His laugh draws me out of my thoughts as he brings a washcloth to my stomach. “Careful, vixen, or I might think you want me to bend you over.”
My cheeks warm, but I don’t let him get to me. “Oh, I know you won’t.”
Hunter raises a brow, something in his expression telling me he’ll take the bait and do it. I’d be tempted if it weren’t for the pleasant ache between my thighs.
Thankfully, he doesn’t take the challenge and instead shakes his head. “After this, I’m thinking breakfast.”
I hum under my breath as I turn towards the water. “Oh?”
“I make a mean waffle,” he explains, voice low. “Though I wouldn’t blame you if you were already…full.”
I press my thighs together as the reminder of how much he’d…well, filled me earlier springs to mind. The leakage would have been embarrassing if it weren’t for the fact he’d seemed so proud of it.
Instead of responding, I tilt my face to the water.
“There is something else I have a hunger for,” he whispers just loud enough for me to hear, arms wrapping around me.
I shiver in his embrace and lean into it. Today is full of surprises I never expected.
And I’m not sure if I should feel hopeful about what it could all mean.
Or if it’ll last.
NINE
HUNTER
“You don’t…have to leave,” I murmur, holding Sylvie tighter as we curl up on the sofa. The Christmas lights blink as the fire crackles, and the shitty Christmas movie she picked plays on the television. It’s not like either of us have been watching it; instead, we’re wrapped up in a heavy blanket, and I don’t know where she starts and I end.
The eventful morning turned into a quiet afternoon I can’t help but appreciate and enjoy. I should feel guilt—and I do. Opal is still with my brother, her only contact with me a text to say she’s going over to a friend’s house to hang out for the rest of the day. Part of me thinks she’s avoiding me because of last night and the auction, and I know I should address that with her sooner rather than later. Especially because it gave me something I didn’t know I was missing.
And yet, selfishly, I don’t want to leave this bubble yet. I don’t want this to disappear. Without the cloud of frustration or sex hanging over me, I can see clearly now, and that clarity means one thing: I don’t want Sylvie to leave.
Sylvie shifts so she can meet my eye, an emotion I can’t read swirling in her dark eyes. “What do you mean?”
I clear my throat, moving my hand to her hair, soft and wavy beneath my fingers. “You don’t have to leave Willow Ridge.”
Disappointment flickers in her gaze as she looks away. “Here I thought you might be sick of me.”
A lump forms in my throat as I guide her back to me, forcing our eyes to meet. “Never,” I whisper. “I would say you can stay here, but that’s not up to me alone.”
Sylvie blinks hard, a heavy breath falling from her lips. “Opal.” She closes her eyes and leans her head against my shoulder. “I think her forcing us into a date tells us everything we need to know about her stance.”
I chuckle, tension loosening from my body. “Opal has been trying to convince me to ask you out since you arrived.”
“Why didn’t you?” Sylvie asks quietly without looking at me. “I mean, I can’t say if I would have accepted it, but I like knowing Opal has always been on my side.”
I smile more to myself as hope swells within me, even though I’m hesitant to respond. “Truthfully?”
She glances up and gives me a shallow nod.
I sigh. “You’re a lot younger than me, and I’m a dad. I never got the impression that was…something you wanted, and I wasn’t about to put myself out there for someone I couldn’t see a life with.”
Sylvie stiffens in my arms. “And now?”
I swallow hard. “Now, I hope there’s a chance we could…try. Because Opal likes you, and…so do I.”
It feels more than justlike. I’ve always cared about Sylvie in some way. As an acquaintance, a co-worker, afriend. Even though we haven’t always seen eye to eye, even with the tension between us, I’ve always done more than just care about her. But I don’t want to scare her off with how I really feel, even if that might be the only reason she might stay. Sylvie isn’t the type ofperson to stay in Willow Ridge without a reason. Not when she has plenty more why she should go home.
