“Hey, sleepy owls!” Bella yelled at the dark trees. “Wake the fuck up! You’re going to make me fail my dissertation paper!”
“Do you still love owls?” Logan asked, grinning at her.
“No,” she said with a laugh. “They are little selfish assholes. I mean, come on! Why are they always hiding from me? I’m awesome!”
“You are awesome,” Logan said, giving her a sexy smile.
Her chest was feeling nice and warm and the heat was starting to swirl in her stomach and settle between her legs as she slid her hand over his hard bicep. He was sexy as hell. She was really liking the whole mysterious, wild, shifter thing. It was a turn on, awakening something deep and carnal within her.
Logan wasn’t like the other boys she had dated with their perfectly gelled hair and designer clothes that fit tightly to their slim bodies. He was a real man. A strong, rugged, not afraid to get his hands dirty or to bleed for his girl type of man.
“I like it here,” she whispered, snuggling up to him.
His body loosened under her hand and she heard him exhale contently. “Really?” he asked after a moment of silence.
She looked up into his sexy brown eyes and smiled. “Really.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever speak with anyone else again,” he said, “let alone meet a gorgeous girl who liked being with me.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” she said. “Once you stopped yelling every two seconds, you’re really fun to be around.” And those abs…
“I’m sorry again about that,” he said, looking away with shame on his face.
“It’s okay,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I was a bit of a bitch too.”
He hadn’t raised his voice or spoken to her with anything but respect all day. The poor guy hadn’t seen another soul in three years so his communication skills were bound to be rusty on the first night that he had a hysterical woman come crashing into his house. Bella just let it go, choosing to not let it bother her.
She could tell that it wasn’t the real him anyway. This was the real him. Calm, sweet, protective. She liked this Logan a lot.
When the second bottle of wine was finished, Bella began falling asleep on his arm. She tried to stay awake to enjoy the night but her eyes were so heavy and they kept closing no matter how hard she tried to keep them open.
She opened them with a gasp as her legs flew into the air. Logan was carrying her to the bedroom, cradling her lovingly to his strong chest.
A smile was on her sleepy lips as he placed her on the bed and gently kissed her forehead. She wanted to tell him to come and lie down beside her, to hold her all night, but her eyes became heavier than ever as she sunk into his bed and she fell asleep instead.
Chapter 8
“It’s not going to work out,” Logan muttered to himself as he curled up on the couch that was way too small for him.
Nothing ever worked out for Logan. Why would it start working out now?
Today had been the best day in as long as he could remember. He had spent the day with Bella talking and even joking around. She laughed at his jokes and he laughed at hers.
It had been years since he felt lighthearted enough to laugh. She just naturally brought it out of him and it made him realize how nice it could be to have someone around that he cared about.
But it wasn’t going to work out.
Who was he kidding? Really?
She was a city girl out here for a school project. He was stuck here in the wilderness forever, destined to be alone for what he had done.
In a few weeks or even days, she would pack up and say goodbye. She would return home and get over him quickly, finding a normal boyfriend who she would eventually start a family with.
Meanwhile, Logan would be trapped in the dark woods like a prisoner, spending the rest of every long day thinking about her, obsessing about her, torturing himself with the short precious memories that he had of her soft skin, the sweet smell of her hair, the beautiful view of her in her bra and underwear as she stepped into the thermal pool.
His bear groaned within when he pictured her bending over to grab her clothes and the way that her thin underwear stuck like glue to the dick-hardening curves of her round ass. She was incredible and he really didn’t want her to go.
The loneliness of the past three years had been tough but that would be nothing compared to what it would be once she left for good. It was going to crush him now, smothering him with a sense of loss until he couldn’t breathe. Until he didn’t want to breathe any longer.