I take a sip of my drink and then flop back down onto the pillows, watching him watching me, his eyes full of kindness and consideration. “Have you thought about where you want to live?”
He shrugs. “I’m happy if you’re happy.”
“When did we get so agreeable?”
He chuckles. “Maybe when we met each other.”
“We turned into the best versions of ourselves for each other.”
He crawls over me and presses his lips to mine, before pulling back. “That’s exactly it. I want to be the man you deserve.”
“You are,” I say, circling my arms around his neck. “Already.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Lucy
I’ve never been nervous meeting up with Katherine before, but I’ve been experiencing a lot of firsts in my life recently.
“We don’t need to tell them everything,” I say.
“What’s everything? How fucking sweet you taste on my tongue?” Hunter asks. “How you’re permanently wet around me, or how you close around my cock like—”
“Hunter,” I say, glancing around to see if anyone is listening to our conversation as we head toward Madison and 63rd.
“This is New York,” he says dismissively. “No one’s interested in our sex life.”
There’s no arguing with that. Everyone in New York has enough going on with their own lives without gossiping about perfect strangers.
“I just mean about the move and everything,” I say.
“You don’t want them to know we’re moving in together?” Hunter comes to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk. “How come?”
I scan his face. He looks genuinely confused and maybe a little hurt.
“I’m just worried Katherine will think it’s too fast.”
“So?” he asks.
“So, I don’t want to have to field questions. And have her questioning my judgment. Then she’ll tell Mom, and everyone will be in my business. Before I know it, I’ll be moving into an apartment I don’t want to live in because that’s what Mom and Katherine think is the right thing to do.”
He shakes his head. “Well, it will be my apartment as well, and they’re not going to push me into living anywhere I don’t want to live. And ...”
“And what?” I say. I’m not used to Hunter holding anything back from me. I don’t want him to start now.
“I think that’s the woman you were. But things have changed, Lucy. I’m not sure you’d be so easily pushed around now. I don’t think you want to please them over yourself anymore. You don’t have the same need to be liked by your mom. Maybe it’s because you know how muchIlike you ...” He presses a soft kiss to my lips, and I feel his smile against my mouth.
He’s right. The old me would have been chastened by my mother. I would have ended up taking another place in Brooklyn because it was cheaper and because that’s what my mom thinks is best.
But I’ve already told Hunter I want to live on the Upper West Side. The lower end. I’ve been pretty specific with him. So why am I so concerned with what Mom and Katherine are going to say?
“It’s just memories,” Hunter says like he’s reading my mind. “You don’t need to question it. You’ve spent a huge chunk of your life trying to please other people. Now you don’t have to. It’s going to take some getting used to. Don’t stress.”
“So you think we should just come right out with it?”
Hunter shrugs. “There’s no reason to hide.”
I pull my shoulders back. He’s right: I have no reason to hide anything about my life from anyone. If people love me, they’ll be happy for me. If they don’t, they won’t. It’s as simple as Hunter makes it seem.
