Curiosity peaked, she glances up at me and scrunches her nose as we continue our stroll.
“Yeah, I know,” I shrug. “The name always brings out that reaction when I tell people who aren’t from around here.”
“So, you’re a ball player, huh?” she grins. “Baseball just happens to be my favorite sport.”
“Really?” I ask. “Does that mean you’ll come to a game sometime?”
We stop walking, and I wait for her response. She worries her bottom lip between her teeth. She whispers quietly. “I’d like to, if you’d want me to?”
“There is nothing I could ever want more, Angel.”
“You keep calling me Angel,” she laughs hesitantly. “I have a name you know. Why do you insist on using that name instead?”
I grasp her hands in mine.
“Because, something about you makes me feel like I found heaven on earth.”
An adorable blush spreads across her cheeks again. “I don’t even know your name, Casanova,” she giggles.
“Hunter,” I say, as I take a step closer. Her chest brushes against mine and the action sends a jolt straight to my heart. “Hunter Alexander.”
“Well, my name is Rochelle, Hunter,” she says, as I wrap an arm around her waist and bring her a step closer. “It’s French. It means ‘little rock.’”
I smile down at her. She’s rambling again. Her nerves rise. The hesitant, yet eager way she wants us to be closer builds in her eyes.
“Is that so?” I tease,
Her name suits her, though she doesn’t see it yet herself.
“What about my name?” I ask. “What does it mean?”
She smiles wide. “It’s English.”
“Is that so?”
My head falls to her neck. Her sharp intake of breath fuels me. Her breathing quickens.
“It means ‘one who hunts.’” I breathe her in and slowly raise my face to hers. “Do you like to hunt, Hunter?”
“I already have everything I want in the world right here, right now.” Her eyes widen. I smile as my lips lower to hers. Her body tightens. “Don’t push me away, Rochelle. Remember? I promise, I don’t bite.”
Before she can take a breath, I crash my lips against hers. She lets out a gasp, which quickly turns into a sexy as fuck moan as her mouth parts and her tongue caresses mine for the first time.
Her hands fist my shirt. She pulls me towards her, making me deepen our kiss. My hands have a mind of their own as they rise up her side, stopping at the curve of her breasts.
She pulls back slightly, and so I raise them further to hold each side of her face. She timidly settles back into my arms as I run my tongue against hers one final time before releasing her lips and looking her in the eye.
“Hunter?” She questions, as I stand with her face still protectively cupped in my palms. Nervous, afraid of what she may say next, she takes my breath away when she whispers, “Kiss me again!”
Chapter Four
Rochelle
My feet are tired when I finally make it home. Sneaking up the front steps to our little trailer, I quietly enter my key in the lock and creep inside. All lights are out except for the one Momma keeps on all night by the front window. Closing the door quietly, I turn and start to dart to my room. I’m stopped by the sound of Momma coughing.
“Where have you been, child?” She barks, as she sits up straighter in her recliner. She attempts to hide something she was holding in a stack of papers sitting on the table next to her. Though I find it odd, being caught coming home late makes me shake off the unnerving feeling she may be hiding something.
“A friend walked me home.”
