Falling for the Hometown Girl

by Shelli Stevens

  “That wasn’t why I slept with you,” he answered quietly.

  She shook her head. “You hesitated.”

  “I know.” He gave a harsh laugh. “I’m human, Katie. So, yes, the thought ran through my head, but it wasn’t why I came out here.”

  She flinched, seeming surprised by his honesty. “You pushed awfully hard for me to leave Jim so I could climb into bed with you.”

  “Stop.” He closed the distance between them, catching her wrist to stop her retreat. “Because we wanted each other, and he was the only thing standing between us.”

  “I don’t even know what to think anymore.” She blinked, but not before he’d seen the sheen of tears in her eyes.

  His chest tightened, and he stroked the softness of her inner wrist. “How I feel about you has nothing to do with your brother.”

  “And how do you feel about me, Hunter?” she whispered.

  The question made him still. His heart pounded faster and his throat went tight. “I care about you.”

  If there was more, there was no way he would admit it. Not to himself, and certainly not to her. It would just make Sunday’s parting even harder.

  “Right.” She nodded, and a bittersweet smile curled her lips.

  How the hell did he fix this?

  “Maybe we can talk more tonight, once we get settled at the campsite—”

  “I don’t think we should go camping anymore.” She eased her wrist free and turned away from him. “Who are we kidding, Hunter? What difference does two days make? It’s probably best if we...”

  “If we what?”

  “If went end it now.” Her words were a whisper.

  He sucked in a breath, like she’d sucker-punched him. His head spun. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I do. Things are different now.” She glanced back at him, eyes spitting accusations. “You never told me about Cal. How could you hide something like that? It’s huge.”

  “I thought you knew, honestly, until you started making comments that indicated you had no idea. Maybe you were too young when it happened.” He was a bit numb now. “Bringing it up would’ve just created conflict that was irrelevant to my week here.”

  “It wasn’t irrelevant.” Her words held a hint of sadness. “Not to your presence here, and certainly not to me.” She turned to look out the window. “I’m so sorry about what Cal did to you. I’m having a hard time processing it, truthfully. But it’s this big huge thing sitting between us now and, whether I want to or not, I think I’ll always wonder if sleeping with me was just payback for you.”

  Though he tried not to show it, everything inside him crumpled. Her words destroyed him in ways he could never let her see. Even though he’d already sworn that getting involved with her hadn’t been about revenge, she still doubted him. Couldn’t trust him. And he couldn’t blame her. Maybe he should’ve told her about Cal, but he hated revisiting that time of his life. Hated reminding himself that Katie was Cal’s brother, because they were nothing alike.

  There was a knock on the door, and Hunter swung his gaze toward it.

  “It’s Wyatt and Eddie.” Katie lifted a hand and waved at the two. “We can talk later, if you really want to.”

  If he really wanted to. As if she’d be doing him a favor.

  His jaw clenched. Everything had gone to shit. There was no coming back from this. She was right. What difference was two days? With a small nod, he went and opened the door.

  Eddie grinned when he saw them, but it faltered a bit. Hunter must’ve had one hell of an expression on his face.

  “Figured we could let you do the computer stuff first today,” Wyatt said brusquely. “Cal and Katie need to get to talking, and I just got called out for an on the far end of our property.”

  There was no way he’d let Eddie down. They still had one more lesson, and that was one place he didn’t need to worry about fucking up.

  “Sure.” He glanced over at Katie, but she kept her gaze out the window. “I’ll see you then.”

  She nodded. “You guys have fun.”

  He hoped she’d turn and look at him, but she never did. Without another word, he turned and left the cabin.

  “My own brother was a bully, and I never even had a clue.”

  Katie sat in the passenger seat of her brother’s car as they drove through the small back roads of Marietta. There wasn’t a destination in mind, they’d just decided a drive to go talk was probably the best idea.

  To his credit, Cal’s face turned red and his lips pinched with what looked like regret. “I’m sorry, Katie. I won’t even bother denying it.”

  “You really beat Hunter up?”

  “I thought he’d attacked Jeanne.” He sighed. “Though that’s probably not much of an excuse either.”

  “Violence is never the answer in my eyes.” She paused, something not settling right with a couple things he’d said now. “What do you mean by thought he’d attacked her.”

  Cal tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “She probably lied. I figured that out near the end of senior year. I caught her making out with another guy and when I asked her about it later, she pulled the same excuse out about him attacking her. There was no attack. She was all over him like mare in heat.”

  “And that’s when you broke up with her.” She remembered his and Jeanne’s relationship. She hadn’t been a fan of the girl. She’d been obnoxious, and flirtatious with anyone with a penis.

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you apologize to Hunter?”

  A beat went by. “You know I didn’t.”

  Her jaw clenched. “I guess he wouldn’t have blackened your eye an hour ago if you had.”

  Cal winced and touched his eye gingerly. “The guy has a better right hook than I would’ve figured.”

  “Left hook. He’s left-handed.” She’d learned quite a few of the little details and habits about Hunter during their week together.

  There was more silence, before Hunter pulled the truck over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.

  “Are you in love with him?”

  Her breath caught. “I don’t know.”

  “I think you do.”

  Still, she couldn’t draw a breath, as emotion surged through her. Only when she grew lightheaded did she gasp in air on a sob.

  “Yes. I love him.” She pressed her fist to her mouth. “I didn’t want to, but I do.”

  “Ah, shit.” He slid an arm around her and pulled him against his side on the bench seat of the truck. “This is my fault. I’m sorry.”

  “The only thing that’s your fault is for being a complete jerk to Cal in school.” She didn’t pull away, just elbowed him lightly in the side. “It’s my fault for falling in love. I knew it was never going to be serious.”

  “And what if he really was just using you to get back at me.”

  She thought back on the week. Remembered their first night on the porch swing. The moment at the river. How he’d defended her from Lance. How tenderly he’d made love to her.

  “I don’t think revenge had anything to do with it.” And deep in her heart, with the anger and shock fading, she could admit it. “Maybe in the beginning, he might’ve had a tiny seed that wanted to get involved with me for those reasons, but it never sprouted. Besides, I made the first move. I kissed him first.”

  Cal grunted in amusement. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah.”

  “My little sister Katie made the first move?”

  “I sure did.”

  “Hmm. Maybe I rubbed off on you a little more than I realized.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, please, I would have a long way to go before catching up to your reputation with dating, Cal. Or not dating.”

  “I date.”

  “You hookup.” It was the one thing about him that bugged her the most. His cavalier attitude toward women reminded her too much of her experience in college.

  “I’m young, Katie. It doesn’t matter.”

  “You�
��re almost thirty. It’s starting to matter. And not just because it’s kind of skeevy.”

  He laughed and removed his arm from her. “While I can appreciate your topic changing diversion, we should get back to the topic at hand. You and Hunter.”

  “There is no Me and Hunter.” With the reminder, her heart clenched and the light mood was quickly extinguished with the dark reminder of today’s events. “Even if I could move past everything that happened today, he’s still leaving Sunday.”

  Cal was silent for a moment, staring out the window, his brows furrowed. “Do you think he loves you?”

  It was a question she’d asked herself a few times this week. “He might. But he loves his company more. He’ll never leave Seattle. And now I can understand why he hates Marietta so much.”

  “Because of me.”

  Undoubtedly Cal deserved some, maybe most, of the blame. But she couldn’t let him “I’m sure you were a big part, but I doubt all of it.”

  “Would you ever leave Marietta?”

  “No. This is my home,” she said quietly. “I love Marietta and its people, no matter how awful they can be sometimes.” She gave him a pointed look. “I tried Seattle, and it just wasn’t for me. No matter how much I loved someone, eventually the misery of being in the big city would overpower me.”

  When her brother didn’t say anything, she looked over at him. His expression was pinched and his shoulders were stiff. This was probably the unhappiest she’d seen him in a while.

  “You need to apologize to him,” she said softly. “Hunter and I aside, promise you’ll apologize for what you did.”

  “I will. I already planned on it.” Cal gave a slight nod. “I should’ve done it a long time ago. I should’ve done it today. But when Wyatt let it slip that you two were involved, I lost it. I feared the worst. Thought the worst about him. And I lost it. I owe you an apology too.”

  She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you. It means a lot.”

  He started the truck and flipped a u-turn. “I’ll go find Hunter when we get back to the ranch and talk to him.”

  And, after that, Katie would have her turn tonight. She hadn’t been completely fair to Hunter either. The least she could do was talk things out. Maybe they should take that camping trip.

  Her cell buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it free, staring at the text on the screen from Claire. Her stomach hit the floor and her head went light.

  “Who’s that?” Cal asked, glancing away from the road briefly.

  “Guess that apology will have to be in an email.” Her throat burned from holding back tears. “Hunter packed up and left right after the lesson with Eddie.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hunter stared, unblinking, at the screen in front of him. There it was again. Another offer, similar to the others, but bigger this time.

  He leaned back in his chair and glanced out his window. Through the buildings and over the congested roads, he could see a hint of Puget Sound. The steady drizzle of rain didn’t make him excited to explore the rocky beaches anytime soon though.

  The building space they’d rented for Vendetta Interactive was small, but functional. It had been perfect for a small company starting out. They were experiencing big growing pains, but with the price of Seattle real estate, it was hard to make the move. Just the thought of dealing with it was more stress than he wanted to deal with.

  It’d been two weeks since he’d left Montana, and he’d missed the open space, summer sunshine and big blue skies. More than he thought he would. But most especially, he missed Katie.

  There’d been no phone calls or emails. There’d been nothing but silence since he’d finished up Eddie’s lesson and left right after. And it seemed she had no problem with it, had just gone back to her life as normal.

  One person had kept in touch with him though. Eddie. They’d emailed, and even spoken on the phone a few times, as Hunter continued to help him with his game development. It was actually the one thing that gave his day a little brightness—when he heard from the teen.

  Hunter turned back to his screen and scrubbed a hand over his beard.

  The office was quieter now. Probably because Lance had quit once returning from Montana. No one had bought into his alcohol driven rants about Hunter. It had backfired on him, really. Lance hadn’t been super popular around Vendetta Interactive. Then again that tended to happen when someone had a crappy personality.

  Hunter wondered if he should feel more regret or guilt, but there was none. Just relief. It was better for everyone. Lance had been itching for something more exciting anyway.

  A knock on his office door had Hunter lifting his head.

  Kevin, his assistant, stood in the doorway with a puzzled expression.

  “What’s up, Kev?”

  “There’s a cowboy here who wants to talk to you.”

  Hunter’s brows snapped together. “A cowboy?”

  “Yeah, he’s in the lobby—”

  “Got tired of waiting.” Cal Marshall stepped into the office. “Figured I’d find you myself.”

  Tension coiled through Hunter’s muscles, and he drew a slow breath in, staring at the man he’d physically fought a couple weeks ago. There was still a hint of yellow bruising around Cal’s eye, and Hunter felt a small stab of satisfaction.

  Kevin shook his head and shrugged, before disappearing again.

  “I’m impressed.” Hunter flashed a humorless smile. “You came all the way to Seattle to continue the fight?”

  “Actually, no. I’m fixing to end it.” Adjusting his Stetson, Cal gave a small grunt. “You and I need to talk, Richardson.”

  That sounded about as fun as a root canal. “I’m actually at work. Which should be pretty obvious, because you showed up at my company.”

  Cal tilted his head and gave a shit-eating-grin. “Good thing I chose to come in at noon. Figure you must have a lunch break coming up.”

  Hell. Yes, he did. And clearly the man wasn’t going to leave until they’d hashed this out. “Sure. Let’s grab lunch. I know a great sushi place down the road.”

  A half-hour later they sat silent in the small restaurant with their menus open. Cal’s brows were drawn together as he stared at the menu, and he kept making little grunting noises.

  “If you don’t like fish, or if sushi freaks you out, you can always order the chicken katsu.” Hunter hid a smirk. “It’s about as close to fried chicken as you’ll get in here.”

  “I’m up to try something new. What’s good?”

  “The Eel Roll.”

  Cal shot him a quick look. “Not that new.”

  “Spicy tuna roll might be a little more up your alley.” Despite his intent to hate him and this lunch, Hunter found himself amused. Maybe even relaxing.

  “Good. I’ll give it a try.” Cal set the menu down and stared at him. “I’m not good at apologies, but I owe you one. A pretty damn big one.”

  Hunter set his menu down too, already knowing what he was going to order. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

  Cal grimaced. “I deserve that. Apologize for everything. Let’s start with the way I treated you in high school.” He paused. “I was stupid, reckless, and really just a testosterone raging teen who thought he was defending his girl.”

  “She’s the one who hit on me.”

  “I realize that now. It wasn’t cool what she did—and it happened with more than just you. Which is when I broke up with her.”

  And the harassment of Hunter had stopped. Hunter breathed in a slow breath. How long had he waited to finally feel validated? These words were a balm to the scars on his soul.

  The waitress came and took their orders, before disappearing a moment later.

  “Anyway, there was no excuse for what I did,” Cal continued once she’d left. “For not apologizing once I realized what she’d done. Pride and all that business. I just”—he hesitated—“I hated thinking that maybe I’d driven you out of Marietta.”
/>   “It was a combo of things.” Hunter gave a slight smile. “Sorry, can’t give you all the credit.”

  Cal’s gaze searched his, before he gave a nod. “I’m still part of the reason, though. And that’ll never be okay in my book. Anyway, you may never forgive me, and I won’t blame you for it.”

  “I don’t know, this apology is going better than you probably think,” Hunter admitted. “Holding a grudge is damn exhausting. And I keep reminding myself that you can’t be all that bad if you’re a Marshall and related to Katie.”

  Cal grunted. “Surprised you haven’t asked about her yet.”

  Hunter gave a tight smile, even as his heart began a slow thud. “How is she?”

  “Good. Got engaged to Jim, the deputy.”

  Hunter stilled, felt the color drain from his face and bile rising in his throat.

  “Just messing with you, man.” Cal’s gaze was alight with triumph. “But I fucking knew it. You love her.”

  Hunter blinked, the words looping in his head, before they settled and made sense. He slumped down in the chair and scrubbed his beard.

  “That was a dick thing to lie about.”

  “Yeah, probably.” Cal didn’t look too concerned. “But I had to know. I guess the only question I have for you now is, what happens next?”

  Immersing herself into nature always healed her. Whether it was a broken body or a broken heart.

  Katie increased her pace up the hillside, barely noticing the view off to the side of the trail. There’d be plenty of time to take it all in once she reached her uncle’s property line.

  The fireworks over the river weren’t set to go off for another hour or so. Watching the Fourth of July show from her uncle’s property had always been her favorite. Both when he’d lived there, and after, when it was just an empty, abandoned lot. Just because her uncle had gone and sold the property before she could make an offer wasn’t about to stop her.

  One last time, at least.