“A new house?” Abby said. She set down the laundry basket she’d been carrying. “I told you, I don’t want to disrupt Noah’s life any more than I already have.” Hunt hadn’t listened to her. He was ignoring her wishes and making decisions behind her back. Her pulse throbbed, heart hammering a mile a minute. What had she done marrying him?
Hunt raised his hands. “Hear me out. Technically, it’s not a new house; it’s the home I grew up in. And we wouldn’t move for weeks. There’s demo and rough-in construction that needs to take place. I don’t want my family living through that.”
His family. But she and Noah weren’t his. Unless Hunt was taking this marriage more seriously than she’d initially thought. But why would he do that?
“Just consider it, okay?” he said. “We could take Noah by and see what needs to be done.”
“So it’s not a done deal. You haven’t made a major decision behind my back.”
Hunt placed his hand over his heart. “I’d never do something so stupid.”
Abby glanced around. Her place wasn’t much, but it was cozy. Okay, a little too cozy. “Why now?”
“My brothers and I have put off dealing with our family estate for years. That’s one reason. The other is I think living in the house where I grew up will help put off Vivian. I’m not one for fancy shit, but my father was, and the house he built is impressive. We’d live in luxury, close to the resort and your job, and best of all, there’d be no rent. The place is paid off. You can save money.”
Now he was speaking her language. No rent? She’d love to save some of her earnings instead of throwing it out the door on Tahoe’s housing expenses. “Not that I’m agreeing to anything, but are your brothers okay with this?”
Hunt snorted. “My brothers are happy to hand off the work of remodeling the old joint. We’re paying for the upkeep anyway while it’s vacant. Might as well move forward on a remodel and prepare it for sale.”
Abby had never been given anything for free in her life. Until Hunt came along. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Yes, it was wonderful to have someone do kind things for her, but what could she possibly give him to compensate for all he’d done? “Are you sure your brothers won’t feel like we’re taking advantage?”
“Hell no. We’re doing them a favor.”
Abby let out a breath and walked into the kitchen, resting her hands on the worn Formica countertop. “I’ll agree to take Noah by, but if he seems uncomfortable for any reason or doesn’t want to leave our home, I won’t agree to this arrangement.”
“Fair enough.”
“Wheee!” Noah shouted as he ran around the front yard of the Cade estate, and Abby flinched. Clearly she’d misjudged her son’s enthusiasm for a new home. Especially one that was a three-story, modern mountain mansion.
Hunt quirked his eyebrow at her.
“Fine,” she said. “So he likes the yard.” She looked up at the front door. “But this place is massive. What if he gets lost?”
Hunt nodded sagely, though she knew she was being ridiculous. “Always a consideration. However, my brothers and I never did, and I’m confident in Noah. He’ll probably know the place better than either of us in a day or two. But let’s not jump to conclusions.” Was that a confident smile on Hunt’s face? “Let’s take a look inside and see what Noah thinks.”
Yes, that most definitely was confidence oozing off Hunt. Dammit. He knew something Abby didn’t.
He jogged up the steps to the front door and punched a code into a keypad.
The door opened and Abby’s breath caught. “Holy shit.”
“Mom,” Noah said, giggling.
“I mean, holy cow.” She was already setting a bad example, her roots of growing up in a double-wide showing through.
“Wow!” Noah said, looking around in amazement. “Do you really live here?”
Hunt crouched next to Noah and scanned the room, with two-story ceilings and windows that looked out onto the woods. “When I was a kid I did. What do you think?”
“It’s huge,” Noah said, eyes bright. “Can I run around?”
“Have at it.”
Noah took off like a shot, past the foyer and down a long hall. Abby could hear him whooping and hollering the entire way.
She sent Hunt a sidelong glance. “This doesn’t mean anything.”
He smiled. “Whatever you say, wife.”
A shiver ran down her spine. His words were meant in humor, but somehow she thought he enjoyed calling her wife, and that was the part that messed with her head. “Are you sure you’ve never been married before? Because you seem to have all the appropriate responses to get what you want.”
He chuckled. “Never been married. But I’m attentive.”
“Which is why you’re so good with women,” she said, not liking her own words.
Hunt grabbed her hand, his smile fading. “We had a deal, Abby. I’m committed to you while we’re together.”
Prickles raced down her arm where his warm palm held hers. She was reading into things. Wondering if there could be more.
She slowly slid her hand out of his and walked through the dining room and into the kitchen. Hunt’s footsteps sounded behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder and caught him staring off, a serious expression on his face as he looked around the kitchen.
She forgot her worries about their marriage. What did this house really mean to Hunt?
He wanted her to live here, but as soon as he’d stepped inside, his demeanor turned guarded. “Everything okay?”
He nodded. “Just haven’t been back here in a while.” His shoulders shook ever so slightly. “It’s older than I remember. This kitchen is crap.”
The “kitchen” was top-of-the-line fancy, and a million times better than the one she shared with Noah. Hunt never seemed to mind her place, but the mountain mansion he hated? If they moved into Hunt’s family home, it would be the finest thing Abby had ever lived in.
However, she could see how if they planned to sell the estate, they’d need to remodel the kitchen. It had to be twenty years old. Anyone spending that kind of money would expect something modern. Still, he was awfully tetchy over an outdated kitchen. “Is that all that’s wrong?”
Hunt shoved his hands in his jean pockets and stood there stiffly, not answering. Or unable to.
There was something about this house that set him off. If they were going to live here, she wanted to make sure he was going to be happy with the decision. She tried another tactic. “What was it like growing up here?”
“Cold,” he said, no inflection in his tone.
Abby laughed darkly. “And you want us to move in?”
Hunt looked around, letting out a long sigh. “It’s temporary. Besides, I plan to strip the place until it’s practically unrecognizable.”
Her eyebrows pinched together. “What’s the real reason you don’t like this house?”
He glanced to the side, seemingly looking for Noah. Abby could hear her son racing across the upstairs level. “My childhood was…different. It wasn’t awful, but it was lonely. My mother died when I was a baby, and my father was a workaholic. When he was around, he wasn’t attentive. I don’t know.” His shoulders jerked up in a stiff shrug. “There were five of us, and we were a handful. Can’t say I blame him for wanting to ditch us.”
Abby swallowed, pain shooting through her chest. She wanted to hug Hunt. She wanted to yell at his father and tell him he should have been there for his sons. Here she was fighting to raise her son, and Hunt’s father had thrown his chance to parent his children away.
Abby settled for looping her arm through Hunt’s, unsure how a man—her husband—would feel about it. “You’re the best with the children at Club Tahoe, and Noah loves you. If you didn’t have a happy childhood, it doesn’t show.”
He looked away. “I don’t like to see the kids lonely. Besides,” he said, and grinned. “According to my brothers, I’m the same age as them mentally. We’re a good fit.”
Abby squeezed his arm. “Your brothers are wrong. You’re a wonderful man, and you’ll make a great father. You’re already a wonderful role model to Noah.”
Hunt studied her, as though to gauge her seriousness. And then heat filled his eyes, and his gaze swept her face, landing on her mouth.
Abby’s mind shot back to yesterday morning and the look on Hunt’s face when he was giving her incredible pleasure.
Good Lord, he was potent.
She cleared her throat. “We should find Noah. I think he’s lost in the labyrinth.” She made to pull away, and Hunt placed his hand on top of hers.
“Abby.” He waited until she met his eyes. “I won’t let you down.”
He’d read her mind, because she was afraid. Though not of him. She was afraid she felt too much for someone she couldn’t have.