her. She had run out of here Saturday afternoon and hadn’t talked to him since. It was obvious he was pissed off and she should have just…she should have known better. People don’t like to be messed with and she knew better than to wish for second chances.
Lesson learned.
Pulling open her car door, she screamed when Hunter’s hand slammed against it to stop her. Whipping around, she stared up at him, breathless. “What are you…?”
“You don’t get to just throw a bakery box at me and leave, Violet,” he said with just a hint of weariness.
“I came to apologize, but it’s obvious you’re not in a very forgiving mood, so…”
“I just woke up!” he argued. “I didn’t expect you to just…show up here after ghosting me all weekend!”
“I wasn’t ghosting you…”
The look he gave her told her he didn’t believe her.
Hell, she didn’t even believe herself.
“Okay, fine. I kind of did. But in my defense, you freaked me out on Saturday!” Hell, if he could be mad and vent his frustration, so could she. “You started talking about buying a bigger house and me moving here and…and…we both know I’m a rebound person for you! Why would you ask me to move here when this is just casual?”
“Rebound person?! Is that seriously what you think?”
And right then and there, Violet knew she had completely misread the entire situation and possibly ruined everything.
“Um…”
Arms flexed, Hunter raked both hands through his hair and she had to fight the urge to lean forward and kiss his chest and let her hands roam. It was a completely inappropriate time to even think of something like that, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Dammit, Violet, why would you even think that?”
But before she could answer, he was talking again.
“We talked about this–do you think I would have invited you to spend the night here or…or move in with my son and me if this was just casual?”
“I…I thought you just said it in the heat of the moment and were going to regret it! It didn’t seem possible you would want me like that!”
“Like what? Like I have strong feelings for you? Like I enjoy being with you? Like I’m falling in love with you?”
Gasping, her hands instantly flew over her mouth.
She waited for him to take the words back or to try to clarify how he didn’t mean he was really in love with her, but…he didn’t.
Slowly, she lowered her hands. “You…you don’t mean that. You can’t.” And dammit, she hated the tremor in her voice.
His expression softened as he moved in close. “Yes, I can.” Cupping her face, he rested his forehead against hers. “I’m falling in love with you, Violet.”
Men had told her they loved her before, but never like this–never with such earnest and raw emotion. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. It was slow and sweet and the perfect combination of happiness and lust.
Because…yeah. Seriously, a shirtless Hunter was the stuff of fireman calendars.
When he broke the kiss, his smile was almost blinding. “As much as I’d like to keep kissing you, I’d rather do it in the privacy of my house.”
“I like the sound of that.” Together, they walked hand in hand back to the porch where she spotted her box from Henderson’s Bakery sitting on the ground. “Oh, no! Did you just drop it there?”
Chuckling, he bent and scooped the box up. “Are you kidding me? I can smell the cinnamon. No way I’m dropping that sucker on the ground.”
Once they were inside, he didn’t release her hand. Instead, he led her through to the kitchen and placed the box on the table. Then he hauled her in close and kissed her like a man hell-bent on seduction.
Which she was entirely on board with.
Only…
As much as it pained her, she pulled back. “Where’s Eli?”
“Sleeping. We stayed up extra late last night. He won’t be up for at least another hour.” Then he dove in for another kiss. And then another.
His arms banded around her as he picked her up and began to walk toward his bedroom. She wanted to laugh or, at the very least, tell him how much she was loving this idea, but it was necessary to stay quiet and not wake up his son.
With the bedroom door closed and locked, Hunter gently put her down on the edge of the bed before getting on his knees in front of her.
“If you’re not comfortable with this, just say the word.” His hand slid