Heart of the Hunter (95 page)

“You from this town?” Forrester said.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I’m not,” the guy said.

“But you came into this diner to cause trouble?”

“I cause trouble wherever the fuck I want.”

Forrester took a step toward him. The guy sized him up and immediately did the math. He took a step backward. Forrester had the look of a fighter, and the guy wanted no part of it.

“Not in this diner you don’t,” Forrester said. “I see you in here looking for trouble again, and you won’t walk out. You’ll leave on a stretcher.”

Forrester wasn’t in the mood for talking to the guy, and he wasn’t in the mood for wasting time. He turned his back on him without waiting for a reply, and stepped into the diner.

Chapter 20

Elle

E
LLE WAS IN THE KITCHEN
composing herself when Kelly rushed in.

“He’s here. Elle, he’s here.”

Elle felt faint. “What? Gris? He’s back?”

“No silly, not him. Forrester.”

Her stomach did a flip. “Oh my God. Forrester’s here?”

“He came back for you, Elle.”

Elle took a deep breath. That was exactly the thought she was having too. She’d given Forrester the chance to escape. She’d given him an out. But he was back.

She straightened her dress and pushed her hair back behind her ears.

“How do I look?”

“Beautiful,” Gracie said unceremoniously. “Now go get this guy before that other guy steals you away from us.”

Elle laughed. Her life in Stone Peak had become awfully complicated in a very short time. People would be talking. It was so unlike her. She spent her life trying to avoid drama. But with Gris around, it was hard to stay on the right side of things. He had a way of messing things up.

She went out into the restaurant and prayed she looked okay. Gris had rattled her, but she didn’t have to let it show.

“Forrester,” she said.

“Elle,” he said.

He was sitting at the counter and he looked even better than she remembered. She felt weak at the knees as the memory flooded back of what he’d done to her. She couldn’t believe she’d been in his bed. He was like something out of a movie, sculpted and muscular, sure of himself, confident.

“What are you doing here?” she said, stupidly. It was obvious that anyone in a diner at that time of morning was there for one thing, breakfast.

She felt a flood of surprise at his answer.

“I’m here for you, silly.”

“Me?”

“Yes you. Of course, you. You don’t spend a night like we just did, and then escape me that easily.”

Elle blushed. She knew Kelly and Grace were listening to every word.

“I thought maybe you’d have had enough of me.”

“Is that why you left?”

She nodded. She felt silly now that he was sitting right in front of her, but when she’d been in the hotel room, the thought that he might not want her had been very real.

Forrester patted the stool next to his. “Have a seat,” he said. “I need to say something to you.”

The diner was dead. She could take a break. Cautiously, she sat down next to him, wondering what he’d need to say to her at this point in their relationship. Had she screwed up already?

“You don’t have to play things cool with me, Elle. You don’t have to keep your guard up.”

“I’m not keeping my guard up.”

“Listen,” Forrester said, and he was speaking very earnestly. He put his hand on Elle’s leg and she felt electricity flow through her at his touch. She wanted his hand to slide up under her skirt and caress her.

“I’m listening,” she said.

He looked into her eyes. “I get it,” he said. “I get wanting to protect yourself. Believe me.”

And it was true. Elle didn’t know it but at that very moment, Forrester’s other hand was in his pocket, touching the envelope that contained the letter from his father. Forrester hadn’t decided it yet, but even as he spoke to Elle about needing to protect herself, he’d already decided that he wasn’t going to open the envelope. He wasn’t going to read the letter. It could potentially say something that might heal the wounds he’d suffered as a child, but it could equally say something that might break his heart, and that wasn’t a risk he could take. So he knew what he was saying to Elle when he spoke of protecting herself. Innately he understood her, and he meant every word of what he was saying.

“I know what it’s like to be let down,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be so hurt that you think your entire heart is going to just disappear, blink out, like a broken lightbulb. I know that pain, Elle. I know that fear. But I’m telling you now, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to let you down. So you don’t have to keep me at a distance.”

Elle was intensely aware that she was blushing. No one had ever spoken to her like that before. No one had ever read her so clearly.

Forrester wasn’t like other people. He seemed to understand her in a way that she wasn’t even sure she understood herself.

She wanted to be sure. She wanted to know for certain that she could trust him. She wanted to know that he wasn’t going to disappear, like everyone else who’d ever meant anything in her life.

But what would she have seen?

If she’d been able to read Forrester’s mind, what would it say to her?

One thing. He wanted to make love to her again. In fact, more than that, he didn’t just want to make love to her, but he wanted to do it without a condom. He didn’t have any trouble with condoms, he wasn’t one of those guys who hated them, but he wanted things to be different with Elle. He wanted to be inside her more deeply, more intimately, than he’d ever been inside anyone. He wanted to put his seed inside her. He wanted their skin to touch. He wanted their bodies to merge. And without even realizing it yet, he wanted her to be the one who gave him a child. That’s what he wanted.

She didn’t know it yet either. All she knew was that he was sitting there, next to her, with his hand reassuringly on her knee, and that he was the most beautiful man she’d ever dreamed of.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay?”

“I’ll try. I’ll try not to let my fears control me. I’ll try to trust you, Forrester. You just have to promise me one thing. Promise you won’t ever let me down.”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t ever let me go.”

“I promise, I won’t.”

“Don’t disappear, like my mother did.”

Chapter 21

Forrester

F
ORRESTER WAITED FOR ELLE AFTER
her shift in his pickup, the engine running. She looked thrilled to have a guy waiting outside of work for her, and Forrester wondered if that had something to do with the guy who’d been around earlier, causing trouble. He could tell that the guy had upset the girls, earlier when he’d entered the diner, but he didn’t ask them about it. If it was serious, he’d figure it out soon enough.

Plus, he had something a lot more interesting on his mind.

Elle’s pussy.

Well, not just her pussy, her entire body. He was obsessed with all of the things that he could do to it, and he thought in a million different ways about what they’d get up to when they got back to his hotel room later that night. He’d even asked the concierge at the hotel to buy him some sex toys, and the valet had been very obliging. Forrester tipped him handsomely, and looked forward to seeing what the concierge had been able to come up with on short notice.

Another thing that he found surprising, was that he didn’t just want to fuck Elle, he wanted to make love to her. There was a big difference. And for some reason, the idea of not using a condom kept coming back to his mind. He’d never had sex without a condom in his life. He’d never wanted to take a chance of making a girl pregnant. Having a child was something he’d never imagined before, but seeing Jackson and Grant back home, and how happy they were to have babies, it had gotten him thinking. Until he’d met Elle, he’d never really given the idea of having a baby serious consideration, but that was because he’d never met a girl he could imagine having a baby with.

Now, he could.

He wasn’t sure how serious of a thought it was. All he knew was that the idea of Elle giving him a baby made him very happy.

“How’d the rest of your shift go?” he said to her when she got into the car.

God, she looked so cute. He definitely had a weakness for a girl in a waitress’s uniform. That little dress, the white apron, the black tights, the whole package. It was very adorable. The scent of her perfume was intoxicating.

“Okay,” she said.

He looked at her, waiting to see if she’d bring up the jerk from the morning, but she didn’t. That was okay, either it had nothing to do with her, or it did. If it did, she was entitled to her privacy. If she needed help with anything, he knew she’d ask him when she felt she could trust him.

“Do you want to go back to your place to change before dinner?” he said.

“Nice try, hotshot. I have a feeling if we went back to my place right now, we wouldn’t leave again until morning.”

Forrester laughed. “You can see right through me, can’t you?”

“I know your type,” she said playfully.

“All right. I see what you’re saying. I have to buy you dinner first.”

Elle nodded. “Yes, you do. Nothing fancy though.”

“You don’t want to go back to my hotel? They have a restaurant there. A really good one, apparently.”

“I’d rather just go to Harry’s, if it’s all the same to you.”

Forrester looked at her and nodded. He was impressed. All too often he’d been with girls who were more interested in the expensive things he could buy them than the quality of the time they spent together. Elle was different. She just wanted to share a nice meal with him.

At Harry’s, they took a booth near the bar, close enough to make conversation with Harry, but private enough to be alone when they wanted.

Harry came over to their table with a bemused look on his face.

“I knew it the minute I saw you two together the other night,” he said.

“Knew what?” Elle said.

“This is a date, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is,” Forrester said, and he was so proud when he said it that he surprised himself.

“So I guess I’ll have to call Elle your girl.”

Forrester looked at Elle. She was embarrassed but she was smiling. “That’s up to her,” he said.

Harry looked at her, putting her on the spot, and she gave him a very small nod.

Forrester slapped the table. “Well, that just does it,” he said. “This calls for celebration.”

“It’s not a marriage proposal,” Elle protested.

“It’s better than nothing,” Forrester said, “and a guy like me, hell, I take what I can get. Harry, do you have champagne in this fine establishment?”

Harry’s eyes lit up at the mention of champagne. “You’d be surprised, son. I’ve got some very fine bottles.”

“Well, bring us your finest.”

“You seem pleased,” Elle said when Harry left them to get the champagne.

Forrester didn’t answer. He knew he had a big, stupid grin on his face, but all he could think about was having a future with Elle. The world was suddenly very full of opportunities. He thought about Lacey and Faith, and how happy they’d been during their pregnancies, how excited they’d been about having a baby, and how in love they’d been with their men. He wanted to see Elle like that, if that was what she wanted.

He reached across the table to her and she gave him her hand.

“You really are something, Elle. You know that?”

She shook her head. “If you knew me better, you might not say that.”

“Yes I would.”

“I don’t know, Forrester. You seem awfully sure of me.”

“I know what I like, Elle.”

“But you don’t know half of the baggage I carry.”

“You’re talking about that jerk from the diner this morning, aren’t you?”

“How do you know about him?” Elle said, her eyes widening.

“I saw him walking out. We had a little chat in the parking lot. Charming guy.”

“Yeah, real charming,” Elle said.

“He’s your ex, isn’t he?”

Elle nodded slowly. “I don’t know how he followed me here. I tried to leave him behind. Somehow he found me.”

“Guys like that, if they’re intent on finding you, they’ll find a way. I have a friend, a good friend, practically a brother, and it took him ten years to get rid of some guys who wanted to harm his woman and his baby.”

“Ten years?” Elle said, startled.

“Ten years or even more. Twelve maybe. It wasn’t quite like your situation. He had trouble with a criminal gang down in Nevada. But he knew that he couldn’t come home until he neutralized the threat. He knew that guys like that, they’d find him, even if he did everything in his power not to be found.”

“So what did he do?”

“He took care of them.”

“Took care of them?”

“Let’s not get into the details,” Forrester said.

“All right,” Elle said, “but you do know that sounds pretty mysterious, don’t you?”

“My brothers are mysterious guys, Elle. That’s something I’ll have to explain to you some day soon, if you want to stick with me.”

“If
I
want to stick with
you
?” Elle said.

“Well, I’m not the one who’s sneaking out, first thing in the morning.”

Elle laughed. She was about to explain herself, and Forrester was curious about what she had to say, but Harry came over just then with the champagne.

“This is the finest bottle in the house,” he said to Forrester. “I assure you.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“It’s not cheap.”

Forrester nodded. “Harry, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

As he poured, the doors opened and a gust of snow blew into the bar. Along with the snow came five guys. Elle had her back to them and didn’t turn, but Forrester was facing them and he noticed every single detail. Along with the four jerks he’d had the altercation with the night before, was the new jerk in town, Elle’s ex.

“You better pour us a couple of glasses fast, Harry,” Forrester said. “Something tells me I’m about to get interrupted.”

Harry saw the guys enter, but didn’t seem as afraid of them as he had before. Now that Forrester was in town, things didn’t seem to be quite so hopeless. He continued pouring the champagne as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and Forrester clinked glasses with Elle and enjoyed a sip of the crisp, ice-cold vintage.