Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother's Novel) (26 page)

“Why?” He asked
seriously. “It’s not like the rest of our relationship has been
slow. Why start now?”

“Because I’m not in a
rush to lose you, Logan. I feel that moving a little slower will
give us a better shot at working out together.”

He leaned down to kiss
my forehead. “And I feel like eloping tomorrow would give us the
best shot.”

I smacked his shoulder. “This is
so
not a
time for jokes!”

His eyes burned. “I
wasn’t joking.”

“How much
farther do we have to walk?” I asked on a whine. My stomach had
been growling for the last couple of hours and I felt as though
we’d been walking much farther back to the Ranch than our trip out
had taken. I was exhausted.

Logan chuckled. “I sure
hope that your kids won’t be as whiny as you.”

I glared at the back of
his head. “I’m tired.”

“Just think of the warm
soft bed you’ll be sleeping in tonight.”

“I was beginning to
wonder if you even had a bed or if you slept on a bunch of bear
skins beside a fire.” I grunted unhappily as I envisioned a
comfortable princess bed.

Logan swung a look of
surprise over his shoulder. “You think I’m barbaric?”

I shrugged. “I don’t
really know anything about the way you live in civilization, Logan.
I’ve only spent time with you in the middle of the wilderness.”

“I’m very clean.” He
announced. “I dislike disorganization and I hate throw pillows.
That’s pretty much all you need to know.”

I raised a brow. “Throw
pillows?”

“Have you seen my
mothers house?” Logan asked. “The woman is the queen of throw
pillows.”

“Gracie doesn’t seem
like the throw pillow kind of girl.”

He snorted. “My mother
is crafty. She learned how to make throw pillows and ever since has
been obsessed with them. I swear she makes me a new pillow every
few weeks. And it’s crazy because I’m not the only son she has—we
all hate throw pillows since she learned how to make them.”

I pondered this before
smiling. “Thinking back, the room I stayed in did have quite a
few.”

“I know.” Logan tipped
his head back to take a long swig from his water bottle. “As long
as you’re not all for the throw pillows, we won’t have any
problems.”

I laughed. “I’m not
really for the throw pillows, but I do love a healthy collection of
throw blankets.”

Logan turned to narrow
ebony eyes on me. “Are you trying to be funny?”

“Not at all.” I stated
matter of fact. “I actually brought an entire box. I like things
that offer comfort.”

“Are all women
nuts?”

“Are all men
ridiculously judgmental?” I countered.

“Seriously?” He turned
away from me to continue walking. “I just don’t see the point in
all the pointless items women collect.”

“We don’t see the point
in collecting a thousand cowboy hats.”

“How do you know I have
a thousand hats?”

“The one you were
wearing the night I met you was really nice and it looked new. I’m
assuming that it wasn’t your first hat, therefore I’m assuming that
you have a nice little collection.”

“Why don’t you think it
was the first one?”

“Because every one of
your brothers and your father was wearing one.”

He grunted. “Doesn’t
mean I’ve worn them my entire life.”

“But you have, haven’t
you?”

“Yeah,” he admitted.
“I’ve always been a country boy.”

I grinned. “Not going to
lie, your cowboy hat is really sexy.”

He glanced back at me
with a wicked light in his eyes. “Really? I suppose I’ll have to
put that hat into good use tonight.”

I gave him my best
serious face. “I think that’s a good idea.”

As soon as I saw the
main house through the trees, I felt relief, excitement and fear.
Absolute terror swooped through me at seeing Logan’s family and
having them find out that we’d been together—intimately. Surely
they would find out, they would piece the puzzle together as soon
as they realized I was staying with Logan in his house—wherever
that was.

“Logan, I’m not sure
about this.” I hissed through tightly clenched teeth and he stopped
walking in the center of the gravel path.

“What?” He frowned.

“If I stay with you,
you’re entire family will know we’ve been—together.”

“We have been together,
Reese.” He stated matter of fact and I blushed cherry red.

“I know, but,”

“Are you ashamed?”

“No!” I rubbed my brow.
“But your mom, she matters to me. I think of her as a friend and I
don’t want her to feel as though I’ve overstepped my boundaries
with her son.”

He smiled. “My mom will
be happy for us, Reese. Believe me.”

“But,”

Just then, I saw the
front door of the main house swing open and Gracie appeared. She
moved quickly across the land even in her booted foot. Her arms
were spread wide and her smile was so large, it was nearly
infectious. Actually, despite my discomfort, I was smiling so I
would say it was infectious.

“You guys are home!” The
delight in her voice was loud. “I’ve missed you, Logan.” She pulled
him into her arms before planting a loud kiss on his cheek. Letting
him go, I didn’t have enough time to process what was happening
before I was in her arms and she was squeezing me tight. “Reese, I
missed you too. I hope you found what you were looking for,
sweetheart.”

Smiling, I hugged her
back. “I found a lot of what I was looking for and some things I
never even thought to look for.”

She pulled away with a
new light in her eyes. “I’m so happy for you. I can’t wait to hear
everything!” She clapped her hands together. “We’ll have dinner
tonight all together!”

The sound of hooves
pounding on the path behind us came to a halt and I glanced back to
see Collin and Luke riding two massive horses.

Collin, as friendly and
obnoxious as he was, called out, “Reese, I’ve been counting down
the days until I would see your pretty face again.”

I chuckled and Logan
glared up at his brother. Thankfully, he didn’t bother saying
anything in response to Collin.

I rolled my eyes.
“Hello, Collin.”

“I know you missed me,
beautiful.” He winked. “Play hard all you want. You can’t fool
me.”

I opened my mouth to
banter, but Logan beat me to it. “Shut up, Collin.”

Luke’s eyes swung to
Collin and a slow grin formed on his face. “Collin, the girl’s got
nothing for you.”

Collin grinned,
completely unfazed as Gracie shook her head. She held out her hand
to me. “Come on, Reese. I’ll get you settled into a cabin of your
own and then we’ll have dinner.”

Logan slid his arm
around my shoulders and I swear my face heated a thousand shades of
red as Gracie’s eyes widened. “Actually, mom, Reese is going to
stay with me.”

Her mouth opened and a
cheeky grin formed on her lips. “Oh, I see.” She nodded and I
blushed even deeper. “I really can’t wait to hear about this trip
now.”

“Oh,” I covered my face
with my hands. “Goodness.”

“Damn,” Collin said with
mock dismay. “Another one bites the dust.”

“Seriously,” Logan
tipped his head. “If you keep it up, I’ll kick your ass.”

Luke chuckled. “I’ll
help.”

“Hey,” Collin frowned.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Luke shrugged. “You’re
asking for it, bro.”

Gracie huffed. “Boys,
enough.” She shot me a smile. “I’m really happy you went on the
trip, Reese. I told you Logan was the right one to pair you
with.”

My mouth dropped and my
eyes widened. “You suspected this would happen?”

Logan groaned, but the
sound was happy, “Mom,”

She raised her hands in
mock innocence. “I suspected no such thing.” She winked. “Meet us
for dinner in two hours. That gives you lots of time to get settled
in.”

The four of us watched
in shock as Gracie waddled her booted foot back into the main
house. Collin and Luke nudged their horsed forward a few steps, but
Luke was the first one to speak.

“I think mom just took
on the match-maker roll.” He mused. “Think it’s her newest
project?”

Collin grunted. “Happy
it wasn’t me.” He looked down at me with apology in his eyes. “No
offense, Reese, you’re hot and all—but I’m not ready to settle
down.”

Logan scoffed. “If she
played match-maker for me, then she succeeded. Now there’s only
three more sons left to play that roll for and it won’t be me
again.” Logan eyed both Collin and Luke seriously and I laughed.
“Think about that one.”

Collin, ever
inappropriate sputtered. “She only played match-maker with you
because your ass is old. She’s afraid your sperm will die before
you find a nice girl to give her grandbabies.”

I covered my ears. “I
can’t believe you just said that.”

Logan shook his head.
“Your time will come, Collin.”

Luke huffed. “Thank God
your ass is older than mine. You think you’re not ready? I’m really
not ready for that!”

Collin scowled. “I’m
older than you by two years. That’s not much.”

“Still older.” Luke
shrugged.

“I bet Kyle’s next.”
Collin decided matter of fact and Luke nodded.

“Yeah, he’s the second
oldest.”

I rolled my eyes as
Logan watched the scene with amused eyes. “You guys are ridiculous.
She wasn’t playing match-maker. I contacted her, everything
happened by chance.”

Collin shook his head.
“I don’t think so, Reese. But you can keep telling yourself that.
I’m watching my back.”

Logan shook his head.
“You do that, Collin. Big bad mom might just best you.”

Collin grunted. “The
woman knows me. Who better to best me?”

I sighed. “Can you take
me to a shower, Logan?”

Logan grinned widely. “I
think I can manage that.”

Logan didn’t have his
truck here, so he drove my little Mazda SUV back to his house,
explaining about the land as he drove, pointing to houses and
cabins and stables.

“We all live on this
land. There are five houses. The main house and a house for me and
my brothers. From the air, it looks almost like it’s in the shape
of a hexagon.”

“And Luke and Collin
live the closest to the main house?”

He nodded. “Yeah, Kyle
and I live the furthest away, but the closest to each other. Luke
lives right beside the stables—it’s practically in his back
yard.”

“Is there a reason for
that?” I asked, clarifying. “Luke living beside the stables.”

Logan nodded. “Luke
trains the horses. He also instructs the group rides and all that
stuff.” He shrugged. “He likes horses.”

“And what does Collin
do?” I asked with interest.

Logan eyed me seriously.
“Interested in Collin?”

“Just as interested as I
am in Luke and Kyle.” I assured. “I’ll ask about Kyle next.”