Chapter 4
Chapter Four
SERENITY
As it turned out, Hunter was a better pool player than I’d given him credit for. As the hours ticked by, we played one game after another. After the fourth, we were tied, two to two.
I was just about to recommend one last tiebreaker when my sister came skip-wobbling over to me, looping her arm around my waist and swaying heavily into my side. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I wrenched my head back and blinked rapidly, the alcohol fumes coming off her breath burning my eyes. “Was I at the bottom of that barrel of wine you drank?”
Stella giggled uncontrollably as she attempted to shift into a sloppy two-armed hug.
“You’re so funny.” She teetered back around, her hair whipping so fast it slapped me in the face before getting caught in my lipstick.
“She’s not just gorgeous,” she announced to whoever was close enough to hear, which meant Hunter and West. My cheeks began to burn.
“She’s also suuuper funny. And smart! She’s gorgeous and funny and smart!
My big sister.” She tipped her face up to me, her eyes trailing a few seconds behind.
I was sure the look she was attempting to give me was supposed to be affectionate or something, but she was so drunk she was cross-eyed.
I turned my wide eyes at West. “If you were hoping for some drunk sex tonight, you missed the mark about three drinks ago.”
He skillfully extracted me from his fiancée’s anaconda grip and twisted her so she was pressed up against him. “It wasn’t even that many. You know what a lightweight your sister is.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
“We were just coming over to say goodnight.”
At his words, I shifted my attention over his shoulder to find that the bar had started clearing out at some point without us even noticing.
“Oh wow. I didn’t realize how late it was.” I’d been having such a good time with Hunter that the night had totally gotten away from me.
“Yeah, I need to get her home before she passes out on the floor. We’ll see you at family dinner on Sunday?”
“Of course.” I lifted onto my tippy toes to press a kiss to his cheek, and when I pulled back, I noticed Stella was currently passed out against him, her mouth hanging open, little chuffing snores popping out. I curled my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing. “Get her home safe, yeah?”
He hoisted my sister up like she weighed next to nothing. “I will, promise.”
“And make sure to turn the volume all the way up on her phone and put it really close to her head so she can hear it when I call at the crack of dawn.”
He shook his head on a chuckle. “Only if you don’t sell me out.”
I let out a long laugh. “Don’t tell Spence, but you’re officially my favorite brother.”
He kissed my cheek before giving Hunter a chin lift and heading out, carrying my sister’s dead weight.
“Guess that means it’s time to call it a night,” Hunter said, once we were alone.
I pasted a smile on my face to hide the disappointment causing my stomach to sink. I wasn’t ready for our night to end.
“Yep. Guess so.”
He took the pool cue from my hand and replaced it and his on the rack hanging against the back wall. “Come, on. I’ll walk you out.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
Those Arctic eyes pinned me in place with a stony look that sent a tremor through my body. “It’s late and dark as hell outside. I’m walking you to your car. That’s not up for debate.”
I ignored the tiny thrill that ran through me and rolled my eyes at his bossiness as I grabbed my purse and looped the strap over my shoulder. “Fine. But only because you asked so nicely,” I chided.
He let out a noise as I started past him that could have been the start of a chuckle or just another of his signature grunts. Like so many other things about him, it was impossible to tell.
Together, we started toward the door. When Hunter’s large hand came to rest on the small of my back, I had to bite my cheek to hold my shiver at bay. Heat instantly radiated from his palm up my spine and throughout my entire body, lighting me up like a Christmas tree.
“Night, Sere. See you next shift,” Mona called.
“Yeah.” The word came out on a croak. I cleared my throat so the rest of my sentence sounded halfway normal. “Goodnight, sweetie. See you soon.”
He held the door open for me, surprising me once more with just how ingrained his manners seemed to be.
“Would you look at that?” I teased with a twang as I stepped past him and out of the bar. “Who knew you was so chivalrous under all that grunting and brooding.”
That corner of his mouth trembled again as he mumbled, “smart-ass.” I was wearing him down. I just knew it. It was only a matter of time.
The chilly night air was fresh with the smell of the pine trees that stretched tall along the craggy mountains surrounding the town.
I stopped beside my car and pulled the invigorating air into my lungs as I looked up at the sky. The stars glowed by the millions. It was as if someone had flung white paint against a black wall.
“God, I’d never seen so many stars until I moved here. I could stand here for hours and stare up at them. Don’t they just take your breath away?”
“I’ve never really noticed before.”
Hunter’s voice came out even gruffer than normal, pulling my focus from the stars.
He wasn’t looking at the night sky. His attention was solely on me.
Even though the darkness swallowing up the parking lot cast shadows across his face, I could feel the intensity radiating off him when our eyes connected.
It made all the air whoosh from my lungs.
His gaze was like a physical touch that I felt in every fiber of my body.
My heart began to beat staccato against my ribs, playing them like a xylophone as my lips parted and I pulled that fragrant air inside. My voice came out quiet and breathy, almost a whisper, as I said, “You should always make time to look up at the stars.”
I could have sworn he shifted closer. “Yeah?” he rasped out. “Why is that?”
“Because while the world keeps spinning and things keep changing, those are the one constant. If you ever feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you, all you have to do is look up and somehow that awe-inspiring beauty makes everything feel just a little bit better.”
I knew I wasn’t imagining it when he moved in that time, because the rich smell of the pines was muddled by something spicy and manly and all Hunter.
His glacier eyes shimmered in the dull parking lot light, pulling me into his orbit.
If there was one thing I knew, it was when a man wanted me, and despite the mask that made him nearly impossible to read, in that moment, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that Hunter was feeling the same thing I was.
“I had a lot of fun with you tonight,” I said, continuing to speak in a hushed tone.
“Me too, Wildcat.”
Without a single thought to what I was doing, I closed the last bit of distance between us and lifted onto the tips of my toes so I could get closer. Wrapping an arm around his neck, I pulled him down for the kiss I’d been fantasizing about for weeks.
I felt a sizzle the moment our lips touched that bloomed and grew, spreading through my entire body. However, that heat started to dwindle when I felt Hunter’s frame go completely rigid against mine.
I was just about to pull back when something inside of him snapped. One hand came up to fist in my hair at the same time he looped his arm around my waist and yanked me against him.
Where I’d started soft, Hunter plundered, shoving his tongue past my lips to stroke and tangle with mine.
I tasted the bitterness of the beer he’d been drinking earlier mixed subtly with the mint of his toothpaste.
It wasn’t a combination that should have been appealing, but on him, it was ambrosia.
His fingers clenched tighter in my hair, pulling my head back so he could take the kiss even deeper.
A faint sting radiated through my scalp, driving me absolutely crazy.
It was just enough to send a rush of arousal through my blood before centering between my thighs.
All he’d done was kiss me—hell, the man hadn’t even copped a feel—but it was still enough that I felt pressure building deep in my belly.
“God,” I moaned into his mouth as I reached around and dragged my fingernails down his back, bunching the material of his shirt in my hands, “you’re even better at this than I imagined.”
I wasn’t sure what snapped him back to reality, but one moment I was in Hunter’s arms, the only place I’d wanted to be since the first time we met, and the next, his fingers were wrapped around my upper arms and he was shoving me away from him like my touch had burned his flesh.
“What—” I started on a pant, my breathing labored like I’d just run a marathon, but the rest of the words died on my tongue when I blinked my eyes back into focus and saw the expression on Hunter’s face.
It took me a moment to place what I was seeing, mainly because I’d never had a man look at me like that before.
He looked both feral and haunted at the same time.
“Hunter. Are you okay?” I asked, reaching out for him.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” he clipped so harshly my hand froze in midair before dropping back to my side.
My stomach plummeted so fast it was a wonder it didn’t make a crashing sound as it landed at my feet. “What?”
“That was a mistake,” he said in a tone devoid of all emotion. “It won’t happen again.”
I shook my head, trying to force the pieces into place so what was happening made sense. I knew what I saw, what I felt. He’d wanted the kiss just as badly as I did, and once the shock wore off, he’d been all in. I hadn’t imagined that. “I don’t understand. That wasn’t just me. You kissed me back.”
“I shouldn’t have.” He let out a thready breath as he reached up to rake a hand through his dark hair, sending it into disarray. “Look, Serenity, I think you’re great,” he started, causing a sense of dread to swell in my stomach like a rock. Nothing good ever started like that.
Then he lowered the hammer. “But nothing is ever going to happen between us. I’m sorry, but I’m not the guy you’re looking for, trust me.”
He didn’t say another word or give me a chance to object before he spun on the heel of his boot and stomped off into the shadows.
I stood frozen in place for well over a minute, my mind reeling, before the thunderous rumble of a motorcycle engine jolted me out of my daze.
Moments later, Hunter whizzed past, and I was left standing all alone in a dimly lit parking lot, feeling like I’d just been kicked in the ribs.