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He helps me out of the Jeep and leads me in through the front door, where I bend over and kick off my muddy boots. Hunter does the same, although he does nothing more than step out of his flip-flops, and then he swings me up in his arms and carries me up a flight of stairs that are just off the foyer. I can’t even think to protest before he’s depositing me inside a bathroom and ordering me to get in the shower.
“Throw out your wet clothes, and I’ll put them in the dryer. I’ll bring you something to wear. ”
Then he turns around and heads back down the stairs.
I stand there just a few seconds, debating what to do. Between the heater in the car and the dryness of his house, I’m feeling marginally better and part of me just wants to flee. But the other part… the one that still has a tiny shiver running through me every now and then, glances longingly at the shower and before you know it, I’m stripped bare and hopping under the spray.
Several minutes of hot water pours down on me before my muscles start to loosen, and my brain seems to start functioning again. I formulate my game plan, which is to get back in my clothes, be damned if they’re still wet, and hightail it out of here.
The door to the bathroom opens up, and I peek outside the shower curtain. Hunter is in the bathroom, bending over to pick up my clothes. When he stands, he sees me watching and gives me a smarmy grin. “I brought you my robe to wear until your clothes are dry. Come down when you’re done. I’m making some hot tea. ”
And with that, he leaves, closing the door firmly behind him.
I stay under the hot water for several more minutes, finally climbing out after availing myself of his shampoo, conditioner, and soap. After I dry off, I use a brush I find under the sink to brush my hair out and slip the robe on. It’s massive and swamps me completely, but it’s soft and warm, and oh shit… it smells just like Hunter.
Walking into his kitchen, I see he’s changed out of his wet clothes and has on just a pair of jeans that ride low on his hips, his bare feet poking out from below. His back is broad, muscular, and sun-kissed. It makes me want to run my hands along his skin just to feel the warmth of it. He turns to look at me and gives me a smile.
“Feel better?”
“Yes,” I say quietly. “Thank you. ”
Picking up a steaming cup of tea from the counter, he hands it to me. “No problem. I like to help damsels in distress. ”
“I’m not a damsel in distress,” I snap, because it seems natural to try to take his head off. I take a sip of the hot tea and almost groan over how good it tastes.
Hunter takes a sip of his own tea, leaning back against the counter. “Funny… you looked like you could use some help when I stopped. ”
Glaring at him, I say, “Whatever. All I had to do was call for someone. It’s not like you saved me from the zombie apocalypse or anything. ”
Hunter laughs, his eyes alight with humor. “You crack me up, Gabs. ”
“I’m glad I amuse you,” I grouch.
“You do a lot of things to me. Amuse is just one. ”
His voice is husky, his eyes serious as he says that, and my stomach flips end over end. I just stare at him, because his words… the way he’s looking at me, it’s completely hypnotic. For some strange reason, I want to drop my tea to the floor and just rub up against him.
Focus, Gabby, I tell myself. You have a mission—to push Hunter Markham as far away from you as possible.
I can do this. Chin up. Resolve in place.
Opening my mouth to ask where the dryer is, because I fully intend to leave, Hunter cuts me off.
“I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Gabriella Ward. ”
His words stun me, more so because he used my formal name and the only person that does that is my mother… and only when I’m in trouble.
I’m a glutton for punishment though, and I can’t help but croak, “What’s that?”
“I have this figured out. ”
He doesn’t say anything more but takes a sip of his tea, watching me over the rim of his cup. He’s baiting me… wanting to see how much I really want to know about his epiphany.
I don’t make him wait long because my curiosity is killing me. “What do you have figured out?”
He smiles at me and it’s carnally hot, invading every cell in my body. My skin warms… just from that smile, and my breath gets shallow. He notices my reaction to him, and it pleases him because his smile now turns triumphant. He never answers my question but sets his cup down and pushes away from the counter. As he walks toward me, I swear I get a little faint from the rush of blood that fires through my veins. His eyes are sparking with intensity and I’m powerless to look away.
Stopping just inches from me, he takes the tea from my hand and turns to set it on the kitchen table. When he turns back, he stares down at me at me a brief moment before he raises one hand. It’s as if he’s in slow motion. I don’t dare look away from his gaze, but I can see his hand rising up in a leisurely fashion from my peripheral vision.
My face. Yes, he must be bringing it up to touch my face.
But it rises no higher than my chest.
Placing his finger just at the base of my neck, he skims it south across my skin, ever so lightly. He pushes downward, right through the v-gap in his robe I have on, and my breath freezes in my lungs when the material starts to part.
Hunter’s eyes are no longer holding mine, but he’s watching his finger trail down the skin over my sternum until it glides right down between my br**sts. Liquid fire swarms low in my belly. For a brief moment, my brain screams at me to go back into defensive bitch mode, but my body is also screaming for me to leave well enough alone and see where this goes.
Pushing further, Hunter continues dragging his finger down, now being slightly impeded by the flannel material, but it no way stopping his descent. He pushes right past my heart, below my breastbone, and over the top of my stomach. Only when his finger reaches the knot, which is tied firmly across my belly button, does he stop.
He raises his head, and I raise mine to meet his gaze. His blue eyes are almost the color of dark denim, and they sear into me. He holds me captive in his look for just a second, and then he looks back down again. I lower my head, fascinated, as I watch his other hand come up and work at the knot holding the robe together.
Whether it’s a desperate act of self-preservation, or just an instinct born of fear that I’ll get hurt, my own hands come up and cover his, attempting to stop his progress.
He stills for a moment, never taking his eyes off the knot.
“Don’t,” he rasps out. Then he looks up at me, and his eyes are almost pleading even though his voice is commanding to me. “Just don’t. ”
And just like that, my hands fall away as I submit to his request. He regards me for a moment more, and then he looks back down to his end goal. His hands are deft and he manages to pull the belt apart quickly, dropping both ends. The robe however, stays in place, gapping slightly at my br**sts.
Hunter’s hands grab ahold of the edges, and I’m amazed to see they are slightly shaking as he pulls them apart. Cool air hits my belly and br**sts, while Hunter’s eyes roam over me. His breath comes out in a rush across his lips, hitting me in the face with a warm caress. It smells like peppermint tea, and I wonder if I’ll be able to taste it on his tongue.
As he pulls the robe further apart, he whispers in awe, “Christ… you’re perfect. ”
My knees almost buckle from the longing in his voice, and it dredges up memories of five years ago when I wanted to hear just those very words from him. For some reason, they sound sweeter at this very moment, because I understand how far both of us have come to reach this point.
Releasing the edges of the robe, Hunter brings his hands up and they lightly encircle my throat… just for a moment, before he smoothes them down the sides of my neck and across my shoulders, pushing the robe off.
“Tell me,” I whisper.
His
hands still against my skin, and his eyes leap toward mine. “Tell you what?”
“Tell me what you have figured out. ”
He smiles in understanding and leans forward to caress his lips over mine, digging his fingers slightly into the skin of my shoulders. When he pulls back, he says, “I figured out that you and I… that we’re going to happen no matter what. ”
The minute he utters those words, I know they’re true. As much as I wanted to keep him at bay, as much as I feared what this would mean for my sanity and the sanctity of my heart, I too knew this was going to happen.
I give him a small nod of understanding and he rewards me with a brilliant smile, his eyes lighting up from within.
“Good,” he says. “We’re in agreement?”
I nod again and whisper, “Yes. ”
“Gabby?” he says just before he leans down and kisses me on my neck. Goose bumps break out all over my body.
“Hmmmm?”
“This is going to feel so f**king good,” he promises, his voice deep and laced with so much sensuality, liquid heat floods between my legs.
Then his lips come to mine, and yes… he tastes just like peppermint tea. My head swirls as his tongue mates with mine and just as my eyes flutter closed in rapture, I think… Yes, this is going to feel so f**king good.
8
When I was seventeen and on the Junior Pro tour, I surfed Pipeline at Oahu’s North Shore for the first time and the exhilaration of the moment almost killed me. I literally thought my heart would jump out of my chest it was beating so hard when I caught the first wave in my heat. It was the biggest water I had surfed in my young career and, in my entire life to date, it was the most thrilling moment.
Until now.
Now I’d have to say the moment Gabby nodded at me… giving me the go ahead to have her… it knocked the Pipe clear out of my memory. Because now my heart is hammering with nuclear thunder at the mere prospect that I’ll be sunk deep inside of her before too long, and I’m almost drunk with pleasure just knowing that.
She looks at me, right this very moment, with heat and desire, and I have never wanted another woman the way I want her now. If I could freeze this moment in time, bottle this feeling, and sell it, I’d be a f**king millionaire ten times over.
I contemplate exactly what I’m going to do to her… what will make her writhe against me or what will make her scream the loudest. I’m just about set on throwing her over my shoulder to carry her into my bedroom when she reaches out and grabs ahold of the waistband of my jeans, sinking her fingers inside. My gaze snaps up to hers and I see a bit of a challenge in those green-gold eyes, just before she lowers her gaze and unsnaps the button.
She doesn’t have an ounce of hesitation… dragging my zipper down assuredly and peeling the fly apart. I was hard just from the first touch of my finger at the base of her throat, but when she pulls her lower lip in between her teeth, gazing at her hands as they grip onto the denim, I swell to almost painful proportions.
Gabby slips her fingers under the edge of my underwear and I suck the air between my teeth when she burrows down and takes my dick in her hand, squeezing me gently.
Tilting my head back, I close my eyes and mutter, “Fuck, that feels good. ”
“Yes, it does,” she murmurs, and then releases me, only to grab my jeans and underwear and push them down past my hips, all the way to my ankles. She drops to her knees before me, pulling my clothes off and tossing them aside. She looks back up at me, her mouth hovering just in front of my cock, and I watch, spellbound, as she takes me in her hands again. Peeking up at me briefly, she leans in to lick the tip.
Electric fire courses through me and I jerk forward, right into her open mouth. I feel like I’m falling down the rabbit hole as she takes me all the way in and sucks hard against me, causing my knees to practically buckle from the intense feeling of pleasure.
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