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Cheryse suddenly gave him a curious look and lifted her eyebrows. “What?”
Hunter moved back to the shovel and picked it up. “Nothing.” He threw himself back into digging. It felt good to dig. It felt like he could do anything right now. Anything physical would help vent this frustrated energy that fueled him whenever Cheryse was involved. Suddenly, he laughed. This was nothing new. He had always felt this way about Cheryse, whether it was Trent, Roger, or another guy on the other end of it.
“What are you laughing at?”
He composed himself. “Nothing.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she wagged a finger at him. “Tell me. I’ve been rambling for like three hours about nothing, and suddenly you’re laughing like a maniac.”
Unable to stop himself, he told her the truth. “I’m jealous.” He wiped another round of sweat from his brow. “I’m so dang jealous of any guy that has your attention or any guy that you talk about, even if the guy is being a jerk to you. Especially if he’s a jerk to you. And that’s pretty pathetic.” He chuckled darkly. If Trent were here, he would make some ridiculous joke and all of them would laugh even harder. “Can you imagine what Trent would say if he heard me telling you this?”
Cheryse stopped short, her face turning contemplative. “I don’t know.”
Hunter put his hand to his gut and guffawed. “He would say, ‘She is way too good. She likes all those foreign films with subtitles.’”
“Oh, he would totally rag on the foreign films, and the horror films.”
“Yeah, the horror films. What about those?”
Cheryse threw her head back and laughed. “You guys would watch one of those movies with me and then get totally freaked out.”
Hunter never enjoyed being depicted as a wimp. “Hey, maybe we were just trying to let you feel you had something over on us.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“Trent and I both loved you, and … I think you loved us both, too.” He meant it as a joke, but the look on her face made him regret saying it at all. He didn’t want any awkwardness, so he kept talking. “Listen. If you recall, I would make you turn off the horror films because I didn’t want Trent sleeping in a sleeping bag in my room the whole night.”
Cheryse giggled. “Didn’t you share a room?”
“Yeah, but he had his own bed on the other side of the room. But when we had to watch those stupid horror movies, sometimes war movies, he’d be right by my side. I would get out of bed and step on him.”
She wagged a finger at him, humor and mischief in her eyes. “How come Trent used to say the same thing about you? I thought you were the one on the floor by his bed.”
“What?” Hunter knew she was teasing him, but it was working.
After a bit, they calmed down, and he found himself staring into those gorgeous green eyes.
So many feelings washed through him. He wanted to demand that she ditch that loser, Roger. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her. Dang it, he wanted to kiss her so badly. “Those were good times. You loved both of us, didn’t you?”
“I did love both of you. And part of me still loves you. Part of me will always love you.”
Hunter froze. The sniper in him recognized a clear shot, but he didn’t want to take it if she didn’t want him to. He would never take advantage of Cheryse. She was vulnerable, and he didn’t want vulnerability to be the foundation of their relationship.
“Yeah, you did. And I love you, too. But I’m not saying that to make you feel any kind of pressure, okay? I don’t want that.” They were just barely getting the relationship back on track, and he wouldn’t risk it all over the truth. “It’s just a simple truth, Reese. No one has to deal with that. No one has to even talk about it. It’s just something that I know right here.” He touched the center of his chest. “It’s just something I know.”
For a long time, they just held each other’s gaze, and he didn’t know if she would say anything. Then she smiled. “I love you too. I always have. And you’re right: that is just a truth.”
Chapter 25
After the whole digging adventure, they stopped to get Chinese, took turns showering, and then lay in front of the television and ate Chinese food. It was like the picnics they’d had as kids when they just watched a movie and ate fast food.
“Have you watched Hamilton?”
“The musical?” she asked.
“Right.”
“Nope.”
