Chapter 22
Gracie
My heart pounds the whole way up in the elevator and doesn’t stop when Hunter waves the key in front of the lock and the door clicks open. He hasn’t let go of my hand, but that’s the only place he’s touching me.
His body feels like a magnet with an unavoidable pull. I want him closer, touching me everywhere.
For all the wildness of my racing heart and the almost painful desire deep in my belly, I also feel a weird sense of calm. Hunter must feel it too because he pauses inside the room as soon as the door shuts.
It’s probably a well-appointed room, and I’m sure it has a bed, but Hunter is the only thing I see. He turns me so my back is pressed against the door, and his eyes roam over me from my face downward and back up again. There’s hunger there that I haven’t seen before. Raw, feral, and hot.
Cupping my cheek in his hand, he bends his head forward until our lips barely graze. He holds my face there and moves closer to me, pressing against my hips. My body responds without hesitation, my hips tilting against him to create the smallest bit of friction.
Hunter’s mouth moves against mine, drawing me in with a kiss that gets deeper and hotter with every touch of his lips. My hesitation and nervousness turn into desire, as my heartbeat thrums beneath my rib cage, and I feel short of breath.
And then I’m not breathing at all, so lost in the feeling of Hunter’s body pressed against me in all the right places. Every nerve ending sizzles, and every place our bodies touch lights up with awareness.
I can’t even remember why I was resisting, not when it feels this good to have Hunter’s hands on me.
One palm roams over my shoulder, brushing over my waist and settling on my hip.
His other hand moves from my cheek into my hair and behind my neck.
From there, he guides my face to exactly where he wants it, tilting my lips against his and diving in again.
His tongue finds mine, swirling, sucking, tasting. It’s so good. Too good. My body goes limp against his, but he holds me up with his firm grip on my hip. My head would fall back against the door, but he’s holding that too.
Owning the kiss. Owning me.
The kiss feels like it lasts for hours, and I still need more.
I wanted to know how Hunter Reyes kisses a woman, and he leaves no question unanswered.
If this is how he kisses, I can’t understand why any woman who’s experienced it has walked away.
I guess it explains his reputation for being a heartbreaker.
But I push that thought from my mind for now.
He can break my heart all he wants later, as long as he keeps giving me this. All of it. Now.
Hunter breaks the kiss and stares into my eyes. Searching for something. Permission? I already know I’ll give him whatever he asks for. Finally, he shakes his head in a slow, dreamy way. “Holy fuck, Tink.”
I reach up and move the shock of hair off his forehead, the way he normally does, so I can see his face better. I don’t want him letting go of any part of me to do it.
He continues to gaze at me with dreamy eyes.
“I know.” My voice is soft, breathy. It sounds sexy, but I’m not in control of anything. I feel dizzy and elated and so damn turned on that I let everything go. I give in and let myself feel the sizzling electricity between us.
It’s new. I’ve been attracted to a handful of men in the past, but this is a different level. My whole body craves his in a way I’ve never experienced. A voice deep in my core is begging me for more.
Hunter’s thumb lightly rubs the back of my neck while he continues cradling my head in his large palm. He’s looking at me like he can’t believe I’m real. I feel the same.
“I want to keep kissing you, but I need you to know. This, you…” He takes his hand from behind my head and trails his index finger down my cheek the way I did earlier. “I didn’t expect it. Didn’t even know how much I needed it. Gracie, I didn’t see you coming. Not at all.”
I nod.
“But now that I have you, all bets are off.”
Hunter’s hand continues moving, his finger tracing the shape of my jaw and moving slowly down my throat.
I go completely still, unable to pull in a breath.
I watch him watching me as his finger trails lower over my dress, tracing the contour of one breast. My eyes flutter.
It’s hard not to melt into a puddle because he’s leaving a burning trail on my skin as his hand moves down.
When his hand reaches my stomach, I brace for him to touch me lower, my panties wet and my core aching for his touch. But he stops abruptly and reaches for my hand.
“Not yet.” He growls the words as though it hurts him as much to slow down as it hurts me to wait for what I want.
I follow him into the hotel room, noticing for the first time that there’s music coming from somewhere. It’s an easy jazz track that makes the whole scene of a wild fling in a hotel room even sexier.
The bed is gigantic, covered in a crisp white sheet over a perfectly fluffed down comforter, and I try to convince myself that I belong here, with my head on those large, white pillow shams, with my hair splayed out, and this man taking his time, doing things to my naked body that I’ve only read about in saucy novels.
And I panic.
“Hang on. This isn’t me. I’m not that girl.”
He turns, still holding my hand. Since I’ve stopped moving, we’re a few paces apart. He takes a breath and lets go of my hand. It makes me sad that I’ve ruined the moment, but I need him to know who I am.
“You’re not what girl?” he asks calmly.
“The kind who goes to hotel rooms with every guy I date. And I know we’re not dating.
I just felt the need to be clear. I was trying to be all flirty and bold, but I don’t know what I’m doing here, and I wanted to warn you.
In case you thought I was, you know, a pro at hookups, I wanted you to know that’s not me. It’s not what I do.”
His chuckle unleashes a new wave of goose bumps over my skin, and I can’t tell if he’s laughing at my confession or at the situation.
“Gracie, I didn’t come here because I thought you were a pro at hookups.
” He comes close enough to put his arm around my shoulders and pulls me toward him.
“Do you want to go home? You’re not obligated to stay in this hotel tonight, or even for the next ten minutes, if you’re uncomfortable. ”
I take a long inhale and let it out slowly. My shoulders drop an inch, and I feel a tiny bit calmer. “I don’t want to be a tease.”
Hunter rubs a hand over his forehead and runs his fingers through his hair a few times. It isn’t lost on me that he’s gorgeous even with an anguished look on his face. He walks farther into the room and sits on the bed, patting the space next to him.
“C’mere, Tink.”
I do as instructed, sitting far enough away that our bodies aren’t touching. I put my blazer down next to me.
Hunter drapes his arm around me again and pulls me next to him. “You’re not a tease.” He cups a hand beneath my chin and turns my face to see his. The molten gaze is gone, and he looks like the guy I’ve gotten used to living in Kyler’s office. Less intimidating but no less scorching hot.
“It’s me. You and me. We can do whatever you want tonight, and if you tell me to take you home, that’s what we’re doing.”
“Thank you.”
Neither of us speaks for a minute. Eventually, I tip my head against his shoulder, which feels no less rock hard than any other part of him. “I’m sorry I’m freaking out.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He smooths my hair, running his fingers through it. I want to fold into him like a cat because it feels so good. “Can you tell me why, though? I mean, other than the obvious—the fact that we work for the same soccer club and Kyler would lose his shit.”
I shake my head. “It’s not about any of that. This is exactly where I want to be.”
“O-kay…” He blinks at me, looking like a lost puppy. “Sorry, I’m not getting the issue, then.”
Is he really going to make me say it out loud?
“You’re you, and I’m me. I’m overthinking every kiss, every part of you I touch. Wondering how I’ll stack up next to the women you’ve been with. That’s…the issue.”
I don’t know what I’m expecting. Maybe I figure that after this moment of vulnerability, Hunter will realize that I sold him a false bill of goods by flirting with him in a restaurant hallway and suggesting we hole up here.
But his face breaks open into a wicked smile that would be alarming if it didn’t look so good on him.
“Well, then, we have no issue.”
“No. Really.”
He moves so he’s kneeling in front of me. “Tink, I’m not here because I have some laundry list of moves or things I expect women to do to please me. I definitely only have one thing on my mind right now, and that’s how I can make you feel good.”
“Okay.” I look down, embarrassed, but I’m still glad I said something.
“So here’s what we’re gonna do, if it’s alright with you.” He tilts my face to look at him with one finger beneath my chin. This tiny touch calms me.
His gruff whisper drags my breath away on each languid syllable.
“I’m going to slowly, very thoroughly, find every pleasure center on your body until you are so…
completely…desperate for me, so wet and swollen…
that you’re begging me to lick and kiss and…
fucking consume you. I want you so goddamn turned on that all other thoughts leave your brain.
So the overthinking…” He snaps his fingers. “No longer a thing.”
My skin ripples with heat so fierce that I have to swallow the sudden rush of saliva so I don’t drool. “I want that,” I practically pant.
“Okay.” His eyes roam over me like a leopard deciding which part of me would make the best appetizer. “Good.”