“Have feelings for you?” Hunter asks, cutting me off. “Also yes.”
My heart kicks against my ribs as my stomach flips. “Yeah?”
His lips curve into a smile. “Yeah.”
I blow out a breath. “I think I just worried that maybe you were… I don’t know… doing all this because you felt obligated to.”
“Obligated?” he asks, stepping away from Molls and hanging the brush on a hook.
I nod. “Yeah. I showed up and basically dumped all my bullshit on you. I feel like it might be hard to tell the suicidal dude you aren’t interested.”
Hunter moves closer to me, tipping my chin back with a finger under my jaw. “I wouldn’t tell you that. It’s just not true. I’ve been interested since you stepped out of your car on that very first day.”
“Even though you knew?”
He nods, eyes roaming my face. “Even though I knew. I’ll admit, at first I just thought you were hot. And I wanted to help Mom out by helping you get in and stuff.”
That makes me smile, and it feels easy. Feels like it reaches my eyes too. Hunter’s face lights up. “Damn, that’s beautiful. But then I got to know you better, and the more we did together on the farm, the more I liked you.”
“Same,” I whisper, afraid that if I talk any louder, he’ll decide he’s wrong. It’s a stupid fear, but fear isn’t always logical.
He brushes my hair off my forehead with a smile. “You’re an amazing person, Theo. So much more than you give yourself credit for. Even when you’re having bad days, you have such a magnetic personality. I enjoy being around you.”
“I enjoy being around you too.”
His eyes meet mine, then drop to my mouth before they lift again. “I’d really like to kiss you, Theo.” My heartbeat picks up, thundering in my ears. “And not because you’re an obligation.”
“Yeah, okay.”
His lips quirk into a smile. “Convincing.”
We’re getting closer now, our lips a breath away. I can feel each of his soft exhales, and even though my eyes are still open, I can barely see him for how close he is. “I want that too.” My tongue darts out, wetting my lower lip.
I haven’t been sexually attracted to anyone in a long time. Not because of trauma or Damien, but because I’ve been fighting sohard to survive. Or maybe because I was waiting for something. Forsomeone. Him. But now? Now, I can feel the stirrings of arousal deep in my gut. In ways I haven’t felt in a long time. In ways that feel like a piece of dry tinder just waiting for a small spark to ignite.
Hunter’s nose brushes mine, and my breath punches out of my lungs. If he’s trying to build tension, it’s working.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “Please.”
Every time we’ve kissed, it’s been me initiating, and I think part of me needs this one to be him. I need to believe he wants me too. I need tofeelit.
The second his lips connect with mine, the spark ignites. His arm hooks around my waist, pulling me flush against him as his tongue slips past my lips. I open for him instantly, my eyes falling shut as heat explodes through my body.
His grip on me stays firm, and when he slides a hand into my hair, I have to swallow a gasp.
It’s been so long since I’ve felt this much. My mind and body have been so numb for so long that even jacking off felt like too much, and it takes me a second to realize that I’m achingly hard. That my cock is pulsing and that I’m rubbing it against him with abandon as he all but devours me.
I’ve never been kissed like this in my entire life.
Hunter pulls me in tighter, using his grip on me to help me rub against him. But only for a second before he pulls back. “Wait, hang on.”
I inhale a gasping breath as my cock, sticky with pre-cum, pulses hard. “What’s wrong?”
Does he not want this after all?
“My bed.”
I repeat his words in my head, trying to make sense of them. “What?”
