Page 4 of Tempting Hunter
Chapter 2
Hunter sat on the sofa in his sister’s home Monday morning reading with Madison. She’d been glued to his side from the moment he got there. Any fears he’d had about her forgetting him had disappeared. Even Little Sully had warmed up to him enough so that the two had spent a little while playing with Sully’s toy cars.
“Are you going to be gone a long time again, Uncle Hunter?” Madison asked, her little face filled with concern.
“I might have to be gone for a while, but I’m coming back. Remember, we talked about it yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa’s house yesterday. And I’ll call you sometimes and we can talk on a video.”
“On Mommy’s iPad?”
He lifted a brow.
Ava, who had come into the room, chuckled. “These are twenty-first century technology babies. They’re born knowing how to work electronics. Even Sully knows how to find his kiddie games on a tablet.”
“I’ve really been out of the loop. Maddie, I guess we’ll be talking on Mommy’s iPad.”
“Yay!” She jumped off the sofa and took off.
“Madison Sullivan,walk,” Ava called after her.
Hunter smiled.
She came and took the spot Madison had vacated. “You’re a natural with them. I was hoping I’d have my own little niece or nephew to spoil by now.”
He didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t. He and Michaela had talked about having children—at least two, and she often teased him saying they were going to have to start right away so he wouldn’t be too old to play with them. Now, more than likely, it would never happen.
“Have you had a chance to get into the details of what Granddad wants for the mural? I know some local artists if you need a name.”
He shook his head. “He wants Michaela to do it.”
Her eyes widened. “YourMichaela? Are you serious? I mean…wow.”
Hunter’s thoughts exactly. “I wish I wasn’t, but those were his instructions, and apparently he’s already gotten the board’s approval. So…” He shrugged.
Ava fell back against the sofa. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m really surprised because everybody in town knew what happened and I’d think Granddad wouldn’t want to put either of you in that kind of situation. Have you talked to her since…since…you know? I saw her at the repast and noticed that she couldn’t keep her eyes off you.”
Most likely because she was trying to make sure their paths never crossed. “I saw her, too.”
“Did you try to talk to her? I thought it was nice of her to come. I know Granddad had already begun to think of her as his granddaughter.”
So he’d said.”I went by to talk to her yesterday. Let’s just say I made it out alive and leave it at that.” Michaela still hadn’t called him to say whether she’d do the mural and in all honesty, he couldn’t blame her, especially with him appearing out of the blue after dropping off the face of the earth, as she’d put it, and without even offering an explanation. But being near her, had tempted him to touch her and see if her skin was still as soft as he remembered.
She shifted to face him. “Hunter, you’re my brother and I love you, but I can’t believe the way you just left her like that. I was pissed at you for a long time.”
“I know, but I had my reasons.”
“Well, what are they? And they’d better be good ones.”
Hunter shook his head. Ava could be a pain in the butt sometimes. “They’re none of your business.”
Ava looked affronted. “How are you not going to tell me?”
“Ava, let it go.” He knew she recognized that his tone meant the conversation was over when she clamped her jaws shut. He checked the time. “I need to get going, and don’t look at me like that. I’ll be back, probably sooner than you think, because I have to meet with the hospital board.”
“All I know is you’d better not roll up to in here again without saying anything to anybody.” She called the children to come say goodbye. Owen had gone to work.
He chuckled and pushed to his feet. After a round of hugs and one more promise to return, he drove to the airport.
As a frequent flyer, he had signed up for the TSA pre-check program when it first rolled out years ago. Little did he know how much it would come in handy now. Having to damn near unpack and undress took more energy than Hunter had to spare these days and he was glad to be able to skip it. The other thing he learned—and continued to have trouble accepting—was that he had to let his pride take a backseat and request a wheelchair to get to and from the gate. When he’d flown in last month, he nearly missed his connecting flight because of the extra time it had taken him to get to the gate. However, this time, the process went effortlessly.