Walking into the madness that was Sunday dinner at his parents’ house, Hunter hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake by bringing Megan with him. Was it too soon in their new relationship to subject her to the Abbotts? Probably, but Sunday dinner was a big part of their routine and he wanted her to be a big part of his routine. And he wanted his family to know he was serious about her right from the beginning.
“Is there a Sunday dinner uniform that no one told me about?” she asked, gesturing to all the denim and khaki.
Hunter laughed at her observation. “Family picture. My mom gets a wild hair about pictures at least once a year, and she always makes us wear the same thing. This year it’s denim. Last year it was black.”
“The picture on your mantel is from last year.”
“Yes,” he said, pleased that she’d noticed. “We’ve got a few more family members this year.”
“Mom,” Hannah said as she helped in the kitchen. “Are Will and Cam coming?”
“They said they were when we talked to them last night.”
“Can I help with anything?” Megan asked.
“Not a thing, honey,” Molly said. “You’re forever waiting on all of us. Today it’s our turn.”
Hunter sent his mother a grateful smile. He could always count on her to say the exact right thing.
Colton and Lucy arrived, followed by Lucas and Landon and then Max and his very pregnant girlfriend, Chloe.
“Lucas,” Molly said, “go upstairs and iron that shirt right now. You’re not ruining another family picture.”
“Told you she’d make you iron,” Landon said with a smirk.
“She is in the room, and she has a name,” Molly said.
“He’s been ruining the family pictures since the day he was born,” Hunter said, earning a middle finger from his younger brother on his way out of the kitchen.
Hunter grabbed the finger and had Lucas’s arm pinned to his back so quickly his brother never saw it coming.
“The hands!” Lucas screamed. “They’re insured for millions!”
Hunter let him go with a shove that sent Lucas tumbling into the dining room. Then he brushed off his hands like he’d touched something undesirable.
“If you break my china, I’ll kill you,” Molly said.
“It was him.” Hunter winked at Megan, who was trying hard not to laugh.
“Sure it was,” Molly said. “Get out of my kitchen. You’re in my way.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” He took hold of Megan’s hand. “Come see my old room.”
“No girls in your bedroom,” Molly called after him.
“I’m thirty-five, Mom. I have girls in my bedroom all the time.”
“La la la, can’t hear you.”
“All the time,” Landon said, rolling his eyes. “Dream on.”
“I make them take numbers,” Hunter said, as he led Megan from the kitchen before he could dig himself a deeper hole.
“All the time?” she asked.
“I have six younger brothers, sweetheart. I have to make them think I’m a badass, or I’ll lose control of the whole situation.”
“You did have the extra large box of condoms on hand,” she said, surprising him with the witty comment. “I should’ve known.”
He gestured for her to go up the stairs ahead of him. “An unopened box bought with you in mind.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
“You’re the only one who’s ever spent a night in my bed.”
Megan stopped halfway up the stairs and turned around, looking him square in the eye from the step above his. “Come on …”
“I’m serious. I never bring women to my house. I was involved with someone very casually for a couple of years. We hung out at her house. Never at mine.”
“Why didn’t you ever bring her to your house?”
“Because I didn’t want people to see me bringing women there.”
“Why?”
“You ask a lot of questions,” Hunter said.
“That’s not an answer.”
“Because,” he said with a sigh, “I didn’t want you to hear I was bringing other women to my house. I didn’t want to ruin any chance I might have with you by those kinds of rumors getting back to you.”
“I didn’t even know you were interested in me.”
“I was hoping you’d find out someday, and I didn’t want you to think poorly of me before you got to know me.”
She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. “That’s very sweet.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s true.” Without breaking the kiss, he picked her up and kept walking up the stairs, down a hallway to the last door on the left, which he opened and closed while continuing to kiss her.
“Put me down before you hurt yourself.”
“You’re light as a feather.”
“Sure, I am,” she said, laughing.
He laid her on his childhood bed, coming down on top of her. “Hey,” he said, looking down at her.
“Hey, yourself.”
“This is where all the magic happened.”
She looked around him at the room that was exactly the way he’d left it when he went to college. “What’re all the trophies for?”
“Cross-country and lacrosse. I was pretty good at both of them.”
“Apparently. How did you end up with your own room in a family of ten kids?”
“Hannah and I both got our own rooms as the oldest. That’s something the younger ones still bitch about to this day.”
“They didn’t give them your rooms when you moved out?”
“Nope. That’s why this room is referred to as ‘The Shrine.’”
Laughing, she said, “It’s not easy being you around here, is it?”
“You’re just figuring that out?” He kissed her lips and then turned his attention to her neck. “This is the first time I’ve ever had a girl in here. No way I would’ve gotten away with that with all the little eyes on me when I lived here.”
“I bet there was no shortage of volunteers willing to risk it with you.”
“A line out the door.”
He loved making her laugh. He loved making her eyes light up with joy. He loved the rosy glow of her skin and the lips swollen from his kisses. He loved everything about her. “Megan …”
“Yeah?”
He wanted to tell her again, to say the words, to make sure she knew. But he was still afraid of scaring her off. “I’ve had my share of girlfriends, but I’ve never felt for anyone what I do for you.”
“I … I want you to know … I’m falling for you, too. I really am. You’re all I think about when we’re not together, and every time we’re apart, I can’t wait to see you again.”
He’d never been so happy to hear anything in his life. “I’m glad.” Kissing her again, he said, “This is just the beginning.”
“Percy’s son called me about the office manager job in St. J earlier today.”
“Oh. He did?”
“Uh-huh.” She combed her fingers through Hunter’s hair. He loved when she did that. “I told him I’ve already got a job but thanked him for calling.”
Hunter nearly stopped breathing. “What job is that?”
She looked up at him almost shyly. “Running your diner, if you’ll have me.”
“Yes, I’ll have you.” He devoured her in a kiss that set his entire body on fire with desire for more of her. It didn’t matter that they were in his childhood bedroom with his entire family downstairs. Nothing mattered beyond showing her how happy she’d made him.
A knock on the door had him moaning against her lips. “If you value your life, go away.”
“Mom said to tell you it’s time to eat,” Lucas said. “And I’m telling her you’ve got a girl in there.”
“Go right ahead, you little rat.”
They could hear Lucas laughing as he walked away.
Hunter rolled off her onto his back. “I’m going to need an hour before I can go down there.”
“I can make it go away a lot faster than that.”
Before he could begin to gauge her intentions, she had his belt unbuckled and his pants unzipped. “Megan … Oh my God.” All the air seemed to leave his body on a long exhale. The door wasn’t locked. Anyone could walk in there and catch them. He didn’t care. How could he care about anything else when her lips were wrapped around his cock as she licked, stroked and sucked him to the fastest orgasm in the history of the world?
“There,” she said, running her tongue over her lips in the aftermath while he lay demolished and panting on the bed. She put him away as efficiently as she’d taken him out and then patted his abdomen when she was done. “All better?”
“I’ve lost the ability to move my extremities.”
“You’ve also lost your erection, so my work here is finished.” She stood and reached for his hands, pulling him up. “Come on. You can do it.”
He recovered his bearings enough to hook an arm around her waist. “That was the hottest thing ever. None of the fantasies I had in this room, and they were rather vivid, could’ve prepared me for you.”
“Much more where that came from. We just have to get through dinner first.”
Groaning, he followed her from the room. “How do you expect me to ‘get through dinner’ when you say things like that?”
“You can do it. Be strong.”
Hands on her hips, he pulled her back against him, making her laugh when he pressed his reawakened erection against her bottom.
“You’re on your own this time.”
“We’re going to give the term ‘chew and screw’ all new meaning today.”
“You’ve got to pose for pictures before we can screw.”
His loud groan made her laugh all the way down the stairs.