33. Hunter
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
HUNTER
T hat romantic asshole took her to the pier. It’s chilly out, so I know he jumped at the opportunity to snuggle up to her. He’d be crazy not to. Competition is fine, but I really need to up my game. Candlelit dinners, movie nights, coffee dates—none of those top a stroll on the pier. I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it first.
Me
Beach tomorrow?
Ashlie
It’s March. It’s freezing…
Me
LMAO, we’re not going swimming.
Ashlie
Then what are we doing?
Me
You’ll see
We pull up to the beach a little before sunset. Ashlie still doesn’t know what I’ve planned, and my body buzzes with anticipation. Having a surprise picnic while snuggled up on the sand should be enough to rival her date yesterday. Reaching for my hand, she starts toward the beach, eyebrows knitting from my abrupt halt at the trunk. She snorts behind me as soon as I pop open the back and pull out the picnic supplies.
Despite her shaking head, the smile on her face as she grabs the blankets conveys her amusement. She loops her arm around mine while we walk down the sandy path. “You’re trying to top the pier,” she says.
Small coastal sunflowers dot the trail around us, and I pause again, dropping the basket at my feet. I stoop to pick a flower and swipe my hand over her cheek, brushing back her curls to tuck it in her hair. Her sharp inhale makes me chuckle. “Is it working?” I smirk, already knowing it is. As much as she tries to hide it, she’s eating this up.
“Jury’s still out.”
“Let me talk to that jury.” I pull her into me and swipe a finger under her chin. But instead of the kiss she’s expecting, I stare into her eyes. Those warm honey irises dance with mine, and I trail my thumb across her bottom lip, holding her there. Her face flushes, as if the heat in my gaze is tangible. She draws a shaky breath, the desire in her eyes morphing into longing. It’s only then that I dive into those soft lips, and she melts like putty in my hands, exactly how I wanted.
I love that I know this about her. The ways to turn her on, weaken her knees. Make her mine … hopefully … eventually . She’s still hesitant about us, but I get a little more reassurance during moments like this. I pull away, just to leave her craving for it. Her eyes remain shut as she swoons. “How about now?” I whisper, fully enjoying the view as I watch her regain her composure.
“G-guilty,” she stammers breathlessly.
I chuckle at the flustered beauty in front of me, pick up the basket in one hand, and wrap my fingers around hers with the other. “Come on, your honor,” I tease, leading her to the beach.
With one blanket spread underneath us and the other folded over Ashlie’s lap, we casually graze the charcuterie style picnic. The flicker of flameless tea light candles dances rhythmically in front of us as the sun creeps across the sky. Gilded sunrays bathe the golden strands in her hair, illuminating her warm amber skin.
My jaw slackens, and I momentarily forget the sun, the waves, and the beach. I’m speechless, seeing her in this light. Enraptured. Captivated. Existence begins and ends with her, and my determination to win her over multiplies tenfold.
“I think that’s one of my former students over there.” Her voice breaks me out of my self-induced haze, my jaw snapping shut as I jump to attention. She nods at two elementary aged kids lobbing a football back and forth across the sand. Their parents lounge in the background. “Funny kid. He was missing his top front teeth and liked to tell the class he lost them in a bar fight.”
“Do first graders even know what a bar is?”
“Oh, he made sure to tell them that too: a cafeteria where grown-ups go to get sad and throw up.”
“Wise beyond his years.” I chuckle. “When I have kids, I just know everything they say will be out of pocket.” Ashlie’s eyes bug out of her head like I admitted to kicking puppies for fun. “What?”
“You don’t like kids,” she says.
“That’s not true.”
“You complain about them all the time. I’m pretty sure you describe every child you see as bratty and annoying.”
“That’s other people’s kids.” I smirk, leaning back on my hands. “I’ll like my own.”
“That’s not how that works. You don’t suddenly like kids once you have them. You either like them or you don’t.”
“You wanna bet?”
She laughs, tapping her foot on my knee. “No more bets, Hunt. Your bets are outrageous.”
“And yet, here we are…months deep in a bet you accepted.”
She rolls her eyes and grabs a bottle of water. “You vex me.”
“You like it.” I grin back. “So how many kids should we have, then?” My brows dance as I wiggle them in her direction.
“ We ?” She crosses her arms over her chest, but the smile on her face gives her away. “Boy, who is we?”
“You. Me. Us. We .”
“God, could you imagine? Us , with kids together?”
“Just humor me. How many?”
Her face scrunches as if she’s mulling over an algebra problem. “Four,” she says, biting her thumbnail. “I want four kids.”
My eyes widen before I can stop myself. Four kids are a lot of damn kids, even for someone who likes being around them. “Two,” I counter back, shaking my head.
“Nope. Four. Or five. We could have our own mini swim team.”
“ Five ?” A lump forms in my throat, my voice cracking as I lean forward, searching her eyes for the joke. Her face betrays nothing, and she shrugs at my incredulity. “Naw… That’s economy van territory.”
“Well, if it’s an economy van, we can go up to seven or eight. Ten if we want to fill it up… And I wish you could see your face right now.” Her head falls back as she lets out a loud cackle. “You look absolutely terrified! I don’t want ten hypothetical children with you, Hunter.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Come here, you—” Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her to me. The cutest squeal erupts out of her, and with no effort, we’re kissing like we were born to do it.
Ashlie lets the blanket fall between us as she kneels in front of me. Her fingertips graze my neck, and a shiver courses through me at a dizzying rate. A sexy giggle. Her smile pressed to my lips. I could live a thousand lives and never come close to this feeling. She kisses me like the falling sun kisses the horizon—slowly and full of anticipation. I kiss her back like the sun rises and sets on her. Like I’ll never kiss another woman in this lifetime or the next. I kiss her like she’s mine.
“Three,” I whisper, pulling away just enough to nuzzle her nose.
Biting her lip, she shakes her head. “Two. Only two.”
“You took me through that rollercoaster of emotion just to end back at two?”
“Hey, now,” she says with a sassy tilt to her head. “You showed more emotion in that fake scenario than I’ve ever seen from you. I wanted to see how many I could introduce you to.”
“What do you mean? I have feelings, Ash…”
“Yeah, maybe. Locked up in the abyss that is Hunter Jackson. You show two emotions—annoyance and anger— sometimes . But talking about them? Not you.” She waves her hand in the air, batting away the notion as if it were a mosquito. Sitting back on her heels, she swipes a grape from the box beside her.
I don’t have a response. What could I even say? Talking about feelings has always seemed like a waste of time. Hearing others talk about theirs makes me want to crawl out of my skin. Her assessment is spot on, and yet, it bothers me how she says it with such surety. As if emotional detachment is encoded into my DNA. Like she doesn’t believe I can change.
“I feel happy when I’m with you…” I say quietly, my voice cracking as I slide my eyes to hers. It sounds supremely juvenile. I’m no good at this, but it’s important to me she hears it. Her hand hangs in the air with a cube of cheese halfway to her gaping mouth. “And I’m excited whenever I hear your voice.”
A cool breeze blows over us, but I doubt the shiver that travels through her body is from the wind. Still, I reach for the blanket and position it around her shoulders. “I feel a lot of things, and you’ve helped me see that it’s okay to show it sometimes.”
“I—oh…”
“Ash, this bet isn’t for me. I already know what I want at the end of this, but I know you need time. So come over here, watch this sunset with me, and take all the time you need.”
Ashlie continues to stare, cheese in hand and lips slightly parted. I think she’s going to say something, but she shakes her head instead and tosses the cheese back in the box. She pulls the blanket off her shoulders and wraps it around mine, then settles in between my legs, gazing toward the horizon.
“You’re full of surprises, Hunt,” she whispers, leaning against my chest. Her hair tickles my cheek as I rest my chin in the crook of her neck, encircling her in my blanket-wrapped arms. “Thank you for giving me time.”
I would stay in this jasmine infused love cocoon forever if she’d let me. I’ll give her all the time in the world.
When the breeze blows so cold our teeth chatter, we drive back to her place. I walk Ashlie to her front door and lean in for one last goodnight kiss.
“Do you want to come in?” she asks, biting her lip.
“ Hell yeah, I want to.” I chuckle, tipping my forehead against hers. “But I shouldn’t.”
She trails a seductive finger down my chest, giving me a look that goes straight to my dick. “What if I want you to?” Her hand traipses lower, and she giggles when I press into her with an undeniable bulge. One firm graze of her hand, and I fucking moan like I’ve never been touched before. God, this woman .
I grip her waist and tug her closer. “You’re trouble.”
“So, punish me…”
Pinning her against the door, my kiss swallows her gasp. I pour out every ounce of lust and longing coursing through me, my mind and body screaming at me to take her up on her offer. She sighs and clutches my hips, conveying her desire for me to stay with each caress of her tongue. Thoroughly satisfied with the effect I’ve had, I pull away slowly. “The things I want to do to you are off the table until I don’t have to share you,” I whisper. “You’ll be mine, sooner or later.”
“There’s that ego,” she teases. “I was wondering when your cocky side would show back up.”
“I think confident is the word you’re looking for.”
“Naw, I’d definitely say it’s cocky…”
“I’d show you cocky ”—I cant my hips, wiggling my eyebrows playfully—“but that’s off the table right now too.”
“Boy, quit!” She laughs, swatting my shoulder. “I’m going inside now.” When she turns, I whip her back around, stealing another kiss. The soft moan she sighs makes me want to live in this moment forever.
“I’ll see you Wednesday?” I ask, keeping my arms around her.
She nods, teeth sinking into her lower lip as redness flushes her rounded cheeks.
Fuck, I don’t want this night to end. I’m tempted to march her straight to the bedroom and convince her to call off this painfully chaste bet. But she’s still worried about my dedication to this, to her. Scared even. She won’t admit it, but I can see it in her eyes when she thinks she’s hiding it. And after dates like tonight, I feel so close to winning her over that I don’t want to do anything to ruin it. The lengths I’m willing to go just for a chance with this woman are growing longer by the minute. So I say goodnight, wait for the lock to click in place, and take a deep breath as I walk away from her door.