Page 122 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
The loneliness I’d heard in Hunter’s voice earlier was gone. Inviting him had been the right call. And the nerves I’d felt about him joining us tonight had vanished the moment he’d taken his seat next to mine.
“I’m hungry.” Coby squirmed as he sat on Hunter’s knee.
“What do you want?” Hunter asked.
“Can I have a hot dog?”
“Sure, buddy. What do you want?” he asked me.
“I’ll have a hot dog too.”
“Okay. Be right back.”
“Can I come?” Coby asked.
Hunter answered by holding out his hand as he stood, then together, they walked down the stairs. All around me, the chatter resumed. The guys started talking football. Mom was talking to Sabrina about her pregnancy. Dad was talking to Alana about the vet clinic.
And I sat quietly, enjoying the view of Hunter and my son holding hands.
“There’s something truly magical about a man falling in love with your child, isn’t there?” Gigi whispered in my ear.
“Totally.” It made staying away from Hunter nearly impossible when he looked at Coby the way my dad looked at me.
Soon they disappeared from sight, returning ten minutes later overloaded with junk food from the concession stand. The view of the pair coming back up the stairs was just as nice as the view going down had been. Coby’s smile was as wide as it had been all week and the love he had for Hunter was written all over his little face.
Guilt clawed at my insides. I couldn’t let Coby suffer through this limbo any longer. I needed to make a decision. Hunter was either in our lives or out.
When he reached our row, Coby handed me my hot dog. “Here you go, Mommy.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
“We got candy too,” he announced.
Hunter dropped a bag of Skittles in my hand along with a Snickers bar. My two favorites. Considering I’d never told him what my favorite candy was, I was impressed.
“How’d I do?” he asked.
“Good.” Really good.
Hunter settled into his seat and we all started eating as the teams took the field to warm up before kickoff.
“Do you want something to drink?” Hunter asked. “I forgot to get a water.”
I nodded and swallowed my last bite of Snickers. “Dr. Pepper.”
“Okay. Be right back.”
He stood and jogged down the steps. My eyes instantly locked on his butt. The way his ass looked in those jeans should be photographed daily. So firm. So damn firm. It looked more like chiseled stone than rounded muscle. Marveling at how well the pockets of his jeans framed his luscious ass, I jerked in surprise when a hand appeared in my line of sight.
There was a hand on Hunter’s ass. A hand that definitely wasn’t mine.
“What the eff?” Gigi asked.
“Coby, stay here.” I was out of my seat and down the stairs before anyone could stop me, moving straight toward Hunter, who stood by the railing trying to inch away from the woman who had just groped him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the woman said, smiling and laughing like the fool she was. “I just tripped.” She held out a hand. “I’m Renee. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
I slid right into Hunter’s side, knocking her hand away with my elbow. Then I held mine out in return. “Hi. I’m Maisy. Renee, was it?”
