The Hometown Hoax (The Hoax Series) (6 page)

“Jealous?” she asked, smirking.

He arched an eyebrow and she cursed her blunt remark. “Oh, no, sugar. I’ve got more than enough on my own.”

Tessa’s pulse pounded and her breath quickened. “I didn’t mean…”

Logan shrugged. “You did, but it’s okay. I don’t mind you questioning as long as you believe my answer. Of course, if you need physical evidence, you let me know, okay?”

She cleared her throat and tried to ignore his comments and how they made her hotter than the sun beating down on her back. “Mary and I were heading out onto the lake.”

“Sounds like fun. What do I need?”

He didn’t think he was joining them today, did he? “
We’re
going paddle boarding. I don’t know what
you’re
doing so I don’t know what you need.”

“You apparently lost your manners in the move.” Mary slipped off her sandals and stepped to the water’s edge. “We have plenty of gear. Go grab yourself a board and an oar from the shed.”

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Logan strode off to the supply shed.

Tessa instantly felt guilt wash over her again at being rude to him, but she couldn’t help it. She needed a break. “I thought it was just us today?” Tessa said, her voice bordering on whining. She wanted peace and quiet out on the lake, not Logan and his distracting body.

“It was, but now it’s Logan too. And by the look of it” —she motioned to the cabin where the front door was clanking shut behind swimsuit clad Travis and Sally—“they’re coming too. This is a family camping trip, Tessa, not a girls weekend. And you shouldn’t be so rude to Logan all the time. He’s a nice guy who’s trying to fit in with the rest of us. How would you feel being on a trip where you only knew one person and someone there refused to accept you?”

Tessa bit her lip and kept her mouth shut. Well, if the tables were turned and she was in Logan’s position, she wouldn’t like it, that’s for sure. “I’ll try to be nicer. I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable.”

“Besides, if you give him half a chance, you might actually find you like him.” Mary stepped onto her paddleboard, found her balance, and shoved off with her oar, drifting out a few feet into the lake.

That’s what I’m afraid of
.

Chapter Six

T
essa sighed. “Any day, big guy. It’s only a little paddleboard.”

“I’m coming.”

“So is Christmas.” She rolled her eyes at herself.
Totally something Dad would say.

He ignored her and gingerly climbed onto his board, separating his feet in a way that looked uncomfortable and ineffective for balancing on the water.

“If you move your feet so they’re parallel under your hips and not forward and back, you’ll feel more stable.” She offered the suggestion then glanced around the lake. The rest of their group had already paddled off and somehow she’d been left to tend to the newbie.
Lucky me.
“Or you can start out on your knees. That’s how they teach kids at the beach.”

“I’m not a kid and I’ll do it standing up.” He shifted his feet cautiously as if he was worried about going in. He should be worried. It was common for beginners to end up in the water at least a couple of times on their first try. “If you can manage it, so can I.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

And Mary said Tessa was the one being rude.

“Well, you don’t strike me as the most athletic person in the world.” He got his feet into position and slowly stood, arms out to the sides like he was walking a tight rope.

“If you’re referring to the extra five pounds on my ass and boobs, you’re a dead man. I’ll drown you in the lake and claim it was a paddle boarding accident. Think long and hard before you answer.”

He gripped his paddle in both hands as his gaze examined her areas in question. “Now I’m only making an educated guess here, since I haven’t had any hands-on experience, but as far as I can tell, your ass and boobs are perfect.”

By the time he looked her in the eyes again, her entire body felt heated by his gaze. She should’ve known better than to say something like that. “I have a boyfriend,” she blurted out, as much a reminder for herself as for him.

“So you’ve said. And does he think you have a little extra weight on your ass and boobs? Is that why you’re self-conscious about it? ‘Cause if that’s that case, I’d be happy to tell him what an asshole he is. I’m something of an expert on the human body, at least as far as healthy body weight and exercise is concerned, and I don’t see anything wrong with yours.”

“No. Rich is fine with it. Me. My boobs.” Was she sunburned already because her face felt hot?

“I thought he went by Richard.”

Damn it.
What difference did it make and why did he remember that? “I call him Rich.”

He nodded, looking not at all satisfied with her answer. Too bad. That was the only answer she was giving him. The less she talked about her fake boyfriend, the more likely she’d be able to keep her story straight.

“I guess a finance guy isn’t that interested in the human form. Probably too busy dealing with numbers, right? At least, I think you said he was a finance guy.”

“Yep.”

“I’m sure that’s exciting and important work.”

“It is. Are you ready to paddle now?” she asked, moving a little further out on the lake.

He followed closely, seeming to have gotten the hang of the board. “I think you said he works at some office on the Upper East Side, right?”

Did I say that? Or was it the financial district? Or Wall Street specifically?

“Yah-huh.”
Agreeable enough yet still non-committal.

“I think I’m getting it,” he said, floating up next to her, then drifting past. “This is pretty easy once you’ve got the stance right.”

Her body relaxed since he wasn’t talking about her pretend boyfriend anymore. She’d wanted to come out on the lake to relax, not talk. Gripping her paddle, she worked to catch up. For a guy who’d only just learned to stand on the board a few minutes ago, he was surprisingly fast already. Well, she wouldn’t let him be better at this than she was.

She paddled hard and caught up to him, then sailed past him. Glancing over her shoulder, she called, “What were you saying about me not being athletic? Looks like this non-athletic girl left you in the dust. Take that, Mr. Muscles, and your shitty balance.”

“You noticed.” He smirked and paddled after her, his chest and arms flexing as he did.

How could she not? “Considering you’ve been shirtless for most of the time I’ve known you, it’s sort of impossible to miss your bulging ego, I mean muscles.”

“Noticing bulges too? Interesting.”

She whipped around on her board. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” How dare he change this around to mean something dirty when all she did was defend her athleticism?

Her foot slipped on the board, and she grabbed for her paddle, hoping it would steady her. Instead, it shifted her balance further, making her foot slide on the slick surface. In one quick swoop, she was in the water sputtering and coughing as she came to the surface, grabbing blindly for her board. When she felt it under her fingertips, she pulled herself up and tried to blink away the water in her eyes.

“Hey!” Logan shouted.

Another splash sounded on the other side of her board. When she wiped her eyes clear of wet hair and water, she found Logan a foot away and soaking wet. “What happened to you?”

“You tipped my board and flipped me. That’s what happened.” He pushed his wet hair off his forehead, making it stand up in spikes.

“I didn’t. I grabbed my board.”

“No, you grabbed mine.”

She tilted her head, annoyed. “Then where is my board?”

He pointed over her shoulder to where her board was currently floating at least fifty feet away and drifting farther at an alarming rate. Her paddle was headed a completely different direction.

“Shit. I guess I’m going for a swim.” She tried to push away from the board but he grabbed her forearm, stopping her. Despite the cold water, his hand was warm.

“Hop on my board and we’ll go collect your stuff together.”

“I don’t need your help. I’m a good swimmer.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t, but why not save your energy for the paddle boarding and hop a ride with me?”

He made a good point. Swimming in the lake was hard and it would tire her out fast. “You’re right,” she said, meeting his gaze, which was the closest they been to each other since the spider incident.

He chuckled. “Did it hurt a lot to say that?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Shut it. So, how are we doing this? Cling to the side and kick our way to my stuff?”

“I thought more along the lines of we could both sit on it and I could paddle us over. You hop up first.”

She followed his command and used her arm strength, or what there was of it, to pull her top half out of the water and onto the board. In turn, she also ended up with her breasts pressed against the surface, making them almost overflow the tiny triangles of her bikini top.

Why didn’t I wear the one-piece? Because I wanted the tan.

Quickly, she propped herself up on her elbows. “Should I go the rest of the way or do you want to come part way up first?”

His knuckles looked almost white as he gripped the sides of the board. “You should go all the way.”

Did he mean that to sound like a suggestion for something else? Surely not.

Water splashed behind her as she kicked her legs and pulled herself the rest of the way onto the board, straddling it. She’d sat like this hundreds of times before but today this position made her feel vulnerable, almost as if she was on display. She didn’t miss his gaze traveling her body once again.

A second later he was up on his knees behind her, wobbling around unsteadily.

“I think you need to sit like me. Otherwise it’s way too rocky. If you sit this way, our legs will help keep us level.”

“Okay,” he said. She felt him settle behind her. “I think you need to come back toward the middle a bit since the front is dipping into the water.”

Tessa planted her hands in front of her, then lifted her hips and shifted back a few spots. She stopped, frozen the second she felt his inner thighs on her hips. Now she’d gone too far.

Logan attempted to use the long oar to paddle them toward her gear still floating farther away, but it was bulky and kept hitting their knees.

“Ouch. I’m going to be bruised if we keep this up. Hand me the paddle.” Laying it across the front of the board, it easily missed the surface of the water. “Let’s use our hands. It’s not far.”

Leaning forward, she dipped her hands into the water on either side of her legs and scooped it back toward Logan. They glided forward slightly. “This’ll work.”

Logan joined her and together they coasted forward on the surface of the calm lake, the only sound the lapping of their hands in the water. With every stroke, she felt Logan’s chest brush against her back and every time she found herself leaning into him more and more.

His touch was much more comforting than she wanted it to be, more enjoyable than she cared to admit. Every press of his body against hers made her long for another. When they finally reached her paddle, she dragged air into her lungs as if she’d been underwater holding it. True, she was working up a sweat moving this way, but more than that, she was having a hard time resisting the allure of Logan behind her. The thought of him breathing on the back of her neck and rocking his hips into hers stole her breath.

The urge to turn and wrap her legs around his waist almost overwhelmed her. Maybe if she made conversation she’d stop wanting to sit on his lap and get dirty out here on the lake.

“So, where did you teach when you lived in New York?” Not that she’d have any clue where the school was, but she figured it was a safe subject.

“I was a teacher a few years ago. Most recently I had my own personal training studio.”

A business owner? Now that she thought about it, she could kind of see it—take charge attitude, confident, not afraid to tell it how he sees it. And if he was a personal trainer then he was also willing to inflict pain and torture all in the name of health. That’s why he liked those green smoothies so much. Kale was probably the secret ingredient that made people suddenly want to do handstand pushups. She would never be one of those people.

“What made you leave your business and everything the city has to offer to come here?” No reason was good enough in her mind.

“A fresh start.” He sighed and leaned on her a little more, almost as if he sought comfort from her. “My studio struggled with the big brand name gyms to begin with, but when the building manager raised the rent, I couldn’t make it anymore. So here I am.”

The defeat in his voice was strange since she’d only ever heard him be cheerful and upbeat. This new tone was one she didn’t care for. She wasn’t into the whole fitness lifestyle herself but that didn’t mean she wanted to see him fail at it.

“You think Cutter’s Creek will be a better place for you?”

“I’m hopeful it will be. It’s the kind of place I want to live and it definitely doesn’t hurt that there’s not a brand name gym to be seen for fifty miles. I might actually have a shot here.”

“If you can get people to workout. People here aren’t quite as health-minded as you are.”

“We’ll see. I can be pretty charming and persuasive when I want to be.”

She didn’t doubt that. Earlier she’d almost considered joining him on his jog. That was a first. And a last. Jogging did not sound like fun, even with a sweaty beefcake like Logan next to her.

A few more strokes and she’d be back at her own board. The realization that her ride between Logan’s legs was almost over made her long for her board to float farther away. It felt so good to be this close to him. She sagged back against him, her chest heaving with exertion and desire. His chest was hot against her back, a stark contrast to the cold water surrounding them, and she wanted to rest there forever—lay her head back on his shoulders, close her eyes, and soak up some rays.

Logan half sighed, half moaned. The rumble in his chest vibrated against her skin sending little shockwaves through her body. What was she doing and why couldn’t she make herself stop? Damn it. She knew better than to get caught up in this moment and yet she leaned into him more. It wasn’t good for her health, or her sanity. Or her overactive and underused sex drive.

“If you need to rest and catch your breath here for a few minutes, I don’t mind.” His words came out as a warm caress on her earlobe and she wanted more than anything to do exactly as he suggested. But she couldn’t.

A girl with a boyfriend wouldn’t have even leaned against him for a second. There was no way she could linger. “I’m good, thanks. I think I was winded for a second. I’m fine now.”

Without waiting for a response, she reluctantly peeled herself away from him and dove into the water. The cold instantly cleared the hazy desire that had clouded her intentions and crumbled her inhibitions, and by the time she popped up onto her board again, she was back to feeling like herself as if cuddling with Logan had never happened.

The fact that her back still tingled from where his pecs pressed against her was nothing more than a figment of her imagination and one she was about to delete from memory.

“Everything okay?” he asked standing up and looking ready to go again as if nothing had transpired between them.

“Yep. I’m ready to head home. I think the sun is stronger than usual. I’m not really feeling like myself right now.”

“I’ll come with you. Are you able to paddle back?”

“Totally. No worries. Let’s go, okay?”

“Lead the way. I couldn’t even guess which way the cabin is now. I’m not even sure which way we came from. Nothing on shore looks familiar.”

As Tessa headed toward shore, she gave herself an internal pep talk with every stroke of the paddle.

You will not look at Logan’s deliciously muscular chest again or think of him in deliciously sexy ways.

You will not be alone with him again except in your cabin.

You will wear clothing around him at all times.

You will stop imagining what the rest of him looks like naked.