It was.
He had just never particularly wanted to observe that. And now he had.
Not that it was a big deal. He was a grown-ass man who had all the opportunity in the world to hook up. He tended to like a flashier sort. That was just his deal. Because it was obvious, and he was a man who liked the obvious. Except, verbalizing that about her had made him feel like a shithead.
To tell her that there was something wrong with her outfit, when there wasn’t. She looked nice. She didn’t need to slap makeup on, she didn’t need to do anything that made her feel uncomfortable. She was cute. Pretty even. And the entire interaction had left him feeling like an absolute dick.
It was just that in order to do what she wanted, where she wanted to do it, he had a feeling that she was going to have to shake things up. Because all the men around here didn’t know her. And she was going to have to do something to signal that she didn’t want to be treated like Sawyer and Wolf’s younger sister. And the changing of her look was a good way to do that. But then she basically called that out, and made it sound as stupid as it was.
And that would have been okay, had it not been followed up by the football game.
Where he’d felt her small boobs pressed up against him.
And then...then she’d tackled him. And sat on his chest.
And he’d looked up at her face and he’d sworn...
“Elsie’s been good to work with,” he said, feeling more defensive of her than usual because he was feeling like an ass. “And this is a work trip.”
“Yeah. So what exactly are you doing?”
“There’s a ranch up north that used to do equine therapy. They’re shutting down, and they’ve got some animals for sale. But they’re already trained, so they cost a ton of money. Gus wants me to go scope it out. I’m good with that. But Elsie’s expertise is useful.” It was. He wasn’t lying. Not really. He was just leaving out the part where he had specifically asked her because of the whole flirting thing that he was keeping from his friend.
“I hope you appreciate that,” Sawyer said. “She’s great with horses.”
“I know,” Hunter said. “It’s why I hired her. I don’t need any lectures from you on that.” He laughed. “Believe me. I didn’t sign up to get hissed at all day by that little weasel to do anyone a favor.”
Sawyer laughed. “Now, that sounds more like you and Elsie.”
“Like I said, she’s fine during work.”
She was...well, she was Elsie. She was a little bit hotheaded. She was a little bit of a loose cannon, it had to be said. But nothing he couldn’t handle.
He could certainly handle having looked at her boobs.
“Good. So how are... You know, how are things?”
“What the hell, Sawyer? Are you going to ask me about my feelings next?”
“No, it’s just that because of the start-up over at McCloud’s, you haven’t been working over at Garrett’s Watch anymore. That was your trade for stealing Elsie for all this. So things have changed and, you know, we don’t really go out to the bar anymore.”
“I’m sure your wife would let you out once in a while.”
“She would,” he said. “It’s just that... I dunno, it just doesn’t hold that much appeal. But you’re coming by for dinner sometime after you get back from Vancouver.”
“All right.”
Sawyer shook his head. “I couldn’t have imagined how much life would change in the last year. It’s weird. You live in a place like this all your life and things don’t really change. Until they do.”
Hunter nodded. Except for him. Things hadn’t really changed, at least not substantively. Yeah, the work that he was doing at McCloud’s was a little bit different, he didn’t have the drinking buddies he once had. But they were all still there. He didn’t anticipate that changing anytime soon. Or ever. It was a strange thing, though, if he really thought about feelings—and he tried not to—how much things had shifted with Sawyer. They’d been thick as thieves all their lives. And now Sawyer was a father. He was married. He was definitely more into his wife than he was into anything else, and that was how it should be. At least, Hunter figured.
He didn’t have that kind of future in front of him. And he knew that. He’d never been sad about it.
It was just that he and his brothers had been made to feel somewhat broken from birth. And the ways that they had dealt with that were not all the same, and not necessarily functional in the traditional sense either.
Tag had sorted things out, and he’d gotten married. But that was Tag. He’d always been lighter.
“Hey, it’s all good,” Hunter said. “I’m busy enough with the horse stuff, and as far as I’m concerned, you and Wolf being off the market just opens things up for me.”
“Yeah, maybe Gus could be your wingman sometime.”
Hunter laughed. Genuinely laughed. “I can’t even imagine. I don’t want to scare women away. I’d say that to his face. Also, his face has nothing to do with it. When women like him, that’s one of the things they like. But it’s a particular kind of girl that’s okay with...all of that.”
“Yeah, that’s why he’s a good wingman. You don’t attract the same girl, that’s for sure.”
“That is true. His personality is sometimes a barrier, though.”
“Still, I hate to see you alone.”
“Hey, you don’t need to worry about me.”
He knew Sawyer did, because Sawyer worried about everybody.
“I’m not worried about you, asshole. I just don’t want to be the guy who bailed on his friend because he got married.”
“I’m fine. We’ll go fishing, we’ll have dinner. But we don’t need to talk about our feelings.”
“But I do have a lot of new June Bug pictures.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do. No need. I’ll come by and see the little mite in person.”
“All right.”
They unloaded the hay, and he said goodbye to Sawyer, then he headed down to the paddock to get one of the horses out. He rode in circles in the arena, doing quick changes in testing his responsiveness. And his mind kept on wandering back to Elsie.
To whether or not he should even be doing this at all.
Seriously, though, she’s going to do what she’s going to do, and without your intervention...
That was the thing. That was the thing that he hadn’t fully understood until last night. Elsie Garrett wasn’t a hurricane. She was a loaded pistol. And she had a lot more potential to get out there and cause damage than he had realized.