The Hunter

Suzie and her kids stared in stunned silence at the stranger who had vaulted into their new yard holding a gun.

What a sight!

A half dressed, blond Adonis with moves she’d never seen outside of a movie was standing so close she could almost touch the smooth, lightly tanned skin rippling with muscle. Not that she had an urge to. Nope, being single suited her just fine, and she intended to stay that way.

Gathering her two children in her arms, she sat up and stared at the stranger who hastily stuffed his gun in his pants—no pun intended—and backed away with his hands up. His wide eyes had a panicked look to them, and his cheeks flushed.

Oh my God, he’s embarrassed. Suzie held in an urge to giggle. Anyone in their right mind should have been scared, but Suzie found herself more intrigued by the man who’d vaulted over her fence. Apparently, she and the kids weren’t what he’d expected find.

“Sorry,” he said, his deep baritone making her shiver. A velvety voice, like the kind heard on the radio when you were awake in the wee hours of morning. “I just woke up and heard screaming, and . . .”

Trust Jared to be the first to talk. “Loo, mommy. Da man hath a gun. Ith he a po-wice man?” he lisped adorably.

“Mine!” piped in Jessica, his twin. Did she mean the gun or the man? Knowing Jessica, both.

“What? Um.” The stranger backed up toward the fence he’d flown over, his look of confusion finally making the giggles Suzie had been holding in burst forth. Tempted as she was to let him stutter a little bit more—after all, he’d scared them first—she kind of felt sorry for him, and knowing her two little angels, they’d make him regret his actions with a million questions. Time to save him.

“Hi, we’re your new neighbors,” Suzie said cheerily, getting up and brushing the grass and dirt off her scuffed, holey jeans. Nothing like meeting a hunk in your sexiest stay at home, cleaning clothes. Her always perfectly groomed mother would have been appalled.

Suzie held out her hand, and with a bemused look on his face, her fence vaulter thrust out his to shake it. His large hand engulfed hers—and yes, he had matching big feet. The warmth of his calloused skin grasping hers made her tummy turn over and a tingle race through her body. I must be coming down with something. The flu or some other virus because I am not attracted to him.

“I’m Suzie, and these two little monsters posing as my children are Jared and Jessica,” Suzie said.

“Hi,” said the twins in tandem, grinning at the stranger.

“Hello,” he said, then seeing their expectant faces, “I’m Hunter.”

Suzie almost giggled again. What an apt name though. With a body like his, if he wasn’t the predator, then hunter would certainly be the next best choice. Okay, so she’d looked. After all, it wasn’t every day that a total babe almost landed in her lap wearing low-hipped track pants and no shirt to hide the flattest stomach and most deliciously muscled arms ever. However, that’s all she’d be doing—looking. No touching. Definitely no touching. But God, those clear, bright blue eyes and sun streaked, golden tousled hair almost made her change her mind.