[Holiday Encounters 01.0 - 03.0] Boxed Set

by Amy Lamont

  By the time I finished, the tips of my toes were touching the tips of his black boots.

  “Well, looks like you’ve got things taken care of here,” Daryl said. “Guess I’ll be going. You guys should be able to make it down the mountain on the bike this afternoon.”

  I’d almost forgotten Daryl was there, but I was more than ready for him to hit the road. Not that I didn’t appreciate his help, but I’d prefer Hunter not have any alternate means of transportation to shuttle me off in. The sooner the truck was gone, the better.

  I shoved forward right into Hunter. I figured he had two choices—get out of the way or stand his ground and have my body pressed against his. Either one would work.

  He went with option A.

  I stepped forward just far enough to slam the passenger door of the truck shut behind me. “Thanks, Daryl!”

  With a wink, Daryl started the truck and Hunter and I eased backward to keep out of the way of the gravel spitting from under his tires. I watched until the truck was out of sight and then turned on my heel and strutted up the steps and into the cabin.

  I made quick work of shedding my gloves and coat, tossing them over the back of the couch. The fire burned out, but the warmth lingered. I had a feeling this might not be a quick conversation, so I made myself at home. Something told me Daryl wouldn’t mind.

  I headed over to the fridge and called over my shoulder to Hunter as he stepped inside, “Want a beer?”

  “It’s barely noon, Katelyn.” He leaned a shoulder against the wall between the living room and kitchen.

  The exasperation in his voice didn’t keep me from smiling behind the refrigerator door. I managed to smooth my expression by the time I stood up and lifted the beer up to show him. “I’m channeling my inner biker babe.”

  If I wasn’t mistaken, his lips twitched at my words. That was a start.

  I popped the top and held it out toward him. “You sure you don’t want one?”

  “You trying to get me drunk, princess?”

  This time I made no attempt to hide my grin. “I hadn’t thought of it. But now that you mention it, it’s not such a bad idea.”

  He shook his head and eased himself off the wall and took the beer.

  I ducked back in the fridge and then looked over the edge to see him taking a pull from his beer. “Looks like that was the last one. We’ll just have to share.”

  I closed the fridge, stepped up close to him and took the beer. I took a slug from the bottle without moving back.

  When I was done, I offered it back. He took it and downed a long swig, never taking his eyes off me.

  My gaze dipped to the corded tendons of his throat that moved as he swallowed. I had a sudden flash of memory of last night and the way I’d used my mouth and teeth on his neck. Warmth seeped into my face, and when I raised my eyes back to him, a small smirk tipped his lips up.

  I rolled my eyes and leaned even closer to him. “So are you going to tell me what brought on the mood swings? I mean, I wasn’t expecting an engagement ring after last night, but I was a little surprised to find myself bundled off with your buddy without even a good-bye. Even if I was just a convenient—”

  “Don’t say it.” His voice came at me in a growl.

  “Well, explain it to me then, Hunter, because I just don’t get it.” I scooted back from him, needing to put a little space between us. “I figured if nothing else, as Logan’s sister, I’d deserve a little more respect than the brush off you gave me this morning.”

  Tears stung my eyes. I turned and walked over to the couch, keeping my face averted as I fought for control.

  “Jesus, are you crying?”

  He sounded so horrified, I laughed. It reminded me of the fourteen-year-old Hunter. The one who still wasn’t quite sure whether girls had cooties or not.

  “No.” But my protest might not have been too convincing since I followed it up with a sniffle.

  Hunter closed the distance between us in three long strides. He sank into the couch beside me and pulled me into his arms. “Babe, stop crying.”

  I giggled at the same time a tear escaped to slide down my face. “Hunter, I know you’ve always been master of the universe, but you can’t just command me not to cry.”

  “Why not?” He smoothed a hand over my head, letting my long hair slide through his fingers.

  I snuggled into his chest and wrapped an arm over his waist. I didn’t know what the next few hours would bring, but whatever it was, I wasn’t wasting the opportunity to cuddle with Hunter.

  He pressed his lips to the top of my head and it started a fresh wave of tears. I clenched my jaw and drew in a deep, shuddery breath.

  “Why are you crying, babe?” he whispered against my head.

  I nuzzled into him. “Because I’m ridiculous?”

  He gave me a gentle shake. “Katie, I don’t get what’s going on here.”

  I turned startled eyes up to him. “I had the best night of my life last night and you gave me the boot before the sheets got cold.”

  He released me and stood so fast, I had to brace myself on the cushion to keep from falling forward.

  “I heard you on the phone this morning.”

  I thought back to the calls I’d had—my dad, Emma, my job. I shrugged. Not like I had anything to hide. “Okay, and?”

  “Your mom called you yesterday to tell you she and your dad are getting a divorce.”

  I looked away for a second, the pain of that wound way too fresh. “Yes, she did.”

  “And your boss treated you like dirt, and judging by the conversation, it’s not the first time.”

  “Ken’s a jerk.” Just thinking about my boss made me want to throw something, and I was pretty sure my voice reflected it.

  “And you made a bet with your friends.” His voice held a note of finality.

  “I did. So?”

  He speared his hands into his hair. “So, Ozzie was right.”

  I tilted my head toward my shoulder. “Who the heck is Ozzie?”

  “The guy at the bar yesterday.”

  I searched my memory of walking into the bar yesterday—God, was that only yesterday—and thought of the people I saw. And then I remembered the only one I’d actually spoken to, and my eyes narrowed. “You mean the old coot who eavesdropped on me?”

  A fleeting smile touched his lips. “Yeah, that one.”

  I wracked my brain to remember what he said, but came up empty. “I could be off the mark here, but I’m going to go out on a limb. I’m thinking Ozzie isn’t the first person you go to when you need a life coach. But hey, I could be wrong. What words of wisdom did Ozzie impart on you?”

  I fought for calm. The nosy old dude bugged me yesterday in the bar. But it was nothing compared to the way I felt at the idea that something he said was what pushed Hunter to shut me down. What if Daryl hadn’t brought me back? Would I have ever talked to Hunter again?

  “Slumming,” Hunter said. “Ozzie said you were going slumming.”

  I jumped from my spot on the couch and plunked my hands on my hips. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

  Hunter ran his hand over the back of his neck. But even the lost little boy look he wore couldn’t melt my heart right now.

  “Explain,” I demanded.

  His dark eyes searched my face. “You said you’ve had a thing for me for years. But you only came to see me after you had a bad day. Seemed like maybe you only thought of me because you needed to blow off steam.”

  Oh, I needed to blow off some steam all right. He was lucky I didn’t smack him upside the head the way my mother did to Logan when he acted like an ass.

  “You’ve known me since I was eleven-years-old, Hunter Lawson.” I clenched my jaw tight. “What on earth would make you think I’d have a bad day and come running to you for a one-night stand?”

  “How do you explain it then?”

  “You want to know how I explain it? Fine. I’ll explain it.” I took two steps forward so only a few inches sepa
rated us. “I’ve been in love with you since the first time I laid eyes on you, Hunter. I guess you could call it a crush at first. But it didn’t fade, didn’t go away when I dated other people. As we got older and I saw the man you were growing up to be, it only got stronger. I’ve been a goner for you since I was eleven-years-old.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but I raised a hand up to stop him. I was on a roll, and I needed to get this all out now or I might never find the courage to do it again. A fine trembling started in my hands until my whole body shook with it. This is what I’d been avoiding for as long as I could remember—laying myself bare and open to rejection from the one person who had the power to crush me.

  “Yes, I had a rough day yesterday. But I didn’t come running to you as a quick fix to make myself feel better for a night.” I pinned him with my stare. “Being with you is not slumming. I don’t know why you’d even think that.”

  “I’m beginning to get that.” He smiled and started moving toward me.

  But I wasn’t ready for his mood to swing back to nice again. I paced away from him. It would be too easy to just fall back into his arms. “Paige, Jade, and I originally planned the bet to get Emma to live a little. And it worked. She went out and met a great guy and since then, she’s been more alive than I’ve ever seen her. On New Year’s, we all came clean about the point of the bet, and Emma convinced us to do it again, for real this time. And when we were talking about it, I realized she was right. There was something missing from my life. I just graduated from college, I’m working on my Master’s and I have a job in the field I’ve been dreaming of working in. I have amazing friends. But even with all that, there’s a hole. When I realized it and tried to figure out what could possibly be missing, all I could see was your face.”

  My eyes filled up with tears again, and I rubbed the back of my hand over them. This week it had really hit me how much I’d be missing if I never had Hunter as part of my life. I’d just had this sense that no matter what happened, if I found a great job and married the perfect guy, did all the things I was expected to do, without Hunter, there would always be a little hollow spot inside.

  Hunter folded me into his arms and pulled me down to the couch again. “I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”

  “Yeah, you kind of are.” I sniffled and scratched the bridge of my nose. “All week, I’ve been having these dreams about you. And then when I went back to work yesterday, my boss was being a dick and one of my coworkers told me to stand up to him. And then my mom called with her news.”

  I dipped my head, reliving all of it. Hunter gathered me closer, pulling me until I sat in his lap. I wound my arms around his waist and nuzzled my face into his neck. God, if I only ever had this moment with Hunter, his arms around me, his warm sunshine and leather scent surrounding me, I might not ever need anything else.

  I pulled in a shuddery breath and turned my gaze up to meet his eyes.

  “Hunter, I didn’t come here to make myself feel better.” I dropped my eyes down to my lap again. “I came here because I realized all my life I had done what was expected of me. I guess I figured if I was good and nice and worked hard, karma would eventually drop everything I wanted right in my lap.”

  His arms squeezed me tighter and a low chuckle broke from him. “I think that’s exactly what it did for me.”

  My head shot up and my breath left me when I saw his expression, a mixture of amusement and tenderness and something else. Something I was afraid I was seeing only because I wanted it so badly to be true.

  “It all hit me at once. Being a good girl wasn’t getting me the things I most wanted. The one thing I most wanted. I heard my mom talking about waiting thirty years to get her turn, and I decided I was done with waiting. I needed to go after what I wanted.” I took a deep breath and lifted a hand to his jaw. “And before I even really thought about it, I was on a train, on my way to you.”

  There. I’d told him everything.

  His hands slid around and cupped my hips. “I don’t know, princess. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were crazy about me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I can see why that would be so hard for you to believe. What with the way women run from you in horror all the time.”

  He grinned at my sarcasm, but after a few beats, it slid from his face. His hands gripped me tighter. “There was one woman who always seemed to be running from me.”

  I held his stare for long seconds before easing forward to trail kisses against his jaw, enjoying the rasp of his day-old beard against my lips.

  “I can understand why it looked that way,” I whispered. “But if I had even a hint you were interested in me as anything more than Logan’s sister, the only place I would have run was into your arms.”

  His hands slid around me and he clutched me to him, his mouth fitting itself to mine. There was nothing gentle about the kiss he laid on me. His mouth demanded, tasted, and teased.

  He left me panting and breathless when he finally broke the kiss. But he didn’t pull too far away. He rested his forehead against mine, his nose sliding along the side of mine. Hope bloomed within me at the tenderness he showed me.

  “You’re not going to change your mind and send me packing again, are you?” I whispered.

  His hands slid up to fist in my hair. “Baby, I don’t have plans to ever let you go again. You have to know I’m crazy about you.”

  His words found my heart and settled there, and a slow, easy warmth began to radiate out from there, consuming me.

  “Never?” I asked, a gentle smile curving my lips.

  “I think we’ve waited long enough, princess. I don’t plan on wasting another day.”

  I couldn’t hold myself back. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him for all I was worth.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” I said against his lips when we finally came up for air.

  “I bet you will.” He reached up and ran a hand through my hair, letting the silky strands slide through his fingers. “After all, you’re a badass biker babe.”

  A little while later, Hunter pressed a soft kiss to the juncture of my neck and shoulder, and then nipped the muscle there before pulling back to look at me. “Want to hole up here with me for another day?”

  I blinked and found myself staring at his mouth. A sensual haze filled my head, and I fought to make sense of what he asked me when all I really want to do was have his mouth back on me. And his hands. And his…

  “Katelyn,” Hunter said with a low laugh.

  I shook my head. “Umm, okay, staying here.” I closed my eyes and thought about my day tomorrow. “I can call in to work one more day, but I have to be in my class tomorrow night.”

  “I think we can manage that.” He leaned down and stole a quick kiss. “So, yes to staying?”

  I glanced down at myself still in yesterday’s rumpled clothes before looking back up at him from underneath my eyelashes. “I don’t have any clothes with me.”

  He offered me a wicked grin. “Princess, you won’t need them.”

  And with that promise, he launched himself at me, pressing me down on the couch, his mouth slamming down on mine, his hands going to the buttons on my sweater.

  “I didn’t say yes yet,” I managed to breath against his mouth.

  He grinned without moving his mouth from mine. “Let me see if I can convince you.”

  He didn’t need to make that offer twice. My hands dove for the hem of his t-shirt and underneath, sliding along the warm muscles of his abdomen. “Okay. Convince me.”

  “My pleasure, princess.”

  He spent the rest of the day and well into the night making good on his words. And I was convinced long before he was done with me.

  Epilogue

  Two weeks until Christmas

  I stepped out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, adjusting my stocking top through my dress. When I lifted my head, I stopped short and my breath fled my lungs in a rush.

  Hunter was stretched out on top of
the covers on my bed. His eyes were closed, one hand tucked under his head, the other resting on his stomach.

  I started at the top of his head, my gaze taking in the dark hair pushed back from his face, the chiseled jaw and firm lips, and continued the journey over his hard muscled body.

  I usually loved him best in nothing at all, but this…this took my breath away. He wore a black, modern tuxedo that made him look like he just jumped out of some 1940s movie. The jacket clung to his shoulders. The white shirt contrasted with his natural tan. His long legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

  Looking at him, my pulse sped up and my heart beat so hard, I was surprised he couldn’t hear it. I marveled at the fact that even after eleven months together, my body reacted to just the sight of him. Would I ever get tired of looking at this man?

  Never. If it hadn’t happened in the last twelve years, I didn’t think it ever would.

  “You’re going to get all rumpled and Paige will have your head,” I said softly.

  A smile teased over his lips, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Wouldn’t want to incur the wrath of the wedding planner from hell.”

  I giggled. He wasn’t wrong. “And yet, you still lay there, daring to get your tux wrinkled.”

  He turned his head on my pillow and opened his eyes at the same time he opened his mouth to speak.

  But the words never came.

  He surged up off the bed and stalked over to where I stood just outside the bathroom doorway. The predatory glint in his eyes made me take a step backward. But before I could get any farther away, he reached out and wrapped his hands around my wrists.

  “Jesus, princess.” His voice was a growl. His hands slid slowly up my arms to cup my shoulders, his eyes traveling up and down my body.

  “I guess you like the dress?” I tilted my head and batted my eyelashes, reveling in his reaction even while I teased him.

  “It’s not the dress. It’s the way you fill out the dress.” He pulled me closer, his hands drifting down my back over the silky red material, and then sliding even lower.

  Something fluttered in my belly. I still felt like pinching myself every time Hunter made it clear how desirable he found me. And I had reason to feel like that often.