Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother's Novel) (8 page)

Jeez, I sound like a
workout commercial.

I realized too late that
I was compiling a list of pros to wearing spandex while hiking in
case Logan decided to harass me. I didn’t know why I felt the need
to be prepared, but I did. So I continued. I could move easily in
them. I didn’t have to wear a bra. They folded nicely and barely
took up much room. They were cute.

I wouldn’t tell him they
were cute. And I wouldn’t tell him they were good for working on a
tan either. Nope, Logan was practical and he wouldn’t appreciate
such a defense. If I was going to put him in his place, I had to do
it right!

I left my hair down
because I had a good feeling I would be wearing it up most of the
days I was away with Logan. I didn’t bother with makeup or hair
product or even perfume. Apart from soap, deodorant, a toothbrush
and toothpaste, and lotion, I didn’t bother with much. There wasn’t
enough room to take a bunch of beauty products with me. Logan
hadn’t been joking the night before when he said I could only take
with me what I was able to carry.

When I was all ready to
go, I pulled the backpack up onto my shoulder and left the room. It
was time to start my trip.

It was time to start
healing.

Logan was
already sitting at the kitchen table when I entered the room. His
eyes widened and his lips thinned into a stiff line on his face. He
wasn’t the only one sitting at the table. Everyone who’d been here
the night before was here again—but Logan was the only one my eyes
seemed to zero in on. And the way he was looking at me was making
me hot—with anger.

I smiled stubbornly at
the grump across the room. “Good morning!”

“What are you
wearing?”

“It’s workout gear, and
for good reason, it’s all I packed.”

“You look like you’re
going to a fashion show.” He sat back in his chair, still eyeing me
with those intimidating black orbs.

I started my defense.
“You know nothing about fashion, Logan, we established that last
night.” I ignored the chuckling around the table as I continued.
“I’m comfortable in these clothes, they fold into tiny little
bundles and don’t take up much space. The material is made to
absorb sweat and I can move in them without the material
restraining me. And I don’t have to bother with something as
ridiculous as a bra.”

As soon as I said that—I
regretted it. Logan’s eyes dropped from my face to my chest. And
his eyes weren’t the only ones. Apart from John, I now had every
pair of eyes on my breasts. Feeling prickly, I folded my arms over
my chest and huffed.

Collin winked. “You
brought that on yourself, darlin.’”

“Anyway,” I dismissed
the statement before settling stern eyes on Logan. “You’ll have to
get over my choice of dress if we’re going to continue with this
trip. I’m not going to listen to you bash everything I put on for a
month.”

Logan shook his head.
“Sit down and eat. We’re leaving in forty minutes.”

“Stop telling me what to
do.” I spoke the words even as I took a seat beside Kyle,
purposefully ignoring the open seat next to Logan. Beside me, I
noticed Kyle’s lips quirk into a small grin. He knew what I was
doing.

Logan knew what I was
doing, too. I could feel those eyes burning my skin as I filled my
plate with a hearty serving of pancakes, bacon, and fruit. Yes, I
was overeating, but I knew that food was going to be pretty basic
for the next month. I wanted to enjoy my last breakfast.

“Do you always eat that
much?” Luke asked from across the table. When I looked up, he was
admiring my portion with a rhythmic nod that made me blush.

“Not always.” I
replied.

Gracie spoke. “Well, I
can’t wait to hear about your trip when you two return. It’s
already looking interesting.”

John grunted, sipping
his coffee. “Interesting,” he chuckled. “All I want to know is
which one of them is going to come crawling back alive.”

Collin perked at this.
“We should take bets.”

I frowned. “If you’re
implying that one of us is going to off the other,” I looked
straight into Logan’s amused eyes. “That won’t happen. But I will
assure you all that I won’t be bowing to Logan’s every
command.”

Logan raised a brow.
“We’ll see about that.”

“Will we?” I cocked my
head. “And how do you figure you’ll get me to submit?”

“Last I heard you knew
nothing about the wilderness.” He stated calmly. “You’ll be relying
on me to help you in more ways than one, city girl. I wouldn’t cut
off your nose to spite your face just yet.”

I felt my jaw drop.
Anger sizzled just below the surface of my skin, so hot, I knew it
was only a matter of time before I felt it seeping from my pores.
“I’m a paying customer seeking an experience, Logan. Is this how
you treat all your customers?”

“No.” He shrugged.
“You’ve been different from the very beginning. Besides, you are
paying for an experience. I won’t be sugar coating it for you. You
want to learn how to survive in the world where mountains stand in
place of high-rise towers, then that’s what I’m going to do.
Prepare yourself, city girl. You’re going to be wishing you stayed
where you belong in your skirts and heels.”

“Logan!” John roared.
“That’s enough. You might not respect where she comes from, but at
least she’s here, and she’s looking for a lot more than you’re
giving her credit for, so enough with the attitude.”

That was the most I had
heard John say and I knew then that Gracie had told John a lot more
about me than I had originally assumed. I understood her telling
him as he was probably worried about his wife trekking into the
wilderness with a stranger, but I couldn’t help but feel a little
sobered by the idea of someone else knowing. Thankfully, Logan
obviously hadn’t been briefed. I didn’t think I could handle seeing
pity in his eyes. He looked at me with challenge, and as annoying
as it was, it was also refreshing.

Gathering my courage, I
glanced at Logan. He was watching me as though he was reading my
mind—seeing all of my pain and secrets on a big screen. It made me
shiver and for the life of me, I couldn’t make myself look away
from him.

Finally, he spoke.
“Finish eating.” He instructed in a low tone. “We’re leaving
soon.”

With those words, Logan
pushed away from the table. I listened to the rubber of his runners
squeak against the wood of the floor. The front door opened and I
expected to hear it slam shut, but it didn’t. Although I didn’t
understand it, it was almost worse that he was so calm after the
way John had spoken to him on my behalf.

Feeling nervous, I spoke
quietly. “Thank you so much for breakfast.” I pushed away from the
table. “I should get going.”

Gracie stood, “Reese,”
she sighed as though trying to compile her thoughts. “He’s not a
bad guy. He’s just hard to get to know and he doesn’t let people in
easily. Try to enjoy your time with him, okay?”

Feeling uncertain, I
forced a smile. “I will. Thank you again, Gracie.” I glanced around
the table. “I’ll see you all in a month, I suppose.”

The boys nodded, but
Collin spoke. “Stay safe, Reese. And don’t let him walk all over
you. He likes a challenge even though he won’t admit it.”

I snorted. “I think you
all like a challenge or you wouldn’t be in this line of work.”

“True that!” Collin
nodded.

I gave a small wave.
“Bye!” I called as I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders and made
a courageous break for the door.

Stepping out into the
sunshine, I found Logan sifting through the material he’d brought
with him from wherever he’d come. There was stuff everywhere on the
front porch of the Donnelley residence. Now that it was daylight, I
could see that there were other people wandering the land. Some
were riding horses and others were just walking. I saw a scattering
of intimate log cabins on the far left side of the property and in
the center was a larger building. How hadn’t I seen this the night
before?

“What is that building?”
I asked, pointing.

Logan lifted his head.
“That would be where people go to eat. It’s something like a
cafeteria.”

“Are you trying to make
me feel stupid?” I asked.

“No,” he sighed. “I’m
just finding it difficult to understand why someone like you is in
a place like this.”

“I have my reasons.” I
said quietly.

“So I’ve heard.”

“Have you?” I asked,
feeling my heart race at the thought of him knowing. “What exactly
did Gracie tell you about me? About what I’m looking for?”

“I know you want to
learn how to survive on your own—which I have to say is an odd
request.” He rubbed his brow. “And I know you want silence.”

“That’s all you
know?”

“Yeah,” he focused those
eyes on me again, and again, I felt warm. “You want to tell me what
this trip is really about?”

My eyes widened and I
took a careful step back. “No.” I needed to change the subject.
“What’s all this stuff?”

“This is all stuff we’re
going to have to carry with us.” Logan replied tightly. “Turn
around. I’ll start hooking things to your pack.”

“What?” I frowned. “I
have to carry more?”

“If you want to eat,
yeah.”

Slowly, I turned my back
to him. I didn’t know how much he planned on weighing me down, but
I did know one thing—I wouldn’t be complaining. Ever.

Logan added more and
more things to my pack until I felt unsteady on my feet. I felt off
balance—as though if I tried to take even one small step, I would
fall backward. Still, I refused to complain. “What is all this
stuff?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I’m
carrying most of what we need. You’re just carrying the fishing
poles, sleeping bags, some food and a wrapped up tarp.”

“That’s all, huh?” I
asked on a huffed laugh. “What are you carrying?”

“Tent, axe, knives,
fold-up grill, food and a few other things.” He replied heavily as
another tug made me wobble. He steadied me with a hand on my
shoulder. “Can you handle this?”

“Of course.” I replied
quickly. “Is all this stuff really necessary?”

“Well, I suppose we
could cut some of it in half—if you really want to.”

“It might be easier.” I
said, feeling hopeful. “What would you cut?”

“One of the sleeping
bags,” I could practically hear his smirk and if I could have
turned around to wallop him on the side of the head without falling
over, I would have. “We could bunk together.” His voice dropped,
turning husky. “Close. Sweaty,”

I interrupted him. “I
will never ever sleep with you, Logan. So, if that’s in any way
what you’re hoping for than you should just walk away from this
tour right now. I requested a woman for a reason.”

“Settle down, city
girl.” He chuckled. “You’re wasting good energy.”

“You’re an asshole.” I
stepped forward, pulling my pack from his hands. “Are you done
weighing me down?”

“Give it an hour, we’ll
discuss then who is weighing who down.” He nodded toward a path
that led into the dense mountainous forest. “You ready?”

“
Yeah,” I mumbled. This trip was
so
not
turning out like I’d been hoping it would. And it was all because
of this grumbly grump of a man whose sole mission in life seemed to
be to make me mad.

I followed Logan through
the trees as I had been doing for the last few hours. I knew it had
only been a few hours by the watch I wore on my wrist, but holy
moly, I was exhausted. I felt as though I had been walking for
days. My feet were throbbing and begging to breathe from the tight
restraints that were my running shoes and sweat was pouring down my
face and back. There was no doubt in my mind that I looked a
mess.

In any other situation,
I might have been embarrassed about a man as attractive as Logan
seeing me this way, but I was past the point of caring. The man
didn’t like me anyway and I had a good feeling that being beautiful
or not wouldn’t change his opinion of me. He thought of me as
nothing more than a helpless city chick who didn’t have a natural
bone in her body. He thought my life was cushiony and he saw me as
frivolous. The most annoying part was that he wasn’t all that off
base. I wasn’t experienced in the ways of deep nature and I didn’t
know how to survive on my own in the wilderness, but I wanted to
learn. This was a change in my life I felt I needed—for so many
reasons.