Chapter 17 #2
Hunter: Because I watched you survive on coffee and half a protein bar today.
Me: Are you tracking me?
Hunter: Yes.
I stared at the screen too long.
Hunter: Come over after you go home.
Me: That’s risky.
Hunter: The closet was risky.
Me: The closet was your fault.
Hunter: You kissed me.
Me: You deserved it.
Hunter: I want to deserve it again.
My heart flipped.
Me: I’ll say I’m going to Taylor’s.
Three dots appeared.
Hunter: Catherine.
Me: What?
Hunter: This keeps getting more dangerous.
I closed my eyes because he was right. I still wanted him anyway.
Me: I know.
Hunter: I still want you here.
Me: I want to be there.
At home, Dad stood in the kitchen wearing sweats and a Blaze shirt, pizza box open on the island. Jaden sat beside him with a slice in one hand and a countdown app open on his phone.
“Four days,” Jaden announced.
“Until what?” I asked, dropping my bag.
“Mila comes home.”
Dad gave me a tired smile. “He’s been updating me every ten minutes.”
“Mila understands me,” Jaden said.
Dad lifted the pizza box. “You eating?”
“I’m going to Taylor’s for a bit. She wants me to rent her extra room,” I said to Dad.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I’m twenty-four years old and living with my parents,” I sighed. “I love you guys, but I feel…”
Dad watched me struggle because I loved my family, but I was also a grown woman who needed privacy that I couldn’t get here.
“You don’t need to feel bad about wanting to move out, CC. And Taylor is just a few floors away. I think it could be good for you to move in with her. I think it’s important you live your life and feel independent. Also, maybe Taylor will push you to go out more so you can meet someone.”
“You aren’t wrong,” I said. “What do you think Mom would say?”
“I think you need to speak to her yourself, but at the end of the day, we want you to be happy and live your life. You’re young and single and spend way too much time with school, but I get it. Your mom was driven too, and so was I. My career sucked up my younger years, and I don’t regret it.”
“I love what I’m doing. I do. Sometimes it’s exhausting, but I feel like the payoff will be rewarding,” I said.
“It is,” he confirmed.
“I won’t give Taylor an answer just yet. I want to run it by Mom,” I said.
“That sounds like a solid plan,” he replied.
“I’ll go hang out over there. So I’ll see you later,” I said to him.
“Okay.” He smiled.
I leaned in to hug him. He gave the best hugs, and he was always so supportive.
“I love you, CC,” he said.
“Love you too, Dad.”
“Make sure you eat something.”
“I will.”
I went to Taylor’s first because apparently my life now required witnesses. She opened the door, took one look at me, and stepped aside.
“Cover story?” she asked, raising her brows with a conspiratorial look.
“Yes.”
“You owe me,” she giggled.
“I know. Big time.”
“Go. Hallway is clear,” she motioned.
“Thank you for doing this,” I said.
“I’m hoping to give the speech at your wedding when I’m the maid of honor,” she said, blinking twice.
I laughed. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
“I don’t think so. Wren called to say that you looked very heated when you left the towel closet today,” she said.
My heart dipped. “Shit. She noticed?”
Taylor nodded. “Don’t worry. No one else paid any attention.”
“I don’t even know what’s happening, Taylor. We can’t keep our hands off each other,” I confessed.
“I love that for you. Seriously, you deserve this,” she smiled warmly. “Now go to him.”
“Okay, thanks again.” I leaned in and hugged her. I was behaving recklessly. I was following my heart.
A few doors down, Hunter opened his apartment before I knocked. He wore jeans and a dark T-shirt, and the smell of garlic and butter drifted from the kitchen.
“You cooked,” I said.
“I promised.”
The door shut behind me. For a second, neither of us moved, but we looked into each other’s eyes, and I saw his hunger there because I felt it too. There was a magnetic force pulling us together.
“I need to feed you first,” he said.
“I am starving.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. Mine dropped to his.
“Dinner will get cold,” he said like he was trying to convince himself.
I reached for his shirt. “We can reheat it.”
That was all it took. Hunter kissed me hard and backed me down the hall.
There was no slow build this time. No pretending we had self-control.
Now his hands were under my shirt, mine were at his belt, and every quiet, dangerous moment from the arena spilled over between us.
By the time we made it to his bedroom, we were both shaking.
“Still sure?” he asked, voice rough.
I cupped his face. “I came here, didn’t I?”
His eyes searched mine. “That’s not what I asked.”
“I’m sure,” I whispered.
The words barely made it out before his mouth was on mine again.
Hunter kissed me like the whole day had finally caught up to him.
Like every filthy text, every stolen look, every second in that towel closet had been building pressure under his skin until this was the only way to let it out.
His body covered mine, heavy and warm, but he kept enough of his weight off me that I could still move beneath him.
I hooked one leg around his hip, pulling him closer.
He groaned into my mouth. “Catherine.”
“What?”
“That’s not helping me take this slow,” he said, sucking on my lower lip. It sent need shooting between my thighs.
“I don’t want slow.”
His forehead dropped to mine. “I know.”
“And last time, you didn’t let me touch you,” I reminded him.
His entire body went still. I slid my hands down his chest, over the hard ridges of his stomach, stopping at the button of his jeans. His breath changed. That was all. Just one rough inhale, but it made heat coil low in my belly.
“I let you touch me,” he said
“No.” I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “You let me watch.”
His jaw flexed. I smiled because the memory of him in the shower was still branded into my brain. His hand wrapped around himself. His eyes on mine. The way he’d come apart while still somehow making me feel like I was the one being worshipped.
“That was hot,” I whispered. “But tonight, I want my hands on you.”
His eyes closed for half a second. “You’re killing me.”