Page 83 of Lake Shore Splendor

Ugh! This needed to end. Now.

He tossed the covers aside, stood, and snapped on the overhead light. Jerking his clothes from the chair where he’d tossed them, he jammed his legs into the jeans, his arms into the sweatshirt, then smashed the stocking cap onto his head. Grabbing a stick of gum from a cabinet, which he slammed shut, he then snagged his coat as he stomped toward the narrow door and shoved his arms into it as he marched to his truck.

Snowflakes drifted silently around him, falling from the starless night sky. It wasn’t heavy, but up here it could turn so quickly. Didn’t matter—Hunter was going.

The truck engine started on the second turn, and he didn’t wait for it to warm up before he crammed the gear into drive. His mind was made up, and they would have this out now.

Luna held in quiet peace when he parked in the alley behind Janie’s Café. He tested the back kitchen door and found it opened freely. He scowled—shouldn’t a woman be more cautious about her business and her home? She had a dang key, for goodness’ sake. Even if Luna was isolated and a town of merely six hundred souls, all of whom Janie knew, she should lock up. It was a sensible thing to do.

Hunter tucked that away to discuss later as he jogged up the back stairway that led to her loft. At the closed door to her apartment, he raised his fist and pounded.

Nothing.

Might have something to do with the fact that it was sometime after one in the morning. Even so, Hunter knocked again. “Janie!”

He tested the door and was relieved to find that at least she’d secured that.

Yet again he pounded and called her name.

And then the door jerked open. Blue eyes, fierce and sheened with sleep, met him from the other side.

“What are you doing?” she scowled.

“We need to talk.”

“It’s after midnight. Go home.”

“No.” He stepped inside her apartment.

“Are you drunk?”

“Not even a little.” Though there had been that temptation.

Janie tugged on the blanket she’d wrapped around herself. Her hair hung free from its normal ponytail, a glorious dark mess that spilled over the edges of her shoulders and onto the cream softness of that blanket.

Man, she was beautiful. Hunter rolled his fingers into his palms. He stared down at this stunning creature who held the power to drive him mad.

No. No madness tonight, no matter what the hour was. He focused on what he’d intended to do two days ago. “I’m calling this off.”

“What?”

“The bet. It’s off.” He edged closer. A waft of her deliciously feminine scent—a hint of apples and vanilla and something that was all Janie—teased his senses.

Those gorgeous blue eyes widened. Was there relief in them?

Hunter leaned nearer. The breath he drew was all her, and as his pulse charged, a delightful fog overcame the exhaustion of his mind. Janie alone had the capacity to put him a little tipsy, no alcohol required.

“Janie.” Her name slipped from his lips in a rough whisper, and the longing that came with it had him reaching to finger the wild mess of her unbound hair. So soft. One touch was not enough. “You don’t need to prove anything.”

Her stare softened and warmed. And then she blinked. Blue ice replaced that tender look, and she wrapped his wrist in a firm grip to push his intruding hand back to his chest. “Who says I need to prove anything?”

“You did.” Hunter fought to plug the drain of fuzzy warmth her chilled response pulled. He was so tired of feeling frustrated with this woman. Especially when she’d just muddled his senses like too much sweet strawberry wine.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head and willed clear thought back into his mind. “You said I’ve underestimated you for a long time.” He shook his head. “For the record, I’ve never underestimated you.”

Janie stepped forward, her body as stiff and straight as a fence post. “That is a lie, and you know it.”

“How do you figure that?”

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