“Good night, buddy.” I kissed Coby’s hair and eased out of his room.
It had been a month since Dad’s heart attack and life was getting back to a new normal.
Per Mom’s promise, she had put Dad on a diet—something he hadn’t protested one bit. He’d already lost twelve pounds and was committed to the healthier lifestyle we were all supporting.
Beau had started taking Dad on regular mountain hikes, Michael had swapped out all of Dad’s heavy Budweiser with Michelob ULTRA, and I had replaced the weekly cookie plate I’d been taking Dad for years with bowls of fresh fruit.
It had taken nearly the entire month, but my fear of losing Dad was finally starting to go away. And whenever I’d start to worry, Hunter was right by my side. He’d pull me into his arms and reassure me that people recovered from heart attacks all the time and went on to live many, many more years.
Without Hunter, this whole ordeal would have been miserable. Without Hunter . . . well, I didn’t like to think about that. I had him and wasn’t letting go.
“What are you doing?” I plopped down on my couch next to Hunter.
He turned his laptop away so I couldn’t see the screen. “It’s a surprise. Is Coby out?”
“Like a light. What’s your surprise?” I careened my neck to get a peek but Hunter tickled my ribs. I yelped and sat back as I swatted his hand away.
“Quiet.” He laughed. “You’re going to wake up Coby.”
I made a “yeah, right” face. Coby had barely made it through two pages of his bedtime book before zonking out. He was deep in dreamland along with Pickle, who was sleeping on the floor by his side.
“Come on, show me your surprise. Is it for Coby? Because I’m great at keeping surprises secret.” I zipped my lips shut, turned the lock, then opened my mouth to toss in the key.
Hunter chuckled and leaned over to brush his lips against mine. “You’re impossible to deny.”
I grinned as he handed over the laptop.
“The surprise is for you, but I’m not quite done with editing yet.”
“Are these my pictures?” I nearly came off the couch I was so excited.
“Yeah. Just click through to the right.”
I hunkered back down, hovering over the laptop, with a huge smile on my face. Taking up the entire screen was a picture of Coby from behind as he fished at the community pond.
“Hunter,” I whispered, shaking my head in disbelief. “This is . . .”
It was exactly the shot I’d imagined in my mind but better. The light had been touched up and there was a sunbeam coming down on the water. The grasses had been blurred to give the photo a softened edge. And somehow Hunter had managed to capture enough of Coby’s profile to see that my son was overjoyed.
“You don’t have to use them,” Hunter said. “It won’t hurt my feelings if you decide they aren’t good enough. We can get a professional photographer to come and try them again.”
I tore my eyes away from the photograph. “No. This is amazing. Like, the best picture I’ve ever seen.”
“Really?”
“Totally.” I ran my fingers across his bearded jaw. “Hunter, this picture is unbelievable. It’s just as good as any paid professional could have done. I’m just . . .” I dropped my hand and looked back to the laptop. “I’m just so proud that you did this. It makes this whole project so much more special.”
A smile consumed Hunter’s handsome face.
“Can I see the rest?” I asked.
He nodded and scooted closer to watch.
I clicked through the photo slides, my amazement growing with every picture. “Oh my god! This one is perfect!” I couldn’t help but shout. The picture Hunter had taken from atop the gas station was incredible and deserved an extra couple of decibels. He’d captured all of Main Street with the bridge leading out of town in the background. It was everything I loved about my town, captured in one single shot.
“That one is my fourth favorite,” he said.
“Fourth?” Besides the picture of Coby, this one was my number two.
He smiled. “Keep going.”
I clicked again, then gasped. The next one was from our early morning trip to Wade Lake.
It stole my breath away.
Hunter had done the nearly impossible. He’d taken a photo that did the scenery justice. He’d captured the rich colors of early dawn. The sunshine barely cresting the mountain ridge. The glassy water reflecting the clouds above. He’d gotten it all perfectly.
“That one turned out great,” he whispered.
“No, incredible.” Great was an understatement.
I clicked through the next two pictures but froze when the last photo filled the screen. It was a picture of me and Coby in a booth at the café. Coby and I had our noses pressed together in an Eskimo kiss. We were both smiling and his small hand was on top of mine on the table. I hadn’t even remembered Hunter taking it.
“That one isn’t for the motel,” he said. “That one is just for me.” Hunter grinned at the screen. The adoration in his eyes melted my heart.
He loved us. Without a doubt, he loved us.
The way he was looking at that picture was the way my parents still looked at one another. It was the way Beau looked at Sabrina. It was how Jess looked at Gigi and their kids.
Hunter loved us.
And we loved him.
I loved him.
“I love you.” Once again I’d proven that whatever came into my head more often than not came rushing out of my mouth.
Hunter’s eyes snapped to mine and he stared at me for three torturous heartbeats. Then a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “I love you too.”
By some miracle, the laptop didn’t get dropped as our bodies collided together. With his lips moving roughly against mine, I climbed into his lap as he slid his tongue inside. I love kissing this man. Everything about his mouth was delicious. He’d alternate stroking my tongue and sucking on my bottom lip. When I angled my head for deeper access, he rewarded me with a nip of his teeth.
His muscled arms banded across my back as he crushed me against his chest. I gave him all my weight, settling my rocking hips against the straining erection beneath his jeans. He thrust his hips up, sending a jolt of heat right to my core as his lips left mine to trail openmouthed kisses down my neck.
“Hunter,” I moaned as his teeth grazed my collarbone.
“God, I love that sound.” He kissed the hollow of my neck and my hips rocked harder, searching for some friction to relieve my aching clit. “Grind down hard, baby.”
I obeyed, circling my hips hard into his lap. He groaned and thrust higher, sending another pulsing current to my core.
“Bed. I need you to take me to bed.” My plea elicited a rumble from his throat.
“You want my cock, baby?” His rough voice, his dirty words, his hands kneading my ass sent a shiver through my body. “Yeah,” he said against my neck. “You want my cock.”
Hunter stood fast, his strong arms setting me on unsteady feet so he could drag me to the bedroom. The second the door clicked shut, I started whipping off my clothes. When my shaking fingers fumbled with the button on my jeans, I huffed in frustration, trying to clear the fog from Hunter’s kiss so I could get naked. But this damn button!
Before I could yank the metal disk free from the buttonhole, I was flying through the air. My back bounced onto the bed from Hunter’s toss. My weight was still unsettled when his hands came to my pants and he yanked the traitorous button free. Then with a hard tug at my ankles, he jerked my pants off my legs, releasing me from the denim. While he quickly dispensed of his own clothes, I wiggled out of my lace thong.
“Fuck, Maisy. Look how wet you are.” Hunter’s weight hit the bed as he knelt between my legs. His fingers trailed up my calves to my knees, the tips just barely ghosting my skin. When he reached my knees, he gripped hard, digging into my flesh as he shoved my knees apart.
A strangled noise came from my throat and my eyes rolled back into my head. My choppy breathing echoed in my ears as I lay there, completely spread and open for Hunter’s inspection.
“You are beautiful. So beautiful.” His fingers found my soaking-wet center and I gasped when he plunged two right inside.
He rubbed my tender spot and my hips bucked. If he kept at it, I was going to come but I wanted it to be around his cock. “Hunter, I need you. Please.”
Without delay, the head of his thick, gorgeous cock pressed against my entrance. His chest came down to rest against mine as his elbows bracketed me beneath him. Then with one slow press, he sank deep, filling me completely.
“Yes,” I moaned into his ear as he pulled out, then slammed in a hard thrust. We’d stopped using condoms a while ago and the feel of him bare against me inside me was nothing less than incredible.
Hunter worked his cock in an ever-changing rhythm—hard and fast, then deep and slow—exactly the way I liked it. He knew my body, my cues, everything. He knew how to bring me to the edge and then drag me away, again and again, until I was a shaking mess and completely at his mercy.
“Are you ready to come, baby?”
I nodded as he sank his hot, wet mouth onto mine for another kiss.
His cock thrust deep and he stayed rooted so he could grind the base into my throbbing clit. Then he leaned back, coming up on his knees. With his hands under my thighs, he lifted them up, the angle changing so he could fuck me deeper.
When he pulled out and rammed back inside, my head and shoulders jerked forward, coming off the bed, then flying back down. “I’m going to come,” I gasped as pleasure swelled, spreading from my core in a wave of tingling heat.
Right before my orgasm hit, I reached up and drove my fingers into Hunter’s hair, yanking out the elastic tie and gripping his locks by the scalp. Hard. White spots broke behind my eyelids as I let the explosion go. My whole body pulsed, squeezing him as he powered faster, drawing out my orgasm in the hardest he’d ever built.
“Fuck me,” he hissed. “I love you.” My walls milked his cock until his own release was spilling into me with hot spurts. I forced my eyes open to watch Hunter’s orgasm, savoring the view of his eyes squeezed shut with pleasure and his Adam’s apple bobbing as his throat rumbled.
I loved this man. I trusted this man. Whether it was to take tender care of my heart or to satisfy my body when we were having hot, carnal sex, I trusted him to love me like I loved him.
Selflessly.
Hunter’s heaving chest collapsed on top of me as his arms snaked behind my back to hold tight. Boneless, I barely had the strength to wrap my arms around his back and stroke his sweaty skin.
“I love you, Maisy Holt,” he said into my neck. “How did I get so lucky to win you?”
Overcome with love for this man, my breath hitched and tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. “I love you too, Hunter Faraday.”
We were both lucky. From now until the end of my life, I’d count my luckiest day the one when he came into my motel. All the bad—all the crap Everett had put me through—I’d do it all over again if that meant this man was my reward.
“Don’t cry.” Hunter rolled to his side and pulled me tight against his chest. His cock was still buried deep inside me. “Don’t cry, baby.”
My heart had never felt so full. So complete. The happiness was so strong and overpowering, I didn’t know how to process it other than to cry.
“I just . . . I love you. I’m too happy.”
He kissed my forehead. “I know how you feel.”
He held me tight, giving me a few minutes to let go of it all, before he slid out. Then he went to the bathroom and brought back a washcloth to gently clean between my legs.
When he slipped into bed, we tangled our naked bodies together. I was lying on his side, his arm behind my neck and my cheek pressed into his chest. My foot was trailing up and down his calf as his hand was threaded with mine on his washboard stomach.
“Thank you for taking my pictures,” I said to his bare chest.
“You’re welcome. I’ll finish editing and get the canvases ordered.”
I snuggled deeper and closed my eyes. “Thank you.”
“Will you do me a favor when they get in?”
“Sure.”
“I’d like to hang the picture of you and Coby in the office at my house.”
I smiled and kissed the valley between his pecs. “I can do that.”
“And I’m paying for all of them.”
My smile turned down. “No way.”
“Maisy,” he warned.
“Hunter.” I mimicked his tone. “This is my motel and those pictures are a business expense.”
“Those pictures are a gift to the woman I love.”
“Damn it,” I muttered. I wouldn’t turn down a gift and he knew it. “Well played, Dr. Faraday.”
He chuckled.
“Your furniture should be getting here early next week,” I said. “Maybe once we get it all set up we could start our sleepovers?”
“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”
“Good, then it’s settled.” I smiled, excited about what was about to be delivered.
Because there wasn’t a huge selection of home goods in Prescott and I hadn’t had time to drive to Bozeman to shop, I’d ordered most of Hunter’s furnishings online. The living room couches and chairs would arrive first. Then the bed for Coby’s room. And then the desk I’d had custom built for his office and the massive dining room table.
I couldn’t wait to surprise him with everything. I’d already arranged for Beau and Michael to help me get it all set up so that next week I could take him up there under the ruse of unpacking shipments when really, it would be all done.
I’d even recruited Mom to help me furnish the kitchen since I’d been so busy at the inn. She’d had a blast buying dishes, pots and everything else a kitchen could need. I’d been stashing everything in her garage, which was filled with bags and boxes, so Hunter wouldn’t get wind of my surprise.
“What time do we need to be downtown for the parade tomorrow?” Hunter asked, pulling my thoughts away from decorating.
“It starts at ten but if we want a good spot we’ll need to be there at nine.”
“Okay,” he yawned. “Did you set an alarm?”
“No, I forgot.” I rolled off of him and reached for my phone on the nightstand. I smiled at the blank screen when I opened it up.
It had been over a month since I’d gotten a call from Unknown. That reporter had finally given up. Now I was just hoping that she had been the last. That the reporters of the world had found better news, and in time, I’d get the closure I’d been searching for since killing Everett.
I’d conquered my fears of the hospital. Now if I could just get over the random flashes, I’d feel like Hunter, Coby and I could truly move on. I hadn’t had a flash in a while, the last happening when I’d been cleaning a couple of weeks ago, so I’d been keeping my fingers crossed that the times between them were getting longer. Maybe one day they’d vanish altogether.
“There.” Setting my alarm for six, I curled back into Hunter’s side and kissed his chest. “Good night.”
He kissed my hair. “Good night, Blondie.”
I smiled.
Good nights. All I wanted was a lifetime of good nights with Hunter by my side.
And if things kept going like they had been, I might just get my wish.
Hunter
Time was up.
She loved me, which meant it was time to tell Maisy the truth. It was time to tell her about my past. About Nell.
About Everett.
It was time to tell her about everything and then cling to her feet when she tried to run away.
“Who is Nell?”
Maisy’s question caused my hands to flinch on the steering wheel. The car jerked to the side before I righted us back on the road toward Nick and Emmeline Slater’s garage for their annual Independence Day party.
“Whoa. Everything okay?” Maisy asked.
“Yeah. Sorry, I thought I saw an animal on the road,” I lied.
“Oh.”
She stayed quiet for a minute and I hoped she’d let her earlier question go. Maybe she’d forgo asking about Nell again since we were just minutes away from our destination.
“Who is Nell?” she repeated.
Fuck.
Her question was another sign that it was time for me to tell her the truth.
My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. I took a breath and opened my mouth, but before I could respond to her question, Maisy waved her hands in the air.
“Sorry. Forget it. I shouldn’t pry. I, um, saw her name on your phone a while back and was just curious. I didn’t mean to snoop but it popped up with a text right as I was walking by and the text wasn’t very nice. I kind of forgot about the whole thing but then we ran into the Mitchells at the parade earlier and their daughter is named Nellie and I remembered the text and—”
“Hey.” I took her hand to stop her nervous babbling. “It’s okay. Nell is . . . well, she’s not a fun topic.”
“I figured.”
I thought back through all of Nell’s texts. The majority were Call me or Stop ignoring me. Except for one.
What happens next is your fault.
That had to be the text that Maisy had seen.
Fucking Nell.
She had stopped harassing me and I’d been holding out hope that we were done and she’d finally processed my choice to live here. I hoped that she’d realize I was never coming back and she’d move on with her own life and leave me to mine. Foolish hope.
It would make it a fuck of a lot easier to tell Maisy about Nell if that was true.
“I’ll tell you about her but now isn’t the time.” I jerked my chin back to Coby, who was kicking his legs wildly, jittery from all the parade candy he’d consumed after his afternoon nap.
“But you’re okay?” Maisy asked. “She’s not threatening you or whatever?”
“No. She’s not. And I’m great.” I brought her hand to my mouth for a kiss.
“I shouldn’t have looked. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Don’t ever apologize. Your curiosity is one of the things I love about you.”
That and her patience. All this time and she’d kept her promise to not pry about my family or past relationships. She’d given me more leeway than any other woman would have in her position.
But she wouldn’t need to for much longer.
I’d tell her the truth, then I’d get on my knees and beg her to forgive me for the lies and omissions. She loved me and it was my small sliver of hope that we might actually make it through all of this together.
“I hope the firework show goes well for Michael tonight,” Maisy said, changing topics. “He’s so nervous. He’s done this before but I think he’s worried that something will go wrong and Alana will see.”
I chuckled. “He’ll be fine.”
In Alana’s eyes, Michael could do no wrong. His firework show could consist of one sparkler and a flaming lotus flower and she’d say it was the most spectacular event in Prescott’s history.
“We’re here!” Coby shouted when I pulled into the parking lot in front of Slater’s Station.
Maisy sat straighter in her seat and undid her seat belt. She was out the door before I’d even shoved the 4Runner in park.
Then she got mobbed by her crew.
After the women dispersed, Gigi went right to the backseat to unbuckle Coby so he could run off and find the other kids. Felicity and Sabrina popped open the back of the car to get the cookies Maisy had made for dessert. By the time Emmeline waddled over from the garage with her heavily pregnant belly, we were ready to turn back.
“Will you grab the cooler?” Maisy called to me as she walked with Emmeline.
“Got it.” I waved and went to the backseat for the drinks.
With the cooler deposited by the fridge in the garage, I joined the guys huddled around a classic black Camaro Nick was restoring.
“Hey.” I shook Nick’s hand. “Thanks for having us.”
“Welcome. Glad you could make it.”
I shook hands with Jess, Silas and Beau. I’d met some of the other guys before, including Nick’s dad and brother, who were in town for the weekend and staying at the Bitterroot.
“This is sweet,” I told Jess, running my hand across the hood of the car.
“No shit. Makes me want one of my own.”
I nodded. “It would be fun to get an old one and rebuild it. Maybe do it together with Coby.”
Conversation stopped and all eyes came to me.
My spine went straight. “What?”
Across from me Beau was grinning. “Just glad you’re stepping up.”
I relaxed and grinned back. Fuck yes, I was stepping up. Beau’s time as Coby’s father figure was over.
That was my job.
“I—”
A woman’s cry interrupted my sentence and all heads turned to the open garage doors at the front of the shop. Jess and I moved first, both of us trained over the years to recognize the sound of pain. Nick sprinted past us, knowing the sound of his wife’s cry. When we got outside, all of the women were hovering over Emmeline, who was bent over and clutching her belly.
“What happened?” I asked when I reached Emmeline’s side.
“Contraction,” Emmeline hissed. “A big one.”
“How far apart are they?”
“Ten minutes or so. I’ve been having them all day but nothing too close so I wasn’t worried. But that one came right on top . . . uh-oh.”
A trickle of water ran down her leg. “Okay. Time for the hospital. Are you ready to meet your baby girl?”
She looked over to Nick at her side and smiled.
Then chaos erupted as the party got shut down, the Slaters roared away to the hospital and I kissed Maisy on the cheek before following.
Nine hours later, I stepped out of Emmeline’s hospital room, leaving her, Nick and baby Nora alone to rest.
Dr. Peterson was Emmeline’s primary care physician but I’d stuck around, wanting to learn from a doctor with incredible experience. I hadn’t delivered many babies outside my residency, and since I was staying in Prescott indefinitely, eventually I’d be the senior doctor at Jamison Valley Hospital. I couldn’t have picked a better baby to welcome into this community. Nora Slater was as perfect as newborns could be.
Rushing to the locker room, I changed out of my scrubs and dug my phone out of my jeans pocket. Then I called Maisy. It was three in the morning but I didn’t care that I was going to wake her up. She wouldn’t either.
“Hey, baby,” I said when she answered.
“Hi. Is everything okay?”
“Healthy baby girl. Seven pounds, three ounces. Ten fingers, ten toes.”
She sighed. “Oh, good. Are you coming home?”
Home. I smiled. “I’m on my way.”
“Okay,” she yawned. “See you soon.”
I hustled home and into bed, curling my Maisy into my arms.
Then I made myself a promise.
Tomorrow, I’d arrange for Coby to spend the night with Brock and Marissa one night this week so I could tell Maisy everything.
As soon as my confession was behind us, we could move forward. She’d be wearing my ring, Coby would be my son, and my baby would be growing in her stomach.
This was the last chalk mark on an otherwise clear slate and it was time to wipe it clean.
“Hey,” I called into the lobby of the motel.
“Hi!” Maisy rushed from behind her computer at the counter to give me a kiss. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see if you wanted lunch. I had a break.”
“Okay, sure. Do you want to go somewhere or just eat upstairs?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I’d like to finish those leftovers from dinner last night. Especially if Coby is spending the night with Mom and Dad tonight. That way we can go eat wherever.”
“All right.”
It had been two days since Nora Slater’s birth and my resolve to tell Maisy the truth was as strong as ever. Tonight, she’d learn everything. Then I’d fight through the tears, the yelling and the hurt to get us to the other side.
The door behind me opened and I turned to see a man in a gray suit walk into the lobby.
“Hi,” Maisy greeted. “How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for,” he glanced at the manila envelope in his hand, “Maisy Holt.”
“That’s me.”
“Can I see some ID, ma’am?” the man asked.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Some ID? What the fuck did this guy want? He wouldn’t make eye contact with me so I couldn’t get a good read on him, but my gut was telling me something bad was coming.
Maisy went to her purse on the counter and dug out her wallet to get her driver’s license. When the man looked it over, he handed it back along with the envelope.
“Maisy Holt, you’ve been served.”
He wasted no time leaving the lobby as Maisy and I stared at the envelope. With shaking hands, she ripped open the seal and slid out papers. As her eyes scanned the white sheets, her face paled and her mouth fell open.
“What?” I moved to stand by her side and scan the pages myself, but they fluttered to the floor as Maisy whispered.
“Everett’s mother is seeking custody of Coby.”