And didn’t seem like he had any softness to him at all. Hunter was rock-solid. All lean muscle, and she had spent a whole night exploring his body, so she should know. The thought made her face feel hot.
But Gus was even thicker. All muscle. Not an ounce of softness on him.
It made him all the more menacing along with that face full of scars.
“Sure he is,” Elsie said.
Her friend scampered to the back of the horse trailer, and of course Elsie realized she wasn’t actually here to see the horses, but to see Hunter. And guilt shot through her. Because it was all well and good for her to make decisions about what she was going to do, and how she was going to be okay with all of it, and quite another thing to actually do it.
And to face Alaina in the aftermath.
Alaina started to pepper Hunter with questions about the horses, which he answered with ease, and Elsie was thankful for that. Not one bit of body language gave away the fact that he knew Alaina had a crush on him. He treated her like he always did. With a fair amount of polite cordiality and nothing more.
But of course, by the time that was done and Alaina offered to drive her back, Alaina was chattering excitedly about how friendly he’d been.
And it was grating on Elsie’s nerves.
“You’re quiet,” Alaina pointed out.
“I’m tired. It was a long day on the road.”
“Yeah, were you guys doing things at the ranch?”
Guilt twisted at her chest. “Yeah. We spent some time getting a little hands-on—” she grimaced “—instruction.”
“Maybe I do want to help work at the ranch,” Alaina said. “It might be interesting. Gus was explaining the plan for the place. I’m surprised that he cares so much about it.”
“Why? He’s always been—”
“Overbearing? Overprotective?”
“I don’t know. He’s...he’s him.”
“Definitely,” Alaina said. “I just didn’t think all the ‘him’ he was extended to caring about giving therapy to people with emotional baggage.” Suddenly Alaina’s face softened. “Well, of course he...”
“He pulled you out of the pond.” Knowing what she did about Gus now, Elsie felt the urge to remind Alaina of his good character.
“No, I know. He’s just so hard, he...he’s difficult.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“It’s amazing, how different they all are.”
Because they had different experiences. Because Gus carried scars outside, and Hunter carried them inside. And Elsie knew about it now.
And it was another thing she had to keep from her friend.
She waved to Alaina when she got dropped off at her house.
Her friend pulled away, and Elsie stood there, staring at the house, staring at her truck. Everything felt different now. She felt different. And she did her best to push the feeling away. Because she was back home. It should all be a reminder of why things needed to stay the same. But she didn’t want them to.
She swallowed hard and headed toward the house.
Everything would be fine. Everything would go back to normal. She would make sure of that.
She and Hunter had known each other for too long to let one night change anything.
He was still Hunter. He would go right back to being Sawyer and Wolf’s friend who annoyed her.
There was no other option.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
HUNTER DIDN’T RECOGNIZE himself the next day, waiting for work to start. Because he had never felt excited to see a woman before. And he was anticipating seeing her. Elsie Garrett, who he had seen nearly every day for more years than he could count in his head.
He felt a sense of anticipation. And frustration, because he knew he couldn’t just walk up and kiss her.
Still. He waited outside the barn to see her familiar, athletic figure walking toward him. And when she finally was there, everything stopped.
She looked the same. Wearing a cowgirl hat, with her dark hair done up in a braid that was draped over her shoulder. She was wearing a white tank top and a pair of jeans, holding her gloves in her hand as she moved closer to him.
“Morning,” he said, willing himself to keep his boots planted to the dirt. To not walk toward her. To not pull her into his arms.
“Morning,” she said.
“You’re five minutes late,” he said, the statement coming out a little bit more terse than he meant it to.
“Sorry,” she said, frowning.
“Well, we have extra animals now. More work to do. Plus, gotta get everything up and running.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Alaina wants to see about doing some work here.”
“She’ll have to talk to Gus,” Hunter said.
“I’ll tell her that,” Elsie said, walking past him and into the barn, and he stood back, looking at the way her ass moved when she walked. And he felt...unrepentant.
Because she was ready to be done. He wasn’t.
That had never happened to him before. And it was... Hell, the virgin was the one who had broken things off. He thought he might have to give a speech. On expectations. On things not being permanent. But she’d given him the speech.
And he still wanted to tease her.
Didn’t matter that things had changed between them, that urge was still there.
“Your ass looks real cute today.”
She whipped around and shot him an evil glare. “I am your friend, remember?”
“Fine, your ass looks real cute today, buddy.”
“Your ass is pretty cute too. It’d be a shame if I kicked it.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Els, I’m liable to take you up on it.”
She started rustling around for tack, grabbing a bridle and making her way over to one of the new horses’ stalls.
So, he did the same.
They each got out a mount, and started putting them through the paces.
“If you mean playing darts...”
“I didn’t.”
“You’re shameless.”
“I thought you’d like it. You were filled with complaints about how intense I was when we actually...”
She looked around, her eyes wide.
“No one knows,” he said.
Discounting the fact that Lach and Gus were way more in his business than he’d like.