And I Love You (20 page)

“Sounds … romantic.”

Megan laughed. “Not so much, except the food was amazing, and there was this band playing, so we danced, and then they had rooms upstairs for people who drink too much, except they aren’t just ‘rooms.’ They call them fantasy suites, like on
The Bachelor
.”

“Seriously? In a place called the Pig’s Belly?”

“I know! We said the same thing.”

“Go on …”

“We were having a really great time, so we decided to stay. And that’s what happened.” Ever since he dropped her off at home earlier with a chaste kiss and a promise to call her later, she’d thought about him constantly.

“No way! You are not getting off that easy. You have to tell me the rest.”

Brett came to the door again. “Don’t shoot the messenger, but Hunter is here looking for you, Megan.”

Her entire body tingled with awareness just from hearing he was downstairs waiting for her.

“Oh my goodness,” Nina said. “You lit up like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.”

Megan leaned in to kiss Nina’s cheek. “I’ll let you finish up here. Gotta go.”

“You’ll be in to work in the morning?”

“Of course I will. Where else would I be?”

“
Soooo
much I could say to that.”

Eager to see Hunter, she patted Brett’s shoulder as she passed him in the doorway and headed down the stairs at the house where she’d grown up. It would be weird to have other people living in it, but it didn’t make sense to let it sit empty when Brett and Nina could make some money from the rental.

While he waited for her in the living room, Hunter studied the display of her old school photos on the wall.

“Hey,” she said.

He turned and smiled, and her entire world tipped upside down in the span of a second, all because of a smile that reminded her of the intimacy they’d shared the night before. Every muscle in her body ached from what they’d done, but she couldn’t wait to do it again.

“You were so cute.” He pointed to the picture of her in full ballet regalia. “Adorable.”

“That was taken at the pinnacle of my dance career.”

“How old were you?”

“Eight, I think. It was a short-lived passion.”

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Tonight he’d worn faded denim that hugged his muscular legs and other important places. He also hadn’t gotten around to shaving, which only added to his over-the-top appeal.

Knowing they weren’t alone, and Nina was probably listening to everything they said, Megan put her hands in her own pockets, trying to resist the urge to run to him, to kiss him, to touch him.

“I hope it’s okay I came here. You didn’t answer the door at your place.”

“Of course it is. If I’m not there, I’m usually here. Or I was. I won’t be coming here for much longer.” She looked around at the living room that still looked exactly the way her mother had left it—for a few more days anyway. Movers were coming on Saturday to pack everything into crates that would go into storage until Megan and Nina were ready to deal with it.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She pushed back the melancholy that had hovered close to the surface all afternoon while she helped Nina pack. “It’s just strange to think of other people living here.”

“You could move in here and rent out the garage apartment.”

“We talked about that, but they could get more for the house, and what do I need with all this space? I like my apartment.” She was rambling and she knew it, so she made an effort to shake off the blues about Nina’s move so she could focus on him. “Anyway, how are you?”

“I’m good. Much better now that I’m with you again.”

She melted inside every time he said things like that. “Did you go to work?”

“For a couple of hours.” His brows furrowed, but he seemed to remember where he was, and the exasperated look disappeared. “Are you hungry?”

“I could eat. Then again, I can always eat.”

“Want to grab something?”

“That’s what you said last night and look where that got me.”

At her mention of last night, he flashed a sexy grin that made her melt in a completely different way. After last night, she was amazed that her girl parts could still tingle like that. In reality, the numbness had worn off the minute she heard he was downstairs waiting for her.

“No Pig’s Belly tonight. How about we hit the grocery store, and I cook for you at my house?”

“You cook?”

“I cook, I bake and I iron. Got anything to say about that?”

“Um, nothing other than can you bake me chocolate chip cookies?”

“Please,” he said with a scoff. “I could do that by the time I was eight.”

“I’ll confess to being aroused by this information.”

“That’s all it takes?” Smiling, he held out his hand to her. “Shall we?”

Megan eyed his outstretched hand with barely restrained desire to feel his skin brushing up against hers. She couldn’t remember ever wanting to touch another human being as badly as she wanted to touch him right then. “Neen,” she called up the stairs. “I’m going out.”

“Don’t forget to come home.”

She smiled at Hunter. “I might, so don’t wait up.” Then she took his hand and drew in a deep breath when he gave a gentle tug that brought her in tight against his chest. He kissed her cheek and then her lips. “Sorry,” he whispered, “but I was about to die from wanting to do that.”

“I was about to die from wanting you to.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

He led her out of the house to the passenger side of his SUV and held the door for her. When she was seated, he leaned in to kiss her again, lingering when her hand came around his neck to keep him there. What she’d intended to be a quick kiss became something else altogether when his tongue swept into her mouth as he grasped her hair. He withdrew from her in small increments until his lips were merely touching hers.

“Holy moly,” he whispered, his eyes closed.

She caressed his face, giving special attention to the stubble he’d left on his jaw because she’d told him she liked it. “I like how you say hello.”

Laughing, he put his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “I couldn’t wait to see you. Did I give you enough time with your sister?”

“Just enough. I can only do so much to help them. They have to decide what they’re taking and what they’re leaving.”

Hunter kissed her again, buckled her in and closed the door.

Megan watched him walk quickly around the front and kept her eyes on him as he got into the driver’s side and caught her looking at him. “What?”

“Just enjoying the view.”

He rested his hand on the wheel and stared into the darkness. “I was afraid I’d come to see you and everything would’ve changed again.”

“Why would you be afraid of that?”

“Last night was … intense and incredible. It meant so much to me to be with you that way, and I hoped …”

“It meant just as much to me, if that’s what you were worried about.”

“It was.”

“I haven’t been able to think about anything but you and last night since you dropped me off earlier.”

He released a long, ragged deep breath that sounded an awful lot like relief to her. “I haven’t thought about much of anything else either.”

Megan was equally relieved to hear that, and when he reached across the center console for her hand, she gladly offered it.

T
hey drove over the one-lane covered bridge on the way out of town.

“That’s where I grew up,” he said, nodding to Hells Peak Road.

“Everyone knows about the Abbotts and their red barn full of kids.”

“You can get away with a lot in life when you grew up in a barn.”

Laughing, she said, “How’d you end up a fashionista when you grew up in a barn?”

“I like nice clothes. Why does everyone have to make a thing of that?”

“Because no other man in town dresses like he just stepped out of the pages of
GQ
.”

“That’s their problem. Not mine.”

“True, and for the record, I’m not complaining. I think you always look really nice. I thought so long before yesterday, too.”

He smiled at her. “Is that right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Goddamn it.” Hunter swerved to avoid a huge dark object in the middle of the road. “What the hell is Fred doing out at this hour?”

“Doesn’t he do his best work at night?”

“Yeah, just ask Cameron.”

“I thought people in town would hate her for running into Fred,” Megan confessed as they drove around the immovable town moose, tooting at him as they went by. “Instead they fell in love with her.”

“She’s a really nice person. There’s nothing about her not to like.”

“That’s what I hear.”

“You might like her, too, if you give her a chance.”

“I wouldn’t blame her if she never speaks to me again after the way I acted when she first started seeing Will. I’m ashamed of how I behaved with her.”

“It’s in the past now. You apologized. She and Will accepted it, and they’ve moved on. You should, too.”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Besides, I want you to come to dinner at my parents’ house on Sunday.”

“
This
Sunday?” Megan asked, her voice squeaking.

“Why not?”

“Um, well, I, ah … Let me get back to you on that.” The thought of going completely public with his big and boisterous family so soon after they started seeing each other made her stomach ache with nerves.

They rode to the grocery store in comfortable silence, which was a revelation in and of itself. In her past dating life, she’d always felt the need to fill the silences with some sort of mindless chatter because she worried about the guy losing interest in her. With Hunter, there seemed to be no risk of that happening.

Relaxing into the soft leather seat, she pretended to look out the window while Hunter drove to the grocery store on the outskirts of town. But really, she took every chance she got to look at him.

“What’re you in the mood for?” he asked while they waited at a red light at the entrance to the parking lot.

Megan was on the verge of a suggestive reply when bright lights filled the windshield as a car came straight for them across the divided highway. Before she could get out the scream that tore from her chest, Hunter floored the accelerator. The SUV shot forward, through the red light and into the intersection, missing a direct hit by the out-of-control car, which landed in a ditch by the side of the road.

Hunter turned into the parking lot and took the first empty space he could find. “What the hell?”

She couldn’t seem to get air to her lungs.

He tuned into her distress, released his seatbelt and came across the center console to her. “Megan, sweetheart, look at me.”

Trying to contain the panic, she forced her gaze to meet his.

“Breathe.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a small shake. “
Breathe
, Megan.”

She forced air into her lungs, which seemed to relax the stranglehold on her chest. Once she was able to breathe again, she broke down into sobs. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh God, honey, don’t be sorry.” Somehow he managed to fold himself into the small space in front of her and gather her into a tight embrace.

“Scared me.”

“I know.” He ran his hand over her hair. “It’s okay. We’re both fine, and I’m so sorry you were scared.”

Despite his soothing tone, she couldn’t seem to stop crying as the close call kept replaying in her mind. Wanting to think about anything other than what had nearly happened, she burrowed into the curve of his neck and breathed in the sexy, masculine scent she’d become addicted to in the course of one memorable night.

The sound of sirens and the red flash of emergency lights were a reminder of just how close they’d come to potential disaster.

“I’m right here,” he said. “Hold on to me for as long as you need to.”

“I feel so stupid. Nothing actually happened, and I can’t stop crying.”

“Please don’t say that. You have every reason to be upset.” He pulled back from her and wiped the tears from her cheeks and then kissed her softly.

Looking down at him, her tears became laughter when she realized how he’d twisted and contorted his long legs to fit in the small space.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, seeming baffled by her seesawing emotions.

“You’re going to be crippled if you sit like that for much longer.”

“I’m fine. Are you?”

She used her sleeve to wipe the remaining dampness from her face. “I am now. Sorry I overreacted.”

“You didn’t.” He took her by the chin and looked into her eyes. “It scared the hell out of me, too, and I haven’t lost the two people I love best in a car crash.”

“You get it.”

“I got it as it was happening.”

She looked around him to the scene playing out in the intersection. “Do you suppose anyone was hurt?”

“I hope not. They’re in good hands with the paramedics.” He tucked her hair back behind her ears. “Do you want me to take you home?”

She shook her head. “Let’s continue with our plans.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I might need to be surgically extracted from the car.”