And I Love You (3 page)

What did that mean?

Megan was still thinking about that when she leaned over the fancy SUV’s center console to open the driver-side door for him.

“Thanks.” He handed her the pizza box and another bag, which she held on her lap.

The smell of the herbs and spices had her mouth watering. Half an hour ago, she couldn’t have imagined eating anything, and now she was suddenly starving.

“Do you mind if we take it back to my place?”

“Um, no, I guess not.”

You’re focusing on the wrong Abbott brother.

During the long years of her not-so-secret obsession with Will Abbott, she’d created a mental catalog of all the things she knew about him. However, when it came to Hunter Abbott, her catalog was empty in comparison. She knew hardly anything about him other than the fact that he was the oldest of the ten Abbotts and worked as the chief financial officer for his family’s company.

He came into the diner twice a day for coffee—at the exact same times every day—but unlike some of his more boisterous siblings, Hunter tended to keep to himself, observing rather than participating when joined at the diner by his family members.

The two of them had rarely exchanged more than a few words when he ordered food and she brought it to him. Except for one time recently when she’d asked him about Cameron moving in with Will, and he’d suggested she go out with someone else—him perhaps—to get her mind off Will.
The wrong brother …

A few minutes later, he pulled into the driveway of a well-kept tan colonial with black shutters several blocks from Elm Street.

“This is yours?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I love this house and the garden. I had no idea you lived here.”

“I thought everyone in this town knew where everyone else lived.”

“I spend too much time at the diner listening to everyone’s business to pay much attention to where they all live.”

“Good point.” He relieved her of the pizza box and bag. “Come on in.”

The words were spoken casually, but when he opened the car door and the overhead light came on, she couldn’t miss the intense way he looked at her.

You’re focusing on the wrong Abbott brother.

What did Will know that she didn’t? Suddenly, she wanted the answer to that question even more than she wanted a slice of the mouthwatering pizza. Hunter took the pizza and bag and waited for her to come around the truck before he led her to the front door, where he used his key and then stepped aside to let her go in ahead of him.

The house was dark except for a small light in the kitchen, and it smelled fresh and clean, like lemons and maybe laundry detergent. She probably should’ve expected that a man who dressed the way Hunter did wouldn’t live like a typical bachelor. And when he flipped on a light in the living room, she saw there was nothing typical about this bachelor pad.

“Toss your stuff anywhere.”

His sofa and love seat were tan with dark brown trim. The tables were black and the usual life clutter nonexistent. On the fireplace mantel was a single framed photo of his family along with several candlesticks with thick cream-colored candles. The walls held framed prints by a Vermont photographer whose work Megan recognized.

She put her sweater and purse on the chair inside the door and followed him into the kitchen.

What am I doing here?
The thought nearly stopped her in her tracks as she entered a fully renovated kitchen that had black appliances, matching granite countertops and funky teardrop lights suspended over an island.

“Have a seat.” He gestured to one of the two bar stools tucked under the extended edge of the countertop. “I ordered a veggie and got several slices of cheese, too. What’s your preference?”

“Either is fine. I didn’t expect you to share your dinner with me.”

“I’m happy to share.” He put a slice of each kind on her plate and pushed it across the counter to her. “Wine? Beer? Soda? Water?”

“I’ll take a beer if you have an extra.”

“Coming right up.” He opened two bottles—with an opener, no twist-offs for him—and handed one to her.

She glanced at the label, which she didn’t recognize. Naturally, it was something imported and classy, like him.

He joined her at the bar, sliding onto the other stool and offering to share his salad.

“No, thanks. The pizza is more than enough.”

They ate in silence, and Megan appreciated that he didn’t push her to talk about what had upset her earlier. Being with him on this little detour from her regular routine had helped to briefly take her mind off the bomb Nina and Brett had dropped on her earlier.

The whole thing came rushing back to her in one big wave of sadness that made it difficult to swallow her pizza. She took a sip of beer and closed her eyes, hoping to contain the emotional firestorm that threatened to erupt again at any second.

Megan opened her eyes to find Hunter watching her, and Will’s words once again bounced around in her brain.
You’re focusing on the wrong Abbott brother.
Looking into Hunter’s deep brown eyes, which were filled with concern and compassion and something else she couldn’t easily identify, Megan was filled with an awareness of Hunter as a man for the first time. Until right that second, he’d been a customer, a guy she knew from town, Will’s brother.

She cleared her throat and took another sip of her beer. “Nina and Brett are selling the diner.”

His expression changed in a heartbeat from compassionate to shocked. “What?”

“He’s been offered a teaching position in France for the new school year. They’re leaving next week. Apparently, the person the school originally hired had to decline at the last minute, so they have very little time to get there.”

“Megan …”

“The diner is closing.”

“And you just found this out?”

She nodded. “After we cleaned.”

“You were crying. Behind the store.”

“Maybe a little.”

He pushed his plate away, apparently having lost interest in the food, and reached for her hand. “Are you okay?”

She glanced down at their joined hands and shrugged. “I will be. It’s just a job. I suppose I can find another one somewhere.”

“That’s not what I meant. Your sister … You two are close, and she’ll be leaving. Soon.”

Damn it, he had to say that. He had to home in on the part of the situation that had truly broken her heart, and she was going to cry again if she didn’t get out of there immediately. She withdrew her hand and stood, nearly tipping over the stool in her haste. “Thank you so much for the pizza and the company. I’m just going to … I’ll go now.”

He stood and took hold of her elbow. “Don’t go. Not now. Not when you’re upset.”

She shook her head. “You’ve had a long day. You don’t need an emotional female blubbering all over you.”

“Please,” he said, the note of longing in his tone impossible to deny, “don’t go. Let me help.”

The wrong brother, the wrong brother, the wrong brother …

Megan blinked rapidly, wishing intently that she were a stronger person, the kind who didn’t fall apart over news that tipped her world upside down.

And then Hunter’s arms were around her, and he was holding her, the scent of fine, expensive cologne filling her senses, making her forget, if only for a second, that her heart was breaking.

“I stink like ammonia and bleach, and you smell like Nordstrom.”

His laughter rumbled through his body, making her smile despite the tears that threatened to spill over at any second. “You don’t smell like either of those things.”

Was he … sniffing her hair? And was she really tipping her head to give him better access?

“You smell like jasmine and lilies. I love the smell of jasmine. It’s one of my favorite things in the summer.”

His gruff words sent a tingle of sensation down her backbone, which settled in a throb between her legs that made her gasp with surprise.

Hunter released her abruptly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …” He stared at her.

“You didn’t.” She wanted to beg him to hold her some more, to make her feel like he had for that brief second before she overreacted and ruined the moment. Summoning courage she wouldn’t have thought she had, she took a small step toward him and put her hands on his waist, above his black leather belt.

“Megan …”

She looked up at him, noting the slashes of color that had appeared in the area of his cheekbones as well as the raw heat in his gaze. “It felt good to have you hold me, Hunter. Would you do it again?”

He blew out a deep breath and drew her into his arms, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.

If Will had been the wrong Abbott brother, was Hunter the right one? The thought, which moved through her mind like a bullet whizzing toward its target, nearly made her laugh when a second ago she’d been on the verge of tears.

What am I doing here?

She forced the question from her mind and leaned into his embrace as well as the comfort he offered so willingly.

His ringing phone interrupted the moment. He tensed for a second before he released her, seeming reluctant to let go. “I need to grab that. I’m waiting for a call from my sister.”

“Sure,” she said, embarrassed now by the way she’d blatantly asked him to hold her. Her hands dropped from his waist, and she looked down as she linked her index fingers.

“Hey, El.” Hunter sounded rushed and abrupt. “You’re home? Okay, thanks for calling. See you tomorrow.” He ended the call and turned back to Megan. “Sorry about that. Now where were we?”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. It was just … tonight.” Shrugging, she added, “The news sort of blindsided me.”

“Of course it did.” He took her hand, apparently comfortable touching her now that she’d all but begged him to, and led her into the living room, where he sat on one of the sofas and drew her down next to him. “You’re losing your sister from your daily life, not to mention your job. That would upset anyone.”

“I want to be happy for her,” Megan said softly. “She’s done so much for me.”

“Tell me.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I want to know you.”

Sitting next to him in his lovely home with his appealing masculine scent filling her senses and his kindness touching her heart, Megan wanted to know him, too.

“You know our parents were killed in a car accident the winter of my senior year of high school.”

“Yes, I remember. I don’t know if I ever told you how truly sorry I was for you and Nina. Your folks were great people.”

His kind words nearly brought her to tears again. “Thank you for saying that. Yes, they were. It was an awful time, but somehow we got through it together. Nina was a senior in college, but she came home to be with me, and she never left. She finished her degree over the summer. Then, when she and Brett got married, they took the house, and I moved to the garage apartment. I’ve been there ever since. She opened the diner, I went to work for her and the years just sort of passed in a blur. And now … Now I’m not sure what I’ll do.” Megan ran her damp hands over the soft denim of her jeans. Talking about the darkest days of her life never got any easier, even ten years later.

“I’m sure the thought of her moving away has to be so upsetting for you.”

“It is, but I’m also feeling selfish for wishing she wouldn’t go while at the same time I’m happy for her to have this incredible opportunity. Crazy, right?”

“Not at all. She’s your anchor. It’s only natural you’d feel this way at the thought of her so far away. I’d die if Hannah moved away from me.”

She smiled at his attempt to make her feel better. Had she ever noticed what a nice guy he was? “I feel like a big baby weeping over the fact that my sister is moving overseas.”

“I think you’re being really hard on yourself. For one thing, the news shocked you because you hadn’t been expecting it. For another, you and Nina share a special bond that will be changed by this, even if it’s a good change. For her at least.”

“It’s a good change for me, too. It’s time for me to shake things up a bit. Maybe I’ll finally go to college or find a job with more potential or something. After the way I reacted to Will falling for Cameron, I’m sure you’d all like to see the last of me. With Nina leaving and my job going away, there’s no reason to stay.”

“That’s not true. There’s a very good reason to stay.”

T
he words had been said before he took a second to consider the implications of laying it all on the line. Sitting next to her on his sofa, her hand curled around his, Hunter wanted to keep her there forever. Listening to her talk, her nearness spinning him up in knots, he wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman.

He’d sensed the fragility beneath the tough veneer she showed the world, and now that he’d seen the fragility firsthand, he wanted to fix things for her, to make her smile again, to make her
happy
. Why he wanted that so badly he couldn’t begin to know. It just
was
, the way Hannah was his twin, Molly and Lincoln were his parents and Butler was his home.

She looked at him, her head tilted ever so slightly in inquiry. “Are you going to tell me this very good reason I should stay?”