Baked (Love Burns #3)

CHAPTER EIGHT

H unter had not left her side since the break-in. It had been three days and here he was, next to her again. Looking ridiculously sexy covered in frosting as he tried his hand at decorating cupcakes.

Rachel wanted to be annoyed. Protest at the overprotectiveness. Stamp her feet and tell everyone who was just “popping in” to leave her the hell alone. But a part of her knew it was in her best interest to let them all fuss.

After having her home turned upside down, reality came right up to her and slapped her in the face. She wasn’t safe.

But safety wasn’t her main worry right now. Not when it had been three whole days since Hunter had shown any signs of interest. Romantically, that was. He was smothering her with the other kind of interest. She couldn’t even pee without him questioning where she was going, but could she get a kiss? A handhold? A hug? Some flirtatious banter?

Nope. Nothing. Nada.

He’s changed his mind.

She knew it. Felt it. Something had shifted that night of the break-in. Even if she was still sleeping in his bed. And using him as a mattress. Yes. That too. Even sleeping on top of him felt platonic. Everything had been on the up and up, but now he made no move to touch her inappropriately. She hadn’t even felt him harden against her.

I could really go for some inappropriate touching.

How could he have gone from “for keeps” to this so quickly? Her thoughts continued to spiral, and a heavy sigh slipped from her lips as she gave the counter another wipe-down.

She practically heard Hunter’s head snap up. “Rachel?”

Rachel. Another twist of the knife. Not honeybun. Not baby. Her stupid, boring name.

She was going to do it. She was going to sigh again. But when she did, she immediately regretted it, because a second later Hunter’s hands were gripping her biceps and spinning her around to face him. Well, to look up at him.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

No. “Yeah. Fine. I think I’m about done here; we should call it a night.”

“Rachel,” he repeated, taking her disappointment and adding in some fresh annoyance, “talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she lied again, this time attempting to detangle herself from his hold.

She did not detangle. In fact, despite one of his hands dropping, he still managed to effortlessly hold her in place. He even used a single digit under her chin to force her eyes back on him.

“Lie to me one more time and I’m gonna lose my shit.”

He’s gonna lose his shit? Is he kidding?

That was it. He’d pressed her bitch button, and she was ready to come out and play.

“Don’t you dare threaten me, Hunter Campbell, or so help me God, I’ll show you what losing your shit looks like.” She stamped her foot for full effect.

But Hunter didn’t look scared or pissed or even worried. The bastard looked amused, laughter dancing in his dark brown eyes.

“Don’t you laugh at me either.” She pushed at his rock-hard chest, getting even more annoyed when it had no effect. What was he made of, stone? “It’s not funny. I’m not funny.”

That blinding smile of his chose now to make another appearance. Distracting her. Putting out one fire and starting another one.

“Honeybun—” he tried again, but she cut him off.

“Oh, now it’s honeybun? I get it. You use it when you wanna sweet talk me, right?”

“What are you talking about?” She watched the humor quickly drain from his face.

Don’t do it.

Too late.

“What I’m talking about is you pulling out the honeybun card when you think it will get me to shut up. Not caring in the slightest that you’re playing with my damn feelings, Hunter! And that’s not fucking cool, okay?” She was well aware that her voice was getting louder. And even more aware that she needed to stop talking right now. “You don’t tell a girl you like her and then when shit gets hard, just turn around and take it back! What kind of man does that, huh?”

Her hand slapped down on his chest again, shoving at the hard wall over and over. Literally poking the bear.

A bear who reacted by capturing her wrist and hauling her into him until she was inhaling manly musk.

“That’s what this is about?”

She didn’t answer, instead, she dropped her head and decided to focus her attention on the white dust dotted over his black T-shirt.

Not taking the hint, Hunter walked her backward until her ass hit the stainless steel counter. He then unceremoniously hauled her onto it, his hands dropping to her thighs as he opened her up and stepped between them.

They were now eye to eye. There was no hiding.

“You think I changed my mind?”

“Didn’t you?” She kept her voice firm, doing her best to hide the insecurity that had slowly crept inside and made itself comfortable over the past few days.

His forehead dropped to hers, and with one deep inhale, she was immersed in him. More musky aftershave, the woodsy notes of his body wash, and something else. Something she still couldn’t quite put her finger on. Something uniquely Hunter. Whatever it was, it sparked her senses. Made it hard to breathe.

“Baby ...”

He needed to stop. She couldn’t take these names anymore. He couldn’t give her affection one day and take it away the next. It wasn’t fair.

He continued, “When I told you I wanted this, I wasn’t lying. You’re mine . Do you hear me? There’s no going back. I’m not going back.”

She didn’t understand. “Then why haven’t you ... I mean, the past few days, you haven’t ...” Okay, maybe some of her insecurity had crept into her voice that time. So much that she couldn’t even bring herself to string together a whole sentence.

His big hand engulfed her face, his thumb gently caressing her cheek as he blew out a long breath. “I want to do this right. I owe you that. I owe us that, honeybun. I was being selfish before, trying to claim you when you were going through this. Are going through this.”

What is he talking about?

He wasn’t done confusing the hell out of her yet. “Right now, you’re vulnerable. And I’d be a complete dickhead if I didn’t acknowledge that. And an even bigger one if I took advantage of you.”

Okay. Hold up.

She reared back, feeling as though she’d just been slapped. He let her go but made no move to back up, a cautious stare assessing every scrunch of her face as she processed what he’d just told her.

“You think you’ve been taking advantage of me? So what, you think I’m some fragile little girl who can’t be trusted to make my own decisions? Is that it?”

“Baby, please.” His voice softened. “You know I don’t think that. I’m just trying to do the right thing. I wasn’t lying when I told you I want this. I’ve waited nine goddamn months to taste these sweet lips, which means I can wait a little longer if I have to. And I do have to, honeybun. This thing between us is the real deal. I won’t do anything to jeopardize that, and that includes making sure we do this right. At the right time.”

Although the sweetness of his words registered, he still managed to piss her off. Why did he get to decide when the right time was?

“So let me get this straight. ’Cause of my dad, you think now is the wrong time for us?”

He didn’t need to answer. His face said it all.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, Hunter, but this is my life. This is who I am. I’m a woman with a shit past that just keeps on giving. You don’t think I’ve spent most of my life dealing with this? You think a few weeks is gonna suddenly cure me from a lifetime of having a deadbeat dad? It doesn’t work like that. And my feelings for you aren’t gonna change based on what day it is. I’m pretty damn sure the past year has proved that already. So if you don’t want this, you need to man the fuck up and tell me now.”

By the time she was finished, she was out of breath, her whole body shaking with hurt, pain, and something like fear. What if this really was his way of ending things? Saying the right things to placate her but not acting on them, because they were lies. And then when this was over and she wasn’t in danger, he’d tell her the truth and rip her heart out.

Before she had time to delve deeper into her head, his mouth slammed down onto hers, pulling her lips apart with his teeth and growling into her throat as he devoured her.

Okay, so maybe this counts as an action.

It was certainly the most action she’d gotten since their date. One that got her blood pumping and heat shooting through her veins.

Jerking his hips forward, his hands cupped her ass and pulled her into him until hardness hit her belly.

Is that ...?

Yes, it was. The one thing a man couldn’t hide. And it was finally making an appearance. Thank God.

She lost his tongue as he drew back, but his mouth was still on hers. “You feel that?” he growled. “You feel what you do to me?”

She nodded, her brain way too cloudy to do much else.

“Don’t ever fucking doubt how much I want you.” His voice deepened and his grip on her ass tightened. “I’m doing everything in my power right now to stop myself from bending you over this counter and taking what’s mine.”

That did it. The fire was stoked. And now that he’d said it, it was all she could think about.

“What are you waiting for?” she whispered into him.

Another roar ripped through him as he took her mouth again, kissing the hell out of her with an urgency and desperation she felt all the way down to her toes.

This was how they should have been spending the past few days together. This was so much better than small talk and baking, side glances, and unspoken truths.

With her newfound confidence, her fingers trailed down, gliding over black cotton until they reached the hem and slid under. No matter how many times she touched him, she’d never get used to how it made her feel. Every skate of her fingers, every scrape of her nails, and every press of her hand made her throat drier. Her thirst grow thicker.

His clever tongue pulled another whimper out of her as he angled his face to get deeper.

Suddenly, she was grateful for the counter. Her body could no longer be trusted to stay upright on its own, not as it blazed beneath his big hands. Big hands that were edging their way even further up her thigh. So high that when his thumb brushed against her denim-covered center, her whimpers quickly turned to moans.

A moment later, Hunter’s mouth was no longer trying to swallow her whole and instead had declared war on her senses. It wasn’t just his wet lips dragging down her neck that made her pulse quicken, it was the scrape of his stubble against her sensitive skin. The exquisite burn that had her head lolling back.

“I warned you I wouldn’t be able to stop next time I had my mouth on you.”

As if to demonstrate his lack of control, the hand that had been slowly torturing her flicked open her jean button with ease. With a slow drag of the zipper, she knew her bright pink panties were now on display.

“I wanted to do this right, take you slow and sweet. But you’ve got me so hard, I can’t see straight, baby.”

Fuck slow and sweet.

“I-I ...” Her words died on her tongue as his fingers slid under the pink lace. Only a muffled moan left her throat, bouncing off the walls.

Before she lost all functionality, she pushed at his shirt. She needed to see him. Feel him. Sadly, that meant her core momentarily lost his fingers as he helped her pull the cotton up and lift it over his head.

But before she had a chance to admire him and all his muscular glory, he was yanking at her vest, not satisfied until it joined his shirt on the floor.

The clasp on her bra was next to be unhooked as his fingers resumed their assault in her panties, function officially lost as his mouth found her nipple and his teeth clamped down.

Sweet baby Jesus.

***

I t was safe to say Hunter Campbell was interested in her. He hadn’t changed his mind. And he had definitely put his mouth where his money was. Actually, he’d put his mouth everywhere. And she meant everywhere.

It was one of the many reasons she’d woken up with a smile on her face. Why she was humming as she floated around the masculine hunter green kitchen, brewing coffee and frying up eggs and bacon. And definitely why the sight of him in the doorway made her insides sing.

“Goddamn, you look good in my shirt.”

His sexy, unused morning voice never failed to send a shiver down her spine. It also helped that he’d emerged from the bedroom shirtless. And from the imprint in his gray sweats, she could tell there wasn’t much underneath that thin material either.

When her eyes met his again, a smug smirk graced his lips. “What?”

“Something down there caught your eye, honeybun?” Even the cocky gleam in his eye was hot as he stalked toward her, backing her into another counter.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her smile was still very much in place as he pressed up against her, knowing full well if she looked down again, there would definitely be something to see.

“Sure you don’t, baby.” He hauled her onto the dark wood top and spread her legs wide enough to accommodate his big body.

Her eyes fluttered shut as a soft kiss landed on her lips, spearmint tickling her tongue as he wasted no time plunging inside her. But his movements were slow. Measured. Drawing out every ounce of pleasure as he took his time tasting her.

She would have happily spent all morning like that, sipping on his groans. It was only the smell of burning that pulled her out of her lust-filled haze.

Shit. Breakfast.

Reluctantly pulling back, she took a moment to catch her breath, keeping their connection just a little while longer. Absorbing the bristle of Hunter’s jaw, his moist lips, and his warm breath.

“The food,” she managed to pant.

“Fuck the food,” he returned, the raw edge to his tone sending tingles through her.

As if to demonstrate how little he cared about the food in question, his hands went to the bottom of her shirt. Well, technically, his shirt that she was wearing. His dark eyes never left hers as he slowly dragged the material up, past her hips, up her stomach, and over her breasts. The intensity in his gaze told her everything she needed to know. It was when the top reached her neckline that she lost his eyes. Only when the material was tossed aside did she get them back.

She wasn’t wearing anything under his shirt. Nothing. But his eyes didn’t dip to confirm this; they stayed exactly where they were, much to the distress of her heart, which was practically rattling her ribcage with the ferocity from which it was pounding.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he rasped. Sexy. Deep. She would go as far as to say panty-melting if she were wearing panties. “I need to be inside you again, one more time before I go to work.” Stupid work. “Can you take me, baby?”

She knew why he was asking. And it wasn’t just because he’d spent most of the night making her legs shake. It was because, as she’d suspected, Hunter Campbell was big all over.

Letting her lips skim over his again, she let her tongue glide across the seam. He growled in response. God, she loved it when he growled. Her hands dropped to his sweats and tugged them down, freeing him. It was then she wrapped her legs around his waist and locked her ankles.

“I can take it, sugar.” She let her lips brush against his again. “Take what you need.”

And that’s exactly what he did.