“Do you want me to come in with you?” Hunter asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern as he looked between her and the door.
“No.” She shook her head and then went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Go see to the cow and then hurry back.” She looked up at him through her lashes, trying to end the evening on a lighter note. “After all, I still need my birthday spankings tonight.”
His eyes flared. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“You better.” When he pulled her into him to kiss her, she couldn’t help nipping at his lips. Lust flared through her body. At least this part was easy. There was zero confusion when it came to her body’s response to Hunter.
Was it cowardly to ignore everything else and just revel in their connection for a little longer? She winced.
Gorging now and ignoring future consequences was an addict’s logic.
Hunter’s arms were around her again—how did she keep letting herself get caught in this position?
“I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours,” Hunter said, dropping his forehead to hers, “but I want you to think about one thing.”
“What?”
“Look at me.”
She’d had her eyes cast down but she leaned back just far enough so she could meet his gaze. He didn’t say anything. She started to ask him what he was thinking but he just covered her lips with a finger. And stared into her eyes.
Like the first night they’d met.
They were fully clothed, standing on a public sidewalk in the center of town. But somehow it felt more intimate than the first time when he’d been naked and buried inside her. And far more terrifying.
She knew him now. She knew that when he slept he preferred the left side of the bed. But his favorite way to fall asleep was with his arm slung around her waist, right beneath her breasts, tugging her ass up against his groin. If they hadn’t already made love that night then the position usually led to it.
She knew that while he could wake up as early as any of the farmers around, he was a bit of a bear before he’d had his first cup of coffee. She knew he loved animals but didn’t have any pets because he didn’t feel like he’d have enough time or attention to give them. She knew how he loved it when she teased him by ever so lightly scraping her teeth along the ridge of his cock right when he was on the edge of coming.
She knew all of that and a hundred other things. She’d found all that out in just two months. How much more was there to discover? She could spend a lifetime and not know him completely. Because he’d be constantly changing and evolving and oh God, how she wanted to be there to see it. To be part of it.
And in his eyes, she saw the offer—the offer of everything. No holds barred. No restricted access. She could have all of him if she’d just reach out and take it.
When she blinked, a tear streamed down her cheek.
Hunter finally spoke. “You keep talking about how you run away all the time. But what if you’ve been looking at it all wrong? What if it’s not running away from the bad stuff? What if it’s more about running towards something good?”
She could only blink at him. Everything she was feeling, and then his words… Could she really—
“I gotta go.” He held her face and kissed her hard before pulling back again. He kept cupping her cheeks as he looked her in the eye. “I’ll see you later tonight.”
She nodded. She felt a bit speechless at the moment.
“Remember to act surprised.”
She nodded again and he pressed another kiss to her lips before turning to walk toward his truck.
Isobel took a deep breath and then let it out through her teeth. After the emotional night of revelations and the freaking rejected proposal, all she really wanted to do was go climb in bed with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s.
Hunter wanted to marry her. Could she even wrap her head around that?
Nope, she decided. Not at all. And there was still a surprise party to get through. So she tried to bottle up all her emotions as best she could, and then she turned toward the door.
“Surprised, act surprised,” she whispered to herself.
Then she pushed open the door and put on her best surprised face.
Chapter 23