AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, don’t think I didn’t notice the evasion, you—”
Bronte pressed the End Call button, a liar and a coward.
After finally making it to Harrisburg, Bronte pulled her bags from the trunk and walked to Hunter’s condo. He only had one parking space, so she always had to find street parking. It was a pain in the ass.
Inside the condominium, she made her way up to the seventh floor, where she knocked a few times on Hunter’s door. He opened it with a big smile on his face. “Brontosaurus!”
She gave him a quick kiss, and he grabbed her bags, towing her inside the apartment before slipping his arm around her waist to kiss her again. He tasted like beer, and she frowned, wiggling out of his grasp. Her eyes shifted to the kitchen, looking for bottles of his favorite brew. “How many drinks have you had?”
“Only two.”
She pretended he wasn’t lying and headed to the bedroom, taking her bag into the bathroom to line her toiletries on the sink.
“Okay, four,” he admitted when she refused to look at him. “I got bored waiting for you.” He sagged into the doorframe and ran his index finger down her arm. “Are you hungry? I moved the reservation to eight.”
Bronte checked her watch, a thin rose-gold band with small diamonds around the face. It had been a gift from Hunter for her birthday last year, when they’d decided they’d give their relationship another try. “It’s almost seven o’clock already, and I’m tired. Can we order in or something?”
He studied her for a moment, then gave in with a soft smile on his face. “Yeah, of course. Whatever you want. How about delivery from Sal’s?”
An hour later, Bronte dug into the pizza as Hunter put on some baseball game, her mind wandering to Chris. She recalled how he bent his head so close to hers to talk on the plane. At her parents’ house, when his eyes heated as he confronted her about Hunter. In the coffee shop, his fingers tugging on his lower lip.
Men’s lips went wholly unappreciated in today’s society, but Chris’s mouth, with his full bottom lip and wicked curl on top, could turn anyone into worshippers. And she spent more minutes than she’d care to admit imagining how Chris would kiss. If he’d be slow with soft brushes or dive right in with his hands holding her in place. Soft or hard, languid licks or… She was fantasizing again.
Damn it.
Pushing away those daydreams, she leaned her shoulder into Hunter. “Are you coming for trick-or-treat?”
“When? Friday?”
She nodded.
“No, I have a work thing. A fundraiser.”
She pulled off a chunk of her pizza crust. “Can’t you skip it? You know Halloween is a big deal for my family.”
He huffed quietly. “Everything’s a big deal for your family.”
“You don’t have to sound so condescending,” she said, scooting to the other end of the couch.
“I’m not condescending. I’m stating the facts. You guys celebrate every little thing. It’s…a lot.”
Her skin got that tight, prickly sensation again. It’d been happening more and more lately when she was around Hunter. “I feel like you don’t care about being with my family.”
“I do care, but I don’t want to spend every second with them. Whenever I come to visit, we’re always with them. If it’s not someone’s birthday, it’s Flag Day, or Earth Day, or Bastille Day. It’s a week at the beach or every holiday at your parents’ house.”
“You’re generalizing.”
“Okay,” he said, the single word dripping with sarcasm, and she snagged another piece of pizza to take into the bedroom. She would rather eat dinner alone than with him, but when she stood up, he held on to her wrist. “I’m sorry. That was… I didn’t mean it.”
With a heavy sigh, she fell back onto the couch. “I’d appreciate it if you made more of an effort to spend time in Allentown, with or without my family.”
He took two deep breaths. “I’d appreciate it if you’d seriously consider moving here.” His hazel eyes were contrite. “Please? And I’ll see what I can do about this weekend.” He offered his hand for a shake. “Deal?”
She couldn’t stop her smile. He could be charming when he wanted to be, and she accepted his proffered hand. “Deal.”
