Marie Force - And I Love You (Green Mountain #4)

by Unknown

  After a long soak in the tub and the rubdown Megan had promised him, Hunter fell into a deep sleep. He woke in a darkened room with Megan propped on one hand, looking down at him.

  “You’re back.”

  He rubbed his hand over his face, which was when he remembered his hands were destroyed. “What time is it?”

  “Nearly seven.”

  “Damn.” He shifted to find a more comfortable position and immediately regretted moving. If one shift at the diner could so thoroughly kick his ass, he’d be spending a lot more time in his home gym starting tomorrow. Or maybe the day after. “Did you sleep?”

  “A little. Mostly I watched you sleep.”

  “That must’ve been fun.”

  “It’s very entertaining. You do this cute thing with your mouth. I could watch that all day.”

  “What cute thing?”

  She moved her lips from side to side, which was all it took to wake up another part of him.

  “Come here,” he said, reaching for her with both arms, including the one that didn’t want to bend.

  She came into his embrace, molding her naked body to his, making him forget all about his aches and pains.

  “I have a surprise for you,” she said.

  “What kind of surprise?”

  “The kind you have to get up and get dressed for.”

  “I like the naked kind of surprises better.”

  “You’ll like this one, too.” Lifting her head from his chest, she bit her lip and glanced at him shyly. “At least I hope you will.”

  “Why do you seem nervous?”

  “Because I did something that affects both of us without talking to you about it first.”

  “And you did this because you wanted to surprise me?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll love it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I love you, and if you went out of your way to arrange a surprise for me that you thought would make me happy, then I already love it.”

  “I hope you’re still saying that when you see what it is.”

  Curiosity piqued, Hunter got up slowly and painfully. It was daunting to realize he wasn’t as recovered from his injuries as he’d thought if a few hours of hard work could turn him into the Tin Man pre-oilcan.

  Megan came into the bathroom with a glass of water and two pills, which she dropped into his hand.

  “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  “I feel bad that you’re so achy.”

  He took the pills and washed them down with a drink of water. “Don’t feel bad. It’s just a heads-up that I wasn’t as recovered from the fall as I thought I was. Not to worry though. I’ll be back to fighting form in no time.”

  “No more rock climbing for a while though, okay?”

  “Ice season is coming soon, so we’ll be abandoning the rocks for other pursuits.”

  Her brows furrowed. “Other dangerous pursuits.”

  “Nah, we’re old pros.”

  “Seems I’ve heard that before … Right around the last time you went rock climbing … Ringing any bells?”

  Laughing, he kissed her nose and then her lips. “I love your sarcasm.”

  “I love your body, especially when it’s all in one piece.”

  The doorbell rang.

  “Showtime,” she said. “I’ll get that. Come down when you’re ready.”

  Since she was wearing a Vermont sweatshirt and flannel pajama pants, Hunter put on sweats and a long-sleeve T-shirt, wincing at the pain in his elbow when he jammed his arm into the sleeve. Praying for the pain pills to kick in quickly, he went downstairs slowly, like the old man he was.

  In his living room were Dude Danforth and her “boyfriend,” Skeeter.

  “Recovered from your shift as a busboy, Hunter?” Skeeter asked.

  “Not really.” He glanced at Megan, wondering what was going on and why Skeeter and Dude had stopped by.

  “Ready for your surprise?” Megan asked warily.

  “Sure thing.”

  “Be right back,” Dude said.

  “You’re gonna love this, Hunter,” Skeeter said with a big dopey grin.

  “It’s not a cat from your freezer, is it?” Everyone in town knew about the dead cat Skeeter had left in his mother’s freezer. For ten years.

  Skeeter laughed. “Nah, that was a onetime case of forgetfulness that no one’s ever gonna let me forget.”

  “Can you blame us?”

  Dude came back in carrying a bundle close to her chest.

  Next to him, Megan fairly vibrated with excitement and nerves.

  “You want to tell him, Megan?”

  “Okay,” she said, turning to face Hunter.

  Whatever she had to tell him, he decided right then and there, he wanted to see her eyes glow with that kind of excitement every day for the rest of their lives.

  “A week or so ago, Dude came into the diner and told me that one of the puppies in Homer Junior’s litter had been returned because the family had to move to another home, and they weren’t allowed to have dogs there. She said she could only think of one person who should have this particular puppy—you.”

  “You got me a puppy?” He loved dogs and had been thinking about getting one of his own for some time now.

  “Not just any puppy,” Dude said.

  “Homer Junior’s twin,” Megan said.

  Dude removed the squirming body from the lightweight blanket that covered him, revealing Homer Junior’s identical twin, right down to the all-brown face with the white circle over his left eye and paws in brown, black, white and white with brown spots.

  “Oh my God.” Hunter took the wiggling little body from Dude. “Are you sure this isn’t Homer Junior?”

  “Positive.” Dude beamed with pleasure at Hunter’s reaction to the puppy.

  “I can’t believe you got me the twin of my twin’s dog.” With the puppy in his arms, he kissed Megan. “Best surprise ever.”

  “Really? You’re not mad?”

  “How could I be mad when—” He held the puppy away from him to reveal a huge patch of puppy pee on his T-shirt. Holding the little body up in the air, Hunter looked him in the eye. “Really? We just met!” The puppy seemed to grin at him, making him laugh as he fell madly in love.

  Megan shook with silent laughter.

  “There’s goes my nice, clean, orderly house,” Hunter said.

  “A house that’s too clean means a life not being lived to its fullest,” Skeeter declared.

  “Now you sound like my grandfather,” Hunter said.

  “We brought him a bed and some food to get you through tonight,” Dude said. “I’ve also got a crate in the truck if you want it.”

  Hunter glanced at Megan who shook her head.

  “No crate,” Hunter said. “Hannah would never forgive me.”

  “For what?” Hannah asked as she came into the living room holding Homer Junior, with Nolan following behind her.

  “If I put him in a crate,” Hunter said.

  “No crates,” Hannah said emphatically, squealing as she caught sight of her puppy’s twin.

  “You’ll regret that when he’s tearing up your house,” Nolan said.

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t listen to him. These are the best-behaved puppies in the universe.”

  “Right,” Nolan said with an eye roll of his own.

  “Mine’s already peed on me,” Hunter said.

  Dude scratched the puppy behind his ears. “That’s him deciding you’re his person.”

  “Am I your person, little buddy?”

  The puppy let out an adorable little yelp that had Homer Junior straining to get free of Hannah so he could say hello to his brother.

  Hunter put his puppy down on the floor so they could romp.

  They fell into a gleeful wrestling match that had everyone laughing at their antics.

  Hannah waved her hand in front of her face, as if she were trying not to cry
. Thanks to pregnancy hormones, she cried at commercials these days, or so Nolan said. “They remember each other.”

  “I knew they would,” Dude said proudly.

  “Did you know about this?” Hunter asked his sister.

  “Megan clued me in the other day. She wanted me to bring Homer over so you’d believe you had his twin and not him.”

  “These are the only two from that litter who had this same exact coloring,” Dude said.

  “Just like us and our litter,” Hunter said to Hannah.

  “Exactly,” she said, laughing.

  “Good surprise?” Megan asked.

  Hunter put his arm around her and drew her in close to him. “Awesome surprise.”

  “Don’t get puppy pee on me.”

  “We’re in this together, sweetheart.”

  Shrieking, she twirled out of his embrace.

  “What’re you going to name him?” Hannah asked from her post on the floor with the dogs.

  “It’s got to be an H name,” Nolan said. “Can’t be anything else.”

  “How about Hector?” Hannah asked.

  Hunter wrinkled his nose. “He’s not a Hector.” He picked up his new buddy—and he knew this one was his because he wasn’t wearing a collar. Note to self: Don’t get a red collar or you’ll never be able to tell him apart from his brother/cousin. Hunter looked him in the eye, falling more in love by the second with the sweet face that looked back at him. “Horace.”

  “The nickname for that would be Hor,” Nolan said. “The other dogs at the dog park are likely to be ruthless with that name.”

  Hunter looked up at Megan, seeking her approval.

  She smiled and nodded. “We’ll take our chances.”

  Later that night, in bed with Megan tucked up against one side of him and Horace snuggled up against the other, Hunter thought about how much his life had changed in the last few months. He’d gone from living a boring, somewhat staid existence, to falling in love, getting engaged, moving Megan into his house, even working at the diner and now adding Horace to their little family.

  “What’re you thinking about?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

  “Everything that’s happened in the last few months. Hard to believe how much has changed.”

  “I wouldn’t believe it myself if I hadn’t had a front-row seat.”

  “All good changes. The best kind of changes.”

  “Mmm.”

  “We need to set a wedding date,” he said.

  “I’ve been thinking about that. What do you say about Christmas?”

  “I love Christmas. What’s not to love about Christmas?”

  “It’s been a tough time of year for me since my parents died. A wedding could give me some new memories of the season. Plus Nina and Brett will be home. What do you think?”

  “I think,” he said, shifting slightly so he could kiss her while trying not to wake the puppy, “that’s a fantastic idea.”

  “The weather might be an issue though.”

  “Always a concern, but as long as we can get Nina, Brett and my family there, which shouldn’t be a problem, I’d be happy. How about you?”

  “That’s all I need.”

  “Where do you want to do it?”

  “This is the part I feel sort of weird about.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I’d love to do it at your parents’ house if you don’t think they’d mind. They’ve got that huge, beautiful family room with the fireplace. I bet your mom goes all out with the tree and the decorating. I can’t think of anywhere better, unless it would be too much to ask of them.”

  “They’d love it. I don’t even have to ask to know they’d be all for it.”

  “Still, we’re going to ask before we make any firm plans.”

  “We’ll ask. They’ll say yes—emphatically—and we’ll make our plans.”

  “You really like the idea of doing it there?”

  “I love it. Almost as much as I love you.” He kissed her, lingering on the sweet softness of her lips. “This turned out to be one hell of a Sunday.”

  In the darkness, he felt her smile against his lips. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, which was the only part of him that didn’t ache like hell. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. His heart was in pretty good shape these days, too.

  FIND YOUR HEART’S DESIRE …

  VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.headlineeternal.com

  FIND US ON FACEBOOK: facebook.com/eternalromance

  FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @eternal_books

  EMAIL US: eternalromance@headline.co.uk