Chapter 9 Hunter
CHAPTER NINE
HUNTER
We make it up the stairs in near silence.
Every step, every brush of her arm against mine, every faint hint of her perfume is an electric shock I can’t ignore.
My hand is still holding hers, and I swear if I let go for even a second, she’ll evaporate into thin air.
All I can think about is getting her alone, getting her pressed up against my wall, and letting every single one of my fantasies off the chain.
My hands are shaking. Not so anyone would notice, but I can feel it—this tremor in my chest, in my blood, in the need that’s been clawing at me since the first time I laid eyes on her.
When we hit the landing, she fumbles for her keys out of habit, then glances over at me, her smile curving slow and sly. “Your place or mine?”
“Mine.” The word comes out rough, almost a growl. I don’t mean to sound so possessive, but there’s no point pretending anymore.
She grins, bright and reckless, and I want to taste it.
I punch in the code and open the door. The second we’re inside, Buster bolts for the couch and circles half a dozen times before flopping down like he’s finally home.
He lets out a satisfied grunt, tucks his nose under his paw, and closes his eyes.
The little shit is a genius. And I owe him a whole goddamn box of doggie treats.
Iris stands awkwardly in the middle of my living room, taking in the space. My apartment is the definition of functional. Everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be, nothing out of place, every line straight and sharp.
She glances at me, a nervous twitch at the corner of her mouth.
The tension is unbearable.
I close the distance in two steps, wrapping my hand around her waist. I pull her flush against me and lean over to cover her soft lips with mine. Her hands fly up, fists balling in my shirt, and she pulls me in like she’s been dying for this just as much as I have.
I crush my mouth to hers, tongue slick and demanding, tasting her until she’s gasping into me.
Her body melts against mine, soft and hot and fucking perfect, and I don’t ever want to let go.
My hands slide down, gripping her hips, pulling her tight.
She moans, the sound shooting straight through me, and I almost lose it.
When I finally break the kiss, I’m panting, dizzy, starving for more. I rest my forehead against hers, eyes squeezed shut.
“I won’t ever let you go.” I say it before my brain catches up with my mouth. Fuck it. She needs to know where I stand before this goes any further. “Once I make you mine.”
But she just stares up at me, lips swollen, blue eyes wide and bright and so goddamn beautiful it hurts. She lets out a shaky breath, the tiniest smile curving at the edges.
“That sounds like heaven,” she whispers, and the way she says it, soft and sure, almost undoes me.
We stand there, not moving, breathing each other in. I’m still holding her tight, arms locked around her waist, like if I let go, the world will split in two. She runs her hands up my arms, over my shoulders, her touch making me shiver.
“Are you ready for me?” I need to know she’s with me.
She just nods, eyes never leaving mine, like she’s already known this whole time.
I scoop her up into my arms, and she laughs, startled and delighted. Her arms wrap around my neck, fingers tangling in my hair. I carry her down the hallway, ignoring the way my hands shake, the way my legs feel like they might give out at any second.
I kick open the bedroom door with my foot, heart thudding, and kick it shut behind us.
Iris laughs, breathless. Goddamn, she’s beautiful. There’s a flush burning across her cheeks, and her eyes are pure blue fire.
I set her down on the edge of my bed, slow and careful. She looks up at me, lips parted, like she’s waiting for the next move.
Holy fuck, I want her. My cock is throbbing so hard I actually have to grit my teeth. I want to wreck her. I want to ruin her for anyone else. Mine.
I can’t wait another second. I want her like I want air, like I’ve never wanted anything.
I step back and yank my shirt up and over my head.
The muscles in my arms are shaking, not from exhaustion, but because she’s staring at me with those wide blue eyes, and it’s absolute torture not to rush this.
I don’t bother with slow or sexy. My jeans are next, button popping, zipper down, and I’m out of them before I can even blink.
Taking a deep breath, I reach for my boxers and push them down and off in one quick move.
She’s watching every move I make, lips parted, cheeks flushed, breathing like she just ran a marathon. “Wow,” she breathes.
“Glad you approve.” I drop to my knees in front of her, bury my hands in her thighs, and push her dress up inch by inch.
Her skin is as soft as fucking silk. I drag the hem up, slow enough to savor the way her thighs tremble under my touch. She tips her chin, eyes huge and dazed, lips parted like she’s about to beg me for something.
I trace my thumbs up the insides of her legs, slow, savoring the way she squirms for me. Jesus, she’s wet. I can see the dark patch on her panties, can smell her arousal, and it sends every last rational thought out of my head.
I look up at her, locking onto those big blue eyes. “You want this?” My voice is a goddamn wreck. I can barely get the words out.
She nods, shaky and breathless, and her hands fist in the comforter like she’s bracing for impact. “Yes,” she says, her voice so fucking soft it almost breaks me. “Please, Hunter.”
God. There’s not a thing on this planet I wouldn’t do for her. It hits me like a two-by-four to the forehead. I goddamn love her. I want to ruin her. I want to keep her. I want to make her come so hard she forgets her own name, just so when she finally remembers, I’m the only thing in her head.
I drag her panties down slowly, savoring the heat of her skin under my shaking hands. Her thighs quiver. Hell, I’m trembling, too, every nerve in my body on a hair trigger. I want to eat her alive.
She drops down across the bed as I press her knees apart. I drag my mouth up the inside of her thigh, and she shudders, fingers tangling in my hair, yanking me closer. “Please,” she whispers. Jesus, I’ll do anything for her.
I bury my face between her legs. Her scent is sweet, musky, and fuck, it flows through me.
I swipe my tongue up her pussy, slow and deep, then circle her clit with the tip.
She jerks. The sound she makes? Fuck. It’s everything.
The desperate, high-pitched whimper that crackles straight down my spine, lighting me up from the inside.
My cock is already rock-hard, throbbing, leaking at the tip, but I ignore it and focus on her, on the way Iris shudders for me.
She’s so fucking wet, dripping down her thighs, soaking my hand, her flavor in my mouth. I flatten my tongue and lick her clit again, slow and wicked, then suck it between my lips, hard, while I slide a thick finger inside her.
Holy shit, she’s tight. Hot and perfect and gripping me so hard I almost lose it.
I pump my finger in and out, adding a second digit before twisting and scissoring them just to hear her lose her damn mind.
Her hips snap off the bed. She claws at my hair, yanking me closer, but I don’t stop.
I double down, fucking her with my hand while I wreck her with my tongue.
I want her wild. I want her ruined. I want her so fucking gone for me that she doesn’t remember what it felt like to breathe without me.
She’s a mess. My mess. Blue eyes glazed, hair all over the place, those plush lips parted, moans pouring out like she’s not even embarrassed. She clutches at my hair like she’s drowning and I’m the only thing keeping her afloat. Good. I want to be her lifeline.
I flatten my tongue and lick her clit again, then suck it hard. She screams. Not a little whimper, not a polite gasp, but a full-throated, holy-shit scream that echoes off the walls. I want to fist-pump the universe. Instead, I stretch her open with my fingers, and she almost comes off the bed.
She bucks, hips launching right into my face. I fucking love it. I pin her down harder, my free hand braced against her hip so she can’t squirm away. She’s losing her mind for me, moaning, shaking, body arching as I fuck her with my tongue and fingers.
Iris clutches the sheets with the little blue dress bunched up around her waist, her tits heaving with every desperate breath. Her head thrashes side to side like she’s trying to outrun the pleasure, but I don’t let up. Not for a fucking second.
I work her with my mouth like I’ve been starving for her, lapping up every bit of slick she gives me. Her sweet, messy sounds go straight to my cock. I want to drown in her. I want to make her come so hard she forgets the outside world even exists.
“Hunter,” she gasps, voice all wrecked and needy. “Oh my God, Hunter, please, don’t stop.”
I almost black out from the rush of it. My name on her lips, desperate and broken. Fuck, that’s it. That’s the end of my goddamn sanity.
I double down, sucking her clit like it’s the only thing on earth that matters, my tongue relentless, fingers fucking her deeper, faster, harder.
Her whole body bows off the mattress, thighs clamping around my ears, but I just pin her in place and keep going.
No way in hell I’m letting up before she’s completely ruined for me.
She screams my name again, voice cracking, and the sound goes straight to my cock. I can barely breathe. She’s so close, I can taste how badly she needs it.
I curl my fingers just right, searching for that spot, and when I find it, she screams my name as her inner walls flutter around my fingers.
As the orgasm rushes through her body, I drag her dress over her head and toss it aside.
I fumble a little bit with the back hook on her bra, but I manage to get it off, too.
“You’re so goddamn gorgeous,” I say as I kiss my way up her sweet body. My hands are shaking as I drag my mouth up her stomach, over the soft curve of her hip, then up to her ribs. I want to memorize every inch of her with my tongue, my hands, every cell in my body.
She’s writhing on the bed, blue eyes huge, hair wild everywhere. I nearly lose my mind every time she gasps my name.
God, she’s perfect. And all fucking mine.
I lean over her, so close I can taste her sweet, ragged breath against my lips. Her tits look fucking perfect in my hands, soft and flushed, nipples stiff and begging for my mouth. I drag my thumb over one, and she gasps, arching off the bed, needy and wild for me.
Goddamn. I want to eat her alive.
I squeeze her breast, rolling the nipple between my fingers, and she shudders, and the sound she makes is pure fucking heaven. My cock is throbbing, so hard I see stars, but I want to see her lose her mind for me first. I want her wrecked. Ruined. Mine.
I duck my head and suck her nipple into my mouth. Hard. She practically screams, her hips bucking up like she’s going to launch us both into space. I groan against her skin, sucking harder, rolling my tongue over the tip until she’s clawing at my shoulders, my name tumbling from her lips.
She reaches between us and wraps her soft hand around my cock. I have to close my eyes and count backward from one hundred to keep from coming. I’m about to lose it.
Her hand softly strokes up and down with just enough pressure to make my brain short-circuit. My hips rock into her fist, desperate for more friction, but I want to make her fall apart first. I want her completely fucking wrung out before I even think about taking my own pleasure.
When my control starts to slip, I press between her legs, rubbing against her wet opening.
“Please,” she whispers, and it’s the last straw.
I push inside her, slow, careful, fighting every instinct to slam all the way home. She’s tight, so fucking tight, and I groan as she stretches around me.
She claws my back, digs in, hips rocking up to meet me. I bottom out and hold there, just breathing, trying not to lose it.
“Move,” she says, voice ragged and desperate. “Please. I need—” Her words break off in a moan as I pull back and thrust inside again, slow and punishing, every inch deliberate. The bed thuds beneath us, a steady, merciless beat.
I cradle the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair, and kiss her hard enough to steal her voice completely. I want her to feel this everywhere, tomorrow, next week, forever. No escaping it.
We find the perfect rhythm, her hips matching mine, sharp and fast, bed frame protesting under our weight. Every noise she makes sends lightning through me. Her gasps, her tiny choked-off cries, each one stokes the fire burning inside until I'm consumed by it.
I try to hold back, to fight the pull, but she’s so tight around me, hot, gripping me like she never wants to let go. Needy. Hungry. She wants me so much I can feel it down to my bones. And fuck, resisting her is impossible. I lose myself in her, swept away on the current.
She breaks first, shuddering beneath me, nails digging into my back, leaving stinging tracks. Her pussy contracts, squeezing me, and that’s all it takes. I come hard, hips jerking, spilling inside her while she rides out her own release, clinging to me like I’m the only thing keeping her tethered.
When it’s over, I collapse on top of her, careful not to crush her, just breathing her in, my face buried in her neck. We’re both panting, slick with sweat, every muscle spent.
There’s nothing but the thud of our hearts, the sharp edge of our breathing, and the city’s distant hum drifting in through the window. For a long time, that’s all there is. Just us, tangled and stunned, trying to remember how to breathe.
She traces lazy circles on my back, voice soft and slurred. “You alive?”
I laugh, rolling to the side and dragging her with me. “I’m not sure.”
She snuggles into my chest, leg thrown over my waist, and sighs. “Me neither.”
“We’ll figure it out together,” I say, meaning we’ll figure everything out together.
She kisses my collarbone, eyelids fluttering. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
We collapse together, tangled and silent, nothing left to say. The world could be burning outside, and I wouldn’t care. I have everything I want, right here with her.
Then Buster starts scratching at the door, insistent and impossible to ignore.
I slip out from under the covers, open the door, and scoop him into my arms. He’s all sleepy weight and soft fur, and as soon as I set him down, he snuggles right up on Iris’s pillow like he’s always belonged there.
He sighs, curls in closer, and within seconds, he’s asleep again, tucked in with us, the three of us breathing slow and even in the hush of the bedroom.