Hunter got off work the following afternoon and went by Beary Perfect Posies flower shop. Gayle Tominaga’s shop might not be the most expensive option in Bear Mountain, but her selection was amazing.
He walked out with a colorful bouquet and a simple card. It wasn’t terribly romantic, but he needed to start to share his feelings for Penny. The flowers were the first step he’d take to show her he was serious about her.
He hated that it had been Trent’s words that lit a fire in him. He’d figured he’d already blown it and had thought he’d lost her to either San Diego or to Trent’s charm. But now Hunter hoped that there was a chance he could change her mind. He needed to explain that he’d been an idiot.
He drove by the Grizzly and left the flowers and card on the window of her Tacoma.
Now all he had to do was wait.
Penny walked out of the Grizzly frazzled and exhausted, but what else was new. All she wanted to do was go home and go to bed.
When she reached the driver’s-side door of her Tacoma, she noticed the bouquet of bright flowers on her windshield and rolled her eyes.
“Trent. You are such a—”
She stopped talking after she grabbed the card and opened it.
Dinner?
-Hunter
Penny looked from the flowers to the card to the flowers again. That was it? He left flowers on her car, and only two words in the card? And one of them was his freaking name?
Penny grabbed the flowers and hopped into her car, driving through town to Hunter’s place. He’d bought a ranch house a few miles away from the hospital. It was on several acres with a barn, and it was one of the nicest places in Bear Mountain.
She sped up the gravel driveway, laying on the horn. After parking the truck right in front of the garage, she jumped out and stomped up to his porch. Before she had a chance to knock, he opened the door…
Wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Penny, what the hell? You tore the crap out of my driveway.”
Penny couldn’t respond because her tongue was in her throat. The porch light illuminated every sinewy inch of him. Her gaze traveled along his broad, muscular shoulders and chest, and snaked down his trim waist, flat stomach, and well-defined abs.
And suddenly she wondered what was underneath that towel.
“As much as I’m enjoying the way you’re looking at me, I’m going to remind you that my eyes are up here.”
Penny’s gaze snapped up to Hunter’s, and the wry twist of his mouth broke the spell his body had cast.
“Why are you wearing a towel at two thirty in the morning?” she asked dumbly.
“Because I sleep naked and I grabbed whatever was handy?”
“Oh…okay.” Penny was finally able to get back to the matter at hand. She held up the flowers she was holding. “What are these?”
The bastard had the balls to arch an eyebrow at her. “They look like flowers.”
“Yes, but what do they mean?”
“That I like you and want you to have dinner with me?” he said.
“Why?”
“I just said—”
“Why do you have the worst timing in the world?” she cried.
He ran a hand over his hair, rumpling it in an oh-so-sexy way she hated. She really did. “Better late than never, right? I was going back and forth about whether to say everything I wanted to you. The job in San Diego is an amazing opportunity and I don’t want you to waste it.” He took a step toward her and she couldn’t move, rooted to the spot by his words and the intensity in his gaze. “But I want you to stay. Bear Mountain wouldn’t be the same without you, and neither will I.”
“But you told me I wasn’t right for you, that we don’t want the same things—”
He cupped her face in his hands. “I want you, Penny. Even when I wouldn’t admit it to myself, I wanted you. I know that the thought of you with someone else or three states away is killing me. And that’s all I need to know.”
Hunter thought he was being romantic. Gallant even.
And then Penny struck him on the arm with her bouquet.
Apparently, he’d been wrong.
“Ow, Penny!”
“You son of a bitch! I cannot believe you just said that to me!”
She stomped back off the porch and Hunter didn’t think about the fact that he wasn’t wearing shoes or that his towel had started to slip. He ran after her.
He gently spun her around to face him and pulled her against his naked body. “I’m not letting you get away that easy, Penelope Davis. You told me that you’ve wanted me for five years, and it’s been the same for me. But I’m not playing it safe anymore. I’ll chase you clear to California if I have to, but you’re not shaking me. Not ever.”
He could see her eyes shimmering with tears, and waited for her to hit him again.
“Damn you, Gracin.”
She reached up behind his neck and pulled him down for a kiss instead.
Hunter wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his palms on the top of her rear and losing himself in the taste of her. Even the cool breeze against his backside or the distant rumble of thunder couldn’t make him end the embrace.
And then she was pulling away. “Nope. Nope. Damn it.”
Hunter let her go. She gave a valiant effort in not looking down and checking out his package in the glow of the porchlight.
“You don’t get to seduce me into staying.”
“I’m not. I already told you, I want you to stay but even if you go, I’m going to chase you. Even if it takes ten or fifteen—”
“Stop! I can’t hear this right now.” She turned and got into her truck, and this time he let her go. There was going to be plenty of time to convince Penny he meant every word.