Hunter (Stud Ranch 2)

And didn’t they say the best way to get over s

omeone was to get under someone else? It hadn’t been her intention heading into the bar, but Hunter was so sweet and handsome and when he’d made his indecent proposition, she’d wanted to drag him out to her car and jump him right there.

“You want to ride with me or take your own car?” Hunter asked, pulling back after another long kiss. It looked like it took effort to yank himself away.

He was such a good-looking guy. He had a square jaw with a few days growth of beard that gave him a rugged, sexy look. His brown hair was thick and curly and he was obviously overdue for a cut. It was the kind of hair that made you want to dig your fingers in. Add to that a strong brow line over blue eyes that were bright with lust. For her.

“I’ll follow.” Isobel felt equally breathless. She was reasonably certain Hunter was an okay guy since everyone in the bar seemed to know him, but she didn’t want to be without her car.

“Okay,” he said. But instead of going to his car, he leaned down and kissed her again. His body pinned her to her car and almost unconsciously, her leg lifted to wrap around his hip.

Which was when she felt just how hard he was. It didn’t scare her, though. With the freedom of her new lease on life still loosening her inhibitions, she let out a desperate breathy moan and rubbed her core against his hardness.

He ground into her several times before swearing and pulling away. His nostrils flared as he looked down at her. With only the light of the lamplight, his brow shadowed his eyes, making him look dark and dangerous. And sexy as fuck when he leaned over and growled in her ear, “I might break a few traffic laws to get to my house because I need that sexy as hell body wrapped around me this second.”

Isobel’s sex clenched at his words but then he was already turning and striding away with purposeful steps.

“I’m parked out front but I’ll pull around so you can follow me,” he called over his shoulder.

She opened her car and slid into the front seat, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead to the steering wheel.

“Holy shit.” She drummed her feet against the floorboard in a spastic little happy dance and then she turned on the engine and watched out for Hunter’s car.

She didn’t have to wait long. It only took a minute before he pulled up beside her in a rugged blue truck that looked like it had seen better days. At the same time, the masculine vehicle perfectly fit the man. She backed up and then headed out down the main street and into the dark roads, always keeping Hunter’s rear truck lights in view.

In spite of his ‘break traffic laws’ comment, he actually kept to the speed limit and drove very responsibly. Which both impressed and annoyed Isobel because the pulsing between her legs only got worse with every passing mile.

It was fifteen minutes before they finally turned into a long gravel drive. Isobel bit her lip, apprehension snaking in when she realized just how remote Hunter’s place was. Any other time, she would have said that following a strange man back to his house in the middle of nowhere was a really stupid idea. But everyone in town knew this guy. And they saw them leave together.

Then again, if he was the town’s darling, he’d be the last one they would suspect of being a serial killer. What if his nice guy act was just how he lured women in? Then if anybody asked, he could just say Isobel had been passing through if she didn’t turn up tomorrow. It’s not like anyone at the horse rescue was actually expecting her. There hadn’t been a way to call ahead since she’d left her phone behind. Plus, the way Rick—the stablemaster where she kept her horse Buttons at their summer house in New Hampshire—had described the rescue, they were always short on help. It was in a remote location and the pay wasn’t much more than room and board. She was planning to apply for the job in person tomorrow.

And hadn’t she just been thinking about how the worst-case scenarios always seemed to happen to her? It would just be her luck if the nice guy from the bar was actually a psychopath with a penchant for chopping up dark-haired girls into little itty-bitty pieces and—

The porch light turned on and she could see Hunter standing by the front door to his house, the door slightly ajar. He was obviously waiting for her, but it was like he could tell she was second guessing her decision in coming out here. And he wasn’t pressing the issue. He just stood there waiting. Letting her choose to come in or back out and drive away.

She took a deep breath. Okay, maybe her paranoid brain was getting a little imaginative.

She grabbed her purse and got out of the car, then walked toward his house.

“Just so you know,” she said when she got closer, “I called a girlfriend and told her your address and to call the cops if I don’t check in with her tomorrow morning.” No need for him to know she was bluffing.

Hunter inclined his head. “That’s good. I want you to be as comfortable as possible.”

He gestured toward the front door and after she passed, his hand came to the small of her back. He followed her into the house. As soon as he closed the door behind them, he nuzzled his nose into the back of her neck where her hair touched her shoulders. Goosebumps immediately shot up and down her arms.

“You have a lovely house,” she barely managed to say, her breath hitching as he slowly pushed her hair away and began dropping light kisses across the base of her neck. He was being so gentle, his lips so achingly soft that they barely made any contact at all.

She wasn’t just saying it about the house, either. It was a large cabin with an open living room and kitchen. The ceiling was tall with a pitched A-line roof and there was a second floor loft where she assumed the bedrooms were. It was a simple but classic space that, like his truck, seemed well-suited to its owner.

Speaking of whom… Hunter withdrew his lips and had moved on to massaging her with those big, glorious hands of his. She sank back against him as he released knots in her shoulders she hadn’t even realized she was carrying around.

“God, that feels amazing,” she groaned.

“I need to touch your skin.”

A shudder wracked her body at his whisper.

She started moving toward the staircase at the other side of the cabin—they’d come in the back door and the staircase was by the front entryway—but Hunter’s hands on her shoulders stopped her.