I stop dead in my tracks, overtaken by giddy joy. “Where are we headed, exactly?” I can’t help but ask, my voice coming out way higher in pitch than I intended.
Logan gives me a smug look. “We’re almost there. You’ll see.”
I can’t help but pick up the pace; my limbs are wound up from the excitement. “Oh, now I know it’s gotta be a waterfall,” I squeal. Even though I’m walking faster, I still tread carefully. Now that we’re deeper into the woods, roots stick out of the ground, twisting around fallen tree trunks all around us.
The closer I get, the louder the falls echo in my ears. The smell of water against stone—petrichor—blended with the mossy woods is intoxicating. I quickly glance behind me to make sure Logan is keeping up with me, but I’ve got nothing to worry about; he’s right at my heels, that huge grin of his plastered on his face.
When I turn back, I finally begin to see the falls across the bendy trees. I break into a run but quickly stop in my tracks when I see the shallow pool at my feet. Wasting no time, I remove my shoes and my socks to dip my toes in the pool at the bottom of the falls.
It’s pure bliss.
The water is cool against my hot skin, and towering over me are the falls cascading over mossy stones. Tall trees surround the area, making it feel intimate and hidden away. There’s no one else here but Logan and me, so nothing stops me from giggling with glee as I splash my toes in the water.
“You know why I like this place?” Logan asks, removing his shoes to join me in the shallow pool. “I mean, apart from the obvious?”
I look at him, and I can’t stop smiling. My cheeks are starting to get sore. I think I know what he’s going to say. “It’s very similar to the hidden falls we found with my dad at Kakabeka Falls, isn’t it?”
There’s a glint in his eyes, and I know I’ve hit the nail on the head. The main falls at Kakabeka were stunning, but the three of us ventured into a lesser-known trail while my mom rested at our campsite. And even though the hidden falls we found were much smaller, we all felt connected in that moment.
I blush as I recall what my dad had said to Logan to tease him. “Remember how my dad encouraged you to put your arms around my shoulder for our photo in front of the falls?”
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I remember. And I also remember how he told me to never touch you again after he’d taken the photo.” I laugh, and he laughs with me. It was all said in good fun.
God, I miss Dad. A sharp pain blooms in my chest.
But it’s quickly forgotten when Logan moves his hands to my hips. “I’ve been coming here two, three times a week. At least before you showed up. Because it would bring me right back to that moment with you. And for those brief moments, I could pretend you’d never left.”
My stomach drops. He doesn’t add that he could pretend I’d never ghosted him, but I know he’s thinking it. My chest tightens, but I blink a few times and sigh as I keep my eyes closed.
I lean against his chest; one of his hands travels to my lower back. Inhaling his scent along with the smell of the falls, I’m overwhelmed by how safe I feel with him like this.
There was a time you felt safe with Jasper, too.
And with Dad.
I wave the thought away; what would Sophie say? She’d tell me to stop overthinking. So I try to do exactly that.
I look up at him with expectant eyes. His pupils dilate, and he seemingly understands the look I’m giving him because both his hands shift down to grab my ass. The contact lights up a fire in my lower belly; I press myself even closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck, bringing our lips together.
Here, alone in the wilderness, the kiss is slow and tender, unrushed. I part my lips and welcome his tongue as I weave my fingers through the hair behind his neck. Logan softly runs his thumb from behind me to the underside of my shirt, tracing a line all the way to the underside of my bra. I gasp into his mouth when his hand presses underneath the fabric of the bra to cup my breast, and my hips jerk. When I feel the hardness of him pressing against my belly, the pressure between my thighs cranks up a notch—or two.
Logan pinches my nipple between his thumb and index, and this time I moan. “You make me feel so good,” I gasp against his mouth.
“God, I love touching you, Avery,” he grunts in response; his hand runs over my stomach, inching lower and lower until it reaches the top of my leggings. “I want to make you feel good.”
A flash of hesitation goes through me. There’s no one else here, but anyone could easily walk in on us like this. The anxiety wants to reign it in, but another part of me finds this extremely hot.
Logan’s hand pauses. “Unless you don’t want to?”
“Yes, Logan, please,” I urge him, pushing his head with my hand so our mouths connect again. But his hand moves painfully slowly, circling just around my waistband in a teasing motion. I push myself up on my tiptoes to urge his hands closer, to relieve the pressure that’s aching there.
Ever so slowly, Logan slips beneath the stretchy fabric. I whimper as his fingers stroke gently, just around where I want him to go. “Tell me what you want,” he groans, his mouth now nipping at my ear.
“More,” I moan, my breath short. He obliges, and his thumb finally strokes my most sensitive spot, pulling a gasp out of me. His fingers curl inside, hitting every spot, and my breath hitches.
“God, you’re driving me crazy,” Logan gasps in my ear. My eyes flutter as my head rolls back, and I can’t bring myself to speak, to tell him that he’s the one who’s driving me crazy with the circular motion of his fingers. He’s building up the tempo, becoming a bit rougher now, and hearing his own breath hitch in my ear is enough to bring me over the edge.
Wave after wave of pleasure rolls through me; my legs shake, but he’s holding me tight, nowhere close to letting me go. I catch myself screaming his name, and as I come down my high, he peppers my collarbone with gentle kisses.
