Read Online Snowbound with the Biker (Holiday Encounters Book 2) by Amy Lamont - Free Book Online Page B

head so hard I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear something rattling around in there. “It was so weird. It was like he was jealous or something. It ate at him. You could hear it whenever he started in on you. And did you ever notice it got worse whenever you did something good? Like you’d make the honor roll or bring in the winning goal in a game and the next thing you know, he’d find some reason to go off on you.”
    “You noticed all that?”
    Now that I’d warmed up to my subject it all came spilling out. “I noticed a lot more. And I hated the things he said to you. I can’t even tell you how many times I wanted to run over and tell him off, tell him how wrong he was about you.” I pressed my lips together and gave him a long look. “I wanted you to know those words weren’t true.”
    Hunter snorted out a laugh. He laughed .
    “I don’t see what’s so funny.” I plopped my hands on my hips.
    He took a step closer to me and grinned. “You thought I was one of your wounded birds.”
    “What?”
    “You know. Everyone on the street thought you were like a princess out of a Disney movie. All that blonde hair and the big blue eyes. The fact that you were always nursing some injured bird or stray animal just added to the image.”
    My jaw dropped. I opened my mouth once and closed it before I managed to get a word out. “Is that why you always called me princess?”
    His grin turned into a wide smile. “Yeah, princess.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
    “Yeah, well, you’re not the only one feeling a little confused here. I thought you hated me. You were sweet as pie to every single person you ever met. But me, you wouldn’t even look at me.”
    I gnawed on my bottom lip, my eyes skittering over the room, trying to find anything else to focus my attention on.
    “Katelyn.” The one word was a command, demanding my attention.
    I looked at him and shifted my weight from foot to foot under his intense stare.
    “Why did you and your friends start playing those pranks on my father?”
    Shit . He was going to make me admit everything. I twisted my hands together and took a shaky breath, but managed to keep my eyes steady on his. “When you bought your motorcycle…”
    I broke off and dropped my eyes, not wanting to finish that sentence. Shit, shit, shit. There was no way I could finish that sentence without sharing way, way more than I wanted to.
    “I bought my motorcycle and…” he prompted.
    I glanced up at him from under my lashes. “I loved that you bought that bike.” My eyes drifted closed for an instant and a little grin touched my mouth as I remembered him coming home with it, the rumble of the pipes ringing through the neighborhood. I opened my eyes and smiled up at him. “You looked like you found heaven. I’d watch you ride off, and for the first time since I’d known you, you looked…”
    I shook my head and wracked my brain for the right word.
    Hunter shifted forward a little more. Now only a few inches separated us, and I blinked up at him. His intent gaze was fixed on me, and a small, almost gentle smile touched his lips.
    What was going on here? I was suddenly extremely aware of the heat radiating from the fire. All of me felt hot and a little weak.
    “How did I look, princess?”
    “You looked free,” I whispered. I smiled at him. “Like one of my wounded birds after they’d healed. You remember how they were when I’d let them go when they were ready? I’d open my hands and they’d sit there for a minute, like they didn’t know they were all better. They’d puff their wings a little and then they’d burst off my hands, flying like that moment of freedom was the best thing they’d experienced in their lives.”
    He moved even closer and now he rested his hands on my waist. I could only imagine how startled I must look. How many times had I dreamed of Hunter’s hands on me, that look on his face?
    Maybe that was it. Maybe I fell asleep in front of