Dahlia shimmies from under Hunter’s arm. He lets out a snore as picks up a blanket from the floor and wraps it around her shoulders. Zip hops off the bed and makes a beeline to the door, whining and scratching when she doesn’t open it immediately.
“And he calls me impatient,” she says with a smirk. She opens the door to a foot of snow blocking her path. Zip leaps over it, landing it with nothing but his head sticking out.
He barks at the white stuff like it’s just offended him, and Dahlia pulls the quilt tighter and tries to muffle her laugh.
“I love your laugh,” Hunter mumbles, his voice thick with sleep. He pushes up out of the bed and swings his legs over the side. Her eyes linger a fraction of a second on his scarred thigh and missing limb. He was so nervous about taking it off in front of her last night. She ended up sliding her hands down his body and doing it herself. He she doesn’t have to hide his curves, he shouldn’t feel the need to hide this part of him either.
“Love?” She bites her bottom lip, and he stands, bracing himself against the wall. “Little soon for that kind of talk, don’t you think?” She means it as a joke, but she can’t stop the flutter in her stomach and the way her palms sweat. His morning wood is perfectly outlined in his tight boxers and even though she’s sore from all the sex last night, she can’t wait until more.
He smiles at her and runs his hands through his cropped hair. “Come shower with me, little flower. Then I’ll fix us breakfast. From the looks of that, we aren’t going anywhere, soon.”
Zip bolts back in, snow sticking to his fur, and shakes at the doormat. Dahlia squeals at the snow, landing at her feet and freezing her toes.
“I’ll check the fire first, then we’ll shower.” He reaches for his sock and prosthetic.
“How about you stop trying to do everything for me and I’ll tend to the stove? You just get the water hot.” Dahlia doesn’t give him time to argue before she’s grabbing the handle to open the door and add wood. She has to scrap the ashes to the bottom first and opens the air vent for air to stoke the embers.
“You know how to do all that?” Over her shoulder, Hunter leans against the doorway, naked, wearing an impressed expression.
“Shocked that a woman can take care of herself?”
He shakes his head. “No, shocked that you never heard a mountain lion scream and have lived here your entire life, though.”
Her mouth falls open, and she pushes to her feet. “I was running for my life! Besides, camping never was something my parents did. When would I be in the situation to be around a mountain lion?”
His shoulders shake with laughter, and he sighs, a genuine smile spreading his lips. “You going to come shower, little flower? Put me out of my misery of imagining what’s under that blanket?”
Dahlia stands and drops the blanket to the floor. Something about the way Hunter looks at her makes her feel radiant and confident. His amber eyes burn away any embarrassment she might have felt with any other man. Hunter sucks in a breath, his biceps flex as he grips the door frame.
“Like what you see?” she teases. His gaze burns to her soul, stoking a flame and heating her skin.
“Come here. Now,” he orders, and she nearly puddles onto the floor.
She doesn’t know where they’ll end up after this night in his cabin. But for the first time in her life, she wants to explore these feelings and this man further.
“Well, that’s it,” Dahlia announces as she closes the hatch to her SUV. She spent three days in Hunter’s cabin. After the first day, she opted to walk around in one of his T-shirts. That might have been the sexiest thing he’s ever seen.
Now, she stands awkwardly in the snow wearing what he found her in. Do they act like the last few days never happened? Go back to be acquaintance’s even now that she knows his secrets? Was everything that bloomed between them a delusion of the blizzard and being forced to stay in that small cabin?
She worries her bottom lip and reaches for her door handle. She’s never been in this awkward in between of was this a one-night thing or does he feel like she does and wants more? All those things he said to her, the way he made her feel…how does she go back from that?
Hunter stands off to the side, staring down the long driveway. For the first time since he’s moved out here, the idea of being so far from civilization—from her—is painful. When he doesn’t respond, she steps toward the driver’s door, but Hunter grabs her arm and pulls her back into him, pinning her to the side of her vehicle.
“What are you doing?” she asks, looking down at where his hips grind into hers.
He stares into her wide eyes. How does he form the words he wants to say? Would she call him crazy? Or run screaming? There is a knife in his gut and it’s twisting at the thought of watching her drive away. But he can’t keep her here. Not unless she wants to stay. And if she says no, then he doesn’t think he’ll be able to handle it. He’s been pushing people away for so long, he this feeling of wanting to keep someone close is foreign and it scares the hell out of him.
“Hunter?” she says his name, and he blinks her back into focus. Dahlia cups his cheek and brushes her thumb across his stubble.
“I—” he clears his throat and steps back, dropping his gaze. “Be careful.”
Her hand falls to her side, and she swallows the sadness, trying to claw up her throat as she opens her door.
She has never been the type afraid to say what is on her mind.
She’s Dahlia Moore. She owns Dreaming of Dahlias and has built a business from the ground up. To hell with the man who thinks she is just going to leave after having the best sex and act like nothing has changed.
Nope. Not happening. Not to her. She whirls and faces the cowboy with his dog sitting at his side.
“Hunter Haynes, I know you aren’t about to send me on my way with what? A be careful? After everything we’ve talked about the last two days and what we’ve been doing in that shack in the woods? I have half a mind—”
He gently grips her face and presses his lips to hers, cutting her off. Her tense body relaxes, and she leans back into her SUV. “You wouldn’t have made it to the end of the driveway before I caught you,” he says against her lips. He pulls back and Dahlia’s scowl softens.
“Well, start with that next time.” She huffs in annoyance.
Hunter places a knuckle under her chin and tilts her head up. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you, little flower. This is just the start.