Page 44 of The Fake Fiance's Billionaire Adversary
“No,” he said softly. “I don’t. Let me get the rest of what I owe you.”
“Oh, no. I don’t want anything else from you. I don’t care if I have to bus tables until I’m eighty—I’m paying you back.” How could he act like he was the one hurting when it was he who had betrayed her?
He swallowed hard and stepped aside. “Okay. I guess…well, I guess…” He let the sentence trail off and strode back to his pickup, leaving her watching him pull away.
The tears slid down her cheeks, and part of her wanted to go chasing after him. She wasn’t desperate, though. He’d offered no explanation for what she’d heard. If there had been one, he would have said something.
When the truck pulled out of the driveway, she caught the handle of her luggage and slowly trudged inside. At one time, it would have felt wonderful to come home. Now, it felt more like a noose. Maybe she just needed to let him have it, pull up stakes, and find another place to call home. This one sure didn’t feel like it anymore.
Chapter 23
After dropping Reagan off at the bed and breakfast, Hunter had returned to Caprock Canyon, unsure he’d ever be able to step foot on that island again. The whole way there, he’d practiced telling her he loved her and then showing her that the house was hers, free and clear.
Instead, she’d accused him of trying to swipe it from under her. If she could think that way about him now, after all the time they’d spent together, then it never would have worked between them anyway. With zero trust, a relationship was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Sure, she could have questioned him at the beginning, but things had been good between them. He’d apologized for being stupid that night, had opened up to her more than he had with anyone, and yet, she still expected him to be so low as to try to steal her home from her.
Sleeping had become near impossible. So much so that the last week, he’d found himself on the front porch before the sun rose. It was cold, but as empty as he felt, it didn’t really bother him.
The door opened, and his mom stepped out with a cup in each hand. As she passed him, she handed him one. He looked at it.
“No, I didn’t make it,” she grumbled.
A grunt of a laugh came from his throat. “Okay.”
For a while, they sat in silence. So far, no one had really gone beyond asking what happened. His replies had been short on detail and long on snappy. He didn’t want to talk about it, especially not at length.
“Hunter, you’ve been home over a week now. I’ve given you space, watched you grow sullen, and now, I’m asking you to tell me what happened,” she said as she finished her coffee and set the mug next to her rocker. “If you snap at me like you did the first day you got here, I’m going to go get your daddy and prove that a thirty-four-year-old man can, in fact, get his rear end paddled for sassing his momma.”
His heart hurt to the core even thinking about it. Talking about it…
“Come on, sweetheart. Talk to me.”
“She thought I was trying to steal the bed and breakfast from her. She overheard me talking to Stone about paying it off so I could give it to her.” He paused a moment to push down the emotion evident in his voice. “That she could think that about me after…she didn’t trust me. A relationship can’t be built on distrust.”
His mom nodded. “Did you tell her what you’d done?”
“What did it matter? She believed I was capable of hurting her like that.” He set his half-empty cup down. “That she would jump to that conclusion without even asking me about it…there was no fixing that.”
“Did she even ask if you had an explanation?” His mom tilted her head. “It just seems out of character for her to not give you a chance.”
She had, but his mom hadn’t seen the look of total disgust in Reagan’s eyes or heard it in her voice. The accusation had hit so hard, he’d been left winded. “She did, but, Mom, she wouldn’t have believed me. Not after that.”
“Honey, hadn’t you been wanting to buy her home?”
“Well, yeah, at first. But not anymore. I wanted it fixed up and paid off. I wanted her to know I didn’t want the bed and breakfast. I wanted her.” And he’d ached for her every second since he’d left. She’d put a hole through his chest and hadn’t seemed the least bit concerned.
“Whatexactlydid you say to Stone?”
Shrugging, Hunter said, “I was telling Stone to gut two of the bedrooms. He asked me what I was doing, and I said I was fixing it up and then…” He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his face with his hands. “And then I said I was going to buy it. That I’d charmed it out of her.” Now that he’d said it aloud, no wonder she’d been so angry, and now he understood her angry comment on her porch about charming it out of her.
His mom exhaled sharply. “Oh, Hunter, it sounds like based on what she heard and your history, she had good reason to think something was going on, especially when you didn’t explain when she asked. Go back to Tybee and tell her. That girl loves you.”
“Yeah, but one little misunderstanding and she walks out? How’s that going to work for a marriage?”
His mom chuckled. “This is a hiccup. You think anything in marriage will be easy? I’ve got news for you, bucko: it’s not. The arguments and disagreements will be worse because then you’re living with the person you’re upset with.”
“I doubt she’d even give me that opportunity.” In fact, he was sure of it.
