“There is too much of it. Get closer.”
I hopped once on my bottom to him, my knees jammed into his wide-open thighs. “Better?”
“Now, hold still.” Hunter raked my hair with his hands, pushing some of it on my forehead, obscuring my view of his handsome face. “Don’t move, or it won’t be even.”
The metal touched the bridge of my nose, and hair clippings fell between us. Hunter pushed my hair to the side, then off my face completely. I pried my eyes open. Hunter had his eyebrows pulled together and was biting his bottom lip, concentrating as if working on some masterpiece. Small clippings mizzled on my eyelashes, and I blinked them away. I sat statue-still as he brushed my hair a few times, his fingers on my scalp sending a warm current through me. His hair was longer than the first day I saw him; it curled behind his ears and at the nape of his neck, and my fingers itched to run over it, to feel its softness. I wanted to reach out and push his bangs off his forehead.
“Maybe I can give you a haircut.” I gently scooped up a lock of his hair and pulled it down to his nose bridge to show him how long it was. He smiled, the lines around his eyes creasing, and his large palms enveloped my head and straightened it.
“Hold still.” His gaze caressed my face briefly before returning to my hair.
“Is that a no?” My lips pulled at the corners, but I dropped my hands on the bench, my fingers immediately picking at a minor groove.
“Don’t move, or you’ll look like lightning zapped you in the ass.”
I started giggling, but Hunter again took hold of my head and gave me a playful, stern stare. His gaze dropped to my lips, my grin faltered, and I was very aware of my blood traveling from my heart through my body and back again.
I tried to focus on the gentle sound of the ocean or a raspy buzzing of bugs instead of Hunter’s red, slightly parted, and moist lips. I couldn’t help but wonder how he kissed. Were his kisses slow and languid or hungry and zestful? I shouldn’t think about that, and instead I counted only the golden-colored stubble on his jaw. That might take a while. I blinked a few times and instead counted the number of laugh lines around his eyes—a total of six—and deep lines around his remarkable mouth—one on each side. One small mole in the center of his Cupid’s bow. My lips tingled with the need to kiss it.
I didn’t think cutting hair was sexy or erotic, but here I was, getting a wave of heat through me. It could be because Hunter wasn’t wearing a shirt. If I were an artist, I would want to paint beautiful landscapes of his face and body. But I wasn’t an artist. All I could do was commit every nanoscopic and vital detail of this gorgeous man to memory.
My gaze roamed over his exposed sun-kissed skin, noticing every ripple of muscles on his chest, taut abs, and a trail of dark hair disappearing into the top of his shorts. And I wanted to hook my finger over the waistband and see his reaction. Would his hands loop around my hips and drag me flush against him—well, I might get splinters in my ass if he did that—but would he gather me to him and let me feel his skin on mine? Or would he tell me to stop, like when he asked me not to say his name? I had to curl my hands into fists to prevent them from doing something stupid and embarrassing.
When I looked up, Hunter’s eyes, rimmed with thick eyelashes, were heavy on me. My stomach swooped like I was free-falling. His hands were no longer near my face but resting on his thighs. Had he caught me staring at his crotch?
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I think this is a good stopping point. It’s a bit uneven, but it doesn’t look like I used a lawn mower.”
I wanted to say thank you, but a small clump of hair stuck to my lip. Before I inhaled it, I tried to push it off with my tongue, but it only stuck to me more. Hunter’s lips curved to a side, and his hand moved to my mouth. He pinched the tip of my tongue between his fingers, catching the annoying hairs, and my pulse found a new permanent location to throb. Hard and fast.
Hunter’s thumb grazed my lower lip, then he dragged his hand against the side of his shorts. He gently brushed hair clippings off my nose and shoulders, his fingertips stumbling over my bikini strings.
He exhaled a slow breath as if he were losing a battle against his self-control. “You probably want to dip in the ocean to wash off.”
I wanted to yank his hand and place it at the base of my throat, where my pulse thrashed like a bird caught in the net, but instead I touched my hair, getting used to its short feel. “Thanks again.”
His darkened eyes never left mine, smoldering me to ashes. I was in emotional purgatory. Stay still and wait for him to make a move or take matters into my own hands? Literally. Take his face in my hands and crash his mouth to mine. He would be the second man I ever kissed. The second man to have me.
“Will you go for a swim with me?” I asked.
“With this sexy haircut, I’ll never want to let you out of my sight.”
“Yeah?” I patted my head subconsciously again, pulling on short strands. “You think I look good?”
“Of course.” He smirked. “Why wouldn’t you? I gave you this cut.”
With a roll of my eyes, I pushed on his shoulder. “You’re so full of yourself.”
At the beach, I was waist-deep into the warm sea when Hunter barreled by my side and quickly submerged himself in the water. It was long before his head popped out a fair distance from me.
“Aquaman,” I said to myself and swam to him.
It was exhausting to keep myself afloat by the time I reached Hunter. He was in deeper water, where my feet couldn’t reach the bottom. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed and sank under.
“You tired?” Hunter asked when my head broke through the surface.
“Do you mind if I join you in the morning for a swim? I need to get better at swimming.”
“Not at all.”
