“Well, you’re not in Marietta right now,” Claire reminded her. “You’re in Livingston.”
“Yes, but with Marietta girls.”
“You are way overthinking this. I doubt they noticed. But even if they did, they’re your friends. They wouldn’t gossip, and they sure as hell wouldn’t judge you.”
It was true. Katie knew it deep down, and really it was just her own conscience tormenting her right now.
Movement caught her eye across the room, and when she looked over Hunter and his friends were getting ready to leave.
Hunter stood from the table, tossing down a handful of bills, before glancing her way.
His gaze locked with hers, and something hot and unspoken passed between them, leaving her weak and breathless again. He gave a small nod, before turning and walking out of the bar.
With just that brief exchange, her heart raced and her palms were damp. Once he was gone, there was a small pang of disappointment in her belly. The fun and exciting night felt over. As if there was no more reason to stay.
Why? Because a man she wasn’t even supposed to be hanging out with tonight had left? This was so ridiculous.
She pressed a hand to her cheek and shook her head. “It has to be the whiskey. I must’ve had one too many shots tonight.”
Claire laughed again and shook her head. “I’m going to let you keep telling yourself that.”
And Katie did. More than once, really, until everyone was ready to call it a night. It was nearly midnight and she was exhausted, a little buzzed, and reliving those kisses on loop in her mind.
With her head pressed against the car window, she sighed and closed her eyes.
This week couldn’t end soon enough.
It was the night that would never end. At least that’s how Hunter was feeling as they rolled onto the Marshall Ranch close to one in the morning.
He’d figured Lance would be ready to call it quits after the first bar, but they’d ended up checking out two more before heading out.
Lance was passed out in the front seat, so drunk he could barely walk from the bar to the car.
That hangover in the morning was going to be a bitch.
Dan helped Lance to his cabin, calling out a tired good night before ambling away.
Hunter took his time, glancing at the main house. The lights were out, except for a faint one in the kitchen.
Was she home yet?
He thrust his hands in his jean pockets, missing his hoodie, and slowed his stride.
When they’d walked out of that bar, he’d missed her presence. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. The taste of her and how she’d felt in his arms.
It made him excited to see what the rest of the week would bring between them. He hoped it wouldn’t have to stop at a kiss.
He passed the house, walked past all the other cabins, until he arrived at his on the far end. After being in various bars all night, he wasn’t ready to lock himself up indoors again. He craved the crisp, clean summer air. If even if for just a few minutes. Instead of going inside, he sank down on the steps and sighed.
He was only there a moment, with the sound of crickets and the stars shinning bright above him, when a faint scraping noise came from inside the cabin behind him.
What the hell?
Stilling, Hunter cocked his head, and listened intently for anymore sounds from inside the cabin.
Nothing, but still, he didn’t trust it. He eased to his feet and stealthily made his way to the door.
It should’ve been locked, but a quick turn of the nob had it swinging inward.
He only had a brief glance at the man sitting on the bed with Hunter’s laptop, before the guy was up and running.
Hunter sprinted after him, even though the laptop had been tossed and abandoned onto the bed.
The guy ran down the stairs and then quickened his pace down the driveway.
“Stop!”
Shit. What kind of info had he gotten off the laptop? How the hell had he even logged on? Hunter’s security was top notch.
Anger, fueled with adrenaline, gave him the extra steam to catch up to the guy. Hunter gripped the sweatshirt in his hand and jerked him to a stop.
When he swung him around, the moonlight briefly illuminated his features. Not a man, but a teenager.
Lights brightened the drive and a door opened.
“What’s going on out here?” Wyatt yelled.
Footsteps sounded in the dirt, before the other man arrived.
In Hunter’s grip, the teen trembled. “This kid broke into my cabin. Tried to steal my laptop.”
“I wasn’t trying to steal it.” Despite his obvious fear, his words were defiant.
“Well if you broke into one of our cabins and grabbed a guest’s computer, it sure does look that way.” Wyatt’s voice was heavy with irritation.
“Hunter?” It was Katie now, rushing out into the driveway. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He didn’t take his attention of the kid.
Did he actually expect him to believe that he hadn’t planned on stealing it?
“I called the sheriff.” Katie came to a stop beside them, folding her arms across her chest.
Damn. A sigh rose in his chest. The last thing he wanted was this kind of drama.
Katie leaned closer to the teen and gasped. “Oh my goodness. Eddie Vandenberg, is that you?”
He mumbled something in reply and dropped his head.
“Your mama is going to kill you once she realizes what you’ve done.”
“Hang on a moment.” Hunter shook his head. If the kid, Eddie, had wanted to steal the laptop then he would’ve taken it and run. He wouldn’t have been sitting in the cabin, tooling around on it and risk getting caught.
“What were you doing on my laptop?”
The teen didn’t answer for a moment, but then shrugged. “I was trying to find info on what’s coming out next.”
Hunter reared back, blinking in surprise. His anger subsided and a wary understanding sank in.
Headlights bounced up the drive, lighting up the group in its beams a moment later.
The sheriff car came to a stop. A couple seconds passed, before a tall deputy stepped out and nodded.
“Evening folks. Or should I say, morning? I hear there’s some trouble.”
Wyatt moved toward the car and the deputy. “Thanks for coming out, deputy. It seems we’ve had an attempted theft of a guest’s laptop—”
“It’s all right,” Hunter called out, stepping away from Eddie. “Nothing was taken.”
Katie glanced at him sharply. “Only because you stopped him.”
“Look there was no harm done. I don’t want him arrested or anything.”
The deputy eyed him with narrowed eyes. “Well now, I’m not sure that’s your decision to be making.”
“Hunter, what are you doing?” Katie’s words dripped with dismay.
“I have no interest in pressing charges.”
The deputy glanced at Wyatt. “Did he or did he not break into your cabin, Mr. Marshall?”
Eddie flinched and looked away.
“The door was unlocked,” Hunter lied.
Katie’s gaze narrowed on him. Clearly she wasn’t buying it any more than the deputy.
The deputy stepped forward. “Say, aren’t you that computer genius guy who left Marietta several years ago?”
Hunter could feel the heat stealing up the back of his neck. “Probably. Unless there’s more than one of us.”
“Hmm. Seems like you’d be mighty stupid to leave a cabin door unlocked if you’ve got all kinds of computer stuff in there.”
Hunter’s jaw flexed and he gave a flat smile. He’d had a run in with Marietta law enforcement more than once in his teen years.
“Then go ahead and peg me for stupid, deputy.”
The deputy’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like Hunter, and he was doing little to appear otherwise.
“Mr. Marshall, this is yours and K
atie’s ranch.” The deputy looked at Wyatt and Katie. “I’ll leave it up to the both of you on how to proceed.”
Hunter glanced at the two. “Please. Let me handle this without involving law enforcement.”
Katie appeared torn as she looked between Eddie, Wyatt, and Hunter. When her gaze locked with Hunter’s, he sent a silent plea he hoped she could read.
She finally gave a small nod and glanced at Wyatt again. “Arresting him does seem pretty extreme. I’m okay with not pressing charges.”
“Really, Katie? That surprises me.” The deputy shook his head in disgust. “Wyatt?”
Wyatt was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I think we can handle this. We’re familiar with Eddie’s family.”
Eddie groaned and kicked the dirt with his sneaker.
The deputy sighed. “You realize I can still arrest him and let the judge handle this.”
“I figure you probably can. But I’m hoping you won’t.” Wyatt’s tone took on an edge.
Katie stepped forward and touched the deputy’s arm. “Please. Respect our wishes.”
Surprised at the almost affectionate gesture, Hunter tensed and watched the two of them through narrowed his eyes.
“Fine. I’ll let him go.” The deputy nodded. “I hope you guys know what you’re doing.”
“Sure do.” Wyatt stepped forward and nudged the teen in the back. “Let’s talk inside Eddie.”
The two made their way into the main house.
“Thanks, Jim.” Katie flashed the deputy a brief smile and moved back, but the deputy caught her arm and stopped her.
Hunter stepped forward, not liking the proprietary in the man’s eyes, and ready to intervene.
“We’ll talk later, Katie.” The deputy leaned over and brushed a kiss across her forehead.
What. The. Hell.
“Have a good night, cupcake.”
“Thanks, Jim. You too.”
Disbelief rocked through Hunter. No wonder she’d been so upset about that kiss at the bar tonight.
His lips thinned as he deliberately avoided looking at Katie. Instead he kept his attention on the sheriff’s vehicle until it had turned around and driven off the small dirt road.
Only then did he turn to Katie, and with every ounce of control, calmly ask, “The deputy is your boyfriend?”
Chapter Six
Katie winced, knowing exactly how bad it looked right now. She swallowed hard and gave a stiff shrug.
“Not technically. We’re, um, dating.”
“You kissed me tonight.” It was an accusation.
Her cheeks flushed. “Not to get all nitty gritty about it, but you kissed me first.”
“And you sure as hell kissed me back.”
“Don’t swear at me.”
“Right after you asked me to dance,” he continued. “Every sign pointed to you being interested, Katie.” He took a step closer. “And not in the way someone who has a boyfriend does.”
Because she was interested, and it just about killed her to admit that. Even to herself.
“Again, he’s not my boyfriend.” She resisted the urge to stumble back, and lifted her chin instead. “We haven’t decided to be exclusive.”
His eyes narrowed. “So you think he’d be pretty chill with you kissing me then?”
No. A lump grew in her throat and she shook her head, flustered, trying to respond. But now she was just swimming in a sea of guilt.
Hunter was right. Maybe she and Jim weren’t exclusive, but she owed to everyone to clarify either way soon. The idea of that conversation filled her with dread.
“Look, we need to go talk to Eddie.” She turned heel and headed toward the house.
Hunter was keeping pace with her a second later.
“Nice diversion tactic.”
“Not a diversion tactic, simply getting back to the situation at hand.”
“Sounds like there’s a couple of them.”
“I’m done discussing that other one.”
“That other one.” He gave a harsh laugh. “Fine. Then I won’t bring up how weird cupcake is as a term of endearment.”
She shot him a glare. “Don’t judge him.”
His jaw flexed. “Would you rather I keep judging you?”
“No, you can save your judging for the fair.” Not that he was ever home to do so. Before they reached the house, she turned to him. “Now what exactly is your plan with Eddie? What did you mean when you said you’d handle it?”
He seemed thrown off balance by the topic change. “Not completely sure yet, but I’ve got an idea. Probably going to need you to back me up.”
Now if that didn’t just intrigue her more. “I’m not making any promises.”
“I don’t expect you to. We’ll just talk and see if we can come up with a solution that suits everyone. One thing is clear, though. This kid can’t walk away without some kind of consequences.”
“Agreed.” She nodded. Her throat tightened with something she’d been wanting to say. “And, hey, thank you. For not wanting to have him arrested. You had every right to demand it. An arrest would’ve really devastated his family.”
He made a not so inaudible harrumph. “Pretty sure you’re the one who sealed the deal with getting him off the hook.”
She bristled. “I doubt I had anything to do with that.”
“You sure?” There was an edge to his amused drawl.
No. She wasn’t, actually. Jim was a by the book type of guy. If she hadn’t been here to plead for him to let Eddie go at the last minute, things could’ve turned out quite differently.
Instead of replying to Hunter, she let the issue drop and opened the door to the main house.
Eddie was sitting on the couch in the living room, body hunched forward and his face in his palms.
Wyatt stood near the fireplace, a glass of water in his hand as he watched the teen.
“Want to explain what you were thinking, Eddie?” She broke the silence first as she went to sit down next to the teen.
The teen lifted a shoulder in a shrug, but didn’t look up.
Hunter stepped further into the room and moved to sit in the high back leather chair near the couch.
“I’m going to need you to answer a couple questions, kid, and I’d appreciate it if you’d look me in the eye when you do.”
Eddie groaned and lifted his head. He leaned back against the couch, appearing miserable and uncomfortable.
“What were you doing on my laptop?”
Another sullen shrug. “Just playing around.”
“Why his computer?” Wyatt asked, coming to join them.
There was no answer right away. Katie shifted her gaze between Eddie and Hunter.
Hunter, his brows drawn together in deep scrutiny, watched the teen silently for a moment. “You’re a gamer.”
A flush of red spread into Eddie’s face. “Sort of.”
There was no surprise in Hunter’s eyes as he nodded. “You weren’t looking to steal anything.”
“I already told you that.”
“Were you trying find out if Striking Distance had a sequel?”
There was a long paused. Before the teen replied with a quiet, “Yeah.”
“What’s Striking Distance?” Wyatt asked.
“A game we released two months ago. It’s doing incredible.” It was said matter-of-factly, without any arrogance.
Katie shifted her attention back to Eddie and saw the guilt all over his face.
“That was it, wasn’t it?” she asked him, her temper spiking. “You broke into one of my guest’s cabin to steal information on... a video game?”
The teen mumbled something.
Her temper spiked. “Please speak clearly.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Eddie’s words were louder this time, but just as morose.
Sneaking a peek at Hunter, Katie expected to see anger, but there was no anger or even threat of it visible. There was just that same pensive look.
“I’m not going to press
charges against you, Eddie,” Hunter finally said.
“You’re not?” The teen shot him a wary look.
“No.” Hunter leaned forward. “I want to make you a deal instead.”
“What kind of deal?” Eddie’s gaze darted between all the adults.
“Starting Monday, you come up to the ranch every day after school for the week and give two hours of your time.” Hunter straightened. “One hour with the Marshalls, one hour with me.”
“Doing what?” Alarm rang in the teen’s voice.
“I figure they have some kind of manual labor or tasks that need tending out here.” Hunter glanced at Wyatt. “Think you can find something?”
“Absolutely.” Wyatt grinned. “Always need help mucking the stalls.”
“This sounds great and all,” Katie began hesitantly, “But what if he has after school activities?”
“My guess is your after-school activities come down to rushing home to get on your computer.” Hunter directed the remark to Eddie. “Am I right? Maybe grab some cigarettes at the store first?”
“Gross. I don’t smoke. Besides, I can’t even afford a damn Dr. Pepper half the time anyway, let alone cigarettes.”
“Good. This sounds like a reasonable arrangement then.” Katie nodded. “I could use some help on dish duty too.”
“Fine.” Eddie’s pinched expression eased as he shot Hunter a glance. “Why am I spending an hour with you? What do you need?”
Good question. Katie glanced at Hunter and watched his lips curl into a slight smile.
“You’re going to get some computer programming lessons.”
Eddie’s brows shot up and his jaw went slack. He shook his head, seeming unable to reply. Finally, “Why would you do that?”
“Do we have a deal?” Hunter stood. “Or should I have Wyatt call that deputy back here?”
“No, please don’t do that. We, ugh, have a deal.”
“Good.” Hunter extended his hand.
Looking like he wasn’t quite sure this was really happening, Eddie took his hand and shook it.
“How about I drive you back into town, Eddie?” Wyatt drawled. “You get up here on your bike or something?”
Falling for the Hometown Girl Page 7