Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother's Novel) (6 page)

“You must be Reese.” It
wasn’t a question. It was a statement. And he didn’t sound too
happy to see me standing here. I wondered why. Who in the world was
this grump of a man?

I held out my hand.
“It’s nice to meet you,”

I paused, hinting for an
introduction. I didn’t know who this man was, but he knew me. It
was only fair that he tell me his name. But he didn’t. He didn’t
even shake my hand. I let it drop back to my side when all he did
was stare into my face. I didn’t like the way he looked at me—like
he was trying to uncover my secrets.

I didn’t want him
knowing a single thing about me.

“Well,” I breathed,
uncomfortable. “Where should I go from here? I know I’m late, and
I’m sorry for that,”

He cut me off. “Where’s
your bag?”

I flinched at the blunt
sound of his voice and he frowned. Deeply. His eyes roamed over me
leisurely and he took a slow step closer. My heart felt as though
it was about to tear out of my chest.

I made a quick dash to
the back of my car. “My bags in the back. Uh, in here. I’ll grab
it.” I sounded like a loony-toon, but the nameless man made me feel
uncomfortable. He was rough, I could tell.

I didn’t have experience
with rough men.

“I’ll get it.” He
appeared beside me and his hand went for the latch, brushing mine
out of the way. At the brief connection, I yelped. Tucking my hand
protectively against my chest, I caressed the skin as though he’d
burned me. He hadn’t of course. He’d simply touched me, not in any
way harmful or sexual, but I still didn’t know how to process it.
My mind couldn’t seem to understand why my skin was still
tingling.

I watched through what I
was certain were wide, doe eyes, as the man straightened. A frown
weighed down the corners of his lips and he tipped his chin. “You
alright?”

I nodded. “Um, fine.” I
blinked. I wasn’t fine, but I assured again. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t say anything
as he opened the hatch. Instead, he grunted, taking a step back.
Shaking his head, he waved a hand at the boxes filling my car.
“What’s all this?”

I looked at the boxes
and then back at him. “My stuff.”

He stiffened. “You city
girls don’t know when to quit, do you?”

I raised a brow.
Oh no, he didn’t.
“I
beg your pardon?”

“Do you even know what
you signed up for?” He glared down at me through dark chocolate
eyes. “You take what you can carry. Nothing more.” He gestured back
to my loaded car. “If you want to go back to your cushiony
existence, with all the things you can’t live without, you can
leave in the morning. I don’t know what you were thinking booking
this trip.”

I cut him off. I
couldn’t take it anymore. The man was rude, inconsiderate, and just
downright unbelievable. “You don’t know what I was thinking,
because you haven’t asked. You’re too rude, filled with too many
presumptions, and frankly, you’re offending me. I don’t plan on
taking every box with me into the wilderness. I plan on taking that
bag.” I pointed to the backpack Gracie instructed me to purchase.
“Right there! Are you going to grab the bag or are you not finished
with telling me where I belong?”

After I was through with
telling him how it was, the man had the audacity to smirk. He
freaking smirked at me! I was so unbelievably thankful that I
wouldn’t be spending a month with him.

“Well, who’s the
presumptuous one now?” He asked matter of fact.

“Oh, whatever!” I
bristled. “I’ll grab my own damn bag.”

I took a step forward
but was halted when the man leaned forward to pull it down from
where it sat on top of the boxes. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry.”

I had never wanted to
stomp on someone’s foot with wedge sandals the way I wanted to
right now. I eyed his cowboy boots before deciding he probably
wouldn’t even feel it. Shaking the thought from my mind, I wondered
how one man could turn my soft personality into that of a grizzly.
But seriously, this man rubbed me wrong!

I stepped away from him,
putting much needed space between us. “I cannot even begin to tell
you how thankful I am that I’ll be touring with Gracie. I don’t
know if you work here, but I’ve never met anyone so
unprofessional.”

He raised a single brow
as he threw my bag over his shoulder. “Touring with Gracie,
huh?”

“Yes.” I folded my arms
over my chest, feeling smug. “I am.”

“Interesting.” He spoke
the word with a cryptic note that made the hairs on my arms stand
erect.

“How is that
interesting?”

“Come on,” he cocked his
head to the house. “Let’s get you inside.”

I didn’t say anything as
I followed behind him. The man walked with so much confidence, it
was nearly suffocating. Every heavy booted step made me cringe
inside a little. I couldn’t help but wonder who he was. He couldn’t
possibly be one of Gracie’s sons. She had raved on and on about
their old fashioned manners—one had to think of them as endearing.
When it came to endearing, this man existed on the opposite end of
the spectrum. He was rude. And that was final.

We walked up the sturdy
log porch to a set of green double doors. They were rounded at the
tops and looked so cute and quaint, it just made me want to sigh.
Little yellow birds had been painted on the green wood of the
door.

The man opened the door
of the house without knocking and I tensed, but no one screamed. I
watched as he placed my bag on the floor beside a wooden bench
before looking back up at him. He was watching me carefully—as
though he was studying me. I shifted, feeling uncomfortable under
his scrutiny.

“Do you have something
you want to say?” I asked curiously. Why was he staring?

The corner of his lip
twitched and I couldn’t help but notice he was even better looking
in the light. It startled me to realize that I thought this man
was, in any way, good looking. I’d never been one to swoon over the
rugged type. And this man was definitely rough. Derek had been
gentle and put together. I wasn’t saying that this nameless man
wasn’t put together—he simply wasn’t assembled the way I had come
to expect from men. Where Derek was soft touches and gentle
gestures this man was all hard lines and sharp corners. I didn’t
know how to read him—and that unnerved me.

“This way,” he turned
into the house and I followed obediently. I couldn’t help but
notice that he hadn’t bothered to answer my question. I had a
pretty good feeling he thought I was nothing more than a helpless
little girl who was out of her element. And in a way, I suppose I
was.

It bothered me that this
grumbling, presumptuous grouch, could be right about me.

Shaking him from my
mind, I took in my surroundings. The entrance was large and open
into the living room on my left. There was a set of beautifully
crafted wooden stairs leading into the next level on my right. At
the far back of the house was an enormous dining table—so different
from the one I’d had growing up. I adored my parents, but they were
divorced now. They spilt just before I’d finished high school and
it was a good thing, because they couldn’t stand each other.

I followed the growly
grump through the living room and into the dining room. From there,
we walked into a very large, very homey kitchen. Voices halted at
our entrance and the only woman in a room filled with men stood
from where she was sitting on an island stool. Her smile was bright
and her eyes were laughing.

“Reese!” She walked
toward me with open arms and I felt my eyes grow almost double the
size as they zeroed in on her foot. “You’re here.”

“You’re,” I paused as
Gracie wrapped me in her arms, hugging me as though I was a long
lost friend and not just a stranger. “You’re wearing a boot.”

Gracie pulled away,
blushing furiously. “It happened two days ago and I didn’t have the
heart to tell you. I know you have so much riding on spending your
month here.”

“You’re foot’s broken.”
I said again, trying my very hardest to wrap my mind around that
very important detail. “H-how are you going to hike?” A deep
chuckle sounded behind me and I spun to glare at the growly grump.
I snapped, “What?”

“She can’t hike with a
cast, city girl.”

I narrowed my eyes,
demanding through clenched teeth. “What in the world is your
problem?”

He grinned and I watched
as he folded thick arms over his chest. Leaning back against the
wall, he settled his eyes on me. I frowned, my discomfort was clear
as I gritted my teeth, fuming silently.

“Stop harassing her,
Logan!” Gracie scolded lovingly and my mouth popped open.

“
That’s
Logan?” I thumbed over my shoulder at the growly grump. “I
thought you said he was the quiet, solitary one of the bunch?” I
sputtered. “I thought you said he was a
gentleman?
”

The man didn’t seem
solitary to me. He butted his nose everywhere it didn’t belong with
demanding questions and ‘don’t test me’ tones. This man was
anything but the image I had concocted of a quiet, gentlemanly
Logan, in my mind.

A new laugh sounded and
my eyes flickered to take in another man. He looked to be in his
mid twenties and he had sandy blond hair and green eyes. Of his
brothers, he looked the most like his mom. Gracie had gray hair and
green eyes. But I could imagine her with blond hair. The other two
men had darker features that more resembled their father. Logan
took after his father as well.

I watched as the man who
laughed jumped down from where he’d been sitting on the counter
beside the kitchen sink. He held his hand out to me. “I’m Collin,”
I offered him my hand and he grinned a million watt smile. “You
were right about Logan being the solitary one. He doesn’t like
nobody and he’s a jerk. But I’m friendly.”

I laughed nervously.
“I’m Reese. I try to be friendly, as well.”

Collin’s eyes flickered
over my face, and I didn’t feel the same sense of unease that Logan
induced. Collin was right. He was friendly. I could definitely get
used to someone like him. “Maybe I should be the one taking over
your tour. Would you like that, Reese?”

I opened my mouth to
reply that I still wanted a woman when a thunderous male growl
sounded from behind me. “You’re booked, Collin. She’s mine.”

I spun and nearly
slammed right into Logan’s chest. How hadn’t I heard him move
closer to me?

At Logan’s words, the
entire room fell to silence. The men, who had picked up their
conversations while watching me curiously, had all been silenced. I
frowned, wondering what was so odd. And then I realized. And then
my blood chilled.

“
Wait,” I held up my finger. “You’re taking me on my
tour? Y-you,” I pointed my finger at Logan’s chest. “You are taking
me on my
month
long tour?”

Logan didn’t even crack
a smile. His eyes simply remained on my face, never moving.
“Yes.”

My heart sunk. “No.” I
breathed, completely put-out. I turned to Gracie, but she was
staring in awe at Logan. I protested, catching her attention. “I
can’t go with him for a month.”

Collin teased beside
me—but I had a feeling the offer was directed at Logan more than
me. “My offer still stands if you like me better.”

Logan grunted.
“Enough.”

“I need to go with a
woman.” My eyes were pleading with Gracie to understand.

“I know, Reese.” She
shook her head helplessly. “But there’s no one else. I’m the only
female tour guide.”

I felt my shoulders slump
as I nodded. There was a very large part of me that thought I was
only a moment away from crying. My healing trip was turning inside
out and upside down in a matter of seconds. And there wasn’t a damn
thing I could do to stop it.

Gracie offered
a kind smile. “I’ll make us a cup of tea and we’ll go out onto the
patio for some privacy.”

Numbly, I nodded. “Tea
would be nice.”

As I moved across the
kitchen with Gracie, I could feel hot eyes on my back. I knew they
were Logan’s. I didn’t know what it was about me that irked him so
badly, but I did know I wasn’t at all eager to spend any length of
time alone with him. Much less a month!

Gracie paused beside the
two men who had been sitting beside her at the island. “These are
my two other boys, Luke and Kyle.”

“Hey,” Luke gave a small
wave. “Nice to meet you.”

Kyle tipped his cowboy
hat, and when he spoke, I was shocked by how deep his voice was.
“Nice to meet you.”

I couldn’t help but
think that every single one of Gracie’s boys were extremely
attractive. They were all solidly built with sharp square jaws and
piercing eyes. Luke and Collin seemed a bit nicer than Kyle or
Logan. However, Logan scared me the most.