Page 33 of Logan

“You brought it up. Start with something basic. Do you have any siblings?”

“No, just me. An only child. You? Oh, wait. That’s a silly question. You have Liam.”

“Yes, Liam, Lucas, and Cora. Four of us in total. I’m the oldest.”

“What’s it like, having so many siblings? I always wished for a brother or sister. I even got mad at my mom once for not giving me any until she explained that another pregnancy would risk her life. I couldn’t be mad after that. Having a mom is more important, I realized.”

“Yes,” he replies, his voice softening. “I agree.”

His expression reminds me that he lost his mother, and a pang of guilt hits me. “Do you want to talk about her?”

“No,” he answers, his expression closing off.

Guess I hit a nerve.

“What about your parents?” he asks, redirecting the conversation.

“Pike and Maureen. We’re close, but they live far away, so we mainly talk over the phone.” Curiosity piqued, I ask, “And you? Are you close with your father?”

“My father, Peter Valeur, heads Valeur Industries. So yes, we’re in constant contact.”

“I meant outside of work.”

“We were closer before my mom passed away. Grief changed things, drove us apart.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay.”

We finish our meal, and to avoid further embarrassing revelations, I stay silent. Leaning back, I let out a satisfied sigh and pat my stomach. “That was delicious. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. So, Liam told me you have more product ideas.”

“Yes, I do.” I sit up straighter and smile. “The neural network I developed for tracking eye movements has potential applications beyond what we’ve tapped into. It can be adapted to recognize signs of life-threatening conditions, like strokes, by analyzing eye movements. All it needs is access to the relevant databases.”

I grab a napkin and a pencil and begin sketching the basic framework of the system to illustrate my point. “Many health issues could be diagnosed through the subtle nuances in eye behavior. The applications could revolutionize how we approach early detection.”

I pause for a moment to let it sink in. “And that’s not all. I’ve begun work on a new network designed toanalyze skin salinity. The preliminary results are promising. It could open doors to non-invasive diagnostics, offering insights into a patient’s condition based on skin chemistry.”

His gaze, intense and unyielding, halts my words in their tracks. He looks at me, truly looks, and for a fleeting moment, his eyes drift to my lips.

Instinctively, my tongue darts out to moisten them, a nervous reaction to the scrutiny. I’m rambling again, nerves pushing words out faster than thoughts.

“Sorry. I babble when I’m stressed. It’s a talent I have for driving men away,” I confess, half-joking, half-serious.

“I’m still here.”

“Yes, because you’re my boss. You’re thinking about the benefit of my ideas for your company,” I say, trying to mask the disappointment that always seems to follow when I share too much of myself. “Men usually find an urgent need to be elsewhere when I talk about my work and then never return.”

“If they run away because you’re smarter than them, then they’re not real men,” Logan remarks, his voice low, stirring something deep within me. “A smart woman is attractive.”

An expression of animalistic desire comes over his face, one that fogs my mind and causes my heart to flutter. His jaw clenches, a subtle twitch betraying his calm demeanor. His gaze is so intense it’s almost tangible, a caress without touch.

The room’s temperature seems to spike, my skin tingling with an awareness of him that’s both exhilarating and terrifying. For a brief, reckless second, I imagine stripping down, offering myself to him in a silent invitation to explore this charged space between us. Alone, with no eyes to judge or tongues to tell, the possibility feels tantalizingly real.

But then, as quickly as it appears, the moment vanishes.His face returns to its usual impassiveness, erasing any sign of the desire I thought I saw.

“You’re right. I am your boss, and I’m not interested in you in that way,” he says, breaking the sliver of hope that glimmered in me until a moment ago.