This is so unexpected, and so incredibly romantic.
I swallow, trying to push my heart back down into my chest. I try to relax, but I’ve never experienced a gesture like this. Dancing at homecoming is one thing. This is something else.
“Interesting choice of music,” I murmur, unsure what else to say.
Elvis serenades us. The song—Can’t Help Falling in Love—is very romantic—and very old.
“My dad likes Elvis,” he tells me, much more at ease than I am. “He played his music a lot when I was in Italy, kind of introduced me to it.”
“That sounds nice.”
Hunter nods as we sway. “Yeah. I learned a lot from my dad.”
I peer up at him, my body relaxing a little in his embrace. “Like what?”
“You want a list?” he teases.
I smile. “Maybe.”
“I can’t give away all my secrets at once,” he says lightly.
I roll my eyes. “Fine. Just tell me one thing you picked up from him.”
Hunter considers for a couple of seconds, then he says, “My dad travels a lot for work. His wife has her own life, so she usually doesn’t go with him. They spend a lot of time apart, so their time together is that much more important. Watching him juggle all of his many responsibilities, I picked up one very important tenet.”
“And what was that?”
“If you want to live a good life, you’ve gotta have your priorities straight. There are a lot of things you can push off your plate and delegate to other people, but there are other things you absolutely have to make time for. You have to insist on, no matter how crazy life gets, because those things are important to you and you want to take care of them.”
I think I see where he’s going with this, but I wait for him to get there, anyway.
“I’m always going to make time to woo you, Riley, even fifty years from now.”
I smile helplessly “Fifty years from now?”
Hunter nods, like that’s not a ridiculous claim to make. “Because you’re important to me, and I want to make sure you always know that. You never know, maybe at some point in our lives, I’ll need that reminder, too. If I’m in the habit of treating you like something I cherish, it’ll be a lot harder to forget you are.”
“Wow.” I need a break from the intensity his words stir inside me, so I break his gaze, redirecting it to his shoulder with a faint smile on my face.
His kisses usually give me butterflies, but those words… I feel a little flutter in my stomach, and it’s not from his touch this time.
“I know you haven’t had a great model when it comes to relationships, and to be honest, neither had I,” Hunter tells me. “Until Italy. You might not think it because you know he messed up, I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t, but… my dad loves his wife in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s goals, honestly. Their lifestyle not so much, I wouldn’t want to spend so much time apart, but their relationship… If I ever get married, I want a marriage like theirs.”
“If?” I question.
He shrugs. “I’m dead set on making this one girl my wife, and right now she won’t even agree to be my girlfriend. I’m not sure marriage is in the cards for me, but hey, fingers crossed.”
A helpless grin claims my lips and I shake my head. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m a man in love,” he says unrepentantly, bending his head to kiss the crook of my neck.
I sigh, tilting my head to give him better access. “You’re so getting laid tonight.”
He chuckles. “I’m glad to hear it.”
My eyes drift closed as his lips make their way up my neck, toward my jawline. “I never took you for such a romantic.”
“I’m gonna turn you into one, too,” he tells me.
My eyes remain closed, but my eyebrows rise in surprise. “Oh, you think so?”
“Mm-hmm.” His perfect lips brush my jawline. “I know you felt a little awkward about it at first, but that’s only because you’re not used to it. You’re gonna get used to it.”
“Oh, am I?”
“Yep.” His lips reach my mouth. Elvis sings the last words as the music changes and the song draws to a close. “And see, I love like an Italian, so no one else you meet’s ever gonna compare.”
“Oh my—” He smothers my indulgent disbelief with his lips as he crushes his to mine. My heart soars, my lips softening under his.
When he breaks the kiss, it’s to murmur against my mouth, “I’m gonna ruin you for all other men, and then you’ll have to be mine. You won’t have a choice.”
I smile against his mouth, locking my arms around his neck more tightly and kissing his perfect lips. “You know that part in the movie where the villain reveals his diabolical plan to the hero and then he loses because now the hero can see him coming?”