by Debbie Mason
Not wanting to tick him off further, Abby focused on her phone as she waited for the coffee. He was in the shower by the time she filled her mug with the dark, aromatic brew, so she didn’t make one for him. She left Wolf and Bella sleeping peacefully and went outside on her own.
She walked to the side of the barn where she assumed Hunter kicked back to relax. She’d noticed the spot yesterday. Sitting beneath a gorgeous old shade tree there were a couple of big stumps, a fire pit, and a silver-gray log stripped bare of bark. On the other side of the tree, there was a pretty brook and beyond that a farmer’s field with rolled bales of hay.
She had a feeling the stumps were where Hunter sat so she walked around to take a seat on the log beneath the tree. It was early, the sun’s butter-colored rays not yet strong enough to burn away the morning mist. The mountain air was cool and damp and carried with it the scent of pine and the smells of hay and of honeysuckle.
A far cry from the smells she’d woken up to in LA these past months: car exhaust, sun-baked asphalt, and rotting vegetables from the garbage bin overlaid with the smell of frying bacon and onions from the greasy spoon she parked behind. The June heat wave had made everything worse.
Other than yesterday, the temperatures here hovered around the mid-to-high seventies, and there always seemed to be a light breeze. A welcome change from a hundred degrees in the shade.
But the weather and the smells weren’t the only difference. Here she was awakened by birds singing, crickets chirping, and a babbling brook. In LA, it was horns honking, engines roaring, and tires screeching.
Putting her mug of coffee on the ground, she took her phone from the pocket of Hunter’s shirt, then swiped the screen to her lists. She was a list addict. They kept her focused and organized, something she struggled with. So far she had nothing under the heading Second Act.
Her life had been in such turmoil the past six months that the stress and worry had blocked her creativity. There hadn’t been time to think about her future when her present was such a mess. It was all she could do to keep a roof over her and Bella’s heads and food in their bellies. She didn’t have time for daydreaming and creating. The most she’d hoped to do here was eke out some time to map out her next steps so she’d have a running start once she got back to LA. But now, thanks to her sisters’ suggesting she get an Abby Does Highland Falls YouTube channel up and running, she had that and then some.
Movement caught her eye, and she looked up to see Hunter rounding the barn. A whispered “Oh, my” escaped from her parted lips. There was something very appealing about a man fresh from the shower, his thick, wet hair brushed back from his handsome face. The white T-shirt he wore with faded blue jeans only added to the appeal as they showed off his hard, muscular build. The work boots he wore and the tool belt slung over his shoulder didn’t hurt either.
Abby forced her lips into a welcoming smile while praying he hadn’t heard her whispered comment. But the way his piercing gaze held hers suggested he might have, either that or he was reading her mind, which would be way worse.
She waved because she didn’t know what else to do and then calmly asked, “Where’s Bella and Wolf?” in hopes of ridding herself of the self-conscious nerves swirling around in her stomach—she subscribed to the fake it until you make it maxim. She swallowed a groan when she realized it wasn’t nerves swirling around in her stomach. The darn warm tingle was back.
Hunter shook his head as though she’d managed to annoy him simply by raising her hand and asking about their dogs. He pressed a finger to his lips. At least he managed to get rid of the annoying warm tingle for her, she thought as he approached. She frowned when he pointed to the meadow. Was he actually telling her to go back to the farmhouse?
But then she saw what he was pointing at, and an aww escaped before she could stop it. She pressed her own fingers to her lips when, in reaction to her aww, the deer feeding in the meadow with two fawns at her side lifted her head.
Abby came slowly to her feet and raised her phone to capture the moment. Absorbed in the mommy and her babies, she didn’t realize Hunter had come to stand behind her until he reached over her shoulder and snagged her phone.
She opened her mouth to give him crap but he pressed two fingers to her lips. “Shh.”
She crossed her arms, ticked that he’d ruined her video, but her anger faded as she watched the fawns frolic in the meadow while their mommy stayed close by. The mist slowly burned away as the sun rose higher in the sky, the streaks of purple and pink giving way to a clear, crystal blue.
“That was so beautiful,” she said when the fawns scampered into the forest with their mother following behind.
“They’re here every morning. At dusk too.”
“I’ve never noticed them before.”
“I’m not surprised. You’ve been so focused on what you don’t like about this place while you get the farmhouse ready to sell, you haven’t opened your eyes to its beauty.”
She could argue that point with him. After all, she saw him. But he was right. If it wasn’t for Hunter, she would’ve missed the doe and her fawns playing in a meadow dotted with rainbow-colored flowers. And maybe he was right about something else. Maybe she had purposely been walking around with blinders on because she resented being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Just like her aunt had, and look what happened to her. Abby almost laughed at the thought that, like Liz, she’d come to love Highland Falls and choose to spend her life here. Not in this lifetime. “Why did you take my phone?”
“You were missing out on being in the moment.”
His chest against her back felt warm and solid, and he smelled like fresh laundry off the clothesline with a hint of the woods. “I’m not missing out on it now.” She tipped her head back to smile at him. “This…that was a very nice moment, thank you.”
* * *
Hunter managed to retrieve his chain saw from the master bedroom without Abby realizing he was in the house. If she hadn’t shut the rat in the guest bedroom with a boatload of toys, he wouldn’t have made it this far undetected. She’d been worried the dog would make herself sick eating the scraps Abby had a tendency to drop on the kitchen floor while baking.
Now Hunter just had to get back down the stairs and out the side door without her noticing. If she spotted him, he’d lose another thirty minutes, and he’d already lost enough time with her. She’d either want him to sample her latest batch of berry doughnuts or help her fill the damn things.
He never should’ve told her about the bushes on his side of the farm but he couldn’t hold out on her. She’d been upset she wouldn’t have enough berries to make doughnuts for her booth at Summer Solstice. And he’d just given her a rough estimate of what the roof and porch repair would cost and felt the need to soften the blow.
There was only so much he could do on his own. Her jaw had dropped at his five-figure guesstimate, and her pretty green eyes had gone wide. He’d expected an even stronger reaction when he’d told her she’d be lucky to head back to LA by early August. Surprisingly, she’d taken the news in stride. She’d said the time line worked well for this new venture she had going with Sadie.
But her reaction had set off his internal warning system. It was a sixth sense that had saved his ass in the past, and this time it had him wondering if there wasn’t more to Abby being okay with sticking around. And that more was him.
He hadn’t missed her slip about them having a nice moment watching the deer together or the way she’d smiled up at him. Both her comment and that smile worried him. But more concerning (and disconcerting) than her reaction was his own. Instead of being ticked that he’d have to put up with her for at least another six weeks, he apparently was completely okay with it, because he’d had no reaction at all.
He stopped to listen and heard her singing. Something about it being her fight song and that she was going to take back her life. The way her voice was going in and out, she was probably dancing around the kitchen, which wouldn’t surprise hi
m. She didn’t stop moving or talking or thinking or planning. She was…He settled on exhausting instead of a half dozen other adjectives that popped into his head. Some like adorable, fascinating, and sweet that had him questioning his own sanity again.
She also had excellent hearing. Either that or she’d sensed him watching her because she turned with a baking sheet of golden, blueberry-scented pastries in her oven-gloved hands. Her face lit up. “Just the man I wanted to see. I need your opinion on my blueberry-lavender hand pies.”
“You can’t sell those at Summer Solstice, Abby.” He placed the chain saw on the floor by the door.
She laughed. “You just want them all for yourself, don’t you? I know how much you love blueberries. They smell delish, don’t they?”
“If delish means delicious, then yeah, they do. But it has nothing to do with me. Bites of Bliss, the local bakery, sells small bites of desserts. Tarts, cheesecakes”—he glanced at the cupcakes with pink-swirl icing and dipped strawberries sitting on the dining room table—“and cupcakes. So you can’t sell those either.” He lifted his chin at the table.
“But they’re amazing. They’re strawberry and white chocolate.” She put down the tray, took off the oven mitts, and went over to the table to pick up a cupcake.
“It doesn’t matter how good they are, Abby—” he began as she walked back to him. She shoved the cupcake into his open mouth.
Once he’d swallowed the last mouthwatering bite, he said, “Okay, so you’re right. They are amazing. But it doesn’t matter. My aunt has the booth beside yours, and once she sees that you’re selling the same as Bliss, she’ll lose her mind.”
“Oh my gosh, why does that woman hate me so much?”
He didn’t think she needed him to repeat the issues Elsa had with her. “Bliss is Ina Graham’s niece. Ina owns part of Three Wise Women Bookstore, and both she and my aunt are protective of Bliss. From what I’ve heard, the bakery hasn’t been doing well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t want to hurt her business, but I really need…Wait, I have the perfect solution. I’ll just call Bliss and make sure we’re not selling the same stuff. And it’s not like I’m planning to open a bakery, right? This is just like a one-time thing to make some money to help offset the cost of my everyday living expenses and so I can rent the equipment I need. Oh my gosh, I can totally promote her on my new YouTube channel.” She smiled. “Now all you have to do is come with me and smooth things over with your aunt.”
“No way. You couldn’t pay me to set foot on the Village Green. I’m going fishing Friday.” He needed a day on his own, and so did his dog.
“Please, Hunter. Please.” She made prayer hands. “If you’re there, you can at least stop your aunt from embarrassing me in front of everyone. Just imagine how I’d feel if she talked about me like she did the other day.”
“You’ll be fine. Sadie will be with you. And if Elsa gets out of control, the mayor has the booth on the other side of yours. She’ll…” He trailed off.
Winter Johnson was his mother’s best friend. They were thick as thieves, and the last thing he needed was Winter pumping Abby for information about him—and them. As he well knew, everyone became Abby’s best friend within minutes of talking to her, and the woman had a habit of oversharing.
“Okay. I’ll go with you. But—”
Abby threw her arms around his neck and was just about to lay one on him when she drew back and gave him a self-conscious smile. “Sorry. I’ll just hug you instead.” She removed her arms from around his neck and slipped them around his waist, resting her cheek against his chest. She sighed. “You smell really good.”
So did she. She felt good too. He stepped back before he did something stupid like kiss her senseless.
Chapter Fifteen
When they pulled into the parking lot beside the Village Green to set up for Summer Solstice early Friday morning, Hunter was given a preview of what the day held in store for him and decided his worst expectations of how this would play out weren’t even close.
“Careful, Ed! Stay there, and Hunter will come help you with the sign as soon as we find a parking spot,” Abby yelled out the passenger-side window. “Okay. Thanks, Walter!” She waved at the silver-haired grocery clerk, who was directing traffic in the lot, and pulled her head back inside. “Walter says there are a couple spots open on the other side of Sadie’s tour bus.”
“How many cups of coffee did you have this morning?”
“Two. Why?”
“You need to switch to decaf,” Hunter said as he drove across the gravel lot. “And stop volunteering me to help everyone.”
“I offered your help to two people, Hunter. Josie and Ed.” She gave him a teasing smile and reached over to squeeze his bicep. “That’s what you get for having big muscles. Wow, they really are big and hard, aren’t they?”
“Do you mind?” he asked with a pointed look at her hand stroking his arm.
She pulled her hand away. “Sorry. Oh, there’s Eden and your brother. It looks like he’s having a hard time—”
Hunter powered up her window and locked it. She shot him an irritated glance before turning to pound on the window and wave. He knew the moment his brother and Eden registered his presence in the truck because their mouths dropped.
“Eden and Shane look surprised to see you so I guess that means you don’t usually attend Summer Solstice?”
“No. I don’t.”
She leaned over and kissed his cheek as he pulled into an empty spot beside the tour bus. She smelled like vanilla and the woods at night, and the sexy scent turned him on almost as much as the warm weight of her breasts pressed against his arm. He drew in a long, frustrated breath when she moved away. It was all he could do not to wrap an arm around her waist and bring her tight against him.
“Thank you for coming with me. I really appreciate it, and I won’t volunteer your muscles to anyone else. Promise.” As though she couldn’t help herself, she gave his bicep another squeeze. “I’ll help Josie if you help Ed.”
“I’ll take care of them both, Abby. You get everything organized for me to take to the tent.”
“Thank you.” She leaned toward him.
“Abby, you don’t have to kiss me or thank me every time I do something for you.”
She frowned, twisting at her waist to grab her purse from behind the seat. She held it up. “I was just getting my purse. But I’m sorry, you’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t be kissing you like that. It’s totally inappropriate. I promise, I won’t do it anymore. Not thanking you will be a harder habit to break. My mom kind of—”
He slid his hand under her long hair, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck, drawing her close, breathing in her sexy fragrance, savoring the feel of her body pressed against him. He’d wanted to shut her up but now he wanted nothing more than to feel her mouth under his.
She blinked up at him, her lips slightly parted as though she’d lost her train of thought, and he’d definitely lost his. He gave her a second to realize what he was about to do and pull away if she wanted to. He didn’t know if it was him or if it was her who made the next move, but he didn’t care. She tasted like cherries, and her lips were warm and soft beneath his. She was warm and soft, and his fingers flexed in her silky curls, aching to explore the body pressed against his side.
He deepened the kiss, exploring her with his tongue and his teeth instead of his hand that was wrapped around her waist, rubbing the silky fabric of her hot-pink-and-bright-yellow jumpsuit between his fingers. She moaned against his mouth, and he dragged her across the console, so completely lost in the kiss that he forgot where they were for a moment.
Until a horn broke through the sexual fog, and he jerked away from her to look around, panicked that someone had seen them. Panicked that he had gotten so lost in the taste and feel of Abby that he’d forgotten the cost that came with caring for someone. It was a cost he refused to pay. He wouldn’t put anyone through that kind of pain again
, especially her. She’d been through enough.
“Sorry, I—” he began, but she shook her head as she drew back to straighten her clothes.
He looked away, the temptation of her body too much to bear. He hadn’t quite gotten his desire for her under control, and for a man who prided himself on his ability to control his emotions, that told him everything he needed to know.
He was a soldier, once lauded for his skills on the battlefield, his ability to be in absolute control of his emotions, to read the danger in any given situation. He read the situation in his truck just as easily as he once had on the battlefield before his life had gone to hell, and he knew without a single shred of doubt that Abby was dangerous.
“No, it’s okay. You kissed me to shut me up.”
He heard the question in her voice and grabbed on to the excuse like a lifeline. “Yeah. Good to know it worked.”
Kissing her had been one of the biggest mistakes he’d ever made, even bigger than agreeing to come to the festival in the first place.
“Okay, well, you know how I asked you to be honest with me?”
He sighed. He couldn’t win with this woman. But maybe that was good. Maybe this was just what he needed to hear because he really was having a hard time getting his desire for her under control. “Yes, Abby. I do.”
She nodded. “Right, so I figure it’s only fair that I’m honest with you. ’Cause, you know, I think honesty is really important in a relationship. Not that I think we’re in a relationship relationship. But it’s important even in a friendship. We’re friends now, aren’t we?” She must’ve seen something in his expression to override the impression and said, “Okay, but we are neighbors.”
“If you don’t soon get to the point, Ed is going to walk into the side of a car with the sign and Josie will have her tent set up.” And Hunter was thinking about kissing Abby again.