Chapter 8
EIGHT
HUNTER
I saw the heads turn when Kylie walked into PJ’s.
I was sitting at the bar, already cradling my second bottle of beer, but she was right on time.
I had much expected her to not turn up. I was prepared for that.
Why would a girl like her want to see a guy like me again?
We were from two completely different worlds.
She was sweet, and sweet was not a word that belonged in my dictionary.
She looked drop dead gorgeous in the black dress she was wearing, and I stared at her petite slender legs as she walked towards me.
Her dress barely revealed any cleavage, but it was enough for me.
I knew what those breasts looked like, and her dress was a tease.
I wanted to see more, just like I knew every guy in that fucking bar wanted the same thing.
Kylie had that same good-natured smile on her face as she walked towards me. She was clutching her purse tightly in her hands, and her curls blew gently with every high-heeled step that she took. Her lips were a perfect pink, and her green eyes looked smoky and gorgeous.
I jumped off the bar stool in a hurry and walked over to a small table in the corner, holding a chair out for her.
When she walked closer to me, I got a whiff of the floral perfume she was wearing, and I felt weak in the knees.
I had no idea what was happening to me, and I wasn’t even sure that I liked it. I didn’t like feeling weak.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come,” were the first words she said to me in her soft feminine voice, which did something to my cock I couldn’t understand.
“I know that,” I told her as she sat down. “What will you have?” I asked her, and Kylie glanced at the bar. I had a feeling this place didn’t serve the kind of drinks she usually liked to have.
“A gin and tonic would be lovely,” she told me, and I turned away from her firmly and went over to the bar to place the order.
These few moments away from her gave me a chance to stabilize myself.
When I returned, I found her checking her cellphone.
She slipped it quickly back into her purse and looked up at me with her wide twinkling eyes.
“Sorry, I wanted to see if the babysitter had texted,” she said as I sat down across from her. The word “babysitter” had registered in my mind somewhere, but it didn’t matter to me. Nothing seemed to matter to me when she was around. When I hadn’t said anything, Kylie felt the need to explain.
“I have a three-year-old son. His name is Carter,” she told me, and we held each other’s gazes. I could sense that she wanted to see my reaction. She was testing me to see how I would take the news.
“Is he a handful?” I asked her, and a look of surprise entered her eyes. Maybe she was expecting me to react differently. Maybe she thought that I wouldn’t be interested in her when I found out that she was a mother. How did she not see that I didn’t fucking care?
“He’s a good kid, and he gives me no trouble. I love him to death,” Kylie said and took a sip of her drink delicately.
“I’m sure you’re a wonderful mother,” I told her, surprising myself with the conversation we were having. I had never expected myself to say things like this to anyone.
“Do you have kids of your own?” she asked then, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I stared at her some more.
The curves of her cheeks, the dip between the base of her throat, the slenderness of her shoulders.
Kylie looked fragile, tender…like something I didn’t want to touch because I was afraid of breaking.
How could a sweet little thing like her be so irresistible at the same time?
“No, but I like kids. They don’t judge you for the wrong things,” I said, and she seemed pleased with my response.
“Do you feel you’re judged a lot?” she asked then I sat back in my chair with a sigh.
“I’m sure you’ll not be surprised that folks like me get judged for the clothes we wear.
I have tattoos, I like my drink, I ride a Harley.
So yeah,” I said to her, and Kylie looked away from me, like she was trying to think of something else.
I could see that she had already judged me for those things.
But she was here, wasn’t she? I couldn’t complain.
“What do you do, Hunter?” she asked me, and I shrugged my shoulders.
“This and that. I don’t have much of a career if that’s what you’re asking,” I said, and Kylie nodded her head then smiled.
“So, you weren’t in the military like Marco?”
“No, we were buddies in high school,” I replied, and Kylie laughed. One of those laughs that genuinely warmed my heart.
“I can’t imagine you as a teenager. I can’t imagine you as anything other than this man sitting in front of me,” she said, and I smiled, too. It was the same for me. I couldn’t imagine Kylie as anyone other than this gorgeous goddess sitting across from me, either.
“Trust me; I went to school, too. I sat at the back and threw paper balls at girls’ heads and struggled with my homework.
School wasn’t really for me, but I went because my mother told me to,” I continued, and she had a happy glow on her face.
Kylie planted her chin on the palm of her hand as she listened to me talk.
“Were you a mommy’s boy?” she asked, the smile still on her face. I tried mentally counting the freckles on her cheeks and gave up eventually; there were too many of them.
“No, I was just obedient as a kid. Till I grew up and realized that I liked breaking rules,” I said to her with a smile.
“So, you’re a rebel,” she remarked.
“I live on the edge.”
“You’re going to give yourself a paper cut. Make sure the edges aren’t too sharp,” she said, and we both broke into laughter. We watched each other happily as we laughed, and I couldn’t recall having a conversation like this with a woman before.
She drank more of her gin, and I drank my beer.
I didn’t do dates. I was used to simply taking what I wanted, but this was actually nice.
I was enjoying myself sitting there and talking to her.
It was comfortable. As much as I wanted to kiss her as well, I was content watching her smile and laugh, too.
“What about Carter’s dad? Is he in the picture?” I asked her when our laughter died. Kylie scrunched up her nose and looked away from me. I got the feeling that it was a sore subject, which I shouldn’t have broached.
“No, he’s not. He hasn’t been since Carter was born, and I’d like it to stay that way. Anyway, moving on…so you won’t tell me what you do for a living. At least give me some scoop on Marco,” Kylie was leaning over the table now, and I leaned towards her, too.
“Okay, Marco sleeps with a nose pincher at night, because his snoring sometimes rattles stuff off the shelves in his room,” I said, and Kylie burst out laughing again.
I laughed with her. I knew Marco would slaughter me if he found out that I had told Kylie this, but I got the feeling that she could keep a secret.
“Now give me a scoop on Carter for when I meet him,” I said and instantly realized what I had just said.
Basically, I had implied that I wanted to meet her son, that this date would lead somewhere.
I clenched my jaw as I watched her watching me.
A sudden silence had descended on us, but I could see that she was thinking.
She was trying to come to a decision on whether I was good enough to meet her son.
“Carter likes to eat toast with ketchup and a sprinkling of sugar,” she finally said, a smile spreading on her face again.
“Oh, my God! That is disgusting!” I said and stuck my tongue out, clutching my belly exaggeratedly with my hands. Kylie was laughing again, and it made me happy to see her laughing.
“It really is!” she exclaimed, and I laughed with her. When our laughter died, we fell into silence again. We had broken a barrier now. She had essentially told me that she didn’t mind seeing me again, and my cock had taken that as a response to the affirmative.
I watched her now as she looked up at me from under her heavy lids.
“Why did you invite me here, Hunter? I thought what happened this evening was a spur of the moment crazy whim,” Kylie said, and I took in a deep breath.
“Yes, it was, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen again.
And I wanted us to get to know each other before it did.
If it happened again,” I said, and Kylie licked her lips seductively before taking another sip of her drink.
Her cheeks were flushed, but she didn’t look distressed. I didn’t want her to be distressed.
“I didn’t think you were the kind of guy who would want to get to know a girl before he slept with her,” she said, keeping her eyes embarrassedly down at the table.
Slept with her, she used words I had never used in my life.
Banged her, fucked her, drilled her…those were the terms my friends and I would have used to describe it.
What was I doing? Kylie Aston didn’t belong in my world.
I didn’t know how to treat a woman like her. I was afraid that I would hurt her.
“I wanted to get to know you,” I said, and she finally looked up at me again.
When our eyes met, I could see what she was asking, something she couldn’t find the words for.
I grabbed my bottle of beer and chugged the rest of it down my throat.
Then I banged it down on the table and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
I wanted this woman. I could feel it in my brain, just as much as I could feel it in my cock. What was the point in dancing around it? What was the point in going on a date? Now she knew what I wanted.
I stood up from my chair and she followed me with her eyes. I stretched out my hand to her, holding my palm open for her to take.
“How do you feel about riding a bike?” I asked her as she stared at my hand then at my face. She bit down on her lip and smiled, her eyes flushed with excitement.