Chapter 21 #2
My stomach flipped as he watched me so openly, and I was suddenly aware of my own pulse, the way my shorts fit, the way his eyes dropped to my lips for a moment before they came back up to mine.
“It’s late,” he said quietly. “You coming to bed?”
The way he watched me, like he could already see something breaking loose inside me, it sent a white-hot ache right through my ribs.
I cracked my knuckles one by one, trying to focus on the hiss and pop of the logs instead of the fact that every time Hunter’s gaze found mine, I had to fight the urge to lean into him.
It wasn’t just need. It was this clawing, choking thing that said if I didn’t have him, didn’t get a chance to say yes for once in my life instead of keeping everything safe and perfect on the surface, I’d die with the wanting. I’d drown in it before I ever got another breath of air in my lungs.
All I could do was stare up at him and let myself feel it, the weight of his need stacked heavy over my own. No chasing. No games. I had to do this on my own.
He was so fucking beautiful in the dark, eyes warm and steady on mine, and every muscle in my body was tight, lit up and aching.
The light from the fire flickered against his face and threw shadows across his jaw, but his eyes stayed locked on mine, warm and a little bit dangerous. I could hear the murmurs from the other tents as our friends got ready for bed, and I knew that they could probably hear us too.
“Good night, Maggie.” He stood let his eyes strip every last defense from my body as his gaze racked down it. Then he pushed off the back of my chair and walked toward the tent.
He kicked off his boots before he slipped inside, and I took a shuddering breath and buried my hands in my hair.
The world narrowed down to the ten yards between my chair and that tent, and I stood before I could talk myself out of it.
He was lying on his back when I stepped inside, hands behind his head, and his eyes found mine in the dark.
“Hunter,” my voice shook as I whispered his name, and he sat up, reaching for me instantly.
“I got you,” he murmured, pulling me down onto the sleeping bags.
My knees landed on either side of his hips, and I caught myself with both hands splaying against his chest. His heartbeat thudded wild under my palm.
His hands found my waist, slipping beneath my sweatshirt, and the scrape of his calluses set my skin on fire.
I leaned forward to kiss him, desperate to feel his mouth on me, but he pulled back. His hands tightened on my waist, holding me steady above him, and his gaze locked on mine, so dark and consuming I felt it everywhere at once.
“Wait.” His voice came out rough and low, and I felt it between my thighs.
But I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to close the last inch between us until he was the only thing I could feel. I rolled my hips against him, and he cursed.
“Maggie.” My name was a warning. His hand slid up from my waist and gripped my jaw as his lips brushed over mine. “Fuck, Sunshine. Slow down.”
His thumb traced over my bottom lip until I opened for him, and he groaned.
“I can’t keep doing this.” His hand slid down my chin, my throat, then he tilted my face up to his. “Not if you’re going to act like it didn’t mean anything in the morning.”
I stilled, hands fisting in his T-shirt, and stared at him in the dark. There was so much vulnerability staring back at me in his brown eyes, and I realized that he was handing me the power to hurt him.
Everything in me went still.
I was so used to him making it easy for me, coaxing me into wanting until I could pretend it hadn’t meant anything.
I could have lied, but I was so tired of lying.
“Of course, this means something to me.” I ran my hands up the nape of his neck and buried them in his hair. I pulled back hard enough that he no choice but to look up at me. “But you terrify me.”
The words came out wrecked and clumsy, but I let him see everything I’d tried to bury under years of pretending. His fingers dug into my skin, hauling me closer until I could feel every hard line of his body through my clothes.
“You think you’re the only one scared, Maggie?
” His voice was a growl, thick and raw, and there was a quake under it that I felt everywhere.
“Loving you wrecks me.” He ran his hands up my sides, and I couldn’t breathe.
“I’ve never wanted anyone.” He leaned forward, pressing his mouth along my jaw.
“I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”
His words tore through me, and I wanted to flinch away, to scramble for the old habits I’d spent my whole life perfecting.
But Hunter’s hands only gripped me tighter, like he could sense the pull in every muscle that wanted to run. “For you, I would do anything, I would give up anything, if only you let me love you.”
I couldn’t look away from his eyes, the heat in them and the pain, the hope and the fear all knotted together. Everything about loving Hunter Calloway felt like standing in the eye of a storm and letting it rip me clean open.
But I loved him still.
So I let the storm take me. I leaned in, hands shaking, and kissed him like I was the only thing I would ever need.
“I love you, Hunter.” I whimpered against his mouth. “I have loved you for longer than I want to admit.”
Hunter’s chest rose hard under my hands, like the words had knocked the air out of him. His grip cinched tight on my hips, hauling me flush against his body, and I ground down against him.
Before I could realize what was happening, he flipped us over and pressed me flat on my stomach on the slipping bag.
The air rushed out of me, half gasp, half laugh, and I moaned as his body moved over mine and his pressed a kiss to the back of my neck.
“You are so stubborn,” he said along my spine as his hands curved over my hips.
His thumbs hooked into the side of my shorts, and he slowly slid them down my ass. “So damn gorgeous.”
One of his hands slipped between my legs and his fingers found my pussy. I jolted forward, my hips grinding his hips into the groan, and he groaned.
He dragged his fingers through me, gathering the moisture, before he pressed them hard against my clit.
“Oh my god.” I fisted both hands in the sleeping bag and arched back into him.
“So fucking wet.” He circled my clit, teasing me until I rocked my hips, desperate to grind against his touch. “And you are mine, Sunshine.”
“Say it,” he growled against me, and his fingers slowed to almost nothing.
“I’m yours,” I whimpered. “I’ve always been yours.”
My hips rolled back against him shamelessly, and he pressed his lips against the back of my neck. “That’s right, Sunshine.” His lips brushed against my ear, and he nipped hard. “And I’m never letting you go.”