Hunter

by Melody Anne

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Sandy,” the small child answered in a tiny voice. “I’m three,” she added, then she moved away from her mom a little, as if she wanted to trust the person looking at her.

  “Looks like you keep pretty busy with your restaurant and beautiful daughter,” Rebekah said feeling the smallest jolt of jealousy. She’d wanted to establish her career first, then find a great man and settle down, have two brilliant children …

  It all seemed so silly to have a life plan. Having everything mapped out didn’t necessarily mean she would be happy. Maybe a bit of a mess was more like it.

  “I keep busy, but I think you might be more so than me,” Aimee said as she led Rebekah into a living room that was clean, but cluttered with toys. It was homey and perfect.

  “I think keeping busy is a good thing. It keeps us out of trouble. I guess we’ve both come a very long way from that summer ten years ago,” Rebekah said, trying to put some enthusiasm into her voice. She wanted it to be a positive thing that they had grown up. It was just that growing up wasn’t always as fun as people made it seem.

  “We can waste time with idle chit-chat, or we can get straight to it,” Aimee said with a sly smile that had Rebekah a little worried.

  “What do you mean?” she asked as Aimee effortlessly helped Sandy with a toy before turning her attention back to Rebekah.

  “You and Hunter back together again after all these years has got to be setting off smoke signals,” Aimee told her with a grin.

  Rebekah’s cheeks heated as she looked over at the young child, who wasn’t paying them the least bit of attention.

  “Nothing is going on between us. We’re searching for buried treasure, that’s all,” Rebekah told her friend.

  “Hmm, why am I finding that difficult to believe?” Aimee said with a laugh. She casually saved a picture frame from being knocked over, but just barely, before she turned her attention back to Rebekah.

  “Because you’ve always been a meddler,” Rebekah told her.

  “That’s so not true,” Aimee said with a mock gasp.

  It was entertaining to watch how easily Aimee carried on a conversation with her while at the same time, keeping such a keen eye on her daughter. The woman had certainly gotten very good at multi-tasking.

  “Hunter’s dad left him a map to his inheritance. For some odd reason, he listed my name on the document he left behind. Maybe he had a friend who worked at the college or knew a student. I don’t know, but it was an adventure I couldn’t say no to,” Rebekah said.

  “Yes, Hunter’s father sounded like he was an eccentric man, but he was wiser than people knew. I have a feeling you aren’t going to figure it all out until the very end, and then the treasure will be something you couldn’t have ever imagined,” Aimee told her.

  “It’s not my treasure,” Rebekah pointed out.

  “If your name was on those documents, it’s as much yours as Hunter’s,” Aimee countered.

  “Nope. I’m simply along for the ride.” The adventure of it all was everything Rebekah wanted. She didn’t need a prize at the end of the game.

  “So if you really want nothing out of it, why spend time with Hunter?” Aimee pointed out. Sandy let out a squeal of joy when a puppy came by and licked her on the cheek before going over to his bed and curling up. The scene made Rebekah smile.

  “It’s not about spending time with him,” Rebekah insisted.

  “I don’t think that’s all it is.”

  “I swear the only reason I’m doing this is that I’m invested in it now,” Rebekah said. She couldn’t look her friend in the eye.

  “Would it make any difference at all if I were to share a secret?” Aimee asked.

  Rebekah’s heart thundered as she looked at Aimee who was grinning broadly.

  “Not at all,” she said. But she found her throat tight as she waited for Aimee to continue speaking. She couldn’t prod her because she didn’t want the woman to know that Rebekah really wanted to hear what she had to say.

  “I don’t think he’s ever forgotten you,” Aimee finally said.

  “Don’t go there, Aimee,” Rebekah told her, but that tight feeling in her throat was even worse now.

  “I know that summer so long ago was supposed to be a carefree one, where you forgot all about him the moment it was over, but I think the two of you connected, and I don’t think that connection has ever broken. You fell in love with him — and though it seems impossible, he was just as in love with you. He never forgot about you. Once in a while when he actually comes around, I’ve seen him looking out at the water, at places the two of you shared a fire on the beach, or swam in the ocean, and there’s a lost look in his eyes. Don’t you think that’s worth exploring?” Aimee asked.

  “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” Rebekah told her. She was now twisting her fingers on the hem of her shirt.

  “Why?” Aimee asked as she saved the same picture again from getting knocked over. “I know Hunter can be a pain in the ass, and he hasn’t had the smallest inkling of settling down in the past ten years. But he’s also a wonderful man who donates to abused kids, and schools, and who holds my daughter like she’s precious. There’s a lot of good in him — enough to risk your heart for.”

  Rebekah found herself on the verge of tears. She had to push them away quickly. This was a road she’d sworn she wouldn’t go down. “I love that you love him, and I’m glad you’ve been there for each other. But I can’t do it. I can’t give up what I’ve achieved and risk it all for a relationship that was never meant to last.”

  Aimee gave her a measured look before she let out a long-suffering sigh. She checked on her daughter again and smiled.

  “Okay, I’ll lay off. Tell me what you’ve been up to,” Aimee demanded.

  “I got through college and now I’m teaching. I love what I do,” Rebekah told her. It was difficult for her to switch topics so quickly. Her mind was still on Hunter, dang it.

  “You graduated early, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, three full years by the time I was done with my doctorate. I got two years done in high school, and then took extra courses while in my undergrad and graduate programs. I spent all my time studying and working for what I’d wanted for as long as I could remember. I didn’t have time to dwell on things of the past.”

  Her life truly was boring, she realized as she rose to her feet and paced the large room. She’d had one summer of freedom and then she’d been locked down in school ever since. She didn’t go out, didn’t laugh, didn’t live life. She’d done more living in the last week than she had in the past ten years. There was something truly wrong with that.

  “There’s nothing wrong with having the best of both worlds,” Aimee pointed out. “You can do your job and give yourself time to enjoy life.”

  “I love my job though, so isn’t that enjoying life?” Rebekah asked. Why was she defending her life so much when in her own head she knew something was off? Maybe because if she accepted that she wasn’t as happy as she was telling her old friend she was, she would fall until she hit rock bottom with a painful thud.

  “Are you happy, Becka?” Aimee asked as she looked at her with knowing eyes.

  That feeling of tears stung Rebekah’s eyes again as she gazed at her friend. She blinked them away. It wasn’t a question she was ever asked, and it wasn’t something she thought much about. Maybe it was being back in this place where she’d felt such joy, maybe it was just being around Hunter. Whatever it was, it was messing with her head. She couldn’t say she was truly happy.

  “I love my job,” she said instead.

  “That’s evasive,” Aimee pointed out.

  “As you well know, life isn’t always black and white. There are many colors to each and every day. I’m not unhappy,” Rebekah assured her.

  “That’s true
. Do you follow Hunter’s career?” And they were back on the man Rebekah didn’t want to think about.

  “Yes, I have,” Rebekah admitted. There was no reason to lie.

  “He’s incredibly gifted. He captures images that have life in them,” Aimee said with a smile before she nodded her head toward the wall.

  Rebekah immediately recognized the framed shot. It was a father clinging to his young son as he ran. You could almost see the man’s legs in motion. A tornado cloud was halfway to the ground behind them, far too close. Rebekah had looked at the image, her heart pounding when it had been published in a magazine and online. It had gathered a lot of attention and won him some sort of prize. The father had made it to safety. Obviously so had Hunter.

  “Yes, he is,” Rebekah said in a whisper as her eyes caressed the image on Aimee’s wall.

  “Don’t give up on him,” Aimee told her. Rebekah’s gaze snapped back to her friend.

  “You really don’t want to give this up do you?” she replied with a small chuckle.

  “I think the two of you were meant to be together. Now you are here with all of this unfinished business. I hope it lasts,” Aimee admitted.

  “We’ve grown up and gone down different paths,” Rebekah told her.

  “No, not necessarily. I still believe in magic, and so do you. You just have to find it within yourself, and you have to chip down that wall you’ve built.” She paused as she looked at Rebekah as if she were trying to decide if she was going to share something important. Rebekah waited. “I wouldn’t own the restaurant if it weren’t for Hunter. The bank wouldn’t give me the loan. He did — interest free.”

  “What?” Rebekah knew the man had money but she hadn’t been aware he had that much of it.

  “He’s a good man, Becka, he really is. I just thought you should know that,” Aimee told her.

  Rebekah’s mind was spinning. She didn’t want to look at Hunter as generous and sweet. She wanted to remember him as a good-time man, not the sort of guy you thought about marrying. It wouldn’t happen with them anyway. She was a professor and he couldn’t last more than a couple weeks at any location. If she opened her heart to this man again, it would get shattered.

  Aimee let Rebekah process her thoughts without interruption. Then Sandy stumbled and fell, letting out a scream. Aimee jumped up and grabbed her little girl, who clung to her.

  “She didn’t really get hurt. It’s just past her naptime,” Aimee assured her.

  “I’ll get out of here so you can lay her down,” Rebekah said as she stood.

  Aimee tried to argue, but there was so much on Rebekah’s mind that she needed to escape. She said goodbye and slipped out the door. One more brick on the wall around her heart had been loosened. She feared the whole wall would soon come crumbling down.

  Chapter Ten

  The sun was beginning to set as Rebekah walked down the beach she’d spent so much time with Hunter at. Her visit with Aimee had left her with more questions than answers, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about the turbulence of her life. Had she made a mistake coming back to the only place she’d ever felt true freedom? She was thinking more and more each day that she had.

  If Rebekah didn’t think about what she was missing out on, then she didn’t dwell on it. But being back in Hunter’s world was making that small hole in her heart grow a little bigger each day. She was being immersed back into a world she had willingly left behind.

  Since Hunter had walked back into her life she hadn’t gone a single day without thoughts of him. Through the years she’d often dreamed about him, but she’d lived her life, had gone days, maybe even weeks without a thought of him. That was over. Now, she was lucky to go a single hour without wanting to close her eyes and get lost in his gaze.

  The sea churned next to her, promising a winter storm. She’d never feared bad weather. Living in Southern California, she embraced it. There weren’t seasons where she resided, so when a good storm did appear, she rejoiced unlike the many who ran for cover.

  That was just one more thing about her that proved she didn’t fit in with the rest of her peers, with her community. She knew there was something wrong, knew she needed to get it all figured out, but she also wasn’t sure how to do that without uprooting her entire life.

  Kicking a large seashell out of her way, Rebekah turned and began heading back up toward the parking lot. That’s when she spotted Hunter. He was about a hundred yards away, standing still in a world of his own as he gazed at her.

  Rebekah’s heart thundered as she told herself to stop, or change directions. She did neither. If anything, her pace picked up the slightest bit as she closed the distance between the two of them.

  There was a new look in the man’s eyes she couldn’t quite interpret. Rebekah wasn’t sure what it meant, but she knew she was tired of fighting how she felt, of fighting the desire that simmered through her veins.

  Her loose clothing whipped around her body as she neared Hunter. She didn’t care. The clothes could fly away and leave her as bare to him as her soul seemed to be. Rebekah only stopped when she was a foot away from him. They both stared without saying a word, though communication wasn’t a problem. It was all being said through their eyes.

  “I remember how you would always run to this particular shore when storm clouds began forming, while everyone else would head for the hills,” Hunter said. His voice was husky and controlled. Rebekah’s breathing became even more shallow.

  “Yes, it’s certainly coming,” she said. She wanted to kick herself. What a shallow, foolish thing to say. There was so much she wanted to put into words, so much she wanted to do, but she couldn’t allow her tenuous control to be broken. She was afraid of what would happen if she did.

  “I think it’s because you hold yourself so tightly, you keep every aspect of your life in a neat little box and you never let go. So when you gaze out at a storm, you see yourself in it, in the darkening skies, in the raging water, even in the lightening slashing down from the heavens. You want to let go of it all, but you can’t. So you watch it happen from afar. When the storm hits, you can be a part of it.”

  The more Hunter spoke, the more Rebekah’s breathing shallowed. He was so right, but she couldn’t tell him that.

  “You don’t know me as well as you think you do, Hunter,” she told him instead. The look he gave her told her without words that he knew she was lying. Her shrug of the shoulders told him she didn’t care.

  “Why do you even care what I think?” he asked.

  She shouldn’t care. But she did. He was the one person who’d truly seen her let go of it all. When she’d been in his arms, there’d been no wall up, there’d been no rules, no obligations. With him, she’d been free.

  “I don’t care,” she said, tears stinging her eyes.

  “Why don’t you just say what you want?” he demanded, some of his cool posture disappearing as he reached for her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her closer to him, their bodies almost brushing.

  “I can’t!” she shouted. Her deep breathing made her chest brush against his and she was growing more and more lost by the minute. This was all too much. Thunder rumbled in the distance and she smelled the rain in the air. And through all of it, she was frozen on this beach, aching to be pulled into Hunter’s embrace.

  “You can, Becka. You can let go and allow me to carry you,” Hunter said, his voice gentling as he tugged her those final inches, her body perfectly aligned with his, their eyes connected intimately. “Let go,” he pleaded.

  For a week, she’d been aching, her frustration building as she dreamed of Hunter both in her sleep and during the day. She saw him even when he wasn’t there. She wanted him even if she knew it was foolish to feel that way.

  “I can’t,” she said again, her words whipped away by the building wind.

  “We let each other go once before. I won’t beg y
ou to let me give you what we both want, but I will certainly give you something to think about,” he warned.

  His eyes darkened as his face lowered. His lips were less than an inch from her own. Was it a promise or a threat? She wasn’t sure. She was beyond caring. She needed to taste him again, to relinquish her last bit of control. But she couldn’t tell him that. She wanted him to take it, to take the decision from her.

  Another clap of thunder exploded, this one so close, it rattled both of them. Neither looked to the sky. They were too absorbed in each other. All she had to do was lean forward and her misery would end.

  “All you have to do is admit you want me,” he said. His voice was commanding, insistent. She wanted to fall in line with what he wanted — what they both wanted.

  Rebekah wanted to tell him to leave her alone. No, she wanted to tell him to take her. She wanted to want to tell him to leave her alone. There was a big difference. She opened her mouth to say exactly that, but it’s not what came out.

  “I need you, Hunter,” she whispered. Her reward was a savage gleam in his eyes. She could barely think, so instead she tried to process the emotion flickering through his dark gaze.

  His body was solid as steel as he pressed against her. Rain was close, the ocean behind them thrashing as wildly as her heart. A soft moan escaped her lips and was swallowed up by the storm. It all added to the desire she couldn’t push away.

  Hunter didn’t hesitate any longer. He closed that final gap between the two of them and took her mouth in a punishing kiss, his tongue easily sliding past her open lips as he overpowered her in the most delicious way.

  There was no more hesitation as Rebekah met his demands with some of her own. Her fingers climbed up his solid shoulders and grasped at his hair as she tugged him closer, demanded what she so desperately needed.

  This kiss was nothing like the one a few nights ago. This kiss promised her a night of passion, of wonder, of things she couldn’t even begin to dream about. Time had changed both of them, and not in a bad way.