Chapter 18 #2
His jaw flexed.
“There she is,” he said, voice rough. Then he kissed me.
It started slow. His mouth brushed mine. His hands slid from my hips to my thighs, and he pulled me to the edge of the stool. I gasped against his mouth, and he swallowed the sound like he’d been waiting for it.
“You said counter,” I whispered.
“I did.”
“You’re very literal.”
“Only when it benefits me,” he rasped.
His hands tightened on my thighs, and then he lifted me like I weighed nothing.
I made an undignified sound and grabbed his shoulders. “Hunter.”
“I’ve got you,” he assured. “You wanted dessert.
I laughed, but it broke into a breathless little sound when he set me on the kitchen island. The counter was cool beneath me, and my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest. His hands moved to my waistband as his fingers hooked into it.
“Tell me if you need me to stop.”
“I won’t,” I grinned.
“Catherine.”
“I know. I’ll tell you.”
Only then did he slide my pants down my legs, slow enough to make my skin prickle. He dropped to his knees, and the sight of him there, between my legs, in his kitchen, looking up at me like I was something he couldn’t wait to taste, made my entire body pulse.
“You’re staring,” he said.
“You’re on your knees,” I said in case he wasn’t aware.
“I am.”
“For me.”
His expression darkened.
“For you,” he said.
His mouth moved to my inner thigh. I gripped the edge of the counter, breath catching as he kissed his way higher. He took his time exactly like he’d promised, like he hadn’t spent the entire day sending me texts that made me forget how to function.
“Hunter,” I breathed.
His hands spread my thighs wider. “I know.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“I do,” he said with certainty and his mouth brushed closer, and my whole body went tight. “You were going to tell me to stop teasing you.”
“I was.” Damn, he knew me already.
“I’m not done.”
I let out a helpless sound.
His mouth curved against my skin. Then he stopped teasing.
The first stroke of his tongue made my head fall back.
One hand flew to his hair, the other still gripping the counter like it was the only thing keeping me upright.
Hunter groaned against me, and the vibration went straight through my body.
“Oh my…” I stopped being capable of words.
He ate me like he had all the time in the world.
Like he had memorized every sound I made in the linen closet and wanted to pull them out of me again, only slower this time.
He licked and sucked and used his fingers until my thighs started to shake around his shoulders.
I tried to stay quiet. But Hunter knew me too well already.
The second I bit my lip, his hand slid up my stomach and pressed gently between my breasts.
He slid one finger inside me, then another, and my breath left in a broken rush.
“You’re so wet,” he said, voice low and filthy. “Been like this since dinner?”
“Since the closet,” I admitted.
His fingers paused. He groaned like I’d hurt him. “Catherine.”
“What?”
“You’re going to make me lose my mind.”
“You keep saying that,” I giggled.
His mouth returned to me before I could answer, and this time he didn’t go slow.
His tongue worked my clit while his fingers moved inside me, curling in a way that made my elbows nearly give out.
I leaned back on one hand, the other still buried in his hair, and tried to breathe through the rush building low in my belly. It was too much.
“Hunter,” I warned.
“I know, baby.” The word made me clench around his fingers.
“You like that?”
I couldn’t answer.
He did it again, softer this time. “Come for me, baby.”
That was all it took. The orgasm hit hard and fast, rolling through me until I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out. Hunter didn’t stop. He worked me through it, mouth and fingers relentless until I was shaking so hard I had to push weakly at his shoulder.
“Too much,” I gasped.
He slowed immediately, pressing one last kiss to the inside of my thigh before rising to his feet. I was ruined. My legs were still spread on his kitchen island, and Hunter was standing between them looking far too pleased with himself.
“That,” he said, voice rough, “was dessert.”
I blinked at him, still trying to remember language.
“Smug.”
“Very,” he agreed.
His smile softened, and he leaned in to kiss me. I tasted myself on his mouth, and the intimacy of it made my chest ache almost as much as my body. He helped me down from the counter, but my knees immediately betrayed me.
Hunter caught me against his chest. “Easy.”
“I’m fine.” I laughed into his shirt, but the sound came out softer than I expected.
He held me there for a minute, one hand at the back of my head, the other low on my back.
And that was the part that scared me most. I could handle hot and dirty.
I could even handle secret and risky and stupid.
But Hunter holding me in his kitchen after making me fall apart on his counter, like I was something precious instead of something temporary, was dangerous in a completely different way.
Hunter watched me, but this time his expression was quieter.
The mood shifted again. I knew before he said anything.
“Isla comes home in less than two days,” he said.
There it was. Real life pressing its hand against the glass.
“I know.”
“I don’t want tonight to make it feel like I’m promising things can always be like this.”
My chest tightened, but I nodded because I understood. I hated it, but I understood.
“Isla comes first. I would never have it any other way,” I said.
He exhaled like the weight he was holding lifted. “Okay because that doesn’t mean I don’t want you.”
I swallowed.
“It doesn’t mean I’m pulling away,” he continued. “It just means I have to be careful. More careful than I’ve been this week.”
“You mean sneaking into linen closets and eating me out on your kitchen counter isn’t careful?” I snickered.
His mouth twitched. “No. Shockingly.”
I smiled, but it didn’t quite hold. “So what happens when she’s home?”
“I don’t know yet.” The honesty was better than a perfect answer. Scarier too.
Hunter reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “But I want to figure it out.”
My heart gave that stupid, hopeful kick again.
“Okay,” I whispered. I looked down at our joined hands. “We’ll figure it out.”
Hunter squeezed my hand, and then he held me for what felt like a long breath.
“I should head home,” I said.
“Okay,” he replied. “I’m not ending this. I want to see where this goes.”
“Me too.”
He leaned in to kiss me, and I left his apartment feeling like I was on a roller coaster of emotions.