Page 21 of Structure of Love

“Logan, am I right?”

I kicked Asher’s knee again. “Damn you, stop being such a smart aleck. That’s my role in this friend group.”

He giggled again. I rolled my eyes and headed for the bathroom.

“Let me know if you need condoms or lube. I know it’s been a while,” Riggs called to my back.

Could I have less support into my foray of dating again? Was that too much to ask?

7

Gage

Yesterday and all of today seemed to drag by, my texting with Logan offsetting the torture of waiting for tonight. I’d never had a guy text consistently leading up to the first date. Usually, if I met someone, they only wanted sex and were willing to bang and leave, which was partly why I’d stopped dating to begin with. Logan had made it obvious he wasn’t after just sex. He’d asked questions, planned the date, sent funny memes that let me glimpse his sense of humor. He sincerely tried getting to know me.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this excited for a date. Like, I was actuallygiddy.Wanting to frolic through the flowers, giddy. Had I ever looked forward to a date like this before?

I was ready to go at six on the dot because I was punctual. Logan pulled into my driveway at six on the dot because apparently he was also punctual. Thank god. People who were never on time drove me straight up the wall. I’d broken up with a guy in college because he was habitually thirty minutes to an hour late to everything. That kind of shit got old in a hurry.

So far, Logan had checked a lot of boxes. Please check more boxes by being a good in-person conversationalist, have no red flags hidden in your closet, and have an EQ of at least fifty percent and this might go somewhere. I wasn’t asking for true empathic ability, but something above a teenager’s level. Please and thank you.

I felt relieved he hadn’t shown up on his bike, because desire for connection aside, I had limited willpower. Him on a bike would have pushed me past my threshold and caused Asher to win his sex bet.

Logan’s Jeep was older, but it appeared clean and well maintained. It fit with what I knew of the man—how he took care of things. I locked my front door and smiled at Logan as I climbed into the passenger side. He had nice leather seat covers, too, with minimal wear. I didn’t see any sign he off-roaded, but it also looked like the Jeep had been cleaned this morning. It had that I’ve-been-detailed smell. If he’d actually cleaned his car to take me on a date, then I was definitely kissing him at the end of the night. I appreciated his effort and thoughtfulness.

“Your house,” Logan informed me, “is cute as sin.”

“Thank you. A lot of hard work went into it.”

“Am I right in guessing you renovated this one yourself?”

“We basically all renovated our houses, so yes.”

“We?”

“Ah, right, you don’t know the story. By we, I mean my friends and business partners. We all found houses needing renovations and took turns helping each other renovate. That way we could showcase our work to potential clients.”

“That’s smart as hell. Two for one.”

“Yup. Riggs’s idea. He’s brilliant with marketing.”

“It’s super impressive you could join in with friends and make your business work. Most companies don’t because the friends start fighting, or someone fails to pull their weight.”

“You’re not wrong. And it was a concern I had, that we might end up fighting, but thankfully I chose the right people to go into business alongside.” I liked his interest very much and was quite happy to answer his questions. I had just as many for him.

“Alrighty, we’ve got thirty minutes before we get to the restaurant, and I’m curious. How did creating a business with friends come about?”

He seemed truly interested. Also, he looked incredibly sexy tonight, and I couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was the color of the short-sleeved shirt he wore? It was an inky dark blue and brought out the sun-kissed highlights in his hair and the warmth of his tanned skin. Plus it fit him like a glove and just…yum. I wanted to peel the shirt off him. From this close I could study the ink on his arms. He had two full sleeves, a mix of all sorts of symbols, designs, and whatnot that would take me time to get to know.

But I would. I’d ask him about each one and maybe map out a few with my fingers.

Yes, tattoos were a turn-on. No, I wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

“I’m happy to tell you but first let me say, you look on fire tonight.”

Logan stopped at the end of the street to shoot me a sexy wink. “Why, thank you. You somehow took it up a notch too, but I can’t put a finger on how.”

“Thanks. I’ve been reliably informed by Ash that red is my color.”