Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Hunter
She was quiet the whole time we walked the pier. She was silent as we rode the Ferris wheel and I attempted to pull her out of her shell. She was distant as I pulled her close while we stood in line for cotton candy.
Finally, walking the sandy shore of the island, I reach out and grab her hand, and my heart sinks when she shrinks back from me.
A shiver rushes up her spine. Her hands rise and grab her upper arms, rubbing vigorously up and down in an attempt to warm herself.
Pulling her close, thankful she doesn't deny me again, I wrap my arm around her shoulder in an attempt to get her warmer.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I cautiously say as we walk a little further around the island.
“Funny,” she sasses. “My thoughts are actually on a girl named Tiffany and what I possibly could have done to make her, and her father, dislike me so much.”
“They’re just idiots,” I say, trying to make light of the situation.
“They don’t even know me. Why do they hate someone they don’t even know?”
“It is easier to hate something, or someone, you don’t know. A lot easier than opening up to the unknown. To do that, you have to become vulnerable. Unfortunately, the West Coast world is full of people who are always judging.”
Another shiver courses through her petite frame, and I pull her closer. “But why would they judge me if they didn’t even know me?”
“You mean kind of like you did with me?”
She stops and stares up at me. “I didn’t do that!”
“Oh really?” I tease, as I come a step closer and pull her tight against my frame.
“Kinda like how you barely talked to me when I first saw you in the salon? Or when you barely caved and allowed me to take you home? Or how about when you waited four days to call me and drove me absolutely insane? You left me waiting, dreaming that I didn’t scare you away that first night and ruin my chance. ”
I kiss her lips, but she pulls back quickly. “That was different.”
I lean in for another kiss but she pushes back against my chest. Annoyed, I cave and ask, “How so?”
“Well, for starters, I am not from around here. And I don’t fit in with anyone from around here. No one ever took notice of me before you, and when you did, it scared me a little.”
“Scared you?” I ask, brushing her hair off to one side and planting a soft kiss on her neck. “How so, Angel?”
Licking up her neck, I take her ear in my mouth.
“Well,” she manages, through rushed breaths. “You were so confident. Forceful. Demanding.”
“I know what I want, and I am not afraid to go after it.” I tease, as I release her lobe and bite her tender flesh.
Pulling the strap of her dress off her shoulder, I savor the taste of her skin against my lip as I continue to pepper kisses across her chest.
“True to your name,” Rochelle pants. “An avid hunter.”
She’s got that right, and all I could ever want is her. But I am not done with this conversation just yet. Pulling back, I say, “But we aren’t from where you come from either. The door swings both ways, Rochelle. You can’t let anyone in if you are afraid to open it first.”
Speechless, her hurt eyes search mine. “Why are you afraid to let me in, Angel? Hell, I’ll let you take every part of me, just say the word and I’m yours. But you. A small piece of you always holds back, like you’re afraid you’ll get burned.”
“Maybe I was burned once before.”
“We all have been burned in one way or another. But you’ll never know what it feels like to dance in the flames unless you let yourself play with the fire.”
She’s afraid, I get that, but she shouldn’t be. I’d do anything for her.
Heartache laces her tone as she asks, “What are you afraid of, Hunter? You’ve lived the posh life in the Hollywood Hills. There isn’t anything that hasn’t been handed to you, but yet you run from it. Why?”
Normally, her words would make me angry. But I see a bitter hurt dancing in her eyes, and so I let her have her jab and choose a different way to handle the situation instead.
“Maybe I don’t want that life. Maybe I’ve fought my entire adulthood trying to escape it but keep getting pulled back no matter how hard I fight. I am scared. Scared there is no chance in hell I can outrun the Alexander name in those God-forsaken Hollywood hills.”
My confession shakes her. She trembles under my touch before coming a step closer and placing her hand on my heart.
“I am scared, too,” she whispers. “I am scared that one day you’ll wake up and realize that is where you belong. And that you never belonged with me.”
I grab her hand and hold it tight as she begins to tremble.
“I don’t think I can go on living if that happens,” she softly cries. “I won’t know how to return to a life without you in it when you realize I am not the girl for you and we finally stop pretending that I am, or that I will ever be.”
“How can you say that? I am the one that should be worried, Rochelle. You had my whole heart the moment you came barreling into my life out of that supply closet. Talk about being vulnerable,” I laugh.
“I couldn’t help but be open to the unknown from the moment I laid eyes on you.
Even if you didn’t feel the same way. Even if you didn’t want me in return.
But Angel, please know, you have me. You’ll always have me. I’m not going anywhere.”
She laughs, but when she looks up a lone tear falls down her cheek. “I’m so scared. Scared that one day, I will wake up and this will all be a dream.”
Taking her face in my hands, I stare deeply into her eyes. “That will never, ever, happen. Not as long as the world keeps spinning. I am never walking away from you. You have my word on that.”
She worries her bottom lip between her teeth and I fear she won’t believe me. But then, she opens up to me and says something so brave.
“I think I’m in love with you, Hunter Alexander.”
My eyes widen as she says the words I have been holding back all week. Three little words I’ve longed to shout from the tallest fucking rooftop..
“I love you too, Angel. So much it fucking hurts.”
“Show me how much you love me,” she whispers.
Looking up into her eyes, I suck in a strangled breath as they cloud with desire. She trails her hand down my chest until she cups me through my jeans.
“I need you to show me, Hunter,” she says confidently as her small palm continues to stroke my length and my dick painfully hardens. “I need to show you, too.”
“Mercy, Angel. You know just what to say to test a man’s restraint.”
“I am not testing.” She calmly says, as she grabs my hand and places it against her heart.
“I need to feel you. All of you.” Her hand slowly glides mine down her chest, across her stomach, towards her pelvis.
“I want to know what it feels like,” she pants, as my fingers slide across her core.
“To dance in our flames. Play in our fire.”
She inches closer and hovers her lips against mine. I fight the urge to pull up her skirt and finger her like I want to.
“Show me,” she begs as I push against the fabric of her dress. “Make love to me.”
She circles her fingertips around the crown of my cock.
“Angel,” I hiss. “Are you sure?”
Her hand guides mine under her skirt. I suck in a breath as she places it against her dampened center and she pulls my fingers down, making her lace panties lower.
“Fuck,” I growl, pulling the lace lower and slowly gliding my fingertips across her slick slit.
“Not here,” I slide one finger inside her, and she purrs.
“You want me to make love to you?” Her head falls back.
A breathy moan escapes her lips. Even though the beach is mostly deserted and we are cloaked in the shadows of night, I pull her closer to disguise what I am doing to her in public.
“You want to know what it feels like for me to own you, body and soul, the way you own me, Angel.”
It’s a statement, not a question, as her moans grow louder the further I push into her out in the open. Pulling away, I search her eyes and see no hesitance. She wants this. Wants me. She’s about to give me everything I could ever desire and all I sure as hell don’t fucking deserve.
“Come with me, Angel,” I whisper. “I’ll let you take me to heaven so long as you let me catch you after your fall from grace.”