this whole thing go down. Then again, it was Acton. Someone was always watching. “What you’ve done for me is a big deal.”

“Thea.” His voice is low, and his hands have found their way onto my hips. “You opened a door for me that I’ve been dying to walk through.”

There’s a moment of silence where I take in his words. It isn’t like I didn’t know that he’d thought about asking me out before, he’s made that perfectly clear. But the longer I stare at him, the more I see how honest he’s being.

“Now,” he starts before I find any kind of words in my brain that are useful. “Why don’t you find a little trust in me, and I’ll find a spot for you to watch me kick ass?”

I can’t help the little smirk that finds its way onto my lips, and like always, instead of talking about it, I focus on the second part of what he said. “Oh, kick ass, huh? Feeling confident this afternoon?”

He winks. “Always.”

He takes my hand in his, wrapping his rough fingers around my softer ones, and I follow him as he leads me into the stands.

I realize that I missed out on a kiss from him, and for some reason that bothers me. Instead of enjoying that moment with him, I let my insecurities get the better of me.

Instead of giving him a moment of peace, I let him deal with my burdens.

I vow to myself right then and there that I’ll look at the positive side of this from here on out. I didn’t have to worry. I could trust Logan. There wasn’t a soul who’d met him who would ever tell me differently, so why was I, in the simplest of terms, self-sabotaging what we could have?

“Alright, you can see best right about here,” he says, pointing to the bleachers. They were maybe half full of friends and family of the participants. Cheers would ring out every few minutes as horses and riders rode through the arena. I have no idea what they were doing, but it was fun, nonetheless.

“Okay, well, good luck then.”

“I should be going in the next twenty minutes or so.”

I glance at him and see him already watching me with a smile on his face. “Oh.” I glance around me again, my brows furrowing. “Where’s Lue?”

He gives me a faux-exhausted look, and I smile. “She’s at rehearsal.”

“Again?” Seems their rehearsals were dang near every day now.

“Yup, they’re pretty serious about it. School lets out on Tuesday, which I think will be good for her to have a little extra time to relax when she’s just got rehearsal to worry about.”