by Marie Force
The comment made her laugh for the third—or was it the fourth—time since they left the diner. He was charming and smooth, but not in a creepy way. No, he was smooth in the way of a man who knew himself and was comfortable in his own skin. She was finding that to be an exceptionally appealing quality.
Outside the diner, Hunter straightened his arm and put his hand on her lower back to guide her inside. He did this so naturally, like he did it all the time, or like he wanted to.
She was still processing those thoughts when they entered the diner, where Nina was seated at a table going through a stack of papers with the checkbook, a calculator and her ever-present cup of coffee on the table.
“Hey,” she said. “Thought you went home. Oh, hi, Hunter.”
“Hi, Nina.”
Nina took a closer look as if trying to determine exactly where Hunter’s hand was on her sister’s back—upper or lower. Definitely lower. Nina’s mouth fell open and her eyes widened, but she tamped down her reaction before it could venture into the realm of embarrassing.
“What’s up?” Nina asked.
“Hunter would like to talk to you about the diner.”
Nina gestured for them to join her on the other side of the booth.
He let her go in ahead of him. Megan wondered if he purposely sat close enough to her that his thigh was pressed against hers.
“What about the diner?” Nina looked from Megan to Hunter and then back to her sister, a million questions reflected in her dark brown eyes. Whereas Megan had gotten their father’s cool patrician coloring, Nina was a replica of their Italian mother, right down to the dark curls and olive-toned skin that Megan had envied all her sunburned life.
“On behalf of my grandfather, I’m inquiring about the potential purchase of the diner.”
Nina’s eyes lit up with surprise and what looked like pleasure. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Except—and don’t take this the wrong way because I love Elmer—is he really up for running a business at this point in his life?”
“Hell no,” Hunter said with a laugh. “He’s delegating that to me, which is why I’m here talking to you rather than him.”
“So how would this work exactly?”
“Our thought was to hire Megan to run the place for us, and she could hire someone to replace her.” Hunter didn’t let on that it was his plan, not their plan. His grandfather had never mentioned Megan’s name.
“Interesting,” Nina said, again letting her gaze dart between them.
To his credit, Hunter never blinked as he withstood Nina’s scrutiny. Megan knew this because she was watching him almost as intently as Nina was. Megan wanted to lean into him, to breathe in that cool, expensive scent, and wished he’d put his arm around her again. She’d liked that and wondered if he’d do it again later when they went out together.
The thought of going out with him, on a real date, gave her butterflies in her belly—the good kind of butterflies, the excited-about-something kind of butterflies.
“Megan?”
She realized Nina had been speaking to her while she’d been off with the butterflies. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you’re up for running this place.”
“I’m sure I could be. As I told Hunter when he talked to me about it earlier, it could give me something to do while I figure out my plans.”
Only because Hunter was sitting so close to her did Megan feel his body go tense. What was that about?
“Naturally,” he said, “we’d like to see the financials, including the profit and loss, and have the building and equipment inspected before we make an official offer.”
“I understand. I’ll need a day or two to get the financial info together. You’re welcome to schedule the inspection in the meantime. If you could make it between two and four p.m., I’d appreciate that.”
“Will do.”
“I’ll drop everything off to you when I have it.”
“Could you let me know if you receive other interest? We’d like to be considered serious contenders.”
“Absolutely. Thank you for this and for including Megan in your plans.”
Hunter looked at her then, smiling with such warmth and tenderness that Megan nearly swooned. No man had ever looked at her quite that way. “I’d better get back to my other job before they fire me,” he said. “I’ll see you later?”
“Yes. I’ll call you when I get home.”
He withdrew his wallet from his back pocket, took out a card and borrowed Nina’s pen to write something on the back of it. Then he held it out to Megan. “I’ll be at the office until about seven. That’s my extension.” He flipped it over to reveal the number he’d put on the back. “And then at home.”
She took the card from him, letting her fingers brush against his and enjoying the flash of awareness in his eyes from that fleeing contact. What would it be like … Okay, don’t go there. Not with Nina watching this entire transaction and about to pounce on her with a thousand questions.
“Okay,” Megan said as Hunter got up to leave. The butterflies were doing the backstroke in her belly, making her feel fluttery and overly warm.
“Talk to you then. See you, Nina.”
“Bye, Hunter. I’ll be in touch.”
“Look forward to it.”
With a last smile for Megan, he left the diner, the bells on the door jingling as he went out.
After a brief pause, Nina said, “Start talking. Right now.”
CHAPTER 7
Amused by her sister’s directive, Megan thought about making Nina drag it out of her, but she was equally eager to talk about what’d happened, and Nina would always be her first choice of confidants. “He asked me out.”
“When?”
“Just now. In the park.”
“Oh my God! That’s awesome. He’s so hot. Crazy hot.”
“You think so?”
“Are you serious? Everyone thinks so. Look at him—all class and buttoned-down hotness. I bet he’s a wild man in bed.”
“Nina! You did not just say that!” And Megan would never admit to anyone that she found the thought of Hunter being a wild man in bed incredibly arousing.
“Don’t even try to tell me you haven’t thought of that.”
“Well, not exactly in those terms, but now that you mention it …”
Nina’s loud laughter echoed off the walls of the empty diner. “Good for you, Meggie. He’s a great guy. You couldn’t ask for better.”
“Don’t get all excited. I already told him I’m not looking for anything serious.” The thought of not being able to have these conversations with her sister whenever she needed to threatened to ruin her good mood, so Megan didn’t let her mind go there. Not today. Not when she had something fun to look forward to for once.
“Why would you say that to him before you even go out with him?”
“Because.” Megan tried not to squirm under her sister’s intense glare. No one saw right through her the way Nina did. “I don’t want it. It’s not my style, and he’d be crazy to fall for me.”
“May I say something that might make you mad, but I still think it needs to be said?”
“How can I resist after that intro?”
Nina pushed aside the paperwork, the calculator and her precious coffee mug to reach across the table for Megan’s hands. “The crush you had on Will.”
Will was about the last thing Megan wanted to talk about after making plans with his brother. “What about it?”
“I have a theory about that.”
“Which is?”
“This is the part that’s going to make you mad. I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, but it was never the right time. Now that you’ve got a date with Hunter, I think you need to hear it.”
“When have you ever held back with me?”
“Only when I was afraid I might hurt you.”
“You’ve opened Pandora’s box now. You may as well put it out there.”
“This is my opinion
and only my opinion, but I think you were using Will as a way to avoid real relationships with other guys. As long as you had yourself convinced he was the one for you, you could hide behind him almost like a shield to keep anyone from getting too close.”
Skewered by Nina’s assessment, Megan stared out the window. Was that true? Had she really done that? If she had, it wasn’t a conscious thing that she’d set out to do intentionally.
Nina took a deep breath, released Megan’s hands only long enough to secure her dark curls behind her ears—something she did when she was nervous—and pressed on. “And I know why you did it.”
“Oh please. Don’t stop now.”
“You’re pissed. I knew you would be, and I’m really sorry, but I think you did it so you’d never be hurt again the way you were when we lost Mom and Dad. And I understand that. Believe me, I do. If I hadn’t already been involved with Brett when they died, I might’ve done exactly the same thing to avoid ever again feeling the way I did then.”
Megan was unable to contain the tears that slid down her cheeks. “So you’re saying I created an imaginary boyfriend for myself so I wouldn’t make the mistake of having real feelings for someone else?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
Megan wiped away the tears, irritated by them.
“You’re mad, right?”
“No.”
“It’s okay if you are. I’d understand that.”
Megan picked up the spoon sitting next to Nina’s mug and flipped it between her fingers. “You’re not wrong, but I didn’t do it intentionally. I never said to myself, ‘If you fall into a mad, crazy crush with Will Abbott, who has no real interest in you, you’ll be able to avoid the possibility of getting hurt with someone else.’ It wasn’t like that.”
“I know it wasn’t, honey. And the only reason I even brought it up is because I’ve seen the way Hunter looks at you.”
Megan sat up straighter. “You have? When? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I’ve noticed Hunter’s interest in you for years now, and I didn’t say anything because you weren’t ready to hear it. Not until recently when you seemed to accept that Will is in love with someone else, and you can’t hide behind him anymore.”
“I wasn’t doing that! I wasn’t hiding. I was right here every day, out in the open.”
“With your Will shield out in front, making you unapproachable to Hunter or anyone else who might’ve been interested. You put off the ‘keep away’ vibe. It was loud and clear. Then Will went and fell in love, and suddenly you can’t use him that way anymore, and you’ve become more accessible—and more vulnerable.”
“What the hell, Nina? Did you go to shrink school when I wasn’t paying attention or something?”
“Nope,” Nina said with a smirk. “I speak Megan.”
Megan suddenly felt very sorry for herself. “Who’s going to speak Megan when you’re in France?”
Nina crossed her arms and sat back against the booth, a satisfied smile on her face. “Perhaps the oh-so-sexy and oh-so-interested Hunter Abbott?”
The thought of that sent a lightning rod of heat through Megan, making all the most important parts of her tingle with anticipation. “I shouldn’t even go out with him if he’s that interested in me.”
“Ahhh,” Nina said, her smile wide and knowing. “If the pink in your cheeks is any indication, you like the idea of him being that interested in you.”
“It’s flattering. I won’t deny that. Like you said, he’s a really nice guy, but he deserves someone who can give him what he needs. He’s a ‘forever’ kind of guy, and that’s so not me.”
“And easy on the eyes.”
“Did you hear anything I just said?”
“I heard it, and I hate that you have yourself convinced that it’s not going to work out before you even have your first date with him. I want you to give him a real, honest chance, Megan. I want you to put aside all the fears about what might happen and go for it. Let him in. He obviously cares for you very much, and you’d be safe with him.”
“Does the thought of me being with him make it easier for you to leave?”
“Hell yes it does. I almost talked Brett out of taking the job because I was so afraid to leave you alone. But he reminded me that you’re going to be twenty-eight soon, and eventually we’ll have to cut the cord. I really am sorry to do this to you so suddenly. That wasn’t the plan at all. It just happened that way.”
“I know, and Brett’s right. It is time. As long as I could hide behind you and Will and everything that was keeping me safe, I wasn’t under any pressure to take chances.” She forced herself to meet her sister’s gaze. “I miss them every day.”
“Oh, honey, so do I. Every single day. We’ll always miss them. But I want you to have what they had, what I have with Brett. I don’t want you to be so afraid of losing someone again that you don’t give your heart to anyone.”
“What if I take this big risk you’re advocating with Hunter, and then something happens to him, too?”
“That’s always a possibility. What is it that Elmer likes to say? ‘Life is a fatal illness.’”
Megan smiled at that. Elmer Stillman was a font of wisdom and corny sayings, and Megan adored him.
“But Hunter is a young guy,” Nina continued, “with most of his life still ahead of him. You can either take a chance that it’s all going to be fine or continue to hide out. I’ll support you no matter what you do, but you should know I’m rooting for Hunter.”
“Hey! That’s not fair. You’re my sister!”
Nina shrugged, her smile smug and satisfied. “And I’m on Team Hunter all the way.”
“Traitor.”
“Not at all. How much you want to bet you’ll be thanking me some day for taking his side?”
“I’ve learned not to challenge you on these things. It always costs me money.”
“Ha!” Nina laughed. “That’s why I’m the much older and wiser sister.”
“Whatever.”
Nina propped her chin on her upturned fist. “So where’s he taking you? I bet it’s somewhere amazing and classy with white tablecloths and candles.”
The thought of that pushed Megan into panic mode. “I have nothing to wear to a place like that!”
“Then let’s go shopping.”
“You don’t have time.”
“For this, I’ll make time. Let’s go.”
Megan allowed Nina to take her by the hand and march her out of the diner. If nothing else came of this outing, at least she’d be prepared for her big date—and she’d get to spend some precious time with her beloved sister.
Hunter was completely useless for the rest of the day. With financial statements for the month of August due at the end of the week, he needed to focus. In fact, if he was a day or two late with the financials, no one would notice but him. But he prided himself on his timely reporting and didn’t want to get in the habit of dropping the ball. At the end of the day, he attended the weekly staff meeting, which often turned into a family bitch session about what was going on throughout the company.
He usually took advantage of the meeting to ask questions about everyone’s ongoing projects, but today, all he wanted to ask was where he should take Megan on their momentous date. Tapping his mechanical pencil against his lip, he ran through all the nice places he could think of, dismissing one after the other as not quite right for what he had in mind.
“Hunter,” his father said, barking out his name.
Hunter snapped out of his thoughts to find everyone looking at him. “What?”
“Are you listening?”
“No, not really.”
They stared at him.
“What the hell is wrong with you this week?” Charley asked.
“Truthfully, I have a date tonight, and I have no idea where to take her. It’s an important date, so it has to be somewhere really good. What do you guys think?”
A cloud of stunned silence descended upon the normally row
dy group.
“An important date,” Charley said, breaking the silence after a full minute of everyone staring at him. “With who?”
Hunter was already regretting the huge error he’d made by telling them about the date. “Megan.”
“Ohhhh,” Ella said. “You finally asked her out?”
“Megan-from-the-diner Megan?” Wade asked.
“Yes,” Hunter said, not sure he liked his brother’s tone.
“Isn’t she kinda, I don’t know, sort of … cranky?” Wade asked.
If looks could kill, the one Hunter sent his younger brother would’ve finished him off. “You did hear me say I’m going out with her, right?”
Behind her hand, Charley snorted with laughter.
“Sorry,” Wade said, but he didn’t look sorry. Not one bit sorry.
“Megan has turned over a new leaf recently,” Will said. “She’s been very pleasant and friendly, and I’m glad you finally asked her out. You’ve wanted to for a long time.”
Hunter wanted to hug Will for giving Megan such a ringing endorsement, especially in light of his own history with her, such as it was. “Thank you,” he said gruffly.
Will nodded and then sat back in his chair. “Where should you take her?”
“How much time do you have?” Lincoln asked.
“Um, a couple of hours, I guess. Typical date.”
“So you couldn’t take her over to Burlington for dinner and then stay at the lake?”
“Overnight?” Hunter asked, even as the idea of spending a night alone with Megan made him want to drool. Among other things.
Lincoln shrugged. “It’s not like you two are kids. You’re both mature adults.”
“It’s our first date, Dad. I hardly think suggesting an overnight in Burlington is going to get me a second date.”
“You never know,” Will said, rubbing his whisker-roughened jaw thoughtfully.
Cameron came rushing into the conference room, out of breath and flushed. “Sorry I’m late. I was up on the mountain with Colton, and we got sidetracked.”
“Doing what?” Will asked with a scowl.
Cameron patted his face indulgently. “Nothing that will get me in trouble with you or him in trouble with Lucy. We were reviewing the images for the website and trying to choose the best ones. I couldn’t believe how late it’d gotten. What’d I miss?”
