“Is anyone ever ready?” Our eye searched the other as we swayed standing together.
“I shouldn’t have been with her.” Hunter frowned. “Because when I was with her all I could think about was you and how much I had to lose if I ever crossed that line.”
“We’re crossing it now.”
“We are.” The words were softly exchanged as his head dipped down to kiss me and I turned up my chin to meet his lips halfway. I wanted to always meet him halfway from this point forward.
“Did you know.…” He paused. “No, it’s stupid.” Hunter’s neck turned pink and if I wasn’t mistaken, my big guy was showing signs of embarrassment.
“Tell me, Hunter.”
“It’s your smile.” He stopped to look up taking a moment to catch his breath before speaking. “Your smile is like crazy glue bonding the broken parts of me. You’re the only one who can calm me down when the anger and rage threaten to take over.”
“Damien owes me for keeping him alive, doesn’t he?”
Hunter belted out a barking laugh. “Yeah, he does.”
“I was terrified of losing you, Hunter. I settled for whatever attention you would give me.”
“I still have my inner demons to battle. I don’t handle my anger well, sweetheart.” It wasn’t a secret that when Hunter got mad he could explode but that was years ago and I wasn’t afraid of him.
“Is this your way of warning me off?” I shook my head. “It’s not going to work big guy.”
His chest lifted on a sigh, “Obviously ignoring our feelings hasn’t worked and I’m not strong enough to lose you again.”
“So don’t.” It was time for a confession of my own. “That’s probably why I didn’t bother hooking up with anyone. I guess I knew I wouldn’t really be into it. Not when there was someone else I wanted too much but couldn’t have.”
“And you… wait… Taylor Jane, what are you saying?”
I didn’t want to think about it, I was afraid to stop the momentum, but we’d already laid our cards out on the table.
“I’ve never been with anyone. I wasn’t exactly waiting for you, but I never felt there was a right person either.”
His face got serious and a rumble from his chest felt like a primal growl under my fingertips when he spoke. “So that means you’re mine.”
Laughing was all I could do when Hunter looked at me with such predatory eyes that gleamed when his arms tightened around me.
“If that’s what you want to think, who am I to stop you?”
“It is what I think and that’s the truth. You mean everything to me.”
“No pressure then, but I hope this is good.”
“Taylor Jane, you can bet your house I’m gonna make this magical.”
I was hard-pressed to hold back the giggle. Hunter Hart, former Marine turned construction god didn’t say words like magical.
His lips pressed against mine and the wave of feelings flooded me. I wrapped my arms around his neck greedy with need. Hunter picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist husking me through the house. “I’d like to christen every room in this house, but…”
Hesitating, we looked around, taking in the tape and orange cone placed near the hole in the porch. A construction site wasn’t exactly what I envisioned for my first time.
“It’s a danger zone.”
“I’m glad we agree on something.”
“It’s the potential for an owl attack, isn’t it?” I asked, doing my best attempt to not smile.
“Not going to let that go, are you?” He couldn’t even look me in the eye because we’d both burst out laughing.