How To Evict a Hot Jock in Three Weeks - Anyta Sunday Page 0,15
new for me. But maybe not . . . surprising?”
Alexander wriggled under the sheet tent with him. “How new? How not surprising?”
“Since I met you, new. I ignored it the first three days, but then . . .” Logan couldn’t look at Alexander’s eyes. “I’ve dated plenty of women but I’ve never quite clicked in the bedroom. I never thought I might like—” He scrubbed his palm over a panicky laugh. “How did you know?”
“I just did, and I didn’t want to hide it. I came out to Nico first. He held my hand as I told our parents, and half stepped in front of me like a shield. He was fourteen, I was seventeen.”
A soft breath left Logan and his gaze settled on Alexander’s touched expression. “Your brother is easy to love.”
“Yes, he really is.”
Logan lowered his voice to a whisper. “I remember being in a big bed like this. Fresh high thread-count sheets. I was crying because I’d just broken up with my first girlfriend.”
Alexander turned on his side. “It didn’t end well?”
“It did. We’re still best friends, but I remembered worrying, if sex didn’t feel right with Luci, would it ever feel right with anyone?”
“And?”
“With some women it’s felt good, but . . .” Logan winced. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”
“I’ve heard a lot of stupid things the last week.” Alexander’s eyes flickered with snarky encouragement. “I doubt this is one of them.”
The thick air under the sheets tasted like sweet wood and herbs. Like him and Alexander. “I was always missing something. I thought it was because I’m not as smart as them.”
Logan let out a hollow laugh, and Alexander watched him closely. “What do you mean not as smart?”
“I never loved school the way my brother did. I preferred socializing.”
“Being the cool kid?”
“No. The funny jock.” Logan’s stomach flipped. “It made me popular in high school. Not so much college.”
He’d once cracked a joke during a lecture; his classmates had frowned and whispered that the school let just anyone in.
He’d never shaken that feeling of inadequacy.
Alexander looked at him intently. Judging him, probably. Logan was afraid to know what Alexander thought. Afraid Alexander was cataloguing every flaw.
Logan’s swollen eye pulsed with pain, but it was nothing to the ache in his chest.
Alexander frowned. “Logan, I—”
Fear spiked and Logan ripped the sheet back down over their heads.
Alexander blinked at the bright room, and Logan changed subject. “I have an idea.”
“Oh, God.”
“Let’s go camping this weekend.”
Panic filled Alexander’s beautiful blues. “I thought you liked spending weekends with your friends?”
“It’s been five days.” Logan shifted his leg and bumped Alexander’s cold feet against his shins. “I consider you my friend.”
Alexander’s toes pushed against his ankle. “What?”
“I reckon you and me need to bond. Deeply. What better way than with a good ol’ fashioned campout?”
“You’ll kill me.”
“Say what?”
“It’ll kill me. Loving this small town doesn’t mean I’m the nature type.”
Neither was Logan—he’d only worked in the kitchens at Camp Halsworth—but how hard could a couple days camping be? “Trees ain’t nothin’ a man can get enough of. We’ll go fishin’.” Shouldn’t be too hard to fake.
“I’m not afraid of fish. Other wildlife, however . . .”
“I’ll protect ya.”
“Like you did tonight?” Alexander gently brushed the swollen eye, fingers leaving a ticklish trail.
“If you rile up some impolite bears, I promise to dodge in the other direction.”
Alexander’s lips quirked.
“So, campin’?” Logan started waggling his brows and stopped. Ouch.
Alexander rolled onto his back. “It took me two years to find this house. I looked at thirty others and none of them were right. I knew this place was the one. It’s modern but with cathedral ceilings and so much space, it’s easy to breathe. My favorite artist used to live here before he got famous. It’s steeped in artistic history and it makes the place feel more alive.”
“Um, cool?”
“I’m telling you this so you understand . . .” Alexander’s face screwed up and he shut his eyes. “Never mind. Where will we camp?”
Somewhere they wouldn’t need to rely on survival instincts. Luci might know a place—if not her, Dylan from Camp Halsworth would have an idea. “It’s a surprise.”
Alexander winced.
Good. Two days in the woods, and Alexander would evict him for sure.
That was the plan, anyway . . .
Chapter Ten
ALEXANDER
* * *
Alexander woke with a start. A breeze floated in from a cracked window, fluttering the sheets coolly around his body.
Late morning light glowed bright on the white walls and sheets, and brighter around Logan, who moved around the room. A cap