Page 84 of Plentywood
Hunt lifted my chin. “Maybe he didn’t want to be loved by a man, Ben. Would it be so bad if you gave love another try?”
“Are you going to give love another try?”
“I already am, silly boy.”
“Really?”
Hunter smiled and held my hands before kissing my forehead. “Really.”
There was something about Hunt that made me think Icouldtry. Toward the end of my three years with Rocco, I had become numb to the chance he’d ever love me back. Perhaps I hadn’t valued my worth back then. I’d never required Roccoto be more than he offered. He’d wanted a simple, no-strings sex arrangement, and I’d tried to make us into something we weren’t. As things turned out, he let me leave with not one iota of regret. As if our three years meant nothing.
“Okay,” I sniffed. “God! I’m such a child,” I added, swiping at tears and trying to compose myself. “I hate my insecurities.”
“How about we accept each other’s insecurities and voice them when needed?” he asked. “Because get ready, but I’ve got a dozen or so myself.”
“Big man like you?” I teased, placing my hand on his broad chest and remembering the last time he’d been inside me. Hunter Copeland did it for me.
Hunt held his hand out for me to hold. “How about we go inside and show the town what’s been going on over at the clinic late nights?”
“Stop!” I said.
“You sure?” he joked. “The basementwasfun.”
I slapped at him. “Never mind,” I concurred. “Kiss me, sheriff.”
The moment Hunter placed his lips on mine, my skin reminded me of what I felt for him. I was falling hard. How long could I go without admitting how I felt about him? And did I want to continue hiding that something else was happening in my life?
There were non-answered texts on my phone that I’d ignored for days. Texts from someone who’d resurfaced from my past. Was I truly over that part of my life? And now, add even more to that. Now there were persistent texts and calls coming from someone local.
“You ready, pretty boy?” Hunt asked, motioning toward Smitty’s entrance.
I hated to admit that I loved when he referred to me as a pretty boy. I knew it made me sound soft or feminine, but it washow I felt with him. He made me feel beautiful and that even if I was passive sexually and loved a powerful man to dominate me, I could still be attractive to someone.
I hadn’t felt that way in New York with the only othersort ofserious man I’d been with. Rocco teased me incessantly about being kind of girly in bed. But not the big and studly sheriff. Hunter seemed to crave my body and the way it behaved when he touched me.
I grabbed Hunter’s hand and leaned against him. “I’m ready, handsome.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN: Hunter
“Sheriff! Doc!” the crowd hollered, noticing Ben attached to my hip, his hand smothered by mine.
“It’s about time, you two,” Lance Gold stated when we got closer. Lance and his wife, Barbie, had been close friends of mine and Mark’s.
“I told you,” Barbie added, glancing at her husband while slugging my arm. “Wise choice, Doctor Ben,” she added. “This one’s a catch.”
Ben leaned closer to me. I think he was overcome with the amount of staring folks inside Smitty’s were doing. What he wasn’t aware of was that I had been on the receiving end of incessant bets about my impending relationship. I’d had to deal with gossip from long-time acquaintances, high-fives at work, and the loving support from my friends. Townsfolk had their suspicions after Ben and I started being seen out around town more often.
He was busy at the clinic and didn’t know that Plentywood was a town of supportive folks who genuinely wanted to see others happy. I knew they’d been rooting for me for a long time. Part of their celebration had to be about me coming out the other end of a long tunnel of grief.
Next up, as we made our way to the bar, was Jill. She’d heard endless stories of the past few weeks from me as Ben and Igot closer. As much as she loved and missed her brother, I was confident she was happy for me.
Jill leaned in for a hug and whispered in my ear. “Careful,” she warned. “Charlie is here tonight, and he’s been doing shots. Alotof shots, Hunt.”
I jerked around to see what corner Charlie was located in. He was standing at the bar, leaning against it for support. I could tell from twenty feet away he was blitzed out of his mind.
“How long?” I asked Jill.
“Two. Maybe three hours,” she said. “He’s heard the rumors, Hunt.”
