Page 40 of 28 Dates

I hit send and send the second text with the answer.“Use the horse, Luke!”

It’s lame and ridiculous. But if I know Caitlin at all, I know there are two things she loves…laughing andStar Wars.With that, I slide my phone back into my pocket and get back to work. I don’t run into Logan again, which means he paid his tab and took off. I spend the rest of the night waiting for the notification to hit my phone that says Caitlin read my message.

I have to move things forward with her, and do it quickly.

But I also have to figure out a way to do it without her getting pissed and shutting down any chance we have, and that might prove to be more difficult after my attitude tonight.

Chapter 14

Caitlin

I scribble down the last request Trey has given me and click my pen. “Is that it for the day then?”

“Just one more thing.”

I lift my gaze from my notebook where I have been studiously avoiding making eye contact with Trey. His expression is dark, and his brows are furrowed. He looks like he’s absolutely had it with me for the day, and who can blame him? Apparently when I came up to his penthouse to work, I left my brain at home.

“What is it?”

Trey leans back in his chair, arms displayed on the armrests like he’s the king and I am his peon. Which makes sense since he’s my boss, but he rarely takes that stance with me. The way he’s inspecting me is unnerving.

“How is the app working? Meet anyone yet?”

There is no way I am talking to Trey about what happened last night at Dirty Martini’s. I still haven’t figured out what happened last night. Between Logan being a great guy but absolutely no chemistry between us, and Jonas acting like a possessive caveman, and then the message I received on the way home from the guy who still won’t tell me anything about himself, I am up to my eyeballs in the male drama I avoided my entire life.

I close my notebook and stand. “I really do not want to talk about this with you.”

His shoulders tighten. “What happened? Did someone hurt you?”

Of course that’s his concern. That always Trey’s concern when it comes to me. “No, it’s nothing like that. I think I just need some time to figure out what I’m going to do.”

“Then it sounds like you are interested in someone.”

Not like he’s thinking. There are dozens of guys, hundreds, thousands of men in Portland. One of them has to be able to conjure up the sensations I get when I see Jonas on sight alone. It’s befuddling the way for months I’ve been able to push away my feelings for him, and only now that I’m considering dating someone, I can’t stop thinking about him, and really, could I be any bigger of a loser?

“Let’s just say I don’t think your app is going to work well for me in the remaining two weeks I have left with it.”

He pushes off the chair and runs a hand over his short, sheared black hair. Shrugging, he says, “You don’t have to stop using it after a month, Caitlin. Just because you said you’d try it, and I know Teagan goaded you into it, if you’re having fun, you don’t have to stop.”

“Yeah, but in all honesty, the guys I’m meeting might be nice, but it’s impossible to find chemistry with somebody over messaging alone.” Except for Mystery Man, whose text from last night came at the perfect time and said the perfect thing, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

See? This app is making me a crazy woman. If the best thing that’s happened to me in two weeks is a lameStar Warsjoke, then I really need a better way to find a guy.

—

What did Obi-Wan say at the rodeo?

“Use the horse, Luke!”

I open my messaging app for the twelfth time since it came to me. I was still in the car on the way home, too upset and confused and despondent to respond, but the driver gave me a strange look when I barked out a laugh to the corny, stupid joke.

This guy. Somehow, he gets me and what I like. Curious as I am, I’m bummed enough about not having that spark with a really awesome guy like Logan, I still haven’t responded.

There’s really one guy I want, and he’s shoved me straight into friend-zone land. I’m still annoyed with Jonas for acting so strangely and protective in a way he has no right to behave, that I’m worried if I reply to this message at all, I’m just setting myself up for another dismal failure of a night.

But really, that’s the risk of dating and letting your heart open to someone. It’s why I guard it so fiercely.

No one needs more heartbreak from people who are supposed to love you than I’ve already had.

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