Page 109 of Mine to Love

“Be still my heart,” Candice coos from behind me. “That man has his eye on you. What a looker.”

“If he comes in again, you can wait on him, Candice.”

“Oh, my aging heart wouldn’t be able to handle so much. I’ll look from afar and watch the show from my station.”

Logan does come in again. Every day at precisely the same time. Eleven forty-five and makes a one-hundred-dollar deposit. On Friday, he sets a bag of lollipops next to the bill and deposit slip. “For the kids.”

I make the deposit without responding to his flirting as he’s done all week. When his receipt prints, I slide it to him, and he traps my hand against the counter. “Have lunch with me?”

“I’m working.” I don’t try to remove his hand, enjoying the warmth of it too much.

“Your lunch break is in fifteen minutes. I can wait.”

“How do you know?”

“I have my ways.”

I don’t miss the giggle coming from Candice. Traitor.

“I brought leftovers to reheat in the microwave. You’re not allowed back in our breakroom.”

“You can bring them outside. There’s a picnic table outback.”

“It’s freezing outside.”

“True. It’s best if we grab a sub across the street. Or we can wait in my car.”

I blush at the memory of the first time I was in a car with him. “I’m not—”

“I’ll wait over here until you’re off.”

Logan takes a seat in one of the chairs in the waiting area.

“Oh, honey, he’s even cuter when he’s determined. We’re not busy. Go clock out early.”

“I’m not clocking out early,” I say through gritted teeth.

With no customers in the lobby, I’m forced to stare at Logan for the next fifteen minutes. Not forced exactly. I have my computer screen in front of me and other work I can do in between customers.

But Logan is so...dominating sitting in the navy-blue chairs. He’s wearing gray slacks and designer shoes but appears more casual in his blue and white pinstripe shirt and no tie. He crosses one ankle over his knee and doesn’t even take out his phone. I can feel his gaze on me for every single one of the fifteen minutes until my break.

The past five days have been torturous, not only because he comes in and makes a deposit every day, but because I can’t stop replaying everything he told me on Sunday. It was more than an apology. It was an unloading of the pressures of being a Pierce. Not that his parents put the pressure on him, the exact opposite in fact.

It makes sense, his uptight personality and his incredibly controlled work ethic. Crossing the line with me had to have been the first time he’s ever broken any rules. Part of me loves being his first, but then I wonder if that’s all I am to him. Someone to push him.

What is he to me, though? My savior for getting me a job. One I loved and quit only to fall back on doing something I’m good at but hate. Bank work is easy, predictable, and boring. It was a perfect fit when I spent every waking moment worrying and taking care of my father.

Now I’m ready for bigger challenges. Challenges Logan had given me professionally, and personally.

His confession to me was not so much an apology but an explanation for his actions. In Logan’s mind, he hadn’t done anything wrong, and now, with days to process—and over analyze—I can see his point of view. He hadn’t meant to use me, to insult me. It’s my own insecurities that made me believe so.

“Break time,” Candice says loud enough for Logan to hear.

“Thanks,” I mumble.

Logan shoots up out of his seat and smiles at me. He sticks his hands in his pockets as if he hasn’t a care in the world, when deep down inside, I know he’s as nervous as I am. Delaying the inevitable will only cause an ulcer.

“I’ll be back at one.”

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