Chapter Three
Serena woke up with a start. It was still dark out, but she’d meant to do those two makeup sketches the night before.
She blushed as she felt Hunter rouse beside her, and she forced herself to breathe slowly.Go back to sleep, big guy.
Her plans to sketch had been interrupted when Hunter had taken her hard against the wall in the living room.
Holy crap.
Heat blossomed low in her belly as she relived the hard press of his large body against hers. His fingers squeezing into her flesh.
I love you.
Shit.
And in response, she’d just said that she liked it.
Well that was true. But…
It wasn’t enough. But if she was being honest with herself, how she felt about him was huge, but she wasn’t sure it was love.
Not yet.
Not when she still kept secrets from him.
But what if telling him more about her past would risk what they had?
Last night could have been an opening. Maybe it still would be. She rolled onto her side and slid her hand over his impressive biceps. He gave her a half-smile in his sleep and lifted his arm so she could fold into his chest.
“Morning,” he mumbled.
“Sort of,” she whispered.
“Going to draw?”
Her heart panged at how well he already knew her. “Maybe.”
“Gotta go soon, too.”
His apartment was between her house and the base. He’d swing past there to change into his uniform.
“I can cuddle until you go.”
“Good.” He yawned and made an adorable mumbling sound as he tightened his grip on her.
God, he was perfect.
She was terrified of losing him, even though that was pretty unfair to Hunter—he’d never given her any indication that he was anything other than open-minded and understanding. But on a soul-deep level, Serena was terrified of being judged and measured and found wanting.
But the hard steel of his embrace reminded her of how she’d turned on for him like a switch the night before. How much she missed being dominated.
She needed to find out, one way or the other, how Hunter felt about taking things beyond hot sex.
How he felt about true kink.
But could she find that out without revealing parts of her essential being to him? Without exposing herself to the judgement that might follow?
Or would she have to lay her soul bare for him and hope for the best?
