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“The engine won't start.”
Hunter let out a low chuckle, and she watched as his shoulders heaved with laughter.
“What's funny about that?” she asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Hunter got off the bike and began tinkering with it. “I'm sorry. This isn't funny. It's just that this reminds me of the day I left Savannah.”
“Why? Your bike broke down?” she asked as she hopped off the bike.
“Yup. Right outside of the state line. You can't imagine how steamed I was. Here I thought I was riding off towards this brilliant future, only to have my bike quit on me a few hours later.”
Indignation rose within her. “And you didn't take that as some kind of sign?”
“A sign? Of what?” Hunter asked, his brows knitted together.
“That you shouldn't be leaving,” she said in a soft voice.
He moved away from the bike and turned towards her, his eyes full of tenderness as he reached out and cupped her face in his palm. “After all these years you're still giving me grief for leaving, aren't you?”
Instead of meeting his gaze, she cast her gaze downwards, uncomfortable with the idea of having him look in her eyes at this vulnerable moment. She hadn't meant to bring up the past again, but the words had tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She was wearing her heart on her sleeve and she wasn't quite ready for him to see it, to realize how much she still cared about him. “I'm not trying to give you a hard time. It’s just that -.”
“What?”
Her throat felt dry and she swallowed, trying to muster the courage to say what was on her mind. “Don't you ever wonder what might have happened if you'd stayed?”
He waited a beat before speaking, his face registering a wide range of emotions. “Of course I do,” he said with a sigh. “A million times I've played it out in my mind. You, me and a couple of kids living in one of those big old houses with a white picket fence and a grand Oak tree in the front yard. You have no idea how many nights I've lain awake thinking of you, Liv, how many times I've wanted to pick up the phone and hear your sweet voice on the other end of the line.”
His words shot straight to her soul, leaving it aching and bruised. “Then why didn't you?”
“Because I left...I chose to leave this town and everything in it. In order to get from point A to Z, I had to make a fresh start. I had to shut off everything in my old life in order to move forward with my new one.” He shrugged. “I know it may sound cold, but it's the only way I knew back then how to handle things.”
“And now? Has anything changed?” she asked softly, knowing that the wrong answer might shatter her heart.
Raw emotions passed over his face and he looked as if he was struggling to keep it together. “I think I've changed. Just coming back home has changed me. Everywhere I go I keep getting confronted by the Hunter Rawlings I left behind – the one who rode around in the back of his daddy's pick up, built forts out of rotten plywood, stole hams from one of the richest men in town and -.”
“And carved initials into wooden bridges?” she asked with a smile.
Surprise filled his eyes as he heard her words. Had he thought she'd never seen his youthful display of love? Was he embarrassed? Hunter had never been big on public displays of affection, so she knew it had been a big deal for him to create such a permanent fixture. A testament to their love.
A huge smile broke out on his face. “Yup. And carved initials into wooden bridges.”
She smiled back at him, wishing she could summon the courage to tell him how much that gesture meant to her. She'd almost died and gone to heaven when she'd seen their initials surrounded by a heart carved into the wooden bridge. By that time Hunter had already left town and she was nursing a wounded heart. When she'd seen their initials it had given her a small inkling of hope that things between them weren't finished. In that moment she'd known without a doubt that Hunter loved her, even if he'd never spoken those words.
“Carving our initials in that bridge is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me,” she admitted.
Hunter stared at her intensely, his eyes filled with so much emotion that it sent a jolt of awareness straight through her. “Really?” he asked with a wink. “Just you wait and see. I can do a whole lot better than that.”
Olivia wanted to groan out loud. Although she loved Hunter’s romanticism, it would only serve to drag her back into the past if he courted her. It would distract her from very serious issues that she needed to focus on such as her father’s predicament with Renault Industries. And she needed to keep her eyes on the prize—Savannah House!
Lord, please help me. Hunter Rawlings was a gorgeous, charming distraction.
He turned back towards the bike and continued to work on it, letting loose with a few grunts as he tinkered away.
Without warning, he lashed out and angrily kicked the side of the bike, his face filled with frustration. For a man who climbed mountains with ease and raided corporations like a swashbuckling pirate, she imagined he wasn't used to challenges he couldn't surmount. Clearly, the motorcycle wasn't giving an inch. Hunter had lost this battle.
She watched as he threw his hands in the air and muttered under his breath. “I can't get this thing going.” He looked at his watch. “I can’t imagine at this time of night anyone is going to venture out to fix the bike in this little hamlet. We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere.”
She bit her lip. “What are we going to do?”
