HUNTER ARRIVED IN Goderich as they were sitting down to dinner. Amelia hurried to rise and meet him at the door even though they’d only been apart the one night. She had wanted a little more time with her father after the upheaval of Jasper’s return, so she had driven home with him yesterday.
She had also been anxious to vet her father’s sweetheart. Mo’s sister, Ola, was an absolute doll. Amelia would worry about him a lot less when she returned to Vancouver, knowing the pair were keeping each other company.
“Hey.” Hunter greeted her with an intimate smile and a warm tone and a lingering kiss that curled her toes against the welcome mat. “Traffic getting out of the city was a nightmare or I would have made better time.”
“It’s okay. Supper’s almost on the table, so this is perfect.”
“You must be Ola,” he said as he greeted the woman with gray hair and a tender touch as she cradled Peyton. “Tobias.” He nodded at her father, then touched his daughter’s hair. “Hello, bean sprout. I missed you.”
Peyton picked up her head, but her eyes were still heavy from her recent nap.
It was a pleasant meal with plenty of chatter as Amelia and Ola continued getting to know each other, but Amelia noticed Hunter wasn’t saying much.
After he drove Ola home and her father had gone to bed, she put Peyton down for the night and joined Hunter on the couch.
“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.”
“Plotting my revenge against your father if he decides to marry Ola,” he claimed wryly, staring into the drink he had yet to finish.
“Just desserts,” she said lightly, taking heart from the fact that he was making jokes.
She brought her knees up under her and leaned into him, wrapping her arm across his shoulders as she kissed the side of his face.
“How did it go with Remy?” she asked gently.
“Fine.” He chased it with a swallow of whiskey.
Okay. She wouldn’t press. Today had been the only window of time for the men to connect. Hunter had been planning to come with her yesterday, but heard at the last minute that Remy and Eden had come into Toronto. He had sent Amelia ahead and lingered to catch up with his friend.
She started to withdraw her arm from around him.
“Don’t do that.” He set aside his drink and swiveled her into his lap. “I’m being cryptic because he told me some things he never shared before. I don’t want to break his confidence.”
“I don’t expect you to.” She nestled her shoulder beneath his arm, relaxing as she understood his walls were protecting his friend, not himself.
“Also, he gave me Eden’s engagement ring. What am I supposed to do with that?” He shook his head in baffled annoyance. “It’s in the safe at the penthouse. I’ll unload it as soon as I can.”
“It doesn’t bother me. I’m just glad you’re on speaking terms again.”
“We weren’t not on speaking terms. He had a lot going on and wasn’t ready to talk until now. I respect that,” Hunter summed up pensively.
“Are he and Eden happy?” She discovered that she hoped they were.
“Not happy the way we’re happy.” Hunter dragged her bottom more fully into his lap and dropped his smug smile onto her lips, turning it into a tender kiss. “But who could be?”
“I know, right?” She played with the buttons on his shirt, thinking about releasing them.
“The whole drive here, I was thinking how lucky I am.” His hand traced absent circles on her back. “Lucky Remy dragged me away that weekend last year. Lucky you joined us. I’m damned lucky your father interrupted my wedding to the wrong woman. I don’t want revenge against him,” he assured her with a grave look. “I want to give him a kidney if he needs it. I owe him a lot.”
“We gave him a grandchild. That’s a pretty close second.” She was grinning with amusement, but growing misty with emotive tears. “I’d suggest we give him another, but honestly, I need this one weaned and sleeping through the night before we have that conversation.”
“I want that, too. The second baby and the uninterrupted sleep.” He grew more contemplative, tucking her head beneath his chin as he absently sifted his fingers through the curtain of her hair before warming the back of her neck with his palm. “I want to go through the pregnancy with you and be there when you’re swearing at me through labor. I want time with you before we bring another personality into the mix. I do love you, you know. So much, I can hardly breathe sometimes.”
“I do know.” Her eyes were wet and stinging, her smile wide and unsteady. She felt his love with everything in her and could hardly breathe herself. “But I don’t get tired of hearing it. Or feeling it.” She pressed closer suggestively.
“Allow me to demonstrate, then.”
“Please do.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom, where he did exactly that.