My cat chose that exact moment to leap out of his arms and onto the bench next to us, spotting a butterfly. We gasped and I quickly caught her leash before she went too far, stopping her attempt at preying on the insect. “Luna!”
She gave me a mildly annoyed glance.
Hunter chuckled and I huffed an exhale. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s all good.”
We sat down on the bench, caging either side of Luna. I caressed her back, unsure what to say next. Hunter was perched forward with his elbows on his thighs, his joined hands hanging in the open V of his spread legs. His eyes kept flitting from my cat to me…namely the bare skin exposed between the hemline of my miniskirt and the tops of my black thigh-high socks.
Unmistakable heat unfurled inside of me and I crossed my legs, causing my skirt to ride up higher. Hunter’s stubbled jaw clenched and a muscle popped in his cheek. That heady, borderline feral expression was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen.
One thing was for certain: our attraction towards each other wasn’t going away anytime soon. The more he complimented me, the more he held my hand, and the more he gave me thisI-want-to-be-inside-of-youlook, it was only a matter of time before we dipped into uncharted waters.
His eyes rose to mine with a hint of a challenge. As if he was waiting for me to admit this whole ‘friends’ thing was a lie. That there was only one way it would end between us. With sheet-clawing sex and our bodies purging this stark tension.
“Show me the book you’re reading?” Hunter asked, breaking the silence, and I nearly shivered from the gravel in his voice.
I felt like I was going to disintegrate under the pheromones and the heat he was emanating from sitting so close to me. Fuck, he was incredibly sexy.
I reached into my purse and handed him my paperback. “Here.”
Hunter thumbed through my book. “What is it that you like so much about these books?”
I’d never been asked that question, but the answer came to me easily. “The escapism. I love getting lost in fictional worlds. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve lived thousands of lifetimes because I read. You’re never lonely if you have the comfort of your favourite characters.”
Hunter reclined against the bench, lounging his arm along the back of it, his fingers close enough to play with my hair. “That’s a nice way of putting it. I hadn’t thought of it from that point of view.” Then he weighed the paperback in his hand and added, “But you know what’s not nice? The fact that you’ve dog-eared these pages. It’s a crime, Gabby. A complete blasphemy.”
A boisterous laugh burst out of me. I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to tame it as I scared some passersby. “Guilty. Since I always lose my bookmarks, this is my go-to method to remember where I last left off. Sometimes, I’ll even dog-ear my favourite scenes.”
The corners of Hunter’s mouth tipped up in a mischievous smile and he went back to skimming through my book before I realized what I’d confessed. Shit. The last thing I wanted was for him to read the part where the crazed werewolf finally fucked his fated mate on a new moon.
“No!” I giggled, lunging for him. “Give it back to me!”
Hunter fended me off with an arm, falling on that exact scene. His eyes went wide with delight and a disbelief-lacedchuckle escaped him. “So these are the kind of heroes you like, huh? Filthy and obsessed with their heroines?”
“Yes, I love my unhinged book boyfriends,” I replied shamelessly, nearly climbing onto his lap to rip out my book. We play-wrestled for a few seconds, laughing. “Thief! I want my property back now!”
Luna screeched between us, getting squished by our tomfoolery, and the noise distracted Hunter enough that I was able to steal my book back.
With a fading chuckle, he asked, “Which one is your favourite boyfriend?”
“Blasphemy,” I parroted his own word and gave a haughty flick of my chin. “And I can’t choose. I love them all.”
“But if you had to choose,” he insisted, his pointer finger looping around a lock of my red hair and tugging lightly. “Which one?”
I should have batted his hand away, but I liked his touch too much. “Let me think. This is a hard decision.”
“Uh-huh,” he drawled, stroking his spare hand over Luna’s back as she rubbed herself against him. “And while you take your sweet time thinking about your hard decision, just know that I’m making plans to steal your cat since she likes me so much.” He gave her a forehead kiss and she closed her eyes in joy. I almost passed out from the cuteness of it all. “Isn’t that right, Luna?”
“You really want to mess with me when I have a gun?” I deadpanned.
He tsked. “You don’t scare me, shorty.”
“Smart-ass.” I harrumphed, but the grin on my lips betrayed me.
“Clock’s ticking, doll. I want my answer.”
Damn. I couldn’t even pretend to hate him calling medoll. It rolled off his tongue in a filthy and sinful manner.
