“No.” She needed to talk about what had happened between them, but she knew he’d say later. And for right now, she was okay with later.So when he went to step back, she caught his hand in hers. “But I don’t want to do it alone.”
“God, me either,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Mackenzie wasn’t sure if he meant he didn’t want to leave her alone or if he didn’t want to leave her side. Either way he helped her off the counter and led her to his shower. She removed her bra and panties and stepped into the hot spray.
Hunter came in behind her, running his soapy hands down her body in a gesture that was more tender than sexual in nature. He took his time, making sure there was no glass left in her hair, no scratch left untouched. And when she was finally warm, he shut off the water and wrapped her in a fluffy towel before tugging one of his T-shirts over her head.
“I’m never going to get this shirt back again, am I?” he asked, placing her on the bed and pulling the covers up around her.
She sniffed the soft and worn cotton and shook her head. “Nope. Sorry.”
“Glad I didn’t pull out my vintage Johnny Cash one, then.”
She laughed, but the emotion quickly changed to something closer to an unbearable ache. “Hunter, about before—”
“Shhh,” he said, feathering the lightest of kisses across her lips. “After you get some rest, we’ll have plenty of time to talk. I promise.”
She nodded, not because she was okay with waiting. She wasn’t. But she nodded because she was close to losing it. Tears were already lining her lashes, just waiting for one more gentle touch or word to spill free.
“Muttley,” Hunter said and gave a pat on the mattress.
Muttley wasted no time hopping up and sprawling himself across the width of the bed.
“Move over, you bed hog.” She pushed, but Muttley went limp. “I know you’re awake, now move.”
A snoring sound came from the boulder of fur in the middle of the bed. “Seriously, just shove him over so you have room.”
“I’m sleeping on the couch, remember?” She opened her mouth to argue, and he kissed her again. “Plus, if I don’t call Brody and check in, my entire house will be flooded with family, and then no one gets any sleep,” he said. “I put your phone on the nightstand in case you need to call me.” He took her hand to show her. “And I kept Muttley’s harness on in case you wanted to explore without me.”
He was giving her the independence she’d asked for while reassuring her that he was there if she needed him. And for the first time, Mackenzie wondered if maybe she had it all wrong. She’d always associated love with sacrifice—with limits and boundaries. And to be happy, she thought she had to be self-sufficient.
But Hunter’s love didn’t feel like a burden. It felt a whole lot like freedom.
“I get that there is no going back and that once we do it, it’s done,” Hunter said to Brody, who was sitting across the coffee table on the couch, his hand kneading small circles over his chest.
“Savannah’s right. You’re going to give me a heart attack. I’m going to die before Caroline graduates from Mommy and Me, and then my wife will hate me for leaving her, and it’ll be all your fault.” A small smile tugged at Brody’s mouth. “But my brothers would have to step in for Savannah and deal with the teen years. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”
Hunter sat back on the couch and laughed. And to be honest, after the night he’d had, it felt good.
He’d been with Brody for the past hour, trying to figure out the best way to change the band’s tour without getting sued by everyone in Nashville. He didn’t care if he lost everything as long as he hadMackenzie, but ending this amicably with his sponsors and label would make it easier to pick back up if that’s what they decided to do.
“Garth Brooks took a ten-year hiatus, all I’m asking for is some time for Mackenzie and me to get settled, then figure out together how we want to move forward.”
“I agree,” Brody said, stifling a yawn. “And I would have agreed with you tomorrow morning after the sun came up.”
“Yeah, well, tomorrow I’ll be busy asking Mackenzie to forgive my dumb ass, and you’ll be talking with the band. The guys need to decide who among them is willing to man up and take over some of the heavy lifting. If they want a world tour and all the stuff that comes with it, then they need to start making room for the interviews and meet and greets and all the rest of the BS I handle.”
“There’s going to be some major pushback,” Brody warned.
Hunter shrugged. He didn’t care. Most guys never got a second chance with the right woman. He was lucky enough to get a third, and he didn’t care what he had to give up, as long as it wasn’t her.
“Convince the label you haven’t lost your mind, renegotiate a hundred-million-dollar contract, and force a bunch of bros to man up.” Brody stood, and that’s when Hunter realized his cousin was in a raincoat, flannel pajama bottoms, and rain boots. “Got it, now can I go back to bed with my wife?”
“Thanks, Brody,” Hunter said, and he meant it.
Hunter stood to show his cousin out when they heard dog paws at the end of the hallway.
“Hunter?” The soft and sleep-roughened voice also came from the end of the hallway.
