Heart of the Hunter

by Chance Carter

  Now, he could.

  He wasn’t sure how serious of a thought it was. All he knew was that the idea of Elle giving him a baby made him very happy.

  “How’d the rest of your shift go?” he said to her when she got into the car.

  God, she looked so cute. He definitely had a weakness for a girl in a waitress’s uniform. That little dress, the white apron, the black tights, the whole package. It was very adorable. The scent of her perfume was intoxicating.

  “Okay,” she said.

  He looked at her, waiting to see if she’d bring up the jerk from the morning, but she didn’t. That was okay, either it had nothing to do with her, or it did. If it did, she was entitled to her privacy. If she needed help with anything, he knew she’d ask him when she felt she could trust him.

  “Do you want to go back to your place to change before dinner?” he said.

  “Nice try, hotshot. I have a feeling if we went back to my place right now, we wouldn’t leave again until morning.”

  Forrester laughed. “You can see right through me, can’t you?”

  “I know your type,” she said playfully.

  “All right. I see what you’re saying. I have to buy you dinner first.”

  Elle nodded. “Yes, you do. Nothing fancy though.”

  “You don’t want to go back to my hotel? They have a restaurant there. A really good one, apparently.”

  “I’d rather just go to Harry’s, if it’s all the same to you.”

  Forrester looked at her and nodded. He was impressed. All too often he’d been with girls who were more interested in the expensive things he could buy them than the quality of the time they spent together. Elle was different. She just wanted to share a nice meal with him.

  At Harry’s, they took a booth near the bar, close enough to make conversation with Harry, but private enough to be alone when they wanted.

  Harry came over to their table with a bemused look on his face.

  “I knew it the minute I saw you two together the other night,” he said.

  “Knew what?” Elle said.

  “This is a date, isn’t it?”

  “Yes it is,” Forrester said, and he was so proud when he said it that he surprised himself.

  “So I guess I’ll have to call Elle your girl.”

  Forrester looked at Elle. She was embarrassed but she was smiling. “That’s up to her,” he said.

  Harry looked at her, putting her on the spot, and she gave him a very small nod.

  Forrester slapped the table. “Well, that just does it,” he said. “This calls for celebration.”

  “It’s not a marriage proposal,” Elle protested.

  “It’s better than nothing,” Forrester said, “and a guy like me, hell, I take what I can get. Harry, do you have champagne in this fine establishment?”

  Harry’s eyes lit up at the mention of champagne. “You’d be surprised, son. I’ve got some very fine bottles.”

  “Well, bring us your finest.”

  “You seem pleased,” Elle said when Harry left them to get the champagne.

  Forrester didn’t answer. He knew he had a big, stupid grin on his face, but all he could think about was having a future with Elle. The world was suddenly very full of opportunities. He thought about Lacey and Faith, and how happy they’d been during their pregnancies, how excited they’d been about having a baby, and how in love they’d been with their men. He wanted to see Elle like that, if that was what she wanted.

  He reached across the table to her and she gave him her hand.

  “You really are something, Elle. You know that?”

  She shook her head. “If you knew me better, you might not say that.”

  “Yes I would.”

  “I don’t know, Forrester. You seem awfully sure of me.”

  “I know what I like, Elle.”

  “But you don’t know half of the baggage I carry.”

  “You’re talking about that jerk from the diner this morning, aren’t you?”

  “How do you know about him?” Elle said, her eyes widening.

  “I saw him walking out. We had a little chat in the parking lot. Charming guy.”

  “Yeah, real charming,” Elle said.

  “He’s your ex, isn’t he?”

  Elle nodded slowly. “I don’t know how he followed me here. I tried to leave him behind. Somehow he found me.”

  “Guys like that, if they’re intent on finding you, they’ll find a way. I have a friend, a good friend, practically a brother, and it took him ten years to get rid of some guys who wanted to harm his woman and his baby.”

  “Ten years?” Elle said, startled.

  “Ten years or even more. Twelve maybe. It wasn’t quite like your situation. He had trouble with a criminal gang down in Nevada. But he knew that he couldn’t come home until he neutralized the threat. He knew that guys like that, they’d find him, even if he did everything in his power not to be found.”

  “So what did he do?”

  “He took care of them.”

  “Took care of them?”

  “Let’s not get into the details,” Forrester said.

  “All right,” Elle said, “but you do know that sounds pretty mysterious, don’t you?”

  “My brothers are mysterious guys, Elle. That’s something I’ll have to explain to you some day soon, if you want to stick with me.”

  “If I want to stick with you?” Elle said.

  “Well, I’m not the one who’s sneaking out, first thing in the morning.”

  Elle laughed. She was about to explain herself, and Forrester was curious about what she had to say, but Harry came over just then with the champagne.

  “This is the finest bottle in the house,” he said to Forrester. “I assure you.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “It’s not cheap.”

  Forrester nodded. “Harry, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  As he poured, the doors opened and a gust of snow blew into the bar. Along with the snow came five guys. Elle had her back to them and didn’t turn, but Forrester was facing them and he noticed every single detail. Along with the four jerks he’d had the altercation with the night before, was the new jerk in town, Elle’s ex.

  “You better pour us a couple of glasses fast, Harry,” Forrester said. “Something tells me I’m about to get interrupted.”

  Harry saw the guys enter, but didn’t seem as afraid of them as he had before. Now that Forrester was in town, things didn’t seem to be quite so hopeless. He continued pouring the champagne as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and Forrester clinked glasses with Elle and enjoyed a sip of the crisp, ice-cold vintage.

  Gris was already walking toward him. Forrester sighed. He’d have liked to avoid another fight, and he’d have liked to keep the atmosphere romantic with Elle. Everything was going so well and she seemed so happy and relaxed. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation with her ex.

  “Hey, dip shit,” Gris said. “Do you know you’re drinking wine with another man’s girl?”

  Forrester stood up. “Please excuse me for a few minutes,” he said to Elle. “There’s some trash I have to take care of.”

  To his surprise, Elle winked at him before he left. She wasn’t as helpless and afraid as he’d have thought. She was actually quite courageous. This guy was definitely big enough that he could do some serious damage to a girl like Elle, and Forrester had no doubt that he’d hurt her badly in the past, and yet, she was playing this cool, or at least as cool as she could. As well as winking, he noticed that her hands were trembling.

  “Look, buddy,” Forrester said. “Your little friends here will be able to tell you that I’m a fighter. Fuck. I love to fight. Feeling your face crush beneath my fist would be a special treat for me. But I’m on a date right now. So if you’d rather save yourself a whole world of pain, I’d be happy to watch you leave.”

  “I ain’t leaving, fucko.”

  “Fucko?” Forrester said.
r />   “That’s what I called you, fucko. You got a problem with that?”

  “I don’t have a problem with anything,” Forrester said. “You fellas just play nice and leave me and my girl alone, and we’ll all get on just fine.”

  “Your girl. Oh, hell no. Elle’s a little slut, I’ll give you that much, but she’s my slut, fucko. Always has been. Always will be.”

  Forrester was willing to do quite a lot to avoid a fight with this guy, he had no desire to put him in hospital, but one thing he wasn’t going to do was stand by and let him insult Elle.

  “What did you say?” Forrester said, his voice a low growl.

  “I said she’s a little slut,” Gris said, and he looked back over his shoulder at his four henchmen for moral support.

  That did it. Forrester gritted his teeth. Gris had crossed the line. Keeping perfectly calm, Forrester sized up the situation. He didn’t know how Gris had hooked up with the four local troublemakers. By the look of them, they were a little more cautious than Gris was. They’d seen Forrester fight already. Two of them had even had a taste.

  Forrester let a wry smile cross his face. He might not have chosen this job, but he was good at it, and he knew he was good at it.

  “Let’s take this outside,” he said.

  Chapter 22

  Elle

  ELLE COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT WAS happening. Forrester led the way, walking straight out of the bar to the parking lot, and Gris and his four cronies followed. Elle gave a desperate look to Harry before running to the door herself. She had to see what was going to happen.

  She was surprised at how calm she felt. Ordinarily, Gris had the ability to scare the crap out of her, especially when he’d been drinking, as he clearly had been. Not only that, but he was with the guys who’d been causing trouble at the diner since her arrival, Phil and his idiot friends. Not only did they cause her and Kelly trouble, but their fathers had the power to shut down Gracie’s diner and Harry’s bar at the stroke of a pen.

  There was a lot to fear. Five guys against one. Gris threatening to take her home with him and cut short her bid for freedom and a new life. She should have been terrified.

  But she wasn’t.

  She knew that she wasn’t alone anymore. Forrester had called her his girl. He’d insisted that she was his. He’d committed to her and she knew he meant it. She could feel it. He wasn’t just some guy trying to pick her up. This was something real.

  And it made her feel safe. Safer than she’d ever felt in her life.

  Even with him about to face up to five big, mean assholes, Elle felt safer than she ever had. That was the effect a real man could have on her.

  She’d seen how Forrester had wanted to avoid all of this. Forrester didn’t want a fight. But when Gris had called her a slut, that’s when things changed for Forrester. That was when he decided to take action.

  She stood at the door and watched. Despite her new confidence in her own position in the world, she grew more afraid when she saw five guys standing in a circle around the man she was falling in love with.

  She prayed he didn’t get hurt, but when she looked at his face, he only looked amused at the situation.

  “So,” he said, “which one of you wants to throw the first punch?”

  “Fuck you,” Phil said, and lunged at Forrester.

  Forrester dodged him easily and used Phil’s own weight against him, forcing him into one of his friends. Another of the local boys then leapt forward. Forrester caught him in the gut with his fist and he doubled over. Then Forrester’s knee came up into his face.

  Elle grimaced as blood flew from the boy’s mouth. As he fell, Forrester reached over him and grabbed the fourth boy, pulling him close and punching him hard in the face. Then he turned to where Phil was standing, dazed. Phil threw a half-hearted punch which Forrester dodged, returning his own.

  In what had seemed like just an instant, Forrester had neutralized the four local boys. Elle was pretty sure they wouldn’t be causing much trouble for a while.

  Gris had watched the scene unfold with a mixture of horror and rage. He’d known Forrester would make a formidable fighter, but he hadn’t counted on him taking out all four local boys with such ease.

  In desperation he stepped back to a pickup truck that was parked in the lot and pulled an iron bar about the size of a baseball bat from the back. He swung it menacingly. Elle could see immediately that a single strike from it would be enough to do serious harm to whoever it hit. She’d seen Gris lose his temper before too, and knew that he could easily kill someone.

  Forrester seemed unaware of any of this danger. He stepped around the scattered bodies of the local boys toward Gris.

  “I think it’s time you apologized to Elle for being such an idiot,” he said.

  “I’ll never apologize to that bitch,” Gris said. “Not now, and not ever.”

  “All right,” Forrester said. “Have it your way.”

  With that, he started running right toward Gris. Gris lined himself up like a batter in a ballgame, the iron rod over his shoulder, ready to strike down Forrester with a death delivering blow. Elle couldn’t bare to watch. She shut her eyes, and then reopened them just as Forrester was within range of Gris’s weapon.

  Gris swung, putting all his might into the motion. At the same moment, Forrester dropped to his knees and slid in under the rod, striking Gris’s legs with his own. As Gris fell, Forrester leapt to his feet and kicked him hard. Gris had lost hold of the iron rod and it flew across the lot, landing harmlessly in the snow.

  Forrester looked down at Gris, and then kneeled down on his chest.

  “You listen to me, and you listen good,” Forrester said. “Elle might have been your girl once, but she left your sorry ass, as is her right. She’s with me now. There’s nothing for you here. You get the hell out of this town before something happens that neither of us can undo. You hear me?”

  Gris spat and coughed.

  “You hear me?” Forrester said, louder.

  Gris hesitated, but as Forrester increased the weight of his knee on Gris’s chest, he submitted.

  “I hear you,” he said.

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “You’re going to get out of town, quit causing trouble?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let the girl be?”

  “I’ll let her be.”

  Forrester nodded. “All right,” he said.

  And with that, he got up off Gris without causing him any further injury. Elle couldn’t believe it. She wasn’t even looking at Gris and the other boys. She only had eyes for Forrester. As far as she was concerned, he was a complete god.

  Chapter 23

  Elle

  FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, SHE WAS lying on her back on Forrester’s bed.

  “I want you so badly I can taste it,” he said.

  “You want me?” she said, thinking about how badly her pussy wanted to feel his long, hard cock.

  “I’m ravenous for you, Elle. Now take off every strip of clothing.”

  Elle looked up at him nervously. His shirt was stained with sweat and blood. The end of his leather belt hung alluringly down in front of his crotch. She could tell his body was still full of the adrenaline of the fight. He looked ferocious, almost frightening. His eyes glowed with the heat of passion.

  “Go on,” he said. “I’m going to watch you strip.”

  Elle cleared her throat. She felt suddenly unsure of herself. The room was bathed in lamplight, brighter than she would have chosen. She wasn’t used to stripping in front of sexy men like Forrester.

  “Where should I start?” she said.

  “Start with the shoes.”

  She kicked off her shoes and sent them flying across the room.

  “Good,” Forrester said, “now the tights.”

  Obediently, she reached down and pulled off her tights, one leg at a time, being careful not to let Forrester see up her dress as she did so.

  “Very nice
,” Forrester said. “I swear to God I’ve never seen legs as smooth and seductive as yours, Elle.”

  “You really like them?”

  “I don’t just like them, Elle. I love them. I love your curves. I love you just the way you are. You’re the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Now quit talking and get those little panties off.”

  “My panties?”

  “You heard me.”

  Elle hesitated just a moment, until the bulge that was growing inside Forrester’s jeans reassured her that he liked every single detail he saw. Then she slid her panties down over her ankles and let them fall over the side of the bed.

  “Nice,” Forrester said, “very nice.”

  Elle shivered in a combination of apprehension and shyness. She’d never felt so exposed like this. She’d never felt a man’s hunger so intensely. She could tell that Forrester was delaying the moment of his pleasure, teasing himself, and enjoying every second of her performance. It excited her intensely to see how turned on he was.

  “Now, flash me,” Forrester said, “just for a second.”

  “Flash you?”

  Forrester nodded. He knew she understood what he wanted. He was still standing there at the end of the bed, his eyes greedily drinking in the sight of her increasingly naked body.

  She brought her feet up onto the bed, her knees raised, and then she spread them open, revealing a view up between her thighs and under her dress. Forrester sighed in pleasure. He began slowly unbuckling his belt, the bulge in his pants so large it must have been causing him discomfort.

  “Open them wider,” he said.

  She complied, and then held her breath as Forrester climbed down onto the bed between her legs and disappeared beneath her dress.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, as his lips met the lips of her pussy.

  He began to gently caress her pussy lips with his tongue, sending waves of anticipation and pleasure through her entire body. She could feel herself getting wetter and wetter as he sucked tenderly on her clit and pushed his tongue into the mouth of her vagina. Then he stopped and got back off the bed.