“Hunter…”
“I mean, I flew here, and it wasn’t so bad,” he explained. “But…you’ll have to be patient with me. I’m not big on the idea of cruises or international trips, and I don’t like the idea of leaving Eli home without me too often…”
“Hunter?”
“Hmm?”
“How about we start with a simple tour of Nashville and take it from there?”
His shoulders sagged with relief. “I think I’d like that very much.” Then he tugged her back into his arms, resting his forehead against hers. “But later. Right now, the only tour I want is to see your bedroom.”
Every inch of her tingled with anticipation. “Straight up the stairs, last doorway on the left.” She squealed with excitement as he stood and hauled her over his shoulder in a typical fireman’s pose.
And it was a complete turn-on.
The first of many.
“I thought you were a mirage when I saw you standing on my doorstep,” Violet said sleepily. “Boy, am I glad you were real.” She was naked and warm and pressed up against him under the sheets, and it was the perfect way to end the day.
Except…it was still light out and he was starving.
“I’m happy I’m real too,” he replied, kissing her softly on her forehead.
“What made you decide to come here? I swore I wouldn’t ask, but…I’m just so surprised.”
“Like I said, I regretted the way I behaved since you left. I built the deck, I built Eli a jungle gym, I landscaped the backyard, and did everything I could to exhaust myself.” Pausing, he kissed her again. “But I was miserable. I missed you so damn much. Plus, everyone in my family was reminding me of what a jackass I was to let you get away.”
“Wow.”
Nodding, he said, “Yeah. But Dean came by this morning and…we’ve always told him how overly cautious he was. He’s slow to make a decision, and he overthinks everything. So when he’s the one telling me I’m being too cautious, then I knew I had to do something about it. Honestly, I didn’t think you’d even want to see me.”
“I’m sure you realized how much you were mistaken when I pulled a Dirty Dancing leap on you.”
“Dirty Dancing leap?”
Violet pushed herself up and looked up at him. “Please tell me you’ve seen the movie!”
“Um…I think so.”
“At the end? Their last dance when she runs up to him and he lifts her up in the air?”
Gently, Hunter guided her head back onto his shoulder. “I don’t think it was quite like that, but yeah, when you wrapped yourself around me, I knew you were happy to see me. And believe me, I was nervous as hell that you’d tell me to leave.”
“Well…you had cupcakes with you so I figured I could at least hear you out.”
Hugging her tight, he tickled her ribs a little. “So it’s not really me that you love, it’s just the cupcakes. Is that what you’re saying?”
“The fact that you’re up here with me and the cupcakes are downstairs all by themselves should tell you exactly where you stand.”
He fell silent and rolled Violet onto her back. “Where do I stand, Violet?” he asked quietly, realizing he’d said he loved her and…she hadn’t said it back. And more than anything, he needed to hear her say it to him and know he wasn’t alone.
One soft, delicate hand caressed his jaw, down the column of his neck, and came to rest over his heart. “I love you, Hunter Jones. I love the fact that you got on a plane to come here to me.” She kissed him softly on the lips. “I love talking with you, I love laughing with you, I really love making love with you, and yes, I love that you brought cupcakes with you.” She paused and gave him a sassy grin. “And I wish we had brought them upstairs with us because I’m starving.”
“Me too!”
“Oh, thank God! I was so afraid to admit that and ruin the moment!” She maneuvered out from under him and got up. Hunter lay back in awe as she stretched and walked around the bed completely naked and beyond sexy. She walked into what he guessed was her en suite bathroom and came back out wearing a robe. “Okay, I had planned on getting takeout tonight, so what are you in the mood for? Pizza? Chinese? Mexican? There’s a great chicken and barbecue place I order from all the time that I think you’d like. Or…”
“Or,” he interrupted as he climbed from the bed. “We can go out to eat and you can show me around the city a bit. What do you say?”
“I say…” She moved in close and wrapped her arms around his waist. “That I love you and I’d very much like to take you out and show you around.” And she kissed his chest before looking up at him. “But I think we need a shower first. What do you say?”
“Can we be as loud as we want?” he teased.
“Hell, yeah!
“That was…amazing.”
“I have to agree.”
“You know, you see these things on TV, but you don’t realize how truly amazing they are.”
“Well, it is one of the main reasons I bought this house.”
They were drying off after their second shower of the night. They had gone out to dinner and had walked around downtown for a while before coming home and having the cupcakes for dessert.
And using the icing for pleasure purposes.
Exhausted and clean, they climbed back into the bed and snuggled in close. Violet left one of the bedside lamps on so there was some soft lighting in the room, and Hunter realized just how practical his home was compared to hers. Everything here looked like it had been handpicked to make the room feel cozy. Whereas everything in his home was there because it was functional. The structure of the house itself was great, but sadly, his decorating skills kind of sucked.
Damn.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Hunter, you just sighed like…I don’t know…like something’s bothering you. Did you not have fun tonight? Was all the walking around too much? Too boring?” She gasped and sat up to face him. “Are you regretting coming here and you’re going to fly home in the morning?”
“Violet…”
“You never did say when your return flight was. Did you only plan on being here for the night? Oh, God…we really need to talk about stuff like this!”
“No, Violet, I was just thinking…”
“All night I yammered on and on and on about the city and all the things we were seeing and trying to keep the conversation light. When really, I should have been asking the big questions and figuring out where we go from here.”
Much like he had earlier, Hunter gently guided her back down beside him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. “Okay, take a breath and relax. I was sighing because your home is …it’s fantastic, Violet. I’m looking around and realizing how much is lacking back at my place. Like you have all this great furniture that matches and looks a little like it came from a decorating magazine. Then I think of my place and it’s kind of depressing.”
“I wouldn’t say depressing…”