Page 81 of Back in the Saddle

‘“Head Over Boots”! Jon Pardi!’ A muffled shout from the bar area was met with approving nods and several people repeating the title.

Hunter nodded once, and the woman clicked some buttons on the console. The lyrics came up on the screen, with music playing from the speakers. He started singing in a low, smooth, and confident tone.

Caroline straightened in her chair, entranced. She had never heard this song, but it seemed that most people knew it well, as they soon started tapping and even singing along.

Megan was happily bobbing her head to the music.

Mitch was snickering to himself, arms crossed across his chest.

‘What’s so funny?’ Caroline asked him.

‘Making fun of him after this never gets old. He plays a guitar too, if you didn’t know. But I do like the song.’

‘He is good though,’ she responded, turning back to look at Hunter. When the chorus came again, their eyes met.

The words kept flowing from his mouth, his earnest grey eyes not leaving hers. He didn’t even glance at the lyrics on the screen.

Something heavy flipped in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, she felt too hot. Her cheeks burned from the inside, but she couldn’t look away.

Hunter was looking at her like she was the only person in the crowded bar.

Her eyes glistened with something uncomfortably unfamiliar.

A few people at the front of the stage turned round to see what had Hunter so captivated. One woman in a navy denim dress turned to her friend and whispered something in her ear. Both smiled and looked at Caroline with interest.

She didn’t pay them any attention. It didn’t matter.

His voice filled her ears and set her whole body on fire. She achingly recalled the taste of his lips on hers, the feel of his hands on her body and the moments just after, when she felt only happiness. The ecstasy and everything else bundled up in an iridescent glow.

Hunter’s darkened gaze stripped every layer off her. No one had ever looked at her like that. It was hard to explainbut she thought the way she looked at him was somehow new as well.

It felt different.

Her body just seemed to respond to him in a manner she didn’t fully understand. Like it had a power to bring her the greatest happiness and the biggest heartbreak, all in one.

The song finished to a round of rapturous applause.

Megan jumped off her seat and joined in.

Mitch, smirk still plastered to his face, did too.

But Caroline was glued to her chair and couldn’t move.

Mitch was right. This wasn’t casual for Hunter. And to her greater dismay, it was getting impossible to pretend she had no feelings for him.

Which made the lie he’d told her burn even more. Why did he do it? This question had been playing on her mind since Mitch had told her Hunter had a fiancée. Not just a girlfriend, not a long-term partner.A fiancée.

Of course, she wasn’t going to get hung up on that. She was the last person who could. But she’d been honest with him, well, pretty much from the start. He could’ve told her.

He didn’t have to, she knew that.

Yet, the fact that he hadn’t still hurt.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Hunter

Hunter wrapped his arm round Caroline’s waist, pulling her sideways to him. He could feel her body stiffen as soon as he touched her. Puzzled, he stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘What’s wrong?’