Page 54 of Bargain with the Bachelor
I’d also miss the Dwarves terribly. I’d miss the town itself. And of course I’d missHunterbeyond bearing.
But I couldn’t stay here any longer. Not with the way I was feeling about him.
Pretending I didn’t care was an exercise in self-torture and becoming harder every day.
A knock at my bedroom door startled me so much I dropped the phone.
“Hello? Kristal?” Cinda’s far away voice called from the bedspread.
I snatched the phone back up. “Hey Cin—can I call you tomorrow? Someone just knocked on my door.”
“Oooh,” she said in an excited voice. “You’dbettercall.”
“I will. Love you—bye.”
Nerves rattling, I crept to the door on bare feet and opened it a crack.
Hunter stood on the other side.
Judging from his expression, his mood had mellowed considerably from earlier. “Can we talk?” he asked softly.
The rattling was now a full-blown drumbeat. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could hear it. “It’s late. I’m already in my pajamas.”
“Please, Kristal. I won’t keep you long. I’m not going to be able to sleep unless I talk to you.”
“Okay.”Interesting.
I opened the door wider and stepped back. “Come in.”
He entered the room, looking around warily, as if checking to see if perhaps I’d snuck in some gang members, and they might be waiting to jump him from the shadows.
“Want to sit over there?” I pointed to the two overstuffed chairs near the large picture window.
Hunter nodded and walked that way. I noticed his fingers tensing and flexing, as if he was filled with barely suppressed energy. He sat in one of the chairs, and I took the one opposite him, folding my legs to one side and beneath me.
Then I waited.
“You look pretty,” was the first thing he said.Notwhat I was expecting.
“Um… thank you? I took off all my makeup, though, and I didn’t feel like messing with the hairdryer tonight, so I’m sure my hair looks like an unruly mop.”
“No. It’s beautiful.” In contrast to the sweet words, his voice was gruff, almost unwilling. “You’re always beautiful.”
All the air suddenly left my chest. Hunter seemed different. And he was telling me I looked pretty. I was fairly sure he hadn’t come here just to compliment my bedtime look, though I had no idea what hedidwant.
Whatever it was, he certainly was serious about it.
“What’s going on, Hunter?”
He folded his lips in, rolled them out, took a breath, then locked gazes with me. “I’m sorry for the way I acted tonight—and earlier today. I was a jerk, and I apologize.”
My breathing resumed. “Okay… I appreciate you saying that.” After a hesitation, I asked, “Whywereyou acting like that? You’ve been strange the past few days, actually.”
His focus didn’t waver but stayed locked on me. “You don’t know?”
I shook my head. When he maintained his silence, I decided to be brave and hazard a guess. “Were you… jealous? Of Larson?”
His answer was little more than a grunt. “Maybe.”
