Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother's Novel) (10 page)

“Tent’s good.
I’ll hang the tarp if you want to go collect wood for a fire.”

I nodded at his obvious
dismissal of me as I turned and walked away. I didn’t bother
looking back as I moved deeper into the trees, scouring for wood. I
knew enough about making a fire to know I needed to collect dry
wood. Thankfully, there seemed to be an abundance scattering the
forest floor.

Piling my arms high with wood, I carried it back to the
makeshift camp. The closer I got, the louder the sound of chopping
became.
What was he
doing?

Pushing myself forward
through the pain of overused muscles in my thighs, I quickened my
pace. Through the thinning of the trees, I saw him lift his axe
high above his head before he swung it down. The blade sliced
through the wood, splitting the chunk in two.

Sweat glistened on his
bare chest, dripping down the contours of his defined upper body.
He was wearing different shorts than he’d been wearing before.
These reminded me of something I would see at a gym. They were
black and airy, clinging to narrow hips by cinched fabric.

Even though I knew I
should look away, I couldn’t. The man was built. Muscles bulged
from beneath tanned skin with every swing of the axe. His stance
was firm and his expression was a mixture between rage and
confusion. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.

As I moved forward I
tried to figure out what exactly it was that I was attracted to
about Logan. I’d never been attracted to men like him—but I
couldn’t help it. There was just something about him that made my
blood feel warm and my heart race. I should feel guilty for feeling
this way toward him—but I don’t feel guilty for my attraction. I
feel guilty because he is everything Derek wasn’t.

Derek had been tall and
lean—a runner. He’d been clean-cut and clean-shaven. Always. He’d
been soft spoken and kind-hearted. Laughter had always sparkled in
the depths of his green eyes. There was nothing in Logan that
reminded me of Derek, and yet I found Logan stimulating.

“Are you just going to
stand there, staring at me all night, or are you going to drop the
kindling in the pile?” He asked gruffly.

Startled, I blinked. I
hadn’t even realized that I had stopped walking to stare at him.
Shaking the haze of embarrassment from my mind, I stepped toward
the pile of firewood he’d started. “Why send me for wood if you
were just going to cut it?”

He shrugged. “I thought
we needed a few minutes apart.”

The man was
astonishingly honest and downright infuriating. “Why?”

Serious black eyes
lifted to look into mine. “You know why.”

“Because I told you what
I thought of you?” I folded my arms over my chest. “I find it
peculiar how you can dish it, but can never take it.”

“Are you trying to pick
an argument with me, Reese?” Logan stepped forward, the axe
dangling from his fingers as though it weighed nothing more than a
feather.

“No, Logan.” I replied
tightly. “I’m just stating facts.” I turned my back to him, walking
to where I’d left my pack on the ground. “The next time you want
time alone, don’t send me on a pointless task. Just tell me you
need a minute. I know what it feels like to need time away from
others, but I don’t appreciate games.”

“I wasn’t playing games
with you.” He stated, but I didn’t bother to look behind me as I
walked toward the tent.

As I moved toward the
bright blue fabric, I noticed for the first time that it was
awfully small to be a two-person tent. I unzipped the zipper and
pushed my head inside only to realize that there was no barrier
hanging from the middle. Did that mean Logan had another tent and
he just hadn’t set it up yet?

I spun around to find
him watching me curiously. “Do we have another tent?”

“No.”

“Where are we supposed
to sleep?” I asked, growing stiff. Inside my chest, my heart was
racing so fast it bordered on painful.

Logan lifted a lazy
finger. “In the tent.”

“Together?” I squeaked.
I could have sworn the color drained from my face in a matter of
seconds as I watched him nod. “I can’t sleep in there with you.” I
paused. “I won’t sleep with you.”

Logan shrugged. “Then
you can sleep outside.”

My mouth dropped. “We
have to go back and get another tent.”

Logan closed his eyes and breathed in deep. Obviously,
I was testing his patience—but he was testing
everything
inside of me. “We walked six hours to get here, Reese. We’re not
walking back for a tent.”

“Well, I’m not sleeping
with you.” I rose to my full height, feeling an argument brewing.
Despite my five-feet-of-pitiful, I hoped I looked at least a little
intimidating.

“What’s the problem with
sleeping next to someone?” He growled. Irritation was loud in the
undertones of his words.

“It’s improper. I don’t
know the first thing about you.” I stammered. “I can’t sleep with
you.”

“You do know the first
thing about me. I’m blunt, as you’ve so kindly stated.” He rubbed
his brow with thick fingers. “And it’s not like I said we have to
fuck. We’d just be sleeping next to each other.”

I scrubbed my face with my hands as a frustrated sound
crawled from my throat. “I can’t
believe
you just said
that! I’m not sleeping next to you, so you can sleep outside
because I won’t be!”

With those words, I
darted into the tiny tent. Reaching for his pack that was sitting
on the right side of the tent, I chucked it outside and zipped up
the tent. My chest was heaving. I was so angry. I sat in the center
of the tent, cross-legged, as I fumed over the ignorant man who I
could now hear beating wood with his axe.

How dare he expect me to sleep next to him! And how
dare he say such vile things? It wasn’t like I was a prude, but I
didn’t go around talking to strangers in such a way. And that’s
what I was to him. I was a
freaking
stranger! I
was his customer! And he thought he could just expect me to accept
his sleeping next to me.

Who would do that?

That’s when a distasteful thought fluttered through my
mind. Logan was the one who did solitary trips. How many women had
he taken out here into the wilderness? How many women had he
had to
sleep next to? How many of them had he
fucked?

Just the thought made my
mouth dry and my eyes mist. Here I was stuck in the middle of
nowhere with an egotistical man-whore while I was trying to find
acceptance over the death of my husband.

Could my life get any
worse?

With pity-filled
thoughts swimming through my mind, I assembled my sleeping bag on
the floor. A small pillow and another thin fleece blanket had been
rolled up tight inside the sleeping bag. Once I’d placed my blanket
on the floor of the tent, I was fully convinced that this was a
one-person tent. There was no way I was sharing it with that—man.
There was barely enough room for my sleeping bag and pack, I
couldn’t imagine sharing the space with Logan. Not only would his
sleeping bag be a tight fit, but the man himself was so large, I
had no doubt it would be a very snug fit.

A tap on the tent
startled me from my thoughts and Logan’s deep voice seeped through
the fabric. “You decent?”

“What do you want?” I
ground through tightly clenched teeth.

“The food will have to
stay in the tent. There’s less of a chance that an animal will come
for it if it’s inside.”

“You’re not sleeping in
here.” I announced again—in case he’d forgotten.

“I’ve realized.” He
tapped again. “I’m coming in.”

“Just hand me the food.”
I met him at the door, noting a grim expression on his handsome
face. “There’s no reason for you to be in here.”

“You’re being
ridiculous.” He handed me a cooler of food.

“No, what’s ridiculous
is that you expected a woman you don’t know to be comfortable
sleeping next to you.” Tension was seeping from my pores as I
glared up at him through angry eyes.

Logan shook his head and a grin formed on his lips.
“Most women
are
comfortable with it.”

“
Well, I’m not!” I said icily. “You’d think you would
have expected as much by my earlier request to have a
woman
as a tour guide. Or have you forgotten, I was supposed
to be out here with Gracie.”

His already dark eyes
darkened. When he spoke, his voice was impossibly deep. “I thought
that request was a condition from whoever put that diamond on your
pretty little finger.” He smirked, oblivious to the wild pain
rearing its ugly head in my heart. “Don’t worry, city girl. I’m not
judging. We get a lot of bored women out here, and just like them,
you’ll get over whatever crisis you’ve got going on and you’ll be
back in the city—to your life—before anyone’s even noticed you’re
gone.”

My voice was thick with
pain and barely even audible. “Get out.”

At the low sound of my
voice, Logan’s smirk turned to a frown. “Reese,”

I screamed. “Get out!
Get out! Get out!”

“Okay,” Logan raised his
hands, stepping back. “I’m going.”

I reached forward to
pull the zipper down in a desperate attempt to conceal the
onslaught of tears. As soon as I was shut off from Logan’s confused
eyes, I curled up in my sleeping bag and cried. Silent sobs wracked
my body for what felt like hours. As I had been crying, Logan had
built a fire. I could hear the crackling of the coals in the heat
as I lay silently, my heart and head aching. My stomach had growled
a few times, but I couldn’t seem to peel myself from where I was
laying on the sleeping bag.

A tap sounded against
the tent and I opened my eyes to see Logan’s shadowed form standing
by the door of the tent.

“What?” I croaked,
hating the sound of my voice.

“I have to go catch
dinner.” He said gruffly. “I need you to come out here and watch
the fire.”

I sat up, “You’re not
teaching me to fish?”

“Not tonight.” He
answered and then added. “I’d prefer you watch the fire the first
night. Make sure nothing gets out of hand.”

“Okay.” I replied
quietly. How could I have possibly allowed myself to fight with him
within our first twenty-four hours? What was wrong with me? “I’ll
be right out.”

Logan didn’t say
anything. I watched his shadow disappear as he walked away. As I
looked around the tent, I regretted not bringing a compact mirror
with me. I was certain my eyes were puffy and red from my crying.
I’d never been a pretty crier and for some reason, I didn’t want
Logan to see me this way.

Taking in a deep breath,
I rubbed my hands over my face before fanning my flesh. When I felt
normal enough, I crawled to the door and unzipped the tent. It took
serious courage to step out from the safety of the shelter. I
didn’t want to see judgment in Logan’s eyes, but as I walked
forward, my eyes found Logan, and there was no judgment. There was
no pity or even curiosity. There was nothing. It was both a relief
and depressing. I didn’t know why I felt that way.

Logan twirled the
fishing rod between his fingers as he toed a bucket. “I shouldn’t
be too long. I’ll clean the fish down by the river and then we’ll
foil it and cook it up here. Do what you want while you wait, but
make sure you feed the fire.” He lifted his eyes to my face and I
felt a blush warm my cheeks. “Any questions or concerns?”

I shook my head.
“No.”

“Good.” He turned to
walk toward the trees, but before he disappeared into them, he
turned. “If you need me, call out for me. I’ll be able to hear you.
The river isn’t all that far.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Logan didn’t say
anything else as he turned and walked into the trees. How he knew
where he was going was beyond me. It was a maze out here. Over the
course of our hike we’d walked over rocky trails, through dense
trees and over mossy ground. We’d come to a few clearings along the
way, but now that we were settled I had a feeling Logan had been
searching for a place to settle near the water.

I couldn’t wait to take
a few hours to explore the land. I wondered if Logan would allow me
to wander alone, or if he would demand to come along. The man
thought I was brainless. There was no doubt in my mind he was
prepared to return to camp to find the fire dwindling down to coals
and dust. As I had the thought, I stood up from where I’d placed a
hoodie on the ground to sit beside the fire. Logan had cut a large
pile of wood and judging by the size of it, I was pretty sure we
would be spending the next few days camping here. But I didn’t
mind. As much as I wanted to hike the land, I also wouldn’t mind
familiarizing myself with this beautiful place.