Green Mountain Collection 1 by Marie Force (17)

When they weren’t working, Cameron and Will continued to exist in the fantasy world they’d created for themselves. In that world, no talk of next weekend was permitted.

As lunchtime on Friday approached, Cameron tried to take advantage of the office Internet connection to focus on her overflowing e-mail inbox while Will worked on his computer. They’d fallen into the habit of using opposite ends of his desk even after Hunter offered to find her a space of her own.

“I’m fine here,” she’d said, knowing Hunter was wise to the fact that she wanted to be near Will.

Now she watched Will’s eyes dart back and forth over the screen and his sexy mouth purse in thought before he began typing again. She bit her lip to contain her smile as she moved slowly to remove her sock and slip her foot under the hem of his jeans.

The second her bare toes made contact with his leg, his eyes heated, but he kept them on the screen as he continued to type.

Her e-mail chimed with a new message.

I want you. Right now.

Delighted by the message and the fact that he’d sent it when he was sitting a foot from her, she kept her toes on his leg as she contemplated her response.

Here?

I have to go home to let the dogs out. Come with me.

Let me think about it.

The nonchalance belied the fact that his opening statement had set her blood on fire.

Are you done thinking?

Not yet.

I’m going to spank your bare ass for torturing me this way.

What are you waiting for? Let’s go.

She wasn’t sure who moved first, but they were out of the office and in his truck less than five minutes later. The ride to his house was marked by tense, edgy silence. Cameron had enough time with her own thoughts to accept that this relationship, or whatever it was, had gotten totally out of hand. She wanted to spend every second of every day and every night with him. None of her past disasters could begin to compare to the obsessive need she felt for Will Abbott.

Even knowing it was totally out of hand, even knowing the crash and burn was coming soon and was going to hurt worse than any other, she was powerless to resist him and had no desire at all to try. For as long as the fantasy lasted, she was all in. Everything she had was his.

Outside his house, he tugged her toward the porch, let the dogs out and then stripped her naked right inside the door. He produced a condom from his pocket, dropped his pants to his thighs and lifted her onto his rock-hard erection.

Cameron clutched handfuls of his hair as he surged into her, pressing her against the door so tightly she had no choice but to surrender completely to him. When he made good on his threat to spank her bare ass, the orgasm hit her like a fiery flash of light and heat and overpowering emotion that sent tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Christ, Cam.” He went perfectly still and kissed the tears from her face. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No, no.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her face in the rough fabric of his shirt.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, and he began to move again, slowly, gently, reverently, which did nothing to quell the flood of tears.

He gripped her bottom and shuffled to the sofa, coming down on top of her without losing their deep connection. Gazing into her eyes, he seemed undone by her tears. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“Nothing bad. I promise.” Cameron wrapped her legs around his hips and raised her arms above her head, surrendering to him, giving him everything she had to give.

His fingers dug into her bottom as he bent his head to lave at her nipple.

She arched her back, wanting to be as close to him as she could get.

“You’re so beautiful, Cameron. So hot, so sexy, so sweet.”

His words were every bit as powerful as the deep thrusts of his cock and the bite of his teeth on her nipple.

“Come with me, baby,” he whispered against her breast. “I’m so close.”

Seduced by his words as much as the heat of his body, she clutched his head to her chest and gave up the last remaining piece of her heart, the one she’d tried to hold back so there’d be something left for when this ended.

He came with her, thrusting and groaning and holding her so tightly, so perfectly. Their lips came together in a hungry frenzy of tongues and teeth and breathless moans.

“God, you’re amazing,” he whispered. It seemed he was also well aware that what had transpired between them went far beyond sex and into the realm of lovemaking. “I keep thinking this is too much, too fast, but I don’t care about any of that. What does it matter how it happened?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It’ll matter in a week.”

She rested her fingers over his lips. “We’re living the fantasy, remember?”

“How could I forget? But all I can think about is what happens next weekend when you have to leave.”

“We’ll worry about all of that in a week. Until then, I want the fantasy.”

“I feel like I’ve known you forever and can’t begin to imagine what I’ll do without you when you go.”

Cameron gave herself over to his passionate kiss, knowing full well that their lovely fantasy had just taken a hard turn toward reality.

Everything was different over the next week. Every word they exchanged had deeper meaning, every look was fraught with expectation and every touch set her on fire. Leaving him would be the hardest thing she’d ever done, but it was time to go. She had a business to run in the city and had more than enough information to put together the first cut on the website.

After consulting with Lucy, she’d concluded her photographs were more than sufficient, so she canceled the professional photographer she’d hired to supplement her efforts.

“I can see how much you love it there just by the photos, Cam,” Lucy said on Thursday afternoon. Will had gone to meet with the beekeeper who provided honey to the store, and as much as Cameron wanted to go with him, she’d declined his invitation. She needed to start spending some time away from him to begin gathering her wits for Saturday morning’s departure.

Nolan had promised her car would be ready by Friday afternoon. Her research was completed. Nothing was holding her in Vermont except for the man she’d fallen madly in love with.

“How’re you doing?” Lucy asked gently.

Cameron had shut the door to Will’s office to ensure privacy when she called Lucy. “Awful. I feel sick to my stomach the way I did when Jimmy died.” Thinking of the beloved terrier who’d kept her company for most of her lonely childhood could still bring Cameron to tears.

“It’s grief. You’ll be losing something important when you leave there.”

“I know I shouldn’t have let this happen, Luce, and as bad as it hurts, I can’t bring myself to regret that it did. He’s … He’s everything.”

“Why does it have to end? There’s got to be some way you can keep it going.”

“We live six hours apart, and he doesn’t even have a cell phone.”

Lucy laughed. “He has a landline, and there are things called airplanes and trains and cars.”

“For how long? A year, maybe two? And what happens then? I’ll still be in love with him, and I’ll still live six hours from him.”

“You could always move up there.”

“How do I do that and continue to run our business in the city?”

“Maybe you don’t. Maybe you recognize that things change and nothing is forever and you move on to something different.”

“I couldn’t do that to you.”

“This isn’t about me, Cam. It’s about what’s best for you.”

Cameron clung to the hope that Lucy dangled before her like a lifeline. “What about my dad?”

“What about him?” Lucy asked testily. “When has he ever considered what was best for you when making a decision about his life?”

“I know he’s a selfish bastard sometimes, but he’s still my dad, and I’m all he’s got.”

“That doesn’t mean you make life decisions based on what’s best for him. If you love this man, Cameron, and he loves you as much as you think he does, then how do you walk away and go on with your life knowing he’s out there somewhere wanting the same things you do?”

The words broke the fragile hold Cameron had on her emotions, and her eyes filled.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way. You should be so happy.”

“I am happy,” Cameron said. “I’m so happy, but I love my life in the city, too. I have you and Troy and all our friends. My apartment and our business. That’s my life.”

“Maybe that was your life.”

“Stop saying this stuff, Luce. Stop acting like it could really be that simple. We both know it wouldn’t be.”

“He could move here.”

She’d considered that possibility and dismissed it almost immediately. “That’d never work for him. He’d absolutely hate it there.”

“Not if you’re here he wouldn’t.”

“Yes, he would. He’d hate the city. He’d hate living away from his family and his work and his mountains. Eventually, he’d end up hating me, too.”

“I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better.”

“I appreciate that you want to, but this is a mess of my own making. I’ll get through it. Somehow.”

“I’ll be waiting for you on Saturday.”

“You’ve got to primp for the ballet.” Cameron had given those very expensive tickets her dad had sent her to Lucy, who actually enjoyed the ballet. Like always, she’d tell her dad how much she enjoyed it, and he’d be pacified, thinking he’d done something thoughtful for her.

“I’ve got to take care of you before I go. I can’t wait to see you. I’ve really missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too. I’ll see you soon.”

“Call me if you need me before you leave.”

“I will.” Cameron put down the phone and stood to look out the window at Elm Street where a whole lot of nothing was happening. The photo of the Abbotts on the wall to the left of the window caught her eye. As she studied each of the faces that had become so familiar to her the last few weeks, she knew she would grieve the loss of much more than her relationship with Will.

The sense of belonging had been profound during the time she’d spent with them. She would miss that almost as much as she’d miss him.

A sharp knock on the door preceded Lincoln into the room. “Oh, sorry, Cam. I was looking for Will.”

Embarrassed to have been caught weeping, she hastily brushed the tears from her cheeks and turned to him, forcing a bright smile. “He went to see the beekeeper awhile ago, so he should be back shortly.”

Lincoln stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. “Are you okay, hon?”

She should’ve known such an experienced father would see right past her attempt at cheerfulness. “I will be.”

“You’ve made him so very happy.”

Cameron closed her eyes to keep from bawling all over his dad. “That’s good to know.”

“Mind if I share a bit of unsolicited advice?”

“Not at all.” She wiped a stray tear from her face, determined to stop the flood before it got away from her.

“When I met Molly, we were both spending a summer in the sweltering South helping to build affordable houses for the poor in Mississippi. I’d won a full ride to grad school at Oxford and was leaving for England in September. That scholarship was a dream come true. And then this little gal from Vermont became more important to me than air or food or Oxford. I lived just fine without Oxford, but I wouldn’t have survived without her. I didn’t go. I stayed with her, and I’ve never once regretted it. Not once.”

Despite her best efforts, Cameron broke down and found herself pressed against Lincoln Abbott’s wool sweater as he patted her back and whispered soothing words of comfort. She had no doubt he’d been a wonderful dad, as available to his kids as her own father had been unavailable.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve never bawled all over a client before.”

“I’d hope by now I’m much more than a client to you. I’d like to think we’re friends.”

“We are, of course we are. And that’s part of the problem.”

“You should go back to your life in the city and see if it still fits as well as it did before you came here. A little time, a little perspective, that’s what you need.”

Nodding, Cameron drew back from him, wiping her face as the tears continued to fall. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, honey.”

“Dad?” Will’s deep voice from the doorway startled both of them. “I’ll take it from here if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Lincoln said, leaving Cameron with a quick kiss to the forehead. He squeezed his son’s arm on the way out.

Will closed the door and came over to her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

The sight of his handsome face, pinched with concern and love and some of the same despair she was feeling, reopened the floodgates. “What isn’t wrong? It might be easier to start with that.”

His arms encircled her, surrounding her with his tenderness and the familiar scent she’d mourn along with every other thing she’d come to love about him. How in the world would she be able to drive away from him Saturday morning and act like the past weeks hadn’t rocked her entire world?

“I’m sorry this is so hard,” he said.

“I am, too, but I’m not sorry it happened. I’ll never be sorry it happened.”

“Neither will I.” He drew back from her and tended to her tears with a bandana he pulled from his pocket, which also smelled like him. “What do you say we get out of here and go take a hike on the trails behind the house with the boys?”

“Since there’s no chance of further productivity today, that sounds like a lovely idea.”

Friday passed in a whirl of last-minute meetings that included time with Lincoln and the five department heads. Cameron used the opportunity to update them on the next steps and to share some basic design concepts Lucy had come up with from the information and pictures Cameron had sent to her.

Lucy had done an amazing job of capturing the essence of the store and the town in a preliminary design. That was her forte. Cameron excelled at bringing in the business, and Lucy was the best at giving them what they wanted. Together, they made for an amazing team. This time, however, Cameron would be taking the lead on the next steps in the design, and she couldn’t wait to dig in when she got back to the city.

“I have to admit,” Wade said after the presentation, “I’m surprised by how much I like what you all have done.”

She’d spent the least amount of time with him and would need to get to know him better when she delved into the health and wellness portion of the site. His adamant opposition to the website had gotten their relationship off to a less-than-stellar beginning, and he’d made himself scarce around the office while she’d been there.

According to Will, he was the family’s true loner. Even Colton, living alone on his mountain, was more outgoing and engaged in the family than Wade was.

“I’m glad to hear you’re happy with the first cut, Wade,” Cameron said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do still, but this gives you a rough idea of what you can expect in the final product. You’ll be hearing from me with questions and a few decisions over the next month. Before I go, I just want to say …” She had promised herself to get through this last day in the office professionally, rather than emotionally. But some promises were difficult to keep. “I’ve so enjoyed getting to know all of you.”

She didn’t allow her gaze to connect with Will’s for fear of losing her composure. “I’ve enjoyed learning about your store and your family and your town. I think this is a unique and special place, and I’m looking forward to seeing it come alive online. Thank you again for trusting me with the project.”

Their applause surprised and touched her, and once again she had to quell the emotional firestorm brewing inside her as they filed out of the room. Ella and Charlotte both stopped to give her hugs as they went.

“Come back soon,” Ella whispered. “It was fun having you around.”

“Thank you so much.”

Hunter surprised her when he hugged her, too. “I’ve been thinking about what you said at the dance.”

“Have you now?”

“Maybe.”

“Can’t hurt to try.”

“Sure it can, but I may try anyway. Thanks for all of this,” he said, gesturing toward the screen. “You’ve made a believer out of Elmer, so that’s quite an accomplishment on its own. Although it could’ve been the blonde hair and pretty face—no offense intended.”

“None taken,” Cameron said, laughing. “I’ll be in touch.”

“We’ll be here.”

And knowing that brought comfort. She could come back anytime she wanted or needed a fix of the Abbotts.

“Drive safely tomorrow,” Lincoln said when he hugged her. “No more encounters with Fred.”

“I’m hoping ours was a one-night stand.”

“Since I’m counting on you being a regular visitor, we’ll tell Fred to leave you alone.”

“I’d appreciate that. Thanks for everything, Lincoln. It’s been such a pleasure to get to know you and your family.”

“The pleasure has been all ours, my dear. All ours.”

Watching Cameron say good-bye to his family, Will felt like his skin was being peeled from his body one painful strip at a time. He ached from head to toe knowing she’d be gone by this time tomorrow.

The pain was most intense in his chest, leading him to wonder more than once in the last couple of days if he might be having a heart attack—or an acute anxiety attack.

He needed to get out of there. He needed some air, some sanity, a reality check. He needed something, because he was going slowly insane as her departure loomed larger by the second.

“I’ve got to run a quick errand,” Will said when they were alone in the conference room. Watching her pull the plug on her LCD projector felt like a metaphor to him.

“I’ve got some things to finish anyway.”

He left her with a quick kiss. “I’ll be back shortly.” In his office, he grabbed his coat and keys and made for the door, feeling more panic-stricken with every passing second. This was turning out to be every bit the nightmare he’d feared it would be. It was much worse than feared, in fact.

At the bottom of the stairs he nearly collided with his mother as she came in the door.

“What’s your rush, buddy?” she asked cheerfully.

“I … I have to go.”

Her eyes narrowed as she took a closer look at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I need to go.”

“Yes, you said that. Come with me.” She took his hand and led him out the door and down the street to the Coffee Art Bar, which was nearly deserted in the middle of the afternoon.

Because he’d had no real destination in mind when he ran out of the office, he let her have her way and took the seat she pointed to in the back of the small space while she went to get beverages for both of them. Luckily, they had the place mostly to themselves with the exception of two customers at a table in the front.

She returned with coffee for him and tea for herself and sat across from him. “Speak.”

“Nothing to say.”

“I know that’s not true. You have to be feeling a million different things as Cameron gets ready to go back to the city tomorrow.”

“At least two million and none of them good.”

“Honey …”

Her empathy was almost harder to take than her bossiness. Will blew out a deep breath as the pain in his chest intensified. He rubbed it as he stared over her shoulder at a spot on the wall. “It’s a mess of my own making. I’ll figure it out.”

“Do you love her, William?”

“Yes.” That was one question he could answer without hesitation.

“Then you have to fight for her. You have to show her what she’d be getting if she takes a huge chance on you.”

He refocused his gaze on her. “I’ve been doing that for weeks now, and she’s still leaving.”

“So go with her.”

“Go with her,” he said, laughing even though nothing about this was funny. “Right. Like that’s an option.”

“Of course it’s an option! Tell her now that she’s gotten a good look at your life, you’d like to take a good look at hers.”

“Can you picture me in New York City? I’d be like a country bumpkin.”

“That’s not true. You can fit in anywhere.”

“I don’t have anything to wear there—”

“Hunter does. Go to him, tell him what you need and he’ll fix you right up. What other stupid excuses have you got to let the woman you love slip through your fingers?”

“Damn it, Mom, I’m not doing that!” He couldn’t remember ever talking to her in that particular tone, but she’d driven him to it.

“That’s exactly what you’re doing, and you will regret it. I don’t want to see you regret it, honey. If you do everything you can and it still doesn’t work, at least you’ll know you tried.”

With his elbows propped on the table, Will dropped his face into his hands. “I feel like I’m having a heart attack.”

“That’s because your heart agrees with me.”

He raised his head and gave her a begrudging smile.

“Fight for her, honey. Tell her how you feel.”

“I have no idea how to even go about that.”

She leaned her chin on her upturned hand and flashed an absolutely diabolical smile. “Well, that’s what mothers are for. Want to know what I think you should do?”

“Yes, please. By all means.”

Will helped Cameron load her items from the office into his truck and then watched her cross the street to Nolan’s Garage to pick up her car. The second she was inside the garage, he bolted back upstairs to Hunter’s office.

“I need your help,” Will said, winded from the sprint up the stairs. “We need to go right now.”

“Go where? What the heck has gotten into you?”

“I need a favor. Will you please just come and not ask any questions for once in your life?”

“Um, sure. Okay. Where are we going?”

“Your house.”

“And I don’t get to ask any questions? Please tell me you get how screwed up that is.”

“I get it, now grab your coat and let’s go.”

“I wasn’t working or anything.”

“Hunter! For Christ’s sake, when was the last time I asked you for anything?”

“I’m coming. Relax, will you? What’s got you so wound up?”

“What do you think?”

They headed for the stairs with Will resisting the urge to drag Hunter along at his pace. “You knew she’d go back to the city eventually, Will.”

“If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it isn’t.” In the parking lot, he directed Hunter to his truck. “I’ll drive.”

“Um, I don’t think so. I’m not going to get abandoned at my own house when you tear off to continue your crazy agenda.”

“Fine, meet me there, but hurry the hell up. I’ve got plans.”

Will reached Hunter’s house a few minutes ahead of his brother. As he sat outside the colonial that Hunter had restored from a heap of junk to a thing of beauty, Will could barely contain the nerves that were jumping around inside him. He felt like he was on fire from the inside with so much riding on this plan his mother had convinced him would work.

All he could think about was, what if it didn’t? What if she didn’t go for it? What if she had been counting on her departure to extricate herself from their affair or whatever you’d call it? That thought left him with a sick feeling in his stomach. That wasn’t possible. He knew her feelings for him were every bit as strong as his were for her, even if neither of them had put words to feelings.

It wasn’t just the sex, which was beyond amazing. He felt a connection to her he’d never experienced with another living soul, and letting her get away simply wasn’t an option.

With that in mind, he bounded out of the truck when Hunter finally arrived. “What the hell took you so long?”

“I stopped at a red light. I hope that meets with your approval. Now are you going to tell me what was so important that you dragged me out of work?”

“I need to borrow some clothes.”

Hunter raised a dark brow as he twirled his car keys around his index finger with a maddening lack of urgency. “What kind of clothes?”

“The nice ones that you have plenty of and I have none of.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“I don’t want to say,” Will replied, shifting from one foot to the other.

“Are you going to do something stupid?”

“I hope not.”

“Hmm,” Hunter said as he headed for the front door and inserted his key. “You’ll recall I’ve been telling you for years that you needed to get some grown-up clothes.”

“And I’ve been telling you for years that I had no use for them.”

“Yet here you are, looking like a lunatic, because you suddenly need them. If you’d planned ahead—”

“Shut up, Hunter! Just shut up. I don’t need a lecture. Not right now. Are you going to help me out or not?”

“Of course I’m going to help you out. Was that ever in doubt? But I have to make you suffer first, or I wouldn’t be doing my job as your insufferable big brother.”

“You’ve got the insufferable part down to a science.”

Hunter smirked, as Will had known he would. “I’m worried about the way you’ve gone off the deep end over this girl, bro.” He led the way up the narrow stairway to his bedroom.

Will hadn’t been upstairs here in a while. The last time was when he helped Hunter paint the hallway. “Looks good up here,” Will said, taking a quick glance at the Ansel Adams prints that hung in a row on the dark taupe wall.

“Is that your way to avoid admitting you are, in fact, off the deep end?”

“I can’t deny it, so I’m not going to try.”

“What happens when she leaves for good?”

The question shot a spear of pain straight to Will’s overcommitted heart. “I don’t know, man. I’m figuring this out one minute at a time.”

Hunter gestured to the walk-in closet he’d created by eliminating the smallest of the bedrooms. “What’s mine is yours.”

“Holy shit,” Will said, taking in the neat rows of dress shirts, pants and suits. “You’re worse than a freaking girl.”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“I want your help, but I have no idea what I even need.”

“Maybe if you told me a little about what you’ve got planned, I could help you out …”

“Don’t bust my balls, all right?”

“I’ll try my hardest not to.”

Since Will knew that was the best he was going to get, he said, “I’m going to invite myself to go with her to New York.”

“Why?”

“So I can see where she lives and works and meet her friends and see her home and spend more time with her.” The words came out in a rush of anxiety that gripped him when he wondered if she’d welcome his plan.

“I can’t picture you moving there, Will.”

“I never said I was going to.”

Eyeing him warily, Hunter nudged Will aside and stepped into the closet. From the top shelf he produced a garment bag. “Hold this.”

Will did as he was told.

“What’re you going to do while you’re there?”

“How the hell do I know? She loves the theater, and I could possibly cross paths with her billionaire father. Dinner out. I don’t know.” Suddenly the absurdity—and the futility—of what he was trying to do hit him like a ton of bricks. He stumbled backward and sat on Hunter’s bed, dropping his head into his hands as despair overtook him.

“What the hell am I doing? I’ve got no business chasing after her in the city. I’ve never even been there or had any desire to go. I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb and embarrass the hell out of her no matter how well you dress me.”

Hunter surprised him when he sat next to him. “Stop talking shit.”

His brother’s tone had Will looking over at him.

“You’re not going to embarrass her. If she cares about you at all—and judging from the moony, lovesick way she looks at you, I’d say she does—she’s not going to care if you stick out like a sore thumb. She’ll care that you made the effort to fit into her world.”

“You think so? Really?”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “This is worse than I thought. Are you in love with her?”

Will gave a brief nod.

“Dude, you just can’t do simple, can you? Always got to be wanting something outside the comfort zone.”

“My pattern of self-inflicted torture is not intentional, trust me on that.”

Hunter got up and went to the closet. He emerged holding a dark suit with a dress shirt and tie. “This for the theater. If it’s formal, find a tux shop. There has to be a million of them in the city.” He produced several other dress shirts, a couple more ties and two pairs of dress pants—one black and the other gray. “How long are you planning to be there?”

“Maybe a week?”

Hunter went back to the closet and came back with two more shirts, a belt and a pair of black shoes that had square toes.

“Those look like pilgrim shoes.”

“You’ll see them everywhere in the city,” Hunter assured him.

“Why do you have all this stuff living in this town?”

“I like nice clothes. So what?”

Will hid his smirk because he wouldn’t put it past Hunter to take it all back if he thought his brother was making fun of him.

“Were you planning to tell anyone you’re taking the week off?”

“I’m not taking it off. I’ll have my laptop with me, and I’ll be working.” Another thought occurred to him. “Crap. The spring craft fair in Montpelier is on Sunday. I usually go to check out what’s new and see if there’s anything we might want to offer in the store.”

The realization was a major bummer as the fair was a big part of his annual routine.

“Oh, for crap’s sake,” Hunter said, exasperated. “I’ll go.”

Will looked up at him. “You will? You hate that stuff.”

“Yeah, but I don’t hate you. Yet. Keep up this whole hangdog routine, and I might start to actively hate you.”

Will got up and hugged Hunter. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had cause to hug Hunter, but his brother’s help and support certainly warranted it.

Hunter patted him awkwardly on the back. “Make this work, will ya? I don’t want to deal with you if it doesn’t.”

“I’ll do my best.” He started to leave the room, but thought of something else he wanted to ask Hunter. “Do you have a thing for Megan?”

The question and the flash of shock that crossed Hunter’s face all but confirmed it.

“Cameron told you, huh?”

“I saw her talking to you, and she told me she suspected you might be interested. That’s all. Are you?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “What’s the point? You’re the one she wants.”

“We were never going to happen, and she’s known that for a long time. Don’t let that stop you.”

“I don’t want to talk about her. You have enough of your own problems without taking on mine, little brother.”

Hunter never let Will forget he was sixteen entire months older than him. “If you get the chance to find out if there’s something there, take it. You never know where it might lead you.” Will left him with that pearl of wisdom and went down the stairs, eager to heed his own advice.