Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

palms over Logan's muscled shoulders, lingering way more than was necessary. Logan was oiling his chest, his large hands gliding over sleek muscles, sliding south across his ribs. His voice suddenly cut into my consciousness.
    "See anything you like?" he asked with a sneer.
    My eyes snapped up to his face and I was surprised to realize I had been following the progress of his hands down his chest, his fingers rubbing through the trail of golden hair low on his stomach. Did I mention that he had an awesome body? Yeah, I was looking. So sue me. I'm only human.
    "You know you want some of this," Logan taunted, sliding the tips of his fingers into the waistband of his shorts. "Don't you, princess?"
    Enough of the crap. I decided to fight fire with fire.
    "Yeah, of course I do," I said dryly, hands on my hips. "It's all I can do to stop myself from dragging you off to my tent and having my wicked way with you." I pointed at the giggling girls oiling his back. "And they can watch."
    Logan's hands stilled as he stared at me. "In your dreams," he snarled.
    "Oh, but what sweet dreams they would be," I replied.
    Logan shook off the girls and rammed the lid back onto his bottle of sunscreen. "You fucking pervert," he glowered.
    I smiled. "At the risk of sounding very fifth grade, you started it."
    "Whatever, Gabriella."
    I dropped my eyes to his ripped torso and lingered on his chiseled abs. "I think you missed a spot," I said, pointing to his stomach.
    Logan glanced down automatically before covering his crotch with his hands. He flipped me the bird and stormed off to return to his site.
    I watched him go with amusement. I didn't know what the hell his problem was, but baiting him was actually kind of fun.
    ****
    After lunch we moved sites and started work on clearing some of the undergrowth that lead to some caves—caves that we were to explore later in the dig. It was backbreaking work and we were all tired and dirty by evening.
    I wanted nothing more than to simply get clean and collapse into my tent with my bedroll and iPod for company.
    It seems that fate had something different planned for me.
    I headed out to the lake again, as I had done all week, but to my dismay I discovered that a few of the other students had also found my sanctuary and were splashing around, gales of laughter piercing my eardrums. I dropped my towel onto the rocks with a sigh. So much for enjoying a nice quiet, naked swim.
    I peeled off my sticky clothes, reluctantly leaving my boxer shorts on, and waded into the refreshingly cool water. I didn't pay much attention to whoever else was in the lake, so I was completely unprepared when the blond head of Logan suddenly surfaced not five feet away from me. I flailed around and spluttered in surprise. Although the water covered our shoulders it was fortunately shallow enough to stand in, so I wasn't too worried that he would try to drown me. Not yet anyway. Plus we had an audience.
    "Well, lookee who we have here," Logan said in a singsong voice, flicking his long blond hair out of his eyes. "Did you come to play with the big boys?"
    "Play? With you?" I scoffed. "As if."
    "What's wrong with us?" he asked, his hazel eyes narrowing dangerously. "Not good enough for a pretty boy like you, huh?"
    Pretty? I'd never thought of myself as pretty. Sort of good-looking, maybe. I had dark eyes and dark hair that some people had said they found attractive. But pretty? Hell no.
    I could see a couple of Logan's buddies swimming over to us, curiosity clearly getting the better of them. Several bikini-clad girls were not far behind. I chose to ignore them too.
    Logan saw me looking and glanced over his shoulder at his henchmen, before returning his gaze to mine. "Are you afraid, Gabriella?" he taunted, lips twisting into a cruel smile. "Don't you wanna know if we're all naked? Isn't that what boys like you always think about? Naked straight guys?"
    I'll never know what possessed me, but fed up with all his posturing bullshit, I waded in a little closer and stuck out my hand in what I thought was the general vicinity of his groin.
    "Only one way to find out," I said.
    The last thing I expected was for my fingers to actually brush against bare flesh. Hard, hot bare flesh. An erection. Fucking hell.
    Logan hissed in a breath and his eyes widened as he looked at me in shock.
    "Shit!" I jerked my hand back as quickly as the water would allow, thankful that the swirling depths hid my somewhat unintentional groping.
    I