Love Under Construction (Love By Design 1)

Not going to lie, it hurt, and I couldn’t come again feeling the pain as I did. Hunter kissed me through the tears and cleaned me up, holding me until I fell asleep with promises of something better.

Long drenching kisses woke me in the middle of the night bathing me with affection. Strong loving hands played with my breasts and it didn’t take much to get me randy for him. When Hunter moved between my legs that time it was every bit as magical as he’d promised. It was far better than a decade old–almost kiss.

23

Hunter

Twelfth Grade - May

“Don’t forget to buy your bids! On sale until Friday!” Becky Myers brushed past me as I pushed my way through the crowded hall to my next class. “And, uh, don’t forget to ask your date, Hunter.” Becky winked at me like she assumed I was asking her. I wasn’t. Heck, if I could have avoided the whole damn thing I would have.

I knew my aunt was taking Damien for a tux fitting and she was going to encourage me to go whether I wanted to or not. My aunt was one of those saintly people, and I didn’t have it in me to tell her no.

“Yo, Hunter, we going or what?” Damien asked.

I shrugged, hoping to get myself out of the crossfire of prom committee staff and the saucer-sized eyes of every girl walking past us in slow motion.

“Going where?” That small, gentle voice forced me to turn around quickly. Taylor Jane was almost knocked over by our football team’s defensive lineman.

“Watch where you’re going, Asher.” I grabbed her by the shoulders and bear hugged her out of the way. It was way more personal contact than I should have had with my best friend, but I didn’t want her getting hurt.

“Oomph.” Her breath puffed against my chest, the only warm spot between my rib cage. I didn’t have a heart worth counting until this girl came along.

“Dude, let her up for air, she’s not a dolphin.” Damien pulled us apart, and I could see Kristen eyeballing us.

“Yeah, who are you boys taking to prom?” Nosy girl asked.

I figured Kristen would be a pain in the ass about this. I mean, when was this girl not a pain in the ass?

“Oh, I’m not going, but you guys have fun.” Wait. Taylor Jane wasn’t going to prom?

Kristen grabbed her arm pulling her back from walking away. “Oh, puh-lease! Of course you’re going. You’ve been asked by like three guys this week. We already bought dresses. I don’t understand why you turned them all down.”

This surprised me. Why would she say no? And who the fuck asked her in the first place? Weird feelings that made me grumpier by the second invaded my head.

Demanding to know what I missed I asked, “Who?”

Her blue eyes looked up under her pale, silky lashes and locked with mine on her whisper. “What?”

“Who asked you to prom?” My voice was sharp, but I had to know who the fuck had the balls to go near Taylor Jane thinking they were worth her time. To think that they were actually good enough for this beautiful girl, who continued to shine despite her losses that only made her stronger in my opinion.

“Um…”

Kristen pushed between us, piping in, “Okay, so there was Scott Crenshaw.” Kristen was kind of hard to miss, and I had to physically, but gently move her so I could still see Taylor Jane.

“The dude in our math class?” I thought about this before responding with the obvious answer. “Crenshaw couldn’t solve a simple equation to save his life.” I made a note to pull Scott aside after class. No way was he sniffing around my best friend. Plus, the guy had a cowlick that screamed bad hair days for life. I’d stick to my crew-cut, thank you.

“Reginald Cole.”

“Pf

ft, that pussy plays soccer and drives a hybrid.” I dismissed him completely and saw Damien grin wide. I hit him in the chest, and he scowled, rubbing the spot.

“Yeah, Pebbles, anyone else because I’m sure Hunter needs to get expelled before the year ends for beating on every guy we know.” Damien was such a little shit. I took a step forward to play punch him, but he backed up again.

“Oh, just the guy who caused a near death experience for her last year.” Kristen waved her hand nonchalantly and I grabbed it gently to get it out of my face.

“Kristen, Jeremy Dolan didn’t mean it.” Taylor Jane looked embarrassed and that made me feel bad. I made the dynamic duo promise to not tease her about it.