by L. L. Ash
Hmm… I should probably straighten that out with him.
It was one thing to tell him he was mine, and yet another to tell him that he was my boyfriend.
Damn, why did it have to be so hard? We had just barely started talking again, and now we needed ‘the talk’?
“I can see those cogs turning,” Hunter said while I approached.
“I’m a thinker, what can I say?”
“That’s dangerous,” he quipped, his lips tipping in a smirk.
“That’s enough, loverboy.”
Hunter’s smirk turned into a wicked grin, which had my hackles rising. He flung his jacket at me, and I yelped as it hit my chest, but I managed to catch it.
Just as my fingers closed around the supple leather, a wall of muscle hit my belly and I was thrown over a wide shoulder, then hauled away.
“Hunt!” I cried, half laughing and half outraged.
He just chuckled, then spanked my ass like I was a kid to be chastised.
His shoulder hit my ribs with each step up the staircase, then with a little jingle of his keys, we were in the apartment.
“Ok, ok, let me down,” I said, laughing and growling as he spanked me again.
“Nope,” he barked.
We traveled through the place in record time, and just as I was about to command him to set me down again, I was being launched back over his shoulder and thrown. My back hit the soft comfort of a mattress with a soft whoosh from my lungs, and then he was on me.
My t-shirt quickly dragged up my belly, and I raised my arms over my head so Hunter could slip it off. Next, he started in on my jeans.
Like a caveman, he stripped me until I was down to nothing but my skivvies.
“This isn’t fair,” I practically whined.
“Feeling left out?” he asked, one eyebrow lifting as his gaze traveled down my body.
“A little.”
That smirk was back on his face.
Funny how I’d hated it all through high school because it had never been aimed at me. Now? Now I craved it.
Hunter stared down at me, eating up every one of my curves with his eyes as his hand tangled in the hem of his t-shirt. He slowly raised it, teasing me with one ab at a time until it was to his head. With a yank, it was gone.
Fucking hell, I didn’t know where to look first.
It was my first good look at him, not shy at all about staring at his tight body. Eventually, his fingers moved to the button of his jeans, and I looked up to his face.
He wasn’t watching my body anymore. His eyes were totally focused on my face. When our gazes collided, I felt trapped there, unable, and unwilling to look anywhere else. For the first time in...forever, he was looking at me with nothing between us. No wall of pain, or angst of hope. He was stripping more than his clothes. Hunter was stripping his soul for me.
I sat up as his pants hit the floor, and then we were just in our underwear, staring into each other’s eyes.
“Come here,” I whispered, holding out a hand for him.
He obeyed, palms landing on the mattress on either side of me while he pressed a kiss into my outstretched hand.
“You know I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too.”
God, those words, and his face in the broad light of day immediately had my eyes tearing up.
“You’re it for me,” he admitted, crawling forward until he was hovering, looking down at me while my back relaxed into the sheets.
“So, you’re never going to leave me for someone younger and hotter?” I joked, trying to break the suddenly thick air of seriousness that had engulfed us.
But he didn’t smile.
“Never,” he said, one hand lifting to brush away a few pieces of my magenta hair. “Forever, Ivy. You’re my forever.”
Oh God. This man and my melting heart. Again.
A sob caught in my throat as he dropped a kiss to my cheek, then drew a few down to my hairline.
“We’re going to grow old together,” he whispered into my ear, voice nothing but husk and grit. “You and me. Three kids, and some little house in suburbia hell.”
Fuck, if that didn’t sound good to me.
My fingers gripped his face and I made him look at me. His own eyes were wet, like he was fighting back his own emotions.
“Promise?” I asked, choking back my sob.
A bright smile spread across his lips.
“Promise. Now, let me kiss away all your boo-boos so we can get to the good stuff.”
We didn’t get out of bed all day.
Legit, all day.
Well, minus pee breaks.
Hunter just laid in bed with me and we watched dumb shows on his laptop during the short spaces when he wasn’t inside me.
Yes, Hunter Hayes was not just a good lover, he had the stamina of a freaking Energizer bunny.
My body was entirely aching and sore by the time night fell.
“Let’s order something in,” I told him.
He hummed in agreement, cuddling me further onto his shoulder while he reached for his phone.
“Burgers?” he asked. “Or pizza?”
“Do you eat anything besides burgers and pizza?” I teased, pinching one of his cute, brown nipples.
He slapped my hand away, poking at his phone screen.
“Occasionally. But I try not to make a habit of it.”
He was such a dork.
“How about tacos?” I asked, trying to veer him off from the same ol’.
“I confessed my undying love to you,” he whined. “Isn’t that enough for you?”
I laughed.
“You take and take, and now I can’t even have my fruit-free pizza!”
Pinching his nipple again, I got onto my elbow and looked down at him.
“Fine, order the stupid pizza.”
He grinned.
“Too late. Tacos are on their way.”
Oh boy, he was stealing my heart all over again.
“Asshole,” I said, poking him in the ribs.
“Can I?” he asked back, gripping my ass in one big hand as he threw his phone on the side table.
“Whoa, undying love and all, I’m not ready to give you my asshole,” I told him, which had him pouting for about two seconds.
“Maybe for my birthday?”
“Maybe for your fortieth birthday,” I agreed.
He sobered a little at my first mention of a future together.
“Fine. But don’t worry. I like the other hole better.”
“Then stop talking about it and get in it,” I told him, pulling his face to mine so he could kiss me.
My lips were dry and bruised from his kisses already, but I really didn’t give a single shit. I could kiss those lips all day and savor the light rasp of his calloused fingertips on my skin for the rest of my life and never grow bored.
He was just crawling over me with his lips around my nipple when there was a knock on the door.
Already?
“That was fast,” he echoed my thoughts.
Crawling back off me with much less grace than he’d climbed on, Hunter pulled on a pair of basketball shorts over his stiffy before going to get our food.
I stretched the kink out of my neck, sitting up while the sheets pooled around my naked hips. Maybe we should eat on the couch. I could certainly use a break from being on my back.
Getting up, I dipped to grab Hunter’s t-shirt and slipped it on over my naked ass, then made my way to the living room.
“Food here?” I asked absently, trying hopelessly to tamp down my sex hair.
Hunter was just standing there in the entry, his back to me with the door wide open.
“Ivory?” came Dad’s voice from the other side.
Oh shit!
“Ivory Rebecca Bell!” Dad shouted, his head peeking around the door where Hunter was whitefisting it.
I just blinked, because I didn’t know what else to do.
Dad stormed his way into the house, b
rushing past Hunter to get to me. Penelope followed, her eyes wide and confused at seeing us there, together, looking like we’d rolled in the hay a few times.
“Is that a hickey?” Dad demanded, eyes staring at the curve of my neck where a red patch would definitely be visible.
Oh, right. I forgot about that.
“It’s not—”
“Don’t you even fucking dare,” Dad growled, whipping around to stare at Hunter with an accusatory finger. “What have you done?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious,” Penelope said, frowning now that the situation had sort of processed. “You’re both entertaining someone. This is a bad time.”
My eyes met Hunters, and we stared for a moment.
Penelope had just given us a golden out, but we had to decide if we were going to take it or not.
“Right, honey?” Penelope practically pleaded. “I mean, you wouldn’t… You’re siblings!”
“No we’re not,” Hunter hissed at his mom, who took a step back at his vehemence. “We were full grown-ass adults when you two chose to get married. Without our input, by the way. If you’d have bothered to ask, you’d have known we loved each other.”
Penelope blinked in confusion again, but Dad pulled back his fist and let it fly toward Hunter.
He dodged it easily, since Dad was a white collar worker and, honestly, not exactly used to fighting.
I flew over to Hunter, but he shoved me behind him while Dad went for a push this time, since his right hook sucked.
“Richard!” Penelope yelped as Hunter, still in just his shorts, stumbled back a step.
“What the hell?” Dad yelled. “I trusted you with her, Hunter. I trusted you!”
“I haven’t hurt her,” Hunter told him, looking offended. “Just because you decided we were brother and sister didn’t mean that we accepted that.”
“It’s the law!”
“Richard,” Penelope whispered this time, gripping his arm before he could go after Hunter again. “Stop this.”
We all just stood there, staring at each other, which was really freaking awkward, I have to say.
I wished I was wearing more than just a little t-shirt, simultaneously praying they couldn’t see my cooch or my nipples poking through the thin fabric.
“You love her?” Penelope asked, looking at her son with something like hope in her eyes.
“I always have, Mom. You know that.”
She did?
Had Hunter told her about what had happened when we were kids?
Penelope turned back to Dad.
“They’re right. It’s not like they grew up together under the same roof. They’d been friends and had crushes on each other for a long time.”
“I thought you hated each other?” Dad asked, looking like he’d missed something.
Hell, he’d missed a lot of somethings.
“We did, but not really,” I explained poorly. “I’ve always loved Hunter. Ever since I was a kid.”
“So have I,” Hunter added.
“Then why did you go at each other like rabid racoons?” he demanded. “I could’ve taken down an elephant with the kind of venom you two were spitting just a few months ago.”
“It was a mistake.”
“A stupid mistake,” Hunter agreed. “We’re not being stupid anymore. And there’s nothing you can do to make us stop loving each other.”
Penelope’s scandalized face had slowly morphed to that of pure elation.
“I knew it!” she finally screeched. “I knew it! Young love, Richard! Isn’t it beautiful?”
Dad’s eyes went back to me and he frowned.
“Not when you’re staring at your half naked child,” he countered.
Penelope grinned, letting giggles spill from her lips as she hugged Dad’s arm to her chest in the entryway.
“We came to ask you two to dinner,” she told us, still on cloud nine.
“We, uh, actually just ordered dinner,” Hunter said.
“Either way, I think you two have some stories to tell us,” Penelope said, tugging on Dad’s shirt again.
He sighed, bone weary. Obviously he was torn between making his daughter and wife happy, and between wanting to flay Hunter alive for having touched his baby girl.
“Fine. They have some explaining to do,” Dad agreed eventually. “But for the love of God, get dressed you two.”
I hurried away, Hunter on my tail as we went back toward his room. Once inside, I collapsed on the bed with nervous giggles.
“That has got to be the worst timing in the entire planet,” I told Hunter, who just shook his head while he dropped those shorts.
Mmm, delicious.
“No, not really. We could’ve been in the living room fucking when they showed up.”
Well, touché.
“We didn’t want to keep it a secret, anyway, right?” I said, slipping on my panties while he put his underwear on.
“No,” he agreed. “Before, it was just fucking. This is so much more than that. They deserve to know. Unlike them, we’re adults and can admit when we’re in a relationship.”
I barked out a laugh at the terrible, but true, statement.
“Ok, so let’s go out there and tell them how ooshy, gushy in love we are.”
He grinned.
“Sounds good to me!”
Hunter was the first one dressed, but I caught him, jeans half over my thighs as he went toward the door.
“Wait, I have to say something,” I told him.
He paused, then turned, leaning his back against the door.
I finished pulling up my pants and buttoned them before shoving my hands into the shallow, almost nonexistent pockets.
“What’s up?” he asked, looking into my eyes, arms crossed over his chest.
I licked my lips, refusing to look away while I said what I needed to.
“I’m sorry.”
His brows drew together in confusion.
“For what? You didn’t do anything. I’m the one who was the asshole.”
I shook my head.
“Sometimes. But I was an asshole, too. I didn’t mean what I said to those girls in school—”
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for—”
“Yes I do. Let me do this, Hunt.”
A small smile turned his lips as he took a step forward.
“Ok, so apologize,” he told me, approaching me to frame my cheeks with his long, calloused fingers.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things, even if I was scared. I was young and dumb and I didn’t think it would make a difference. Obviously I was wrong. It was all wrong. I know it caused you pain for years, and for that, I’m sorry, too.”
His eyes softened as he looked at me, staring into my freaking soul with his amber gaze.
“It’s forgiven,” he whispered before giving me a soft kiss.
I breathed relief, then pulled his head down for another kiss.
“I love you, Hunter Hayes,” I told him, feeling all the old bitterness and pain filter and evaporate away under the warm glow of love.
“Love you more,” he said, nibbling on my lip with a tease before he took my hand and dragged me back out to the living room so we could have ‘the talk’ with our parents.
Dad was sitting on the edge of the couch, fingers twitchy and irritated as Penelope sat beside him with a grin on her face.
“There they are!” she said happily, beaming at us. “I want to hear all of it. When did it start?”
Hunter and I shared a quick look.
Should we tell them?
“Hawaii,” he admitted.
Dad sputtered.
“We weren’t sleeping together,” I threw in, which didn’t actually help the situation. “But we started getting over the whole issue between us.”
“The rest of it just...happened.”
“So you’ve been living here in bliss for months without telling us?” Dad demanded.
Well shit. Did I mention the wh
ole Jamie thing? Or how Hunter had kicked me out.
“We’ll sum up by saying that we’ve only gotten together in the past few days. We had a lot of shit to work through.”
Hunter sent me a little wink and my heart swelled.
I loved him.
“You two look so in love,” Penelope said with a happy sigh. “When’s the wedding?”
“Wedding?” all three of us barked while Penelope just laughed.
- 55 -
Hunter
Wedding?
Psht.
We were fucking twenty-one and twenty-two years old. There was no way in hell we were getting married yet.
In the future though…
Definitely.
“Don’t even,” Ivy’s Dad said, eyes wild and fiery like a madman.
Ivy was horrified by the thought of it, and it made my heart pump faster, too. Though not all unpleasant.
Marrying Ivy had pretty much been my entire life’s goals before high school. Well, that and getting rid of my dad. One was achieved, and given a few more years, I planned on making the other happen, too.
“I’m not saying it has to be now,” Penelope added. “We could wait a little while. Maybe next summer?”
“How about after graduation?” Ivy suggested slowly.
Was this girl seriously agreeing to marry me?
I butted in before Mom could propose for me, too.
“How about you let us decide when or if we want to get married. You just give it some time, ok?”
“If?” Ivy asked, looking taken back.
There was a twinkle in her eyes though, that belied her tone.
I seriously just wanted to grip her funky hair in my hands and smash my mouth against hers. But I refrained, because I didn’t want to give my mom and her dad a view of what our sex life was like.
Because holy shit, I was going to devour every inch of skin the next time I kissed her.
Ivy’s dad just sat there, shaking his head.
“We’ll be our own in-laws,” he moaned, shoving his hand through his hair. “We’ll only take up one side of the church!”