“No, Logan.” She shoved her hands into her hair. Restless, nervous energy zig-zagged through her body. “You stop. Stop trying to be a protective big brother to me, okay? I’ve done the safe, smart thing my entire life, and look where that’s landed me.”
He moved toward her and she stepped back, undoing her shorts. Her heel bumped into one of the large, flat rocks around their lunch spot and she hopped up on it. Ha. Now she was taller than him. She kicked off her shorts and pointed her finger down at him at the same time, a move that probably wasn’t as impressive as it felt, but she’d take her victories where she could find them. “If I want to have no-strings-attached, dirty sex this week, I’m going to, and you’re not going to stop me. Do I make myself clear?”
His eyes glittered with frustration. “Perfectly. Now get your gorgeous ass down off that rock before you—”
“Stop. Bossing. Me. Around.” She jerked away from him as he reached for her, only realizing at the last second that in doing so, she was spinning herself off the rock—and into the dark turquoise pool at the base of the waterfall.
Eight
Logan’s mind was still reeling from Tori’s threat to have dirty sex as he watched her hit the water. Swearing under his breath, he dove in after her.
Underwater, he saw her already twisting toward the surface. Her legs kicked, long and straight, and he chased her through a swarm of air bubbles.
Crazy-assed woman.
“What the hell was that?” he yelled as soon as his head hit air.
Instead of answering, she splashed water at him.
Aw, hell no. He dove for her, his fingers snagging her ankle as she swam for the swirling waters at the base of the waterfall.
She was strong, but he was stronger. With three quick pulls, he was alongside her body, holding her tight against him as he took over, dragging them both through the curtain of falling water and into the cave behind it.
She was laughing as they found their footing on the slippery rocks, but there was a new edge to her voice. A don’t fuck with me sound.
It hit him right in the chest. “I didn’t mean to sound like a big brother,” he said gruffly, raising his voice over the thunder of the water.
“I know,” she hollered back. “But it still felt like that, you know?”
“I promise you I’ve never thought of you as a sister,” he shouted back.
“Oh, come on. You gonna try and say you didn’t drag me back her to give me a water safety lecture?”
“I’m slightly more fun than that.”
“I bet you are. With other women.”
What the hell did that mean? He moved closer to her. “I’m here, aren’t I? We can do whatever you want this week. I’ll in, no judgment.”
She pushed a wet strand of hair off her cheek as she stared at him, still breathing heavily. “Good.”
“Good.”
“You can be my wingman.”
“No.” It was a reflex, an unguarded, knee-jerk response, but it was also the truth. There was a limit to how actively involved he could be in her hooking up with some random guy.
“See? Thanks, big brother.” She dove back into the water, disappearing under the waterfall, and this time he gave her more of a head start.
The way his blood was pumping, if he didn’t give her some space, he was going to do something he’d regret for the rest of his life.
Tori slowly dolphin-kicked her way across the pool, swimming just below the surface. What the hell was Logan’s problem?
She waited for him to catch her. When she reached the far side and he hadn’t, she came up for air and spun around, searching for a stream of air bubbles. Nothing. She squinted back at the falls, vaguely making out his tall, broad shape behind the falling water.
Damn.
Turning around again, she looked for the safest way out of the pool. She’d pack up their bags and dry off, and by the time he was over whatever he was out of sorts about, they could head back down the mountain and pretend this little spat never happened.
But as soon as her palm hit the first dry rock, she knew it was the wrong call.
There’d been something else going on back there, behind the waterfall, and she was so done with being in the dark.
“No more secrets,” she muttered, twisting around and kicking off from the rock side of the pool. She stroked her way through the water, fast and furious, and burst through the falls just in time to see Logan disappear underwater. She dove beneath the surface and grabbed him.
He hauled her back into the air, and they bobbed together. Her toes were barely touching the bottom here, but his extra height meant that he was more on more stable footing. He reached out and grabbed her waist and she stopped treading water.
“Why won’t you be my wingman?” she asked in a rush.
He just stared at her.
“I was going to marry a man that didn’t love me. And I had no clue. No. Clue. So secrets? Right now, they’re like a mind-fuck for me. Okay?”
His eyes flared wide. “I’d never hurt you like that.”
“So just be straight with me.” She huffed out a frustrated breath as water lapped against her face. “Do you think I’m being stupid?”