Sex, Not Love(8)

I could see he wasn’t going to let me leave without this. So, sacrificing to make my plane, I pushed up on my toes and delivered a quick peck to his lips.

Mmm.... Nice and soft.

(And minty fresh.)

“Well…it was nice to meet you.” I turned to dart out the door, but Hunter grabbed my wrist yet again.

“I said kiss me.”

“I did!”

“Kiss me the way you kissed me last night.”

Before I could even attempt to let that sink in, Hunter yanked me against him. One of his large hands cupped the back of my neck, and he squeezed firmly to direct my head where he wanted it. Then, his lips crashed down on mine.

The shock of feeling his mouth against mine quickly dissipated as he licked my lips, encouraging me to open for him. His tongue dipped inside, and he groaned as he tilted my head and deepened the kiss. The vibration of the sound traveled between us and sent a hum through my body. Soft and gentle went out the window after that. He grabbed a fistful of my ass, and I lifted my body up onto his, wrapping my legs around his waist. As he backed us to the wall, a sense of familiarity overcame me. I couldn’t remember the specifics of our previous kiss, but I now knew deep inside what it had felt like.

My cell dropped from my hand so my fingers could tangle in his hair. Yanking on the soft strands, I couldn’t get enough. A moan from deep inside my chest moved through our connected mouths. Hunter pushed harder, his thick erection pressing into the center of my open legs. He rocked as he kissed me, causing a friction through two layers of clothing that was leading me to a place I didn’t think it was possible to go fully dressed.

It felt like he wanted to swallow me whole, and in that moment, I would have let him. My breasts were crushed to his chest, and a heartbeat raged out of control—only I wasn’t sure if it was my own or his. Jesus, where does a man learn to kiss like this?

I was breathless and stunned when our kiss broke. Hunter sucked on my bottom lip, tugging it before releasing my mouth.

His voice was strained. “Change your flight. We’re not done here.”

I swallowed, trying to gain some composure. “I can’t.” My voice was barely a whisper. It was all I could muster.

“Can’t or don’t want to?”

“Can’t. Izzy comes home today.”

Hunter pulled his head back, giving me some room to breathe, some room to speak. “Izzy?”

“My stepdaughter who hates my guts.”





Chapter 4


Hunter

12 years ago




Damn. I’m going to the wrong school.

It was the hottest day I could remember. The car radio said it was already a hundred and four out, but it was the unusual humidity in Los Angeles that made it unbearable. Since I was a few hours early to meet my brother and didn’t know my way around his campus, I took a seat on a brick staircase across from a fountain in a wide-open field, hoping to catch a breeze. That breeze didn’t show, but something a fuck of a lot better did. The most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen walked up to the circular fountain a hundred feet away, slipped off her shoes, stepped up on the ledge, and jumped into the thing. She dove under and came up for air, pushing her soaked blond hair off her face.

People passing by glanced over at her, but she didn’t seem to notice or care one bit. She floated on her back in what was probably only two feet of water. The smile on her face was contagious, and I found myself mesmerized watching her. It had been almost a month since my mother died, and feeling that happy and free seemed like a lifetime ago.

After a few minutes, the girl sat up and looked in my direction. “Are you gonna join me, or are you just gonna watch from over there like a creeper?”

I looked around to make sure she was talking to me. No one else was in the vicinity. So I got up and walked over to the fountain.

“Is this some sort of a sorority-initiation thing?”

She smiled. “Will it make you feel better if I say yes? Because you were looking at me like I was a weirdo from back there.”

“I wasn’t looking at you like you were a weirdo.”

“It looked that way to me.”

I kicked off my shoes and climbed into the fountain. “I was looking at you wondering if you always smile this way or if cooling off just really made you happy.”

She tilted her head to the side, studying me. “What’s not to be happy about? We’re alive, aren’t we?”

The cool water felt damn good. We floated around in silence for a while, smiling each time one of us caught the other looking.

“I’m Summer,” she said.

“Hunter.”

“Do you like the heat?”

“Not like this.”

“What’s your favorite season, Hunter?”

I smirked. “Summer.”

She paddled over to the edge of the fountain and leaned her elbows on the brick, watching the never-ending spray of water in the center. I followed suit, positioning myself next to her and trying not to stare down at her nipples protruding through her wet T-shirt. It wasn’t an easy task.

Summer turned to look at me. “Do you go to school here?”

“No. My brother does. Came for the weekend for a visit. How about you? You go to school here or just come to cool off in the fountain?”