Snowbound with the Biker (Holiday Encounters Book 2) (8 page)

“Why did you and your friends start playing those pranks on my father?”

Shit
. He was going to make me admit everything. I twisted my hands together and took a shaky breath, but managed to keep my eyes steady on his. “When you bought your motorcycle…”

I broke off and dropped my eyes, not wanting to finish that sentence.
Shit, shit, shit.
There was no way I could finish that sentence without sharing way, way more than I wanted to.

“I bought my motorcycle and…” he prompted.

I glanced up at him from under my lashes. “I loved that you bought that bike.” My eyes drifted closed for an instant and a little grin touched my mouth as I remembered him coming home with it, the rumble of the pipes ringing through the neighborhood. I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. “You looked like you found heaven. I’d watch you ride off, and for the first time since I’d known you, you looked…”

I shook my head and wracked my brain for the right word.

Hunter shifted forward a little more. Now only a few inches separated us, and I blinked up at him. His intent gaze was fixed on me, and a small, almost gentle smile touched his lips.

What was going on here? I was suddenly extremely aware of the heat radiating from the fire. All of me felt hot and a little weak.

“How did I look, princess?”

“You looked free,” I whispered. I smiled at him. “Like one of my wounded birds after they’d healed. You remember how they were when I’d let them go when they were ready? I’d open my hands and they’d sit there for a minute, like they didn’t know they were all better. They’d puff their wings a little and then they’d burst off my hands, flying like that moment of freedom was the best thing they’d experienced in their lives.”

He moved even closer and now he rested his hands on my waist. I could only imagine how startled I must look. How many times had I dreamed of Hunter’s hands on me, that look on his face?

Maybe that was it. Maybe I fell asleep in front of the fire and slipped into one of my dreams.

But Hunter gave me a gentle shake and I knew this was no dream. I was standing here in Hunter Lawson’s arms.

“So what did me and my bike have to do with you and your friends writing dirty words in our lawn?”

I bit my lip and stared up at him, but all thought fled.

He gave me another little shake and grinned like he knew exactly the effect he was having on me. “Tell me, Kate.”

I swallowed and nodded a little. I took a deep breath and held it a second before slowly letting it out, and I dropped my eyes to his chest. Here went nothing. “I loved watching you on that bike. I can’t tell you how many times I’d watch out the window when I heard you riding out and wished I could go with you.”

I sneaked a peek up at him to see his reaction.

His eyebrows furrowed again. “Is that what you meant earlier when you said I had no idea how many times you’d thought about going for a ride on my bike?”

I nodded before giving a little shrug. “I’ve wanted to do that since I was fifteen-years-old.”

“You never said anything. You could have just asked for a ride. But you never said two words to me.” He squinted down at me, and I swear I could see the memories playing out in his mind. “In fact, if I remember correctly, you stopped tagging along so much around that time. I figured you looked down on me for buying that bike.”

I snorted. Nothing could be further from the truth. But looking back now, I could see why it seemed that way. I’d had a pretty harmless crush on him up until that point.

But the first time I saw him on that bike, something shifted. My fantasies went from having Hunter hold my hand and admit his feelings for me to having Hunter put me on the back of his bike to ride to some secluded spot and then bend me over the back of his bike while he did all manner of naughty things to me.

My face flamed.

His hands flexed on my hips and a low chuckle broke from him. “I’d pay good money to know what thought just went through your head.”

My eyes widened and I couldn’t tear my gaze from his. Was Hunter
flirting
with me?

My heart stuttered in my chest and I fought to gather my composure. No easy feat considering he still had his hands on me.

“Anyway,” I said, “I liked seeing how happy you were riding off on that bike. And Logan told me how you’d saved money for the better part of a year to buy it. But your dad seemed to lose his mind. I swear I heard him yelling at you for a week straight.”

“That sounds about right,” he said.

“I couldn’t take it. One night I admitted to my friends how much I wanted to get back at your dad and some of the ideas I’d had over the years.” I shrugged. “That was about all it took. Before I knew it we had a bunch of pranks planned. And you know the rest.”

“So you’re saying, the pranks had nothing to do with my dad being a dick to you? You heard him yelling at me and decided you needed to…what, defend me?”

The heat in my face intensified until I felt like my head might blow off my shoulders. But I managed the most nonchalant shrug I could muster up. “I guess.”

“You guess.” He grinned and with just the shifting of his weight, he closed the space between us until he was pressed against me. “All this time I figured you thought I was a piece of shit. But you watched me on my bike and noticed how happy it made me. You defended me when my dad got out of hand. Why? Why did you do that, Katelyn, when you never spoke two words to me?”

The breath left my lungs and my heartbeat picked up until I worried I might pass out. Heat moved through my body, starting at all the points where his body touched mine.

He leaned down, bending his knees a little until we were on eye level. “Katelyn, tell me.”

His low whisper so close to my ear sent shivers through me. Goosebumps rose on my skin. I stared into his eyes. I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. Why was Hunter holding me? My heart had too many years of hiding to hold out hope he might have some feelings for me.

“Tell me,” he said. His voice was a whisper but that didn’t mean it wasn’t also commanding.

I stared up at him and tried to read the emotions swirling in his eyes. His hands moved to slide up and down my arms. The move seemed like it should be soothing, but instead it sent tingles of warmth through my whole body. It triggered the feelings elicited by the dreams I’d been having, and desire curled through my belly.

I placed my hands on his chest and it hit me. The question that I asked myself in my office this morning shot through my mind.

God, had it only been hours ago I’d been sitting in my office? Standing in Hunter’s arms, his body pressed to mine, it felt like several lifetimes ago.

But the question remained. What was I waiting for?

I curled my fingers into his t-shirt. I took a moment to enjoy the feel of his hard pectoral muscles beneath my fingers, and took a calming breath. I needed to do this now or I’d never find the courage to do it.

“Hunter.” I didn’t even recognize the throaty whisper that escaped me. “You have to know how I felt about you?”

He slid his arms around me, trapping my hands between our bodies. “I thought you hated me, but now you’re telling me you stood up to my dad for me. You were happy when I was happy. I’m beginning to think I don’t have a clue about how you felt about me.”

There was something in his eyes—hope and affection and something else I couldn’t put a name to. I couldn’t let him think for even another minute that I thought of him like the loser his father always called him.

I scraped my teeth over my bottom lip and gathered my courage before I finally told him the truth. All of it. “I couldn’t speak two words to you because I got completely nervous and tongue-tied whenever I got within more than ten feet of you. I was sweet as pie to all our neighbors because it didn’t really matter to me if they just saw me as the nice girl that lived across the street. I saw how you felt about being able to ride off on your bike because I spent a lot of time watching you from my window. And I got so angry when your dad called you names and told you you’d never amount to anything because I saw the truth. I never doubted for a second you could do anything you put your mind to.”

His arms tightened around me to the point it was almost painful. I slid my hands up over his shoulders until I had my arms around his neck.

Oh my God
. My breathing all but stopped and I kept my eyes glued to Hunter’s. His expression was fierce in a way I never saw him look before. “You’re telling me how you used to feel about me?”

I nodded.

“We haven’t seen each other for years, Katelyn. How do you feel about me now?”

I couldn’t have stopped the words from pouring out if I tried. “Every time Logan calls home, the first thing I ask about after he tells me he’s healthy and whole is you.”

“So you knew where to find me because…?”

I squirmed in his arms, but he didn’t loosen his hold. God this was mortifying, but I didn’t tear my eyes from his when I answered him.

“I knew where to find you because I always know where to find you. I knew where you were stationed in Afghanistan and when you were stateside. I knew when you moved back to New Jersey after you got out of the Army. And I knew you were here because I don’t even have to pump Logan for information anymore. He usually fills me in before I even ask.”

Holy shit
. I couldn’t believe I just blurted all that out. I let my head fall forward until I could bury my overheated face in his shoulder. “This is mortifying.”

His shoulders shook beneath my hands, and when he spoke, the laughter tinged his voice. “Babe, look at me.”

“No.” I wiggled deeper into his arms. “I’m staying here until I die. And if I keep spilling my guts to you, that should happen in about two point two seconds when I drop dead of embarrassment.”

His shoulders shook harder and now he couldn’t hold back the laughter. “Katie, look at me. Please.”

That did the trick. I snatched my head off his shoulder so I could gawk up at him. “Did you just say please?”

He chuckled and nodded. “But don’t expect me to admit to it in front of witnesses.”

Huh, Hunter Lawson had a sense of humor. That was sort of a new idea to me. I’d heard him crack jokes with Logan over the years, but I’d never seen him like this with a grin on his lips and amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

As I watched, though, the humor slid away. His smile slipped from his face and his eyes turned a deep dark chocolate. The intensity of his look pinned me to my spot. “The first time I noticed you as more than Logan’s little sister, I think you were about fourteen. Too young for me, but still. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Logan and I were in his car about to leave for school. You came running out of the house to catch him to give him a book he forgot. You were wearing black shorts and a little pink tank top and your legs looked like they went on for days. If your brother knew the thoughts going through my head, he would have pulled over and beat the piss out of me.”

“But-but, you never…I mean—” I shook my head, at a complete loss.

He tightened his hold, giving me a quick squeeze. “After that, I never looked at you without thinking about how long your legs were, how sweet you were to everyone, and the thousand reasons I needed to stay away from you.”

“Why did you have to stay away from me?” I whispered.

“To start with, you were my best friend’s little sister and I was too old for you. I didn’t let myself think too much beyond that. And it wasn’t long after that, you started giving me the silent treatment.”

“Around the time I was fifteen?”

He nodded.

Once again I dropped my head forward to hide my face in his chest.

“Hey.” He curved his hands over my shoulders and tried to pull me back, but stopped when I resisted. “What happened when you were fifteen?”

I stood there, hiding, for a long minute. Before I moved back, I inhaled deeply, pulling him, his scent and warmth, into me. But I figured I’d revealed plenty. What’s one more embarrassing, mortifying, humiliating detail?

“When I was fifteen, I started to have dreams about you.”

His head tilted to the side. “You dreamed of me?”

“Yes.” God. Was he going to make me go into detail and spell it out for him? “
Dreams
.”

He stared at me, his expression blank and I could see when my words started to sink in. He blinked, once and then again. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “You mean you started having X-rated dreams about me?”

Of course he’d have to spit it out there like that. I rolled my eyes.

“Give me a break. I was only fifteen. They were more like PG-13. Maybe R-rated. But they were bad enough.” And I wasn’t about to tell him that the dreams hadn’t stopped then. Or about the fact that the ones I’d had more recently were much naughtier than the ones I had back then. “After I had one, I couldn’t be in the same room with you. I figured you’d be able to tell or something. I couldn’t even talk to you anymore.”

I brought my hands down and pushed against his chest, attempting to put a little space between us. I needed breathing room. Maybe I needed to quit this honesty stuff and go back to being the goody two-shoes who kept her mouth shut.

But he wouldn’t let me go.

“Hunter, what’s going on here?”

“I don’t know.” His face changed from tender and amused to something else entirely. “Maybe I’m wondering what would have happened if you admitted all this a long time ago.”

His eyes got darker, more intense, and his jaw tightened. He held me even closer to his body, and I was suddenly very aware of every hard, well-defined inch of him.

My body responded by shooting ripples of desire over my skin and through my belly. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and fought to keep my breathing steady.

His eyes dipped down and fixed on my mouth. “Maybe we should find out now.”

Before I could think, he lowered his head and took my mouth with his. And it was better than any dream I’d ever had. His lips slid against mine, demanding I open to him. I could do no more than comply, parting my lips to give him entrance.