Chapter 23
Catherine Celia
I went to Taylor’s first because she lived a few doors down from Hunter, which made her the perfect cover and me a terrible liar.
I stepped into the elevator and hit Taylor’s floor, my heart already beating too fast. I told myself I was doing nothing wrong.
I was a grown woman going to visit a friend.
A friend who happened to live three doors down from the man I was secretly sleeping with.
The elevator stopped two floors above Taylor’s.
The doors opened, and Nate stepped in because apparently the universe had developed a personal grudge against me. He looked up from his phone, saw me, and his eyebrows lifted. “Dr. Davis.”
I made a face. “Not a doctor yet.”
“Future Dr. Davis?” he grinned.
“Catherine,” I corrected.
The doors slid shut, and the elevator started moving again. For two blessed seconds, he looked at his phone. Then his gaze shifted to the lit-up floor number. Then back to me.
“You visiting someone?” he asked.
“Taylor.”
The answer came fast. Nate’s mouth curved. “Obviously.”
The elevator slowed. My stomach tightened. Taylor’s floor. The doors slid open, and I stepped out. Nate stayed inside, one hand holding the doors with his phone. He glanced down the hall like he knew exactly where Taylor lived. And exactly where Hunter lived.
“Say hi to Taylor?” he said.
“Sure. Have a good night.”
The elevator doors started to close, but right before they did, he smiled wider. “Goodnight, Future Dr. Davis.”
The doors shut, and I stood there for a second, pulse pounding, wondering if he had caught on. I knocked on Taylor’s door, and she opened it a moment later. She stood there holding a mug, brows lifted. “Do I even need to ask?”
“Nope.”
Her gaze moved over my face. “You ran into someone.”
“Nate.”
“Oh.” She winced. “That’s unfortunate.”
“He was acting… I don’t know. Off.”
Taylor’s mouth twitched. “You’re paranoid. Relax.”
I stepped inside long enough for the cover to be technically true. Taylor closed the door behind me, waited ten seconds, then opened it again and peeked down the hallway.
“Clear,” she whispered.
“I hate my life.”
“No, you don’t.” She stepped aside, grinning now. “Go see your hockey captain.”
“Taylor.”
I hugged her quickly, then stepped back into the hallway.
Hunter’s condo was only a few doors down.
I had barely made it halfway there when his door opened.
The second I saw him, everything else disappeared.
He wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt, hair damp, jaw rough with stubble.
His eyes moved over my face like he had been starving and I was the first real thing he had seen all week.
“Hi,” I whispered.
He stepped back to let me in, shut the door, then pulled me into his arms. His face pressed into my hair, and he breathed me in.
“I missed you,” he said.
My chest hurt. “I missed you too.”
His arms tightened. “I’m sorry.”
“Hunter, please. I need you to stop apologizing. I’m here because I want to be here.”
“I know.” His hand cupped the back of my neck. “That doesn’t mean I don’t hate how it made you feel.”
I touched his chest. “I hated being away from you more.”
His eyes changed. Then his mouth was on mine. The kiss started like relief. Like both of us had been holding our breath for a week and finally found air. His hands slid to my waist, mine to his hair, and the next thing I knew, my back was against the door, and his body was pressed to mine.
“I want you in my bed,” he said against my mouth.
“Yes,” I said, my breaths already heavy and my body heated.
“Catherine.” Hunter pulled back, looking like it physically hurt him. “I need to say a few things.”
He guided me to his couch and sat beside me, our knees touching, his hand wrapped around mine like he was afraid I would disappear.
“I feel guilty,” he said.
“I get it because I feel that way too.”
“Your parents trust me,” he continued. “I keep thinking we should tell them.”
My stomach dropped. “Hunter.”
“I’m not saying tonight. I’m saying eventually. If we’re dating, actually dating, we can’t hide forever.”
“You’re right.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re already bracing for impact?”
I stared down at our hands. “Because I am.”
His thumb stilled.
“I don’t want to disappoint my parents, and I don’t want to become fodder for the media. It’s so frustrating because what we are is nobody’s business.”
“I know,” he said. “But it isn’t something we can avoid forever. People don’t get to define you.”
“Don’t they?” My voice cracked before I could stop it. “Hunter, you’re established. You’re the captain. Everyone respects you. If this gets out, they’ll say I’m the coach’s daughter who slept with a player before I even had a real job.”
“I’d never let them talk about you like that,” he said like a promise, and that worried me more.
“You can’t control what people think.”
He looked like he hated that.
“This isn’t the life my dad wants for me,” I admitted. “And I know that sounds stupid because I’m an adult, but I don’t want to be a disappointment.”
Hunter’s face changed. Softened in a way that almost broke me. “You could never be that.”
“You’re very sweet,” I said.
“Thank you.” He grinned like he was pleased with himself, which made me want to bring up the other thing I’d been thinking about.
“Um…”
His grin faded. “What is it?”
“Us…” I swallowed. “I mean, what are we?”
I felt completely out of my element. I wasn’t the girl who pushed for a relationship.
Even with Julian, he had been the one who pushed.
But with Hunter, everything felt different.
Good. Real. He was the man I had always dreamed of settling down with, and being with him now only proved I had been right.
Our chemistry was off the charts. We communicated.
I cared about him so much. It felt like we had this deep connection I couldn’t explain.
He looked at our fingers laced together. Then he gave me a small grin. “You’re important to me, Catherine Davis. I don’t want anyone but you.”
“I only want you too,” I said.
He shifted closer. “So we date.”
“Quietly,” I said as he leaned in and peppered small kisses across my lips. “And we stop wasting the night talking about everything we can’t fix tonight.”
He groaned. “You’re trouble.”
I climbed into his lap, and his hands went to my hips automatically.
“Hmm, so you’re my girlfriend,” he said, smacking my butt.
“Yes, boyfriend.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.
The second our mouths touched, the heat that always ran like an ember between us sparked. His hand slid into my hair, mine gripped his shoulders, and the kiss went hot fast. Less like a choice and more like gravity.
“Catherine,” he said, voice rough.
“I missed you,” I said as my tongue licked his.
His eyes closed for half a second. “I missed you too much.”
“Show me,” I said.
He stood with me in his arms.
I gasped. “Hunter.”
“I’ve got you.”
“You’re always carrying me,” I laughed.
“Because you test my control.”
“That sounds like a you problem,” I chuckled.
He kissed me once, hard. “Bed.”
He laid me down carefully, then came over me, bracing his hands on either side of my head. For a second, he just looked at me.
“What?” I whispered.
His thumb brushed my cheek. “I missed your face.”
My throat tightened. Then he kissed me like the words had embarrassed him.
I pulled at his shirt, and he let me drag it over his head.
His skin was warm under my hands. Familiar now and still not familiar enough.
I touched his chest, his shoulders, the tattooed lines of him, and felt the way his body reacted to me.
He took off my tank top and cutoff jean shorts, leaving me in a bra and underwear.
His fingers ran over my bare skin like every inch mattered.
He pushed my bra aside, and his lips latched on to my nipple.
He sucked and licked, and I felt shooting need between my thighs.
Then he moved to the other breast. It had only been a week, but I was hungry and needy for him.
He unclasped my bra and removed it, then kneaded both of my breasts in his hands.
“So beautiful,” he rasped. He moved down my body, spreading kisses over my stomach and down my thighs.
“Hunter,” I moaned.
“I know what you need,” he said. And he was right. He knew exactly how to push me over the edge.
I ran my fingers over his shoulders and down his back. I worked his boxers off him and squeezed the globes of his ass.
“Fuck, Catherine. I missed being inside you,” he said as his mouth lowered to my pussy and he spread my pussy lips.
His tongue made one long stroke from my clit all the way to my seam, and I bucked off the bed.
I took hold of his cock and began to pump.
But it wasn’t enough. I needed him fucking my mouth.
I shifted sideways on the bed until I was able to take him in my mouth. At the first lick, he groaned, and then we were lost. He was licking and sucking my clit. He was shoving his tongue in my seam, and I was taking down as much of his cock as I could.
“I’m close,” I warned, which made no sense because it hadn’t been that long.
“Fuck this pussy.” His voice was rough, and I took his cock deeper. “Yes, you taste so damn sweet.”
We were so wrapped up in each other that I just fell over the edge.
I cried out, and he groaned as I came on his mouth and he came down mine.
Afterward, we were a breathless heap. But it wasn’t enough.
Hunter got up and got a wet towel so he could clean me.
He also tended to himself, and then he lay beside me in bed.
He held me in his arms. Being this close and intimate with him didn’t feel scary. It felt right.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
I was scared to share my thoughts. My past had taught me to be careful. It was like Hunter could read it on me.
“I’m not him, Catherine. I want you. I need you to be open with me. To trust me,” he said. Those words did me in.
“I know. I was just thinking how right this feels,” I admitted.