“You hardly know me. Not really. You can’t go saying things like that without really thinking it through. Marriage is a big thing.”
He nods. His hand moves along my jaw. I’ve never thought much about marriage in the past; I’ve never had a guy make me even start putting together a moodboard of ideas. But, I guess, it’s always been a little fantasy in the back of my head, waiting for that moment I might randomly run into the one guy that makes my heart jump. And that is Hunter.
“It is, yeah. Your past? The little things about you I don’t know? I’ll learn them. I’ll study them.” His eyes hold mine. “But I fell for you for who you are. How I feel when I’m with you. That ain’t something you learn. It’s just something you know. Like soulmates.”
My heart forgets how to work for a second.
“I’m your soulmate?”
“I’d bet my whole ranch on the fact you are.”
A hundred and fifty thousand acres. His home. His legacy. His family’s name carved into the land for generations. And he’d wager all of it on a girl from New York who can’t even ride a horse.
“And what about you?” I ask, my fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. “Is there a lot to learn about you, cowboy?”
“There is.” Something flickers behind his eyes. A shadow that passes too quickly to catch. “Nothing changes who I am. What I stand for. And how I feel about you. Just remember that.”
His fingers rest around my neck. Not pressing hard, just there. A weight I’m learning to crave.
And then his phone rings, and the moment shatters like glass. He pulls it out of his pocket and curses under his breath. “I gotta take this, baby,” he sighs, and then he kisses me so hard I forget my own name.
He strides into the bedroom, and I watch him from the bathroom doorway. He stands at the window, silhouetted against the morning light, his whole body shifting from the man who was just talking about soulmates to something a lot meaner.
And yet, he’s still not hiding it from me.
“Yes,” he answers.
Whoever is on the other end isn’t delivering good news. I can tell by the way Hunter tips his head back, jaw locked, the tendons in his neck pulling tight. “You know where to take them. I’ll be there shortly,” he barks.
The call ends. He stares at the phone for a beat. Then he turns to face me, and just like that, the composure is back. “I’ve got to deal with some work shit. Want me to drop you off at Violet’s on the way?”
“Uh. Yeah. Sure.” Wait. No. That isn’t what I want. Violet is busy with Luke right now, settling into the guest house. I need to speak to her alone, without him hovering. I need to tell her everything.
She warned me to stay away from Hunter, so I know she’s going to have thoughts on this whole situation. But I want her on my side. I want her at Sterling Ranch with me, because even though I’m here with Hunter—and I’m pretty damn sure I’mfalling hard and fast for him—I came to New Falls with Violet. She is a priority, too.
That conversation can wait until later. When it’s just us. “Actually, Hunter?” I catch his arm as he passes. “I’d like Wyatt to introduce me to Gary first.”
The shift on his face is instant. A smile spreads across his face that starts in his eyes. “He’ll love that, baby.” He presses one more kiss to my forehead, grabs his hat off the nightstand, and heads for the door.
I stand in the bathroom of this enormous ranch house, my toothbrush next to his, with his taste still on my lips and the word husband ringing in my ears.
There’s a lot I don’t know about Hunter Sterling, but there’s a lot he doesn’t know about me, either.
And one of these days, we’re both going to have to stop hiding.
CHAPTER FORTY
HUNTER
“Jerry, what the fuck happened?”I ask as he hops out of the truck.
I take another drag of my cigarette and blow it out slowly, watching him wipe the sweat from his forehead. Paulie climbs out of the passenger side, looking pissed as hell.
“These two little assholes tried to shoot us up on the track back. Dumbasses thought we wouldn’t spot a sparkling, new Mercedes parked next to a cactus.” Jerry spits in the dirt. “Fuckin’ idiots.”
“Either of them talk?”
Jerry shakes his head. “Well, one got a bullet between the eyes on sight. The other only took a hit on the shoulder. So he might talk if you scare him enough.”