Marie Force - And I Love You (Green Mountain #4) Read online

  “He came to the right place.”

  “Yeah, but it’s ironic when you think about how he died.” She picked up a small plastic frame from the table, her eyes widening before she laughed. “Check it out! ‘Drink too much at the Pig’s Belly? Not to worry. Ask for the key to our Fantasy Suite upstairs and spend the night as our guest. Arrive alive—don’t drink and drive.’ What do you suppose the Fantasy Suite at the Pig’s Belly is like?”

  “I’m tempted to drink too much so we can find out,” Hunter said.

  Megan signaled for their waitress. “Could we have two more beers, please?”

  The waitress glanced at their unfinished drinks. “Sure.”

  Stunned, Hunter could only stare at Megan in wonder. “What’re you up to?” he asked, more amused and bewitched by her with every passing minute. She’d gone from talking about the saddest time in her life to laughing with abandon in the course of a few seconds.

  “Trying to teach you to be spontaneous.”

  “I like learning from you, but please tell me you’re not a fan of that Bachelor show with the ridiculous fantasy suites.”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  “Not you, too! My sisters are addicted to it. It’s the stupidest thing ever.”

  “I can think of stupider things. In fact, now that the diner is closing, maybe I should try out to be a contestant.”

  “You’re not doing that.”

  “Who says?”

  Once again he had the distinct feeling that she was making fun of him and enjoying it. “I say.”

  “That’s kind of bossy for someone who’s not allowed to be serious about me.”

  “I’m the oldest of ten kids. Bossy is my business.”

  “Are you always like that?”

  “Sometimes more than others.”

  “Like when?”

  “You really want to know?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t really want to know.”

  He leaned in close to her, pressing his lips against her ear. “I’m really bossy in bed.”

  A tremble went through her that he felt because he was sitting so close to her. “Is that right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Bossy how?”

  Hunter’s cock pressed insistently against his fly as he brought her in even closer to him. “I know what I want, and I know how to get it, but only after you get what you want.” He kissed her cheek and then her temple. “Does it turn you on to hear that?”

  “Um, yeah …”

  Laughing, he squeezed her shoulder, thrilled to be with her, to be talking to her about things he’d never said out loud to anyone before. He didn’t talk about what he liked to do in bed. Usually, he just did it. Judging by the rock-hard erection currently making him extremely uncomfortable, there was something to be said for talking about it. In an effort to get through dinner without embarrassing himself, he said, “Tell me other things about you I don’t know.”

  “Let’s see … My favorite color is yellow, my favorite movie is The Princess Bride, my favorite book—ever—is Gone With the Wind, a wretched, awful, over-the-top disaster of a story, but I love it anyway. My favorite band is the Beatles—”

  “Wait, does my dad know that?”

  “Of course he does. We talk about it all the time.”

  “I should’ve known. Favorite song of theirs?”

  “Duh, ‘Yellow Submarine.’”

  Hunter laughed at the witty comment and the face she made to go along with it. “Naturally.”

  “What’s your favorite Beatles song?”

  “Would I lose points if I told you I’d be happy if I never heard another Beatles song again for the rest of my life?”

  “Yes, you would,” she said in all seriousness.

  “Fine, if you’re going to be that way and I have to pick one … I’d have to say ‘And I Love Her.’”

  She stared at him for a long, breathless, charged moment and then licked her lips, igniting him all over again. “That’s a good one.”

  Their food arrived, forcing him to focus on something other than the desire that throbbed through his body like an extra heartbeat. He’d wanted other women before, but nothing could compare to the kind of yearning that came from being so close to Megan. Being able to touch her and hold her and kiss her and talk with her and laugh with her was making him crazy for more.

  “This is so good,” Megan said, her mouth full of tender meat.

  Hunter glanced over at her, smiling at the streak of barbecue sauce on her face as he removed it with a napkin.

  She sent him a sheepish grin. “Ribs might not have been the best first-date choice.”

  “Go ahead and get messy. I’ll be happy to clean you up.”

  “You surprise me.”

  He froze midbite. “How so?”

  “You come across all buttoned-down and serious, but you’re not only that. You’re also fun and funny and …”

  “And what?” he asked, desperate for her to finish the thought.

  “Kinda dirty—in a good way.”

  Hunter put the rib he’d been about to eat back on his plate and wiped his hands and face before leaning in to kiss her. “I can be really dirty with the right inspiration.”

  Her eyes heated with interest and curiosity and desire.

  “Is this moving too fast for you?” he asked.

  “As long as you really heard me about the not-getting-serious thing, it’s not moving too fast for me. How about you?”

  “Definitely not. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to be able to spend this kind of time with you, without knowing for sure that I’d ever get to.”

  “Why did you wait so long if you felt that way?”

  “I tried once, if you’ll recall …”

  She winced. “Sorry about that. I thought you were just being nice. I didn’t think you really wanted to go out with me.”

  “I really did, and I still do. Even more so than I did before, if that’s possible.”

  “I want you to know,” she said haltingly, “being with you, last night and tonight, has been so special, and you’ve helped to make what would’ve been a very difficult week for me much more bearable than it would’ve been otherwise.”

  “I’m glad I could do that for you. Why do I hear a ‘but’ coming?”

  “If things don’t work out with the diner, I’m probably going to have to move to find another job. There aren’t that many other options in Butler.”

  “You could look in St. J or other towns close by without moving, couldn’t you?” The thought of her leaving town right when he was finally getting the chance to know her made him edgy and anxious.

  “I could.” She wiped her face and took a drink of her beer. “But I won’t.”

  “Why not?”

  After a long pause, she said, “I’m afraid to drive in the snow, so that sort of limits my options when it comes to working in Vermont. I need to be able to walk to work in the winter.”

  He pushed his plate away, no longer interested in eating, and put his arm around her. “If you find a job in another town, I’ll drive you there and pick you up all winter.”

  “You can’t commit to that.”

  “Yes, I can. I’m self-employed. I can do whatever I want to.”

  “Still, you have a business to run and obligations.”

  “If it means keeping you close to me, Megan, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

  “You’re very sweet, but that’s sounding an awful lot like a guy looking to get serious with a woman.”

  “I’ve got to be honest with you.”

  “Okay.”

  “I really did hear what you said earlier, but I do want to be serious about you. I know you’ve got stone walls up around your heart, and I understand why. You should know I plan to scale those walls.”

  Her lips parted as she began to say something that never materialized.

  “Is that okay?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

&nbs
p; “Always. But you’re going to have to tell me right now if you want to call this off. Otherwise, I’ll be climbing the walls, effective immediately.”

  She laughed nervously, but she looked at him in a way that made him feel warm all over. “You don’t mince words, do you?”

  “No point to mincing words. I want you. I’ve wanted you for a long time. I don’t see any reason to pretend otherwise.”

  “You’re sort of freaking me out right now.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. We can go if you want to.” He started to signal for the check, but she stopped him with her hand over his.

  “I don’t want to go.”

  Hunter felt like his entire life and any chance he had at being truly happy had come down to this moment. “So what you’re saying …”

  “Is I have no idea what I’m doing here with you, but I’m having fun for the first time in a really long time. And I don’t want to go home.”

  He released a deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Will you do me a favor? Will you not make any plans to move without talking to me first? I know I have no right to ask that of you on our first official date, and it’s selfish of me to want to keep you close. But if you talk to me, maybe we can find a way to work it out short of you moving.”

  “I’ll talk to you about it.”

  “Hopefully my grandfather’s offer on the diner will go through, and you can still work there. If you want to, that is. I don’t want you to feel obligated.”

  “I don’t. But Nina’s plans have me thinking about what else I might like to do.”

  “Will you talk to me about that, too?”

  She nibbled on her bottom lip as she pondered his question. “Yes, I’ll talk to you about it.” She glanced over at him. “It’s kind of flattering that you care enough to want to help me figure this out.”

  “I do, Megan. I care. I want to be involved. I want us to figure it out together.”

  As they finished eating, Hunter noticed people beginning to migrate toward a back room. “Wonder what’s going on back there.”

  Megan turned to look. “I hope they aren’t sacrificing pigs or something.”

  “Want to check it out?”

  “If you do.”

  Hunter signaled for their check and then opened the wet wipes that had come with the ribs, handing one to Megan and using the other to make sure his face was free of sauce. Retrieving his wallet, he withdrew a credit card, put it on the check and handed it back to the waitress.

  “Thanks for dinner,” Megan said. “It was great.”

  “It was much better than expected.”

  His words were nearly drowned out by the music that was now coming from the back room. Raising a brow in her direction, he laughed at the expression on her face.

  “Pigs gone wild.”

  “Sounds like it.”

  They had to practically shout to be heard over the music.

  Hunter signed the credit card slip and put the card and receipt in his wallet. Hannah teased him about keeping every piece of paper he’d ever come into contact with, but if he should ever be audited—personally or professionally—he was ready.

  With his hand low on Megan’s back, he escorted her to the adjoining room, which was crowded with people dancing up a storm to the rockabilly band that included two fiddlers currently locked in a frenetic duel as the crowd cheered them on.

  “This is awesome,” Megan said, her lips close to his ear so he could hear her.

  He slid his arm around her waist and held her while they watched the musicians. The music reminded him of Mumford and Sons, a band he’d seen in Boston a few months ago.

  When he woke up this morning, he hadn’t expected to end up in a place called the Pig’s Belly, but with Megan in his arms, her soft, fragrant hair brushing against his chin, there was nowhere else on earth he’d rather be.

  CHAPTER 11

  Surrounded by Hunter’s strong arms and the incredibly appealing scent that made her want to burrow her nose into his neck to get closer to it, Megan was content. And it was all because of him. She’d enjoyed peeling back the layers of his strictly business exterior to find a sexy, hot-blooded guy underneath his polished veneer.

  In all the years of her forced exile from men and dating, she hadn’t missed any of it. But a few passionate kisses with Hunter had unleashed the kind of desire she’d never experienced before. Knowing he was so totally into her was a huge turn-on. None of the boys she’d dated had been so tuned into her or interested in what she thought or said. Like most teenage boys, they’d been after one thing and one thing only. She’d given it to them because it had given her temporary respite from the unrelenting pain of her loss. She’d been young and stupid and broken.

  Everything about this newfound connection with Hunter was different. For one thing, he was the first genuine man she’d dated. The others had been boys compared to him. Hearing him say he was bossy in bed had made her want to drag him upstairs to one of those fantasy suites and see what he meant by that.

  With his hand flat on her belly, his fingers pointing downward, one of them positioned just above her pubic bone, Megan wanted to rise up on her tiptoes to force his hand down to where she’d come alive since he kissed her earlier. But after what she’d told him about her past, would he think she was easy if she made a move like that?

  Perhaps, but did she care if he thought that? Not as much as she probably should have, and that was because he’d been so open about how much he liked her. Before she could give it too much thought or consideration, she tapped on the arm he had around her, which immediately loosened to release her.

  “I’m going to the restroom. Be right back.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  Three little words that said so much. Tapping into her inner reserve of spontaneity, she kissed him, touching her tongue ever so briefly to his bottom lip before leaving him wide-eyed and unsatisfied. The expression on his face was priceless as she turned away from him and made her way through the crowd to the reception area. Though her back was now to him, she could feel him watching her.

  This might turn out to be a huge mistake, but she was willing to risk it because he’d made her feel so safe with him—safe to be herself, to take a few chances, to let go of her painful past and imagine something different for herself. What he’d said about scaling the walls she’d put up around her heart had been incredibly sweet.

  “May I help you?” the hostess asked.

  “I was wondering about the rooms upstairs.”

  “Ahh, yes. I take it you saw the notice on your table.”

  “I did, and I’m intrigued. My boyfriend has had a couple of beers, and I was thinking it might be better to stay put tonight.” She tried not to think about the fact that she was due at work at seven the next morning. Hopefully, Nina would forgive her if she was a little late. What would Nina do? Fire her? That thought, along with what she was doing to surprise Hunter, made Megan feel giddy and lighthearted, two emotions that had been in short supply in her life until recently.

  “That’s why we have them. I’d be happy to set you up. All I need is a license and a credit card that won’t be charged unless there’s damage or theft.”

  “Sure, no problem.” Casting a watchful eye in the direction of where she’d left Hunter, she handed over the requested items.

  Five minutes later she had a key to Room 3 on the second floor. Giggling to herself as she imagined his reaction, she made a quick trip to the ladies’ room before rejoining him and putting her arms around him from behind, which made him startle and then relax when he realized it was her.

  “Did you miss me?”

  “Terribly.”

  “Want to dance?”

  “Um, well, I’m not a very good dancer,” he said.

  “That’s not true.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I saw you at the last Grange dance. You were moving just fine when you and your brothers were taunting Will by dancing with C
ameron.”

  “You saw that, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  “I was hoping no one saw that.”

  “Well, I did, so now your secret is out.” She took his hand and dragged him through the crowd to the dance floor, where people were partying like it was a Friday night rather than a Tuesday. No one seemed to care what day of the week it was as they moved to the fast-paced music. In his conservative sweater and dark jeans, Hunter looked wildly out of place among flannel, T-shirts, faded jeans and an occasional tank top, but he didn’t seem to care that he stood out in the crowd.

  He would stand out in any crowd. The aura of class he projected without even trying wasn’t something he could just decide to shed. Megan would bet he was classy even when he was naked, a thought that had her giggling madly.

  “Am I that funny?” he asked, shouting to be heard over the music.

  “Not that. Something else.”

  He scowled playfully at her and pulled her in tight against him. Despite the faster-than-ever music, he moved her slowly, looking down at her the whole time. In a sea of writhing bodies and loud music, all she could see was him. She moved closer, bringing her lower body into contact with his.

  With his erection pressed into her belly, his eyes closed and his jaw tightened.

  Megan curled her hand around his nape, bringing his head down to her.

  His lips were soft and persuasive against her neck, making her strain against him, needing to get closer.

  “What do you say we get out of here?” she asked right against his ear so he could hear her over the loud music.

  “And go where?”

  “I’ll show you.” She took his hand and led him off the dance floor, through the restaurant to the stairs the hostess had pointed out earlier.

  “What’re you up to?” he asked.

  “Since you won’t let me go on The Bachelor, this was my only chance to check out a fantasy suite. You wouldn’t deny me that, would you?”