Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother's Novel) (25 page)

Rocks dug into
my knees as I leaned over the water to wash our dinner dishes. The
sun was still high in the sky and it was warm on my back. I was
dressed in a lightweight yellow sundress that rested high on my
thighs. Normally, I wore a pair of shorts with the dress, but I
didn’t bother today. It was hot and there was only Logan. After all
he’d seen, I didn’t mind if he caught sight of my panties as I bent
over.

Just as I was about to
stand up from the riverside, I felt icy water fall over my head and
a shrill scream left my lips. Blinking surprised eyes up at Logan,
I sputtered. “Wh-what?”

He was laughing, holding
his gut. “I had to.” He raised his hands before dropping the pot to
the rocks. “You were such an easy target sitting there like
that.”

My shocked eyes narrowed
as I rose up from my knees. “An easy target, huh?”

He was still laughing
and I wanted to laugh with him, but I trained my features to hold
tight to my mock anger. “You’ll pay for that.”

Bending down, I swiped
the pot from the rocks. Filling it with water, I watched him run
away from me. There was no way I was going to be able to catch him
when he ran. I’d have to lure him to me. Shrugging, I placed the
pot onto the rocks. “Well, since I’m wet, I suppose I’ll go for an
afternoon swim.”

“You don’t have your
swimsuit.” Logan called from the tree line.

I fluttered my lashes at
him. “Who needs a swimsuit?”

His eyes darkened as he
watched me lift the hem of my dress over my head. Dropping the
yellow material onto the rocks, I dipped my toe into the water.

Suddenly, Logan was
beside me. Dropping down, I grasped the full pot of water before
throwing it onto him, drenching him. He held his face tight as he
stared down at me. It was my turn to laugh.

I watched with abrupt
giggles as Logan dropped his shorts before tugging at my panties. I
tried to squirm away from him, but he held me tight.

“I was kidding!” I
squealed. “I don’t want to go in the water.”

“Too bad.” He growled,
throwing me over his shoulder. “You’re going in.”

“Noooo!” I wailed.
“Logan please,” I tried to reason. “I don’t have a towel.”

“You should have thought
of that.”

“
You started it!
” I held onto his back.

“I don’t mind you
throwing water at me, city girl. But tempting me with your naked
body, well, I can’t refuse that.”

His hands tightened
around my waist and then I was in the air. The cold water submerged
my body as I hit the surface, killing a scream on my lips. Finding
my footing, I covered my arms over my chest as I glared at Logan
who was watching me with twinkling eyes.

“Happy now?” I
shivered.

“Not even close.” He
took a step toward me and then another and another until there was
barely an inch of space between us. “I want you.”

“We don’t have any more
condoms.” I breathed, feeling my breasts grow heavy with need, my
core burning for him—and he hadn’t even touched me. “We can’t.”

“We shouldn’t. I know.”
He lowered his head to cover my lips with his and I felt the hard
tip of his erection tickle my belly. Need ached between my legs for
him and I prayed I could hold strong against Logan’s wicked charms.
“But I need to be inside you, Reese. It’s been too long.”

“It’s only been four
days.”

“I can’t wait another
week.”

“Six more days.” I
whispered, feeling my resolve weakening as he slipped his tongue
into my mouth. His finger moved between my legs, circling around my
clit, teasing me. “Not even a week.”

“Too long.”

“Logan,” I gasped as he
pushed his finger inside me, stroking my inner walls, building me
up.

“I’ll pull out.” His
promise was a groan against my lips. “Say yes.”

He added another finger
and I felt my need for him climb to an all time high. I moaned,
“Yes.”

Logan pulled his fingers
from deep within me to place his hands on the back of my thighs.
Lifting me against him, I reached between us to grab hold of his
cock. He hissed in a deep breath as he gazed longingly into my
eyes. And then I lowered myself onto him, breathing out as I
did.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “You
feel so good, Reese.” He nipped my shoulder. “Feeling you around me
with nothing between us,” he thrust hard, hitting me deep and I
cried out. “It’s amazing.”

I couldn’t speak.
Letting the words fall around us, I rode him with an urgency I
didn’t know I had inside me. I needed him. Fast. Hard. Now. My
nails bit into the skin of his back as I took him deeper and deeper
with every primal thrust. Closing my eyes, I threw my head back.
Our breaths clashed together and beneath the afternoon sun, I felt
my climax rise to an otherworldly high.

“Baby, I’m going to
come.” Logan breathed against the hollow of my throat.

“No,” I shook my head,
riding him faster. “Please no.”

I was almost
there—almost ready.

Quickening my pace, I
felt his hands tighten on my hips as I clenched my legs around him.
A low, pained growl ripped from his throat as warmth pooled inside
me. He’d found his release—and so had I.

Coming down from my
euphoric high, I heard him breathe. “Shit.”

Opening my eyes, I found
him staring into my face. I frowned, “What?”

“I didn’t pull out.” His
eyes were serious, but I found it peculiar that I didn’t feel an
ounce of apology. I wondered why.

Pulling in a deep
breath, I cleared my throat. “It’s my fault.”

“No.” He shook his head.
“I didn’t want to pull out. I could have—but I didn’t want to.”

I gasped, startled.
“Why?”

For the first time since
I’d known Logan, he looked confused. “I don’t know.” He shook his
head. “Actually, I do know.”

Now, I was the one who
was confused. “I don’t understand.”

“I wanted to mark you,
Reese.” He sounded primal—possessive. “I want you. Completely. I
want you to belong to me—I want you to be mine.”

At his words, I felt my
breath catch in my throat. No man had ever spoken such possessive
words to me before—not even Derek. And I couldn’t help but be
affected by them. All over again, I found myself turned on. I found
my body reacting to his words, wanting him to claim me—wanting him
to make me his—to mark me. There was no reason or logic in the
desire, but it was there none-the-less. And it was strong—stronger
than my will to push him away from me—stronger than my will for
reason.

“Make me yours.” I
breathed. “I want to be yours.”

At my words, I felt
Logan’s body react just as mine had. A hunger for something neither
of us could understand grew until there was nothing left for us to
do but make love. In that moment, making love to this man was all
my body understood.

“I’m going to miss this
place.” I felt my eyes cloud with tears as I stared at the little
makeshift campground and Logan stood from his crouched position
over his backpack.

“Hey,” he swiped at a
rogue tear with the pad of his thumb. “Why the tears?”

“I’m afraid to go back.”
I admitted on a sharp breath. “I’m afraid things between us will
change.”

I hated myself for my
insecurities, but regardless of my feelings of animosity, my
insecurities were there and they were banging on the door of my
heart. The building blocks of my relationship with Logan had been
founded in a place of absolute solitude. I didn’t know if we had
what we’d need to make it publicly.

I knew I was jumping
ahead of myself by thinking that Logan and I even had an ounce of
what it would take to make a relationship between us work, but I
couldn’t help but hope. It had been just over a year now since I’d
lost Derek and I didn’t want to lose Logan too. As quick as our
relationship had progressed, there was no doubt in my mind that my
feelings for Logan were true. I was in love with the man.

“Nothing will change.”
He promised and a slow grin formed on his lips. I really loved his
smile, I thought as he continued. “Apart from the fact that we’ll
have a bed, hot showers, and a stove.”

I laughed, crying harder
and Logan enveloped me in his strong arms. “Do you promise?”

“I do, baby.” He kissed
the top of my head, tracing comforting circles into my back.
“You’re mine, remember.”

I nodded. “I’m
yours.”

“Are you ready to get
moving?” He asked. “We want to make it back before dark.”

I breathed in the scent
of him, closing my eyes as I nuzzled my face in his chest,
committing everything that had happened in this place to memory. “I
suppose we can get going.”

The hike back to the
Donnelley Ranch was nothing like the hike away from it. Rather than
moving in silence, Logan and I talked the entire way. That was
another thing about Logan that I loved—conversation with him never
felt forced. When we talked, we simply talked. About
everything.

“I’m really excited to
see the Ranch.” I sighed heavily after a making my way up what felt
like an impossible incline with the heavy pack on my back. “I
didn’t get to see much of it before we took off.”

“It’s a really beautiful
place, Reese.” Logan grinned easily. “I think you’ll like it
here.”

“What happens to us if I
choose to go back to the city?” I asked after a few breathy
beats.

Logan swung dark eyes at
me, and his shoulders tensed. “Where did that come from?”

I shrugged. “I’ve just
been wondering about it lately.”

“I honestly don’t know,
Reese.” Logan ran a hand through his short hair. “I’m really not a
city guy.”

“I know.” I looked down
at the ground.

“Do you want to go
back?”

I thought about my
answer thoroughly before replying. “Right now I don’t want to go
back to the city, Logan. But there are people there that I love and
I know that if I never went back, I’d miss them terribly.”

“I understand that,
Reese.” He nodded stiffly. “But you can always visit. You don’t
have to move back there to remain a part of their lives.”

“I don’t know.” I
sighed. “I really miss Kat.”

His movements were tense
as I watched him push ahead thought the trees. “If you want to go,
I won’t stop you.”

“But then what we have,
whatever this is, would be over?” I asked. “Wouldn’t it?”

Logan shrugged. “I don’t
know how we’d make it work.”

“So, how would we make
something work between us, Logan?” I asked gently. “What would I
need to do?”

Logan stopped walking.
For a few moments, I watched his shoulders rise and fall with each
labored breath and I knew he was thinking hard about an answer to
my question. When he turned to face me, my breath caught in my
throat at the intensity in his eyes.

Logan stepped toward me
and when he spoke, his voice was deep and rough. “For us to work,
you’d need to move here.”

“To the Ranch?” I felt
my eyes bug.

“You’d need to move in
with me.” He never even blinked before he pressed on. “We could
take it slow, Reese, but eventually I would want to make you my
wife. I would want to make babies with you, because you would be an
amazing mother, and I’ve always wanted four children of my own. You
could continue working from home doing whatever it is you find
interesting behind the screen of a computer, or you could quit and
help me work on the Ranch. We would build a beautiful life
together, Reese, but before any of that can happen, you need to
decide the direction you want your life to travel. My feelings for
you are stronger than I ever thought they could be, and although I
don’t want you to feel pressured into feeling more for me than you
do, I want you to know that I will do everything that I can to make
you happy—but I can’t move to the city for you.”

His words were
completely unexpected. Staring up at him, I couldn’t help my eyes
mist all over again as the meaning of his words settled into my
heart. Logan loved me. He would have to love me to want me like
that—to want me here with him always. As much as his words
terrified me, the image I painted in my mind of how our lives could
be together was such a beautiful picture, I found myself smiling
through my tears.

Slowly, I nodded. “Okay,
we’ll take it slow.”

“But you’ll move in with
me?”

“I’ll stay with you for
a while.” I whispered.

“You’ll move the things
you brought in your car into my house.” He announced. “And if you
like living with me, we’ll get the rest of your thing from storage,
alright?”

I pursed my lips. “I’ll
live with you from my suitcase for a week. If I still like you
after spending a week in your house, then I’ll consider moving my
things inside.”

He shook his head.
“You’re stubborn.”

“I’m taking things
slow.”