“You want me to drive?” I offered.
“This is my car,” he said, incredulous.
I pushed him in the passenger’s seat then got in the driver’s seat and rubbed my hands together. After dealing with my cruddy station wagon, knowing that I could charge my phone and sink in a comfy seat and drive faster than forty miles an hour and that the radio worked was a blessing. “I’m in heaven!”
“Did you just bang me so you could drive my car?” Hunter complained as I put the car into reverse and peeled out of the overlook.
“No, of course not,” I said. “I banged you because you’re extremely fuckable.”
The Broughton estate was a ways out of town, close to where the Svenssons’ estate was.
I relished the easy driving of Hunter’s car, the smoothness as we flew down the road. It was pleasurable and enjoyable; I didn’t have to worry about if the car was going to break down, or if I was going to lose a tire, or if all the moss growing in the trunk was going to suddenly jolt to life and try to eat me.
This could be your life,I reminded myself,if you just accepted Hunter for who he is—a little abrasive but ultimately lovable. He could buy you nice things. He wants to move in with you. He is great with his brothers. You literally have no other good prospects.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still trying to pull a fast one over on me.
Hunter’s fingers traced the back of my hand that rested on the gear shift stick.
There’s no such thing as the perfect man, I reminded myself as I turned down the drive to the Broughton estate.
Avery had inherited it from her grandmother, and she and Blade had fixed it up and turned it into a wedding venue and bed-and-breakfast.
After parking the car under a large oak tree, I stepped out. “I haven’t been here recently,” I marveled as Hunter offered me his arm. “She’s really done a lot of work.”
“Would you get married here?” he asked conversationally.
“Hmm, depends on who to,” I quipped, squeezing his arm. “The feral cat guy? Probably not.”
Hunter laughed, then he turned me toward him. “What about to me?” His face was serious.
My heart soared. “Well, I—”
“Hunter!” his little brother screamed, piling out of the bus that was parked under a tree. Hunter ran over to him, and he scooped up several of them.
“You really wanted to come to the flower festival?” Hunter asked them.
“No one is at home to take care of them,” Weston said, herding several of the teenagers in front of him.
“Where’s Remy?” I asked.
“Oh, uh… he’s gone to—”
“Just on a trip.” Hunter shot a glare at his brother then flashed me a broad smile.
I frowned slightly. Why was he being so cagey?
“There you are!” Avery said happily, running out from the historic mansion, Blade trailing her. “We’re all set up around back on the terrace.”
Hunter put his arm around me. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something.
He wants to marry you. Who cares? Just let it go!
But I couldn’t.
62
Hunter
