Chapter Twelve
The restof the day passed in a glorious, romantic dream. They ate breakfast in bed, naked. Then they got dressed and hit the beach, hand-in-hand, and swam together until they were exhausted and happy. As they dried off in the sun, Tori thought to herself that she’d never been happier in her life—and she was supposed to be devastated.
That tripped her up hard.
Supposed to.
Life was too short to wallow in grief. She’d told Logan she wanted to live it up this week. Have sex, go dancing, be wild.
Taking it to the next level—in his arms, with real feelings and a sizzling connection—had been a brilliant surprise.
No, she wasn’t devastated. Not today.
Maybe tomorrow.
But as Logan’s fingers brushed her hand, then up her arm, she thought to herself,maybe not until he leaves Atlanta.
If she could just let herself enjoy this week with the company of her best friend, maybe when she had to return to real life and all the work that would entail, she’d be well on her way to feeling healed.
“You ready to head back to the villa?” he murmured.
She tipped her face up to the hot, Caribbean sun. “Sure,” she said, stretching her arms wide. “And then we should go for a drive around the island. Explore a little. Or if you wanted to call up your friends and try out their obstacle course…”
She didn’t need to look over at Logan to know he was grinning. “That’s my girl,” he said, his voice full of pride. “Today’s going to be a good day, isn’t it?”
Back at the villa, they showered together, slick bubbles leading to steamy touching and then damp, tumbling sex on her bed.
After, Logan held her for ages. No rush to get on with their day, no awkward need to scrub their sex from his body. She hadn’t known how much she’d missed this kind of intimacy, too. The last man who’d enjoyed cuddling after sex had been a few boyfriends before Stephen, and he’d been weirdly clingy in other ways, too. She’d been grateful to settle into a relationship more matter-of-fact than passionate.
In hindsight, of course, that pendulum swing had been too far in the wrong direction.
Now, she had to make different choices for her life. For her happiness.
Starting with sex.
And continuing with an obstacle course, apparently.
While Logan called his SEAL buddies, Tori got dressed. Then she piled her wild, curling hair on top of her head in a twisty bun, and swiped on a bare minimum of makeup. Lip gloss, sunscreen, and a dash of glittery pink eyeshadow, then a stroke of mascara.
When she stepped back from the mirror, the woman looking at her in the glass positively glowed.
“You ready?” Logan asked, appearing in the doorway.
She was. Ready and eager for anything and everything. “Let’s go.”
* * *
The drive was fun. A powerful car, a gorgeous view, a twisting road…it was a winning formula.
But the best part was Tori in the passenger seat, her creamy thigh brushing his knuckles every time he dropped his hand from the gear shifter. Which he did a lot, because her legs were irresistible.
So too was her enthusiasm. “Look!” she exclaimed when the volcanic peak in the middle of the island came into view, and then, when they started to climb into the jungle, “Oh! Bananas! Logan, those arebananas!”
Indeed they were. “It’s pretty cool.”
And when the GPS on her phone directed them to drop out of the jungle, back toward the coast, and the Villa Sucre estate appeared, the sounds she made were enough to make him want to pull over and tug her into his lap.
“Oh, wow. That’s justbeautiful.”
