“Sierra’s my family. Helping her is my responsibility.”
“I know all about responsibility. I’ve been buried under it most of my life. Sometimes you have to ask for help.”
Hunter snorted. “Yeah, you’re great at that. You nearly bit off my head earlier for fixing your gutters.”
“I didn’t say I was good at it, but I’m getting better,” she said, offering the faintest hint of a smile before her expression turned serious again. “Please, Hunter, let me do this. Not just for you, for your sister.”
Hunter watched as Maggie reached over and placed her hand over Sierra’s.
“If money had been the only thing standing between my father and sobriety, I would have done anything and everything to get it, even if it meant accepting someone’s help.” Maggie turned to Sierra. “I want to help you. I admire your determination. That was something my father never had, and no amount of pushing on my part could change that. Please, Sierra. It would mean a lot to me.”
“Thank you,” Sierra said, slowly withdrawing her hand from Maggie’s. “But my brother’s right. We can’t take your money.”
“There’s another way,” Hunter said. “I was offered a private security job. It pays well. I’ll give them a call and see if the offer still stands.”
“You’d leave the job you love instead of taking my money?” Maggie asked.
“The work might not be that different.” He’d told the company a flat-out no without getting the details. But whether they shipped him off to a war zone or kept him stateside, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
“No,” Maggie insisted. She turned to Sierra. “I’ll give it to you as a loan. You can pay me back. Whenever you’re ready.”
A loan. The last thing he needed was another IOU, and he damn sure wasn’t going to saddle Sierra with the burden, not when she needed to focus on staying sober. “Sierra, can you give us a minute?”
His sister nodded. “Sure.”
“You can wait on the porch,” he said. Once his sister was out of earshot, he rested his hands on the island and looked at Maggie. “Why are you doing this, Maggie?”
“Because we’re friends. I can’t fix your gutters, but I can do this. After you leave and I finish my book, after the sexual part of our relationship ends, I like to think that we will remain friends. This is what friends do for each other, isn’t it?”
Hunter ran his hand through his hair and looked away. “Christ, Maggie, you don’t understand. Her treatment is expensive. It’s taking nearly all I have and then some right now. It could be years before I can repay you. I have a mountain of debt. This isn’t the first time Sierra has needed money.”
“Then I’ll wait,” she said. “Hunter, look at me.” He turned to her and saw the open honesty in her eyes. “Please. Let me do this. I couldn’t save my father. But Sierra? I can help her. I want to help her. Not just for you, but because she deserves a chance to stay sober. Please, let me pay for it.”
“Maggie, I want you to understand, I will repay every cent. I promise you.”
“I believe you.” Maggie smiled. “I know you don’t break your promises.”
“Good. As long as we’re clear. This is a loan. Let’s tell Sierra the good news. And then get her the hell out of here and back to rehab so I can thank you properly.”
“More s’mores?”
“What I have in mind involves your guest room shower,” he said.
Maggie smiled at him, her eyes lighting up with that intoxicating mix of boldness and innocence. That look—it hit him square in the gut. The thrill he found when jumping out of a helo with his team? It didn’t compare to the rush he got from being with Maggie. That twinge he’d felt when she walked away last Saturday had grown into something more, something that threatened to march him straight into relationship territory.
He’d fallen for her. As it stood now, he’d fallen so far he couldn’t settle for being the guy she turned to for orgasms, to fulfill her fantasies. He needed the promise that she’d be there for him the next day and the day after that. He wanted to be the man she woke up to, not the one she walked away from after sex. Hell, he’d had a better time last night sharing s’mores on a bale of hay than he’d ever had working as a Ranger. He didn’t need his job, a promotion or a pay raise. What he needed was standing right in front of him. Maggie.
With her, a relationship wasn’t about what he had to give, it was about taking care of each other. She could help him provide for his family and he could offer her the stability she needed. He could be the person she trusted.
Hunter frowned as he followed Maggie through the swinging door. What he wanted didn’t matter if she didn’t trust him. Maggie had serious control issues. She might fantasize about letting someone else take the lead, about letting another person into her life, but in reality, it was hard for her to trust. And if she ever found out he’d withheld information for her book? She’d run for the door.
He wasn’t going to let that happen.
16
AT EIGHT THAT EVENING, they pulled into the parking lot at the Guest Suites hotel a few miles down the road from Fort Campbell. Maggie had kept her gaze focused out the window, taking in the local sites—the quaint Clarksville downtown, the local bars and, as they passed over a bridge, the Red River.
Hunter put the car in Park and turned to her. “Sure you’re ready for tomorrow?”