Unafraid

“I’m just being neighborly. I took over my grandpa’s ranch,” he explains. “You remember, it’s a couple of miles that-a-way.” He nods in an eastward direction.

My heart drops. “You moved here? You mean, you’re staying?”

Hunter seems amused by the shock in my voice. “Looks like it. Wait, I brought you something.”

While I’m left reeling from that bombshell, Hunter disappears back out to the porch, re-emerging a moment later with a familiar green-patterned bakery box.

Krispy Kreme. A full dozen.

“You bought me donuts,” I mutter, my head spinning.

“I thought about flowers, but I remembered, you always had a sweet tooth.” Hunter grins at me, proud as a little kid as I dumbly take the box. The scent of sugar and fried dough drifts up, and despite myself, my mouth starts to water.

He brought me donuts. I don’t think any guy’s ever given me a thing, save a warm six-pack of beer and a morning after filled with regret.

Hunter watches me. “So, you want to have dinner with me to say thanks?”

Wait, what?!

“Dinner?” I repeat. “Like, a date?”

And I thought this encounter couldn’t get any stranger.

“You say it like it’s a dirty word.” Hunter teases. “Yes, a date. We’ll go eat some food, make small talk, fight over who pays the check.” He strolls closer, just the narrow table between us now. “Just so you know, I’ll win that one,” he adds, reaching over to take a cruller from the bakery box, still open in my arms. He bites down and smiles at me, his lips dusted with powdered sugar. “I don’t care what you say about equality and women’s lib. My mother raised me to be a gentleman, and a gentleman always pays.”

I blink at him, stunned.

Hunter Covington. Here in my living room. Munching on a donut, and asking me out to dinner.

There’s only one thing I can say to this.

“No.”

Hunter chews thoughtfully. “Why not?”

“A girl doesn’t need a reason to turn you down.” I reply archly, struggling to cling on to my last shred of control. “I don’t want to, that’s enough.”

“But you do want to.” Hunter reaches for the bakery box again. I snap the lid shut.

“Oh yeah?” I’m getting pissed at his arrogance now. Or maybe it’s because he’s not buying my ‘keep away’ act, when every other guy in town would have cut bait and bailed for an easier target by now.

“Yeah.” Hunter fixes me with a knowing look. “You want to spend time with me. You want to hang out, and laugh over a couple of drinks, and have me kiss you senseless on the front porch out there when I bring you home. So why don’t you drop this bullshit tough girl act, and give me one good reason why not.”

Kiss me senseless…

My mind races. How can he see through me like this? What can I say to make him leave me alone?

“I’m working!” I finally blurt, but the words make me glance over to the clock above the mantle, and I realize that my excuse is true. “Shit, I’m late. Garrett!” I exclaim.

Hunter’s face darkens. “Is Garrett your boyfriend?”

I’m tempted to lie, but that would only drag this out longer. “My boss.” I drop the donut box to the table, grab my purse and head for the door. “Or rather, soon to be ex-boss, if I don’t get my ass to Jimmy’s in the next five minutes.”

I steam outside, this time glad that Hunter follows on my heels. “You need a ride?” Hunter offers.

“I can take care of myself.” I lock up, and head for Garrett’s truck without another look.

“Think about what I said,” Hunter calls after me. “You, me, a bottle of wine, the lame excuse for fine dining this town has to offer. You’ll have fun, I promise.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” I yell back, starting the engine. “I’d rather pull teeth.”

Hunter’s laughter echoes after me as I squeal out of the driveway. When I glance in my rearview mirror, he’s standing there on the front porch, golden in the setting sun, reaching into—

Damn. He took the donuts.

I rush into the bar, breathless and apologetic. “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” I yelp, grabbing my apron and yanking the ties into a knot around my waist. “I know, I’m late.”

“That’s OK,” Garrett sounds chill, and when I get it together enough to look around, I realize why. “This is Jade,” he says, introducing me to the cute, African American girl already wearing her work apron. She’s standing by the bar, gazing adoringly at Garrett. “She’s going to be helping out now that Melissa is gone.”

“I bet she will.” I give Garrett a glare, then switch on a smile for poor Jade. She doesn’t know what she’s in for. “Welcome to Jimmy’s. You need me to show you around?”

“Already covered.” Garrett interrupts me, flashing Jade an irresistible grin. “Why don’t you head on back and grab me some paper napkins from the store room?”

“Sure thing, boss!” Jade disappears down the hallway.

Garrett watches her go. “I like the way she says that. Boss.”

I lean over the bar and punch Garrett in the arm.

“Oww!” he glares. “What was that for?”

“That was for Jade.”

“I haven’t laid a finger on her!” Garrett protests.

“And she’s been here all of ten minutes.” I roll my eyes. “You must be getting sloppy.”

“You make it sound like I’m some lecherous old perv.” Garrett puts on his wounded, puppy-dog face. “I can’t help it if women find me irresistible.”

“What a dreadful curse, my heart breaks for you!” I slide his keys across the bar. “Here, boss. The truck’s right outside, I even filled her up with gas.”

“Thanks.” Garrett takes the keys and sets about taking down the chairs from the tables and getting the bar ready for opening. He pauses, looking over at me. “You good?” he checks.

I nod.

“Sure?” he asks, awkward. “Because if you want to talk about it…”

“And then we braid our hair and paint our nails and talk about boys?” I joke, trying to change the subject.

Garrett laughs, clearly relieved. He’ll happily beat Trey to a pulp for me, but he’s more the playful, joking type—talking about feelings is definitely not his thing. “I don’t know how much braiding you’ll get done with this,” he runs a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

“I don’t know,” I pretend to muse, setting out ketchup bottles and mustard. “I think you’d look cute with a couple of barrettes, maybe some highlights…”

“Shut up!” Garrett throws a dishtowel at me. I duck back, laughing.

“Wait, where’s Jade?” I look around. “Don’t tell me she got lost on the way to the storeroom.”

“I’ll go check.” Garrett starts towards the door, but I cut him off.

“Oh no. I’m not leaving you alone in there with her. That room has history.”

Garrett’s eyes widen in recognition. “That’s right, Em and Jules…”

I shudder, remembering the time I caught my brother in a very compromising position with Juliet, back before they were even officially together. “Don’t even talk about it.” I order him. “Some things, you can’t unsee!”

I spend the first half of my shift hidden away in the back office going through purchase orders. At least, that’s what I tell myself I’m doing, but the truth is I need a moment to myself, to process everything that’s happened over the past twenty-four hours.

Hunter.

It was only supposed to be one night, that’s how I justified it to myself at the time. One night to taste a world I knew I couldn’t own; one night to surrender to a feeling far beyond my control.

The last night of summer.

I’d just turned sixteen and the Covingtons were back in town again. I’d always stayed out of the way of the rich kids before. I had a gig waitressing at Mrs. Olson’s diner, and the closest I’d come to them was serving pancakes on a Sunday morning, or laying out on the beach a few towels over from their non-stop party crowd. I kept my distance for a reason. I’d seen the damage the summer people could do. My brother, Emerson, had his heart ripped out by a girl who left town and never looked back.

But something was different about Hunter.

It felt like we were circling each other, all summer long. We never said a word to each other, but I would catch him staring when we passed on the street, and one day when I was down by the docks I saw him, taking in the sail on their boat. He was stripped to his swim trunks, the muscles of his shoulders and torso gloriously defined in the midday sun as he reached to haul in the heavy fabric. I watched him from behind the safety of my shades, and felt something flicker to life I’d never known before.

Desire.

This wasn’t the frustrating tension from the brief hook-ups and clumsy fumblings I’d already experimented with. Those encounters left me feeling empty and unsatisfied, but this was something deeper, a strange awareness that seemed to flood my whole body, a magnetic pull towards him, as if my flesh and bone knew something I hadn’t yet discovered for myself. And once that flame flickered to life, I couldn’t damp it down again. That wanting haunted me all summer long, every time our eyes met, like a secret you have to tell.

It was inevitable. Even I knew it. You can’t resist an ache like that, so I made a deal with myself, building up my walls so I wouldn’t be the one to get hurt. It would be simple. Clean. One night, that’s all I’d have, and then he’d be gone, back to his golden, shining life, and I’d carry on as normal. Curiosity sated. Safe again.

And my plan worked—at first. I had my perfect night with him, and the next morning, I kissed his cheek and slipped away while he was still sleeping, making the long walk back to my run-down house alone in the pale dawn light. I told myself that I’d gotten everything I wanted. He left town that day with the rest of his family, and my life went on.

Except nothing was the same again.

That’s the dangerous thing about tasting something so perfect. I found out the hard way that once I’d had a glimpse of that beauty, even for a brief moment, it broke my heart a little every day to go without. The world shone dimmer, every kiss felt like a faded Xerox, and in the dark of the night, I couldn’t stop my dreams from taking me back through the years, to the one time I finally felt whole in somebody’s arms.

“Brit!” Garrett’s yell cuts through my memories. “Get your butt out here, we’re drowning.”

I haul myself up and head on out to the bar, now busy and buzzing with the evening crowd. “New girl not working out?” I ask, scooping up empty glasses from the bar.

“She’s… still finding her feet.” Garrett hedges, but soon it’s pretty clear Jade won’t be sticking around any longer than the rest. Either the poor girl is a naturally lousy waitress, or she’s too busy swooning over Garrett to pay attention to her tables. I’m the one left to pick up the slack, rushing around to keep up with the crowds, refill drinks, and get food orders out from the kitchen in some state resembling what the person wanted.

“Who ordered the cheeseburger?” I call across to Jade, when the plate’s been sitting untouched on the hatch for five minutes. “Because they better want it cold, with a side of soggy fries.”

She waves absently. “The guy at the bar.”

“That’s me. Behind you,” he adds helpfully

My heart leaps. Of course he’s shown up here. That man doesn’t know when to quit.

I turn. Hunter is sitting at the end of the bar, one hand wrapped around a bottle of beer. I slam the plate down in front of him. He takes one look and winces. “Damn, darlin’. I know you’re trying to chase me off, but messing with a man’s burger? That’s just low.”

I shrug, but my pulse is racing. Even in the dim lights of Jimmy’s, with bad rock music on the jukebox and peanut shells on the floor, Hunter looks like he’s stepped off a yacht—six foot two of tanned, preppy gorgeous.

Don’t forget ‘way out of your league.’

“Feel free to go someplace else,” I tell him, turning my glare all the way up. I’ve sent guys running with this stare: prize street fighters and burly dock workers all wilting under my wrath.

But Hunter doesn’t flinch.

“Nah, I like the service here. It’s so… unpredictable.” He reaches for a fry, and I can’t stop my gaze following the elegant line of his forearm: all tanned sinew, dusted with golden hair.

I stifle a sigh. He may be driving me crazy with irritation right now, but Hunter’s body is a work of art. At least, it was when he was nineteen.

And now…?

“I work here,” I remind him, snapping out of my haze.

“I’m not stopping you.” He grins. “I think that couple in the corner are ready to order.”

I turn. They’re gesturing to me, looking annoyed. “There goes my tip,” I grumble, going over to deal with them, but when I return, Hunter is exactly where I left him—except now he’s talking up a storm with Garrett.

“Your buddy here says you’ve got the day off Monday,” Hunter gives me a teasing grin. “How about that date then?”

“Traitor,” I hiss at Garrett.

“What?” Garrett protests, “You do. I’m not going to lie for you.”