Page 34 of Operation Wolf: Hunter
CHAPTER 17
Kia
WHEN I FINALLY AWOKE, the sun had set below the horizon, leaving only a few faint streaks of color in the sky as evidence that it had ever been there.
Twilight,I mused groggily.
And the reminder of the horse nearly threatened to send me into a spill of tears again. But I held them back. There was no way I was going to cry any more today. My head felt as though it had swollen to the size of a watermelon, and my eyes and nose ached from all the crying I’d already done.
God.I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.Hunter probably thinks I’ve lost my damn mind.
I bet no woman he had ever met lost her head like this over a horse she’d barely known. If he told the story to any of my friends or acquaintances in New York, they would never believe it.
Kia, getting emotional over an animal? That woman wouldn’t even be moved to tears by the TV commercials with Sarah McLachlan singing “Angel.”
I owed Hunter an explanation for my behavior, and I was going to give it to him before I chickened out, hiding behind my mental walls again.
Dragging myself from the bed, I shuffled into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I attacked my bedraggled locks with a brush for a few minutes, and then, knowing I wasn’t going to look any better unless I started caking on makeup, I left the bathroom and made my way down the hall to Hunter’s room.
No one answered when I knocked, and a quick peek inside the room revealed nothing but rumpled bedsheets. I flushed as I remembered that I had helped rumple those sheets, and desire warmed my blood despite my shitty mood, surprising me. I shouldn’t even be thinking about sex right now, yet the way his hands and mouth had felt on me, teasing my most private places—
Shaking my head, I closed the door and headed downstairs. I found Mrs. Jones cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner, but no Hunter or any of the other ranch hands who had been here to help out today.
“Where is everyone?”
Mrs. Jones glanced over her shoulder toward me and then set down the dish she was holding. She briskly dried her hands on a towel. “Oh, you’re looking much better, sweetheart,” she said, taking my face between her hands and peering into my eyes. “But you look like you could use a bite. Let me heat you up some leftovers.”
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry right now. I just want to know where Hunter is.”
“That foolish man?” Mrs. Jones clucked her tongue disapprovingly as she opened the fridge door, clearly ignoring me as she pulled out what looked like fried catfish, baked sweet potatoes, and steamed vegetables. “He’s outside, sleeping with the horses. Says he’s waiting for the animal that attacked poor Twilight to come back. I told him he was crazy to put himself in danger like that, but he won’t hear of it.”
A lump formed in my throat at the thought of Hunter being so dedicated that he would sleep with the horses, and I scowled at the emotional response. I’d probably raged and cried on this ranch more than I had my entire life, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Either Texas ranch life was getting me in touch with my emotional side, or it was driving me batshit crazy.
“I’m going to go out and check on him.”
“Hang on, sweetie.” Mrs. Jones caught me by the wrist as I was turning away. “Let me finish heating this food up for you.”
“But I’m not—”
“Maybe you’re not hungry, but I can guarantee you, Hunter will happily eat all of this and wonder why you didn’t bring seconds. That boy is insatiable when it comes to food.” Mrs. Jones took the container out of the microwave and then handed it to me along with a fork wrapped in a napkin. “Go ahead, honey. I’ll just finish up here and head off to bed.”
I took the food out to the stables, my ears straining to hear any kind of unusual activity, but there was nothing but the sound of chirping crickets and the occasional rustle in the grass. Brilliant stars littered the night sky, and the moon was round and nearly full, providing a gorgeous luminescence to the evening. It was like nothing I’d ever seen in NYC. The light pollution generally blotted out all but the brightest stars in the sky, and even then, they were faint pinpricks. Here, I could actually imagine them as the enormous, gaseous balls of fire they really were, providing light from trillions of miles away.
It made me realize that my place in the world, in comparison, was so very, very small. Pushing that thought aside for later, I approached the stables. I wondered if anyone was actually inside since there was no light coming from the structure, but I figured maybe Hunter didn’t want to alert the animal to his presence if it came back. I shook my head, agreeing with Mrs. Jones. This was foolishness. Surely, there was a better way to ensure the safety of the horses.
“Kia?” Hunter’s voice called as I stepped inside, a husky whisper in the darkness, sending a shiver of desire through me. “Is that you?”
“Yes.” I squinted through the shadows, trying to figure out Hunter’s location. “Where are you?”
“Third stall on the left.”
I found the stall in question, which was wide open, and as my eyes adjusted more fully to the darkness, I could make out Hunter lying on his back in a pile of hay. “That can’t be comfortable,” I told him, settling next to him on my knees, the container of food still in my hands.
“It’s all right,” Hunter said, sitting up and taking the Tupperware. “But I have to say, it’s become a lot more comfortable now that I have some pleasant company.” He gave me a roguish smile that made my heart flutter like a schoolgirl’s. “I’m talking about the food, of course,” he added as he removed the lid from the container. “Ow!” he cried as I smacked him on the arm.
“Serves you right,” I said with a sniff, folding my arms.
Hunter took a bite of his food, and my stomach rumbled, my body apparently relaxed enough to want food again. Raising an eyebrow, Hunter scooped up another bite of catfish and then offered it to me.
