Logan raised an eyebrow. “You hardly seem like a black sheep.”
She shrugged a shoulder again, mumbled something about not quite fitting the mold and quickly changed the subject. He let her.
“What about you? Do you have family nearby?”
Logan shook his head no. “Only my dad and he’s up in New Hampshire.”
“No sisters and brothers?”
“Nope.”
There was an uncomfortable lull and he felt like a jackass for being so short. Family wasn’t something he had fond memories of. His dad was an alcoholic who served as little more than an embarrassment to Logan growing up. They didn’t have a relationship. After Logan’s mother had died when he was seven, he’d essentially raised himself.
Logan had been a bit of an outcast in school as well. He was more into computers and books than a lot of the kids in his school, and he’d been scrawny growing up.
When he’d started getting his ass kicked on the playground every day, he’d signed himself up for karate lessons. And that was how he and Zach met and became best friends. Zach was a brother to him now. They’d taken care of each other. Still did.
Sam cut into his thoughts, and into the stiff silence. “So, Jack has you looking at Kleintech? Is he thinking of pulling the plug on their funding?”
“Maybe not pulling it altogether, but at least sending some of us in to oversee things for a while. It looks like Arty Klein is a brilliant scientist, but not exactly a crack businessman. Jack is pretty sure if we straighten things out on the business side, the technology is still worth the investment. I’m planning to send Jaxon down there next week so he can go over the books and streamline things.”
“Jaxon Cutter.” She looked like she was running through a computer in her head, and from what he’d heard about Sam from Jack and Zach, that made sense. If what they’d told him was true, Sam was easily the smartest woman he’d ever met and he’d worked with some crazy intelligent women in the military.
Sam could hack just about any program and he wouldn’t be surprised to hear she had an eidetic memory.
She began to spout off what sounded like a summary of Jaxon’s military service record. “Honorable discharge two years ago, Navy Corpsman to the Marines, a couple of bullets took his spleen, a piece of one lung, and his left leg below the knee. A lot of his record is redacted. I thought about hacking it, but Jennie has told me I shouldn’t dig into the personal lives of people I know. Apparently, it’s rude.”
Logan found himself squirming now, realizing Sam had probably read about each of his injuries as well. She might even be aware of the struggle he had even walking some days, after having taken a hell of a lot of shrapnel to his thigh and hip.
Luckily, their food arrived, providing a reprieve. He dug into the chips that filled one half of the green basket set in front of him. Logan steered the conversation back to work for the rest of the half hour and Samantha treated him to more of her “unfiltered” thoughts, including her musings as to whether Jack would be firing her after overhearing her rant that morning.
Logan had to grin at that. He’d heard stories about Sam from Zach long before he saw her at the wedding. Maybe that was why she’d fascinated him so completely right off the bat? Because he’d built her up in his mind over the years.
Sam had been instrumental in rescuing Jack’s wife, Kelly, from human traffickers intent on auctioning her off. Logan was fairly sure that involvement meant no one at Sutton had the authority to fire Sam. Not even Jack Sutton himself.
Logan was quiet as he watched her eat the apple pie she ordered with her sandwich. He hadn’t taken her advice of having dessert, opting to have a second lunch instead. She had been right about the sandwiches. The place was good. But watching her eat the gooey confection in front of her made him want dessert.
Or her. One or the other. Or both. One on top of the other.
Ugh.
He cleared his throat, searching for some topic to clear his head. “Corpsmen are some serious shit. After everyone else is sitting down catching some Zs or eating, they’re still going around checking everyone, patching shit up. They’ve got stamina like you wouldn’t believe. Guts to match.” He’d known some amazing Corpsmen during his time overseas. Respected the hell out of all of them.
Sam nodded, her brows knit together. “It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be in a war zone, having never gone through it, you know?”
They were quiet again, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Just thoughtful.
“How did you know what to do back there? When you pulled me away from the crosswalk?” Logan didn’t know where the question had come from.
The nagging sense that she’d known exactly what he was struggling with while waiting for the light hadn’t left him since they sat down. He didn’t know how he felt about it.
In some ways, he was grateful she’d snapped him out of his own head. In other ways, it disturbed the hell out of him that she’d seen through him so quickly. He’d thought he was doing a better job of hiding things. And, the thought that others might catch on set his neck muscles to gnashing again.
“Um …” Samantha squirmed in her seat.
He couldn’t help but laugh. Why would she feel weird about it? He should be the one feeling uncomfortable in this conversation. And yet, here she was once again, setting him at ease with something he sure as hell shouldn’t be comfortable with.
“I don’t really do well in relationships. Oh, wait! I don’t mean that that way. I didn’t mean to say we’re in a relationship, because obviously we’re not.” As he watched, her face blushed a furious red and she began to wave her hands in front of her as though she were trying to erase what she’d just said. “I mean, we work together. Not that I wouldn’t want a relationship with you. You’re hot. I mean, really truly hot. So, don’t be offended. I just meant relationship in the sense that I don’t relate well to people all the time. Not relationship like dating. I mean people think I’m weird and they don’t always get me and I don’t always get people or, well …”
Logan took pity on her. “Sam.”
“Huh?” She looked up at him, doe eyes huge.
“Stop. I get it.”
“Oh. Okay.” She nodded and took a deep breath. “So anyway, I don’t always get relationships and people and stuff. So, when Jack said some of you had a military background, I researched returning vets. I thought I could see what issues veterans deal with when they come back to the States. I found a lot of websites that talk about the kind of stuff you guys go through, so I could relate to what you were feeling. Only I don’t think I actually can. Not that I don’t want to, but I mean really, who can relate to a thing like war, unless you’ve lived in it? Right?”
Now, he did squirm.
“Oh! But, you don’t want to talk about that, right? Daisies.”
“What?”
“Daisies. I just planted daisies in a pot in my window. I’m not sure if they’re going to grow or not. I think I got them in early enough, but I’m not really great with plants. I mean, I get all the theory of them. I can look up all the information and follow the directions, but I don’t always seem to be able to apply all the information and get results, you know?”