Page 93 of By Your Side
“You’re early,” I said, my voice softer than I meant it to be.
He shrugged, propping an elbow on the bar. “Deacon had the shop covered. Figured I’d rather be with you.”
That little flutter in my chest turned into a full sweep. I busied myself wiping down the already-clean counter, because otherwise I’d probably climb over it just to get to him. “I love that you still come by to close with me.” It had been a slow night, so everyone had gone home a few minutes ago.
“Yeah.” His voice was steady, but there was something underneath it. Something that made me lift my head.
Our eyes met, and I saw it—the weight he carried for me, for my kids, for all of it.
I leaned on the bar across from him. “I don’t know if I ever said thank you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I do,” I insisted. My throat felt tight, but I pushed through it. “Hunter, I thought I was protecting everyone by keeping things quiet and handling everything on my own. But all I was doing was pushing you away. And you still showed up even when I didn’t deserve it.”
His jaw tightened, but his eyes softened. “Paige, I was never going to leave you in it alone. Not then, not now.”
The jukebox shifted to an old love song—something twangy and slow, the kind of thing couples would dance to if the place were fuller. For a second, I let myself imagine swaying there with him in the empty bar, the lights low, his hand warm against the small of my back.
Instead, I said, “The girls are doing better. They trust you.”
His gaze sharpened, that quiet intensity that always undid me. “Good. Because I meant what I said, Paige, I’ll always show up for your kids. For you.”
Emotion rose thick in my chest, and I swallowed it down, pressing a hand against the cool wood of the bar. “I don’t know what’s coming next. But I know I’m strong enough for all of it, and I want you with me while I figure it out.”
He stood, slow and deliberate, and closed the distance between us. His hand came to rest over mine on the counter, warm, solid. “Then that’s where I’ll be.”
The room went quiet in that way it sometimes does when the air is thick with something meaningful. I tilted my head up, caught in the look he was giving me—the one that made my knees weak and my heart pound—and whispered, “Dance with me?”
No crowd, just the two of us swaying behind the bar. His arms came around me, mine looped around his neck. His hand pressed firmly against the small of my back as we swayed in the empty bar. The lights overhead were soft, the jukebox playing soft and low, and I leaned into him, letting the warmth of his body sink into mine.
It was easy to forget everything when we were like this. Easy to let my guard down.
“Is this what prom would have felt like if I’d gone with you?” I whispered, my cheek against his chest.
His chest rumbled with a low laugh. “Yeah. Except I wasn’t really into dancing back then.”
I tipped my head back, caught by the wicked glint in his eyes, and smiled. “And we won’t have to go out to your truck afterward. Or maybe we should.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth, and the air shifted. The lazy sway slowed, turning into something heavier and more charged. He bent his head, brushing his lips against mine in the softest tease of a kiss.
The first kiss was tender, but the second was fire. His hand slid from the small of my back down over my hip, pulling me closer, until I could feel the hard planes of his body pressed against mine. My fingers curled in his shirt, holding him there, needing him closer.
I gasped into his mouth, and he swallowed it with a growl low in his throat, kissing me harder. The bar disappeared. The world disappeared. There was only Hunter, his mouth on mine, his hand slipping under the hem of my shirt, his thumb grazing skin that burned under his touch.
I broke away only long enough to breathe. “I love how you make me feel.”
“Maybe we should go out to my truck right now and find a dark place to park,” he rasped, his forehead pressed to mine. “I’ll show you how much I missed you today.”
I nodded, dizzy from the way he was looking at me, like I was the only thing he’d ever wanted. “You have the best ideas.”
His hand tightened on my waist, his mouth finding mine again, this time deeper, hungrier. Heat coiled low in my belly, and every nerve screamed for more. He didn’t answer.
I pulled back with a shaky laugh, breathless. “Let’s lock up and get out of here.”
His jaw clenched, his eyes dark with restraint. He pressed one last kiss to my mouth, fierce and lingering, then drew in a deep breath. “Damn, Paige.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, still clinging to him. “I need you.” We stood there, pressed together in the quiet glow of the tavern, the heat between us simmering.
