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Hmmph! What a fool she'd been. She’d thought that she could get close to Hunter without falling for him. Whereas prior to his return he'd been a haunting memory, now Hunter was a flesh and blood man who stirred her very soul. They'd connected on a level that far surpassed her dreams. She didn't want to imagine what it would feel like to lose him all over again. The first time had brought her to her knees.

A terrible feeling washed over her as the cold, hard truth slapped her in the face. Losing Hunter a second time was going to devastate her, leaving her just as scarred inside as the last time they’d said goodbye.

“Love is everything!” Fancy Tolliver

Chapter Twelve

By the time they made their way back to the ballroom, Mae and Jack were slow dancing on the dance floor. It was the first time he’d actually seen his mother and Olivia’s father in a romantic light. They're really in love, Hunter realized as he watched Jack gracefully twirl his mother around the dance floor. For a moment he was mesmerized by the sight of them as they shared a quiet moment in each other's arms. Mama looks happy, he thought. Truly happy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her look so joyful and vibrant. Second chances. They seldom came along in life, yet mama and Jack had managed to grab hold of a second chance at love.

Who was he to begrudge them?

Being around a bunch of happy couples was doing crazy things to him. He was feeling nostalgic and sappy. His heart was overtaking his mind. His thoughts kept going back to Olivia and the feelings she aroused in him. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. In a lifelong partner. And although she was stunning, it went so much deeper than purely a physical attraction. It went straight to his heart. The same heart that had been encased in ice for the last decade. He'd been so busy building his empire that he hadn't spared a moment for loving relationships. Or was there a part of him that had always been holding out for Olivia?

Second chances. Was it possible that he had a second shot at a life with Olivia? Could the two of them bridge the gap of the last ten years and start over? And, if there was a possibility for them to be together, had he ruined it by buying Renault Industries out from under her father? Had he sabotaged himself by doing the one thing that Olivia might find unforgivable?

He was kicking himself. He'd missed another golden opportunity to come clean to Olivia. He didn't know what had come over him, but he'd been so captivated by her radiant beauty that he'd forgotten the main reason he'd invited her out to the terrace in the first place. Once he'd been alone with her his mind had been consumed by her sweet, gentle nature. All he'd wanted to do was spend the rest of the evening by her side.

Or maybe he’d just been chicken.

It was imperative that he made it through this rehearsal dinner and discovered a way to break the news of his acquisition, not only to Olivia, but to Mama, Jack and his siblings. It was time to man up.

Spotting his brothers standing a few feet away from the dance floor, Hunter walked over to join them.

“Why aren't you two out on the dance floor?” he asked as soon as he reached their side.

“I have no desire to make a fool of myself doing the Electric Slide,” Braxon said with a shake of his head as he watched rows of people bending and sliding to the thumping beats.

“What about you, lover boy,” Joshua said in a teasing voice. “Why aren't you spinning Olivia around the dance floor?”

Hunter glared at Joshua. “Clearly, the two of you need to find your own woman since you can't stop asking questions about mine.”

Once the words rolled off his tongue Hunter knew he'd made a fatal mistake. The reaction was instantaneous. Braxon let out a loud whistle and Joshua clapped his hand to his mouth and let out a loud, “Ooh” sound.

“So you're acknowledging she's your woman?” Braxon asked with a wide, toothy grin.

Joshua clapped him heartily on the back and said, “That didn't take long. I see you still have that magic touch.”

He felt as if two pesky gnats were buzzing around him, determined to see him get rattled. “One more word out of either of you and you'll be picking your jaws up off the floor,” Hunter said through gritted teeth.

“Calm down,” Braxon said with a chuckle. “We love Olivia. She'll make a great sister-in-law.”

Hunter leaned in towards Braxon so that their faces were inches away from each other. “Did I stutter? One...more...word,” he said ominously.

Braxon frowned, then took two steps backwards. “Absolutely no sense of humor,” he muttered.

“Let's go get a drink and cool down,” Joshua suggested as he stepped between his two brothers and led them in the direction of the open bar.

All three began walking towards the bar in lock-step, drawing admiring glances from most of the eligible women in town. A few of the married ones too, Hunter noticed. He knew all too well what the combined effect of the three Rawlings brothers did to women. It happened all the time whenever they were together. Full-on stares. A chorus of whispers. Female appreciation. At times, a few over-the-top come-ons. Sadie had always called it “The Curse.” As she explained it—“the curse of having three gorgeous, buff brothers”. Every time she said it, Hunter couldn’t help but laugh. At the moment, the Rawlings brothers were in full effect.

“Who invited him?” Braxon snarled, his posture stiffening and his mouth turning upwards in disgust as he gazed off into the distance.

Hunter turned his head, the hairs on his arms beginning to prickle before he even laid his eyes on his childhood nemesis. Marcus Devroe. He was standing next to the bar with a drink in his hand, his eyes focused like a laser beam on him and his brothers.

There was no point in denying that Marcus was a stylish man. With his chocolate colored skin, wavy short hair and warm brown eyes, he was classically handsome. Marcus stood at roughly 5'11, he would wager, allowing Hunter to have an edge in the height department, a fact that pleased him to no end. Although he hadn't laid eyes on Marcus in a decade, something told him that he hadn't changed a lick in all these years. He still had that mean tilt to his mouth. He still oozed contempt.

He'd always hated Marcus as much as Marcus hated him. They'd grown up in the same area, attended the same schools, knew the same people – but they were as different as night and day. In his eyes Marcus was nothing more than a spoiled brat who'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. As a teenager he'd zipped around town in his daddy's Mercedes, breaking all the rules but never being called on it because his family had money and status. It had been that type of “I’m-better-than-you” attitude that had served as an impetus for Hunter to leave Savannah. Hunter could see the same entitlement radiating from his beady, amoral eyes.

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