“Ew,” I say.
“Exactly,” Hunter says.
Another pause.
“So my plan worked,” he says.“I had sex with you until you decided this was an okay idea.”
“It soundsreallyterrible when you put it that way,” I say.
“I need one of thoseOrgasm Donort-shirts,” he says.
“If you got that shirt this relationship would be a less okay idea,” I say, and Hunter laughs.
It took him all of a week to find a job as the Lift Operations Supervisor at a nearby ski resort.The words “veteran” and “firefighter” came out of his mouth, and he got hired becauseof coursehe did.
Once he had a job, it was another five days before he found a studio apartment above a clothing boutique on Lodgepole’s tiny Main Street.Technically, he was living with me for fifteen days, but we had another house meeting and decided not to charge him rent for that last twenty-four hours.
“You know, I thought it would be harder,” he says.“Not just the job and the apartment, but with us.And it hasn’t been hard.”
“Hunter, are you calling me easy?”I ask.
“You did offer to give me a public hand job five minutes ago,” he says into my hair.
I laugh.
“Iamspectacularly bad at turning you down,” I say.“I was twenty minutes late for work the other day.”
“I misread the clock and thought it said five-thirty,” he says.“That was an accident.”
“Every time you don’t want me going somewhere, you just whip your dick out and I climb right on,” I tease.
An Auxiliary Lady walks past andglaresat me.I smile innocently.
“That’s not true,” Hunter says.“I would never use my dick for nefarious purposes, only for good.”
“Well, that’s the problem,” I say.“If it weren’t good, it wouldn’t make me late for things.”
“Maybe you just need willpower,” Hunter teases.
I laugh.He pulls me a little closer, and I can feel him swallow, then take a deep breath.
“What I’mtryingto say is I love you,” he says.“You probably think it’s too soon, and it’s okay if?—”
I put my hand over his mouth and sit up straighter, looking right into his face, my heart beating wildly.
I suddenly feel reckless, almost like this is dangerous to say out loud.But it’s true, so fuck it.
“I love you too,” I say.
He smiles under my hand, so I take it off his mouth.
“I promise not to take it back this time,” he says, his forehead against mine.
I don’t know what to say, so I kiss him, and even though there are teenagers making weird noises all around us, it feels secret and intimate, just us and this bonfire and the chilly October air.He sneaks his hand up under my shirt and I wind my fingers through his hair, my tongue in his mouth, and then we’redefinitelymaking out.
Hunter pulls back a little.
“There’s a chaperone,” he says.
