by Anya Summers
Then Hunter locked her cuffs together behind her back. Facing him, her hands behind her back, she had to totally give herself over to his lovemaking, surrender all control. He guided her up and down over his bulging erection. She canted and rotated her hips, earning a groan from him. And then he thrust, using gravity and the natural advantage of this position to stroke his length in pumping thrusts inside her. He helped her ride him.
All her nerve endings were attuned to mind-blowing lovemaking as Hunter practically rattled her teeth with his forceful hammering thrusts. The rounded tip of his member struck against the lip of her womb in a near painful fashion. Mewling with desire, she clenched her Kegel muscles around his cock and he groaned at the heady sensation, furiously pounding inside her. Veronica did it again, squeezing him harder. He bit her shoulder and slammed into her pussy with such exertion that the pleasure-pain made her dig her nails into her palms so hard it would certainly leave marks.
And then he pulled out, shifted her body, and unlatched her cuffs, bending her forward so she was on all fours. He thrust and seated himself fully with a groan.
"Ohhh," she moaned as his penis rubbed along her g-spot, and a spray of nerve endings showered her with electric pleasure.
Hunter leaned over her back as he pummeled his cock inside her warmth in unyielding digs. His hand cupped her breasts and pulled her body up so that she was kneeling in an upright position, with her back against his chest while he was buried deep in her clasping pussy.
In this position, her body was his to do with as he pleased. The man's caress drove her wild. He fondled her breasts, cupping them tightly for purchase as he slammed his cock inside her. As his thrusts became more hurried, more frenzied, one of his big hands traveled south until it met her mons. His fingers caressed the slick folds until they encountered her clitoris. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he pounded his cock and stroked her sensitive nub, sending whirls of pleasure streaming through her veins.
Her climax neared with all the delicacy of a runaway freight train. There was no stopping it if she tried as it scorched her insides and thrashed her body.
"Ahhh," she screamed. Loudly. Mindlessly.
Her body clasped and shuddered around his cock. Hunter's body jerked, plunging his stiff member repeatedly as he came mere seconds after she climaxed, until they were both shuddering and vibrating with the two kiloton force of their orgasms. She sagged against him as she panted, inhaling deeply to regain control of her breathing.
Hunter claimed her lips, turning her head slightly to devour her in a soul-shattering tangle that struck at her heart. It was a possession, a belonging, with an air of finally coming home after a long journey.
When the kiss ended, Veronica slid bonelessly onto the bed. Hunter followed her down. Her eyes closed as he pulled the covers up over their bodies and spooned her backside. She loved the feel of his arms around her at night. Always had.
He hadn't said the words. Did it really matter that he hadn't?
Yes, it does, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 10
Hunter cursed when an alarm went off near his head. He cracked a bleary eye open as he felt the warm bundle in his arms shift and smack the offending alarm off. Roni tried sliding from his arms then, and he tightened them.
"Morning. Come back to bed and stay a while."
"As lovely as that sounds, our son will be up in a bit, and I need to make his breakfast."
At the mention of his son, awareness settled into his body and he blinked himself awake. He regretfully released her inviting form and sat up as anxiety clamored for attention in his chest. He'd meet his son soon. Would Colin like him? What would he do if his son didn't like him, didn't want him in his life? Doubt seized him. Was barreling into Colin's life the best course of action?
Roni slid from the bed, unmindful of her nudity. It was one of the things he'd always loved about her. Admiring the slope and curves of her backside, Hunter's blood simmered at the sexy picture she created as she padded into the bathroom.
A man on a mission, he tailed her, stepping into the warm spray of the shower behind her. Water streamed over her breasts and made him want to suck the beads of moisture off the rosy tips.
"What are you doing? I need to shower, quickly, before Colin wakes."
"I'm just being environmentally friendly." He pulled her into his arms. Or at least, he attempted to as she swatted his hands away.
Her defiance unfurled his Dom aggression like no other. It was akin to waving a red flag at a bull. With his body, he backed her against the wall and his lips crashed over hers. At her startled moan, he pressed his advantage, slipping his tongue inside her mouth.
He ground his hips against her, rubbing his erection along her apex.
"Mama, are you in the shower?"
Roni froze in his arms. Hunter's heart all but stopped at hearing his son's voice for the first time. She tore her mouth off his.
"Yes, baby. I'll be out in just a minute. Why don't you go downstairs and watch some cartoons? I'll be right down to make you pancakes."
"Okay. But hurry. I'm real hungry." His voice retreated as he left the room and did as Roni asked.
She shoved Hunter away.
"Stay," she commanded.
He just stood and stared, too bowled over by the sound of Colin's voice to move. She was quick, stepping out of the shower before his befuddled brain moved into action.
"Wait." He put a hand on her to stall her. And steady himself.
"No. I have to go make breakfast. Finish up your shower. If you would do me a favor, put your things in the spare bedroom and muss up the bed. Make it look like you slept there."
"I will not," he said. Hunter wasn't about to start his relationship with his son by outright lying to him.
"Yes, you will. It's non-negotiable. I've never had a man spend the night. It would confuse Colin. We're already going to be laying enough on his plate with meeting you. I've never talked about you with him. Please, do as I ask. I know him, Hunter. You don't."
She escaped his line of questioning then. His son didn't even know about him. So he wasn't the only one she'd kept in the dark. It mollified him some. He stood under the spray until it ran cold. In all these years, she'd never had a man spend the night here? But that had been almost ten years. She was part of the lifestyle, so how did she get what she needed? Or did she? All her responses to his mastering had been those of a woman who hadn't been pleasured in a seemingly long time. As a member of the club, he knew she hadn't been a nun over the last ten years, but it boggled his mind a bit that she'd never had a man here.
It also warmed his soul. She'd never had a man in her bed, until him. If he had anything to say about it, he'd be the only man who was ever in it, too. Stepping from the shower, Hunter knew he was delaying as he dressed for the day and did as she had asked. It was a pretense, but one he did understand.
At the top of the stairs, his heart trembled and slid into his stomach. Now that the moment was upon him, he felt fear like he never had before. What if Colin didn't like him?
Taking a deep breath, he descended the stairs and trod in the direction of excited chatter. At the doorway to the kitchen, he stopped, observing the scene before him. Colin was laughing at something Roni had said, and she was grinning at their son with so much love in her eyes it shook Hunter. She'd had a similar look last night when she'd admitted her feelings.
His knees wobbled and his heart thudded in his chest. What a sight the pair made. They were a unit. He could see that just from silently observing. He thought about the flash of cameras he was subjected to any time he went anywhere. The urge to protect his child rose up inside him and upended his world view. He understood, now, why she'd kept Colin a secret. She was right. As Hunter's son, Colin would be bombarded with people trying to get his image to splash across their magazine, newspaper, or put on entertainment television.
Roni's face moved until she was staring at Hunter, and at her look, Colin swiv
eled his head. It sucker punched him; seeing those curious little eyes gaze at him with confusion and curiosity.
"Hello, who are you? Where did he come from, Mama?"
Roni cleared her throat. "Colin, I'd like you to meet my friend, Hunter. He's a friend of mine who's going to stay with us for a little bit and get to know you."
"He wants to get to know me? Why?" Colin said amazed, and glanced between them, his confusion evident.
"Well, baby, you see… um…" Roni fumbled and Hunter noticed her hands were quivering.
At least he wasn't the only one. Hunter stepped fully into the kitchen until he stood next to the table. He crouched down until he was eye-level with his son. The boy's eyes were the same color blue as Roni's this close up. But the rest of him…
Christ! There was no doubt Colin was his son.
Hunter had to beat back the urge to touch him, hold him. Colin was even more beautiful awake. Feeling like his heart was about to beat out of his chest, Hunter said, "Because I'm your father, Colin, and I hoped you might like for the two of us to get to know each other."
"You're my Da?" Colin said, his eyes swimming with tears at his astonishment. Hunter felt suspicious moisture in his own eyes in response.
"Yeah, I am," he said, and smiled.
Colin surprised the hell out of him and launched himself at Hunter, throwing his arms around his neck and hugging him. Hunter did what came naturally. His arms held the boy to his chest. He could feel Colin's heart rapidly pounding against his chest, and it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever felt.
"I knew you'd come. I wished for you in my letter to Santa. Only, the kids at school said Santa doesn't exist, and wouldn't bring me what I wanted. But he did, he really did."
His son had asked for him for Christmas. Love overflowed in his body and he hugged Colin even more firmly. Hunter wished he could say the same, but couldn't only because he'd not known Colin even existed. And now, holding his child, there was nothing he wanted more than to be this kid's dad. Colin held him tight around the neck, and Hunter trembled at the force of his emotions battering him.
At Roni's involuntary choked gasp, Hunter shot his gaze across the table. She had her fist in her mouth, holding back sobs, tears streamed down her cheeks, and she looked devastated. When Hunter started to say something—he had no idea what—to ease the thundercloud brewing in her, she shook her head.
"I'll give you two a minute to get acquainted. I need to see to the laundry for a moment," she said. Her voice quivered slightly but she hid her disquiet from Colin well. She pushed her chair back and escaped the room without a backward glance.
"Are you hungry?" Colin said as he released the stranglehold he'd had about Hunter's neck and scrambled back onto his chair.
"I could eat," Hunter replied, and he would do his damndest to eat whatever Colin asked him to, even though his stomach had just done a series of loop de loops that would make the Blue Angels proud. The distraught look in Roni's eyes had bothered him, but he hid it from Colin. He knew she was experiencing some turmoil that he wanted to soothe but for now, he must focus on the present moment and his son. The last thing he wanted to do minutes after meeting Colin was race out of the room.
"Mama made pancakes. You can have some of mine. They are so good. Mama makes the best pancakes in the world." Colin wiggled in his seat and scooched over, making room for him on his little table end. Hunter's heart warmed at the boy's generosity. He grabbed one of the wooden chairs, dragged it over beside Colin's, the bottom scraping along the worn linoleum, and sat next to Colin.
"Is that right? Well then, if they are the best in the world, I think I should try them, don't you?"
They didn't smell half bad either, and his nose was typically never wrong. Hunter normally shied away from anything carb-based in order to keep his physique in top form for his films, but pancakes with his son sounded like the best meal he'd had in years. Hunter hadn't ever been sold on having kids, never really thought of himself as the fatherly type. Even when he and Roni had been together all those years ago, it wasn't something that had really come up for him. He'd avoided—or thought he had—having them, and had never planned on being a father. His own history, lack of strong parental figures who'd been too drugged out in their trailer in Nevada to worry about whether their son had clean clothes or food to eat, had skewed his view on the whole institution. But now, looking at Colin's rumpled copper hair as he shoveled pancakes into his mouth, changed all of that.
"Are you going to live with us?" Colin asked around a bite, his sky blue eyes inquisitive, just as Roni walked back into the small kitchen.
She moved around the outdated kitchen, with oak cabinets that looked like they were from the seventies and appliances that were likely from somewhere in the same time frame, in an efficient manner. All the while, he knew she was intently listening to every word they said. She brought him a plate piled high with pancakes and a cup of coffee.
"I'm out of milk. I haven't been to the market—"
He cut her off. She didn't need to apologize. He was an uninvited guest. "Thank you. They look great. Black is just fine." He stole a glance in her turbulent eyes, which reminded him of the Caribbean waters off the Virgin Islands just before a storm. Her reply was a jerky nod, her feelings too raw for speech.
"Well, I'm going to stay for a little bit. That way we can get acquainted and get to know one another. How does that sound to you?" Hunter said noncommittally, remembering the previous night as Roni had told him her fears. He wouldn't make Colin any promises he didn't intend to keep. With things as topsy-turvy between him and Roni as they were, he wouldn't promise something he couldn't deliver on.
Except that Hunter wanted to stay, wanted to see more of Colin than just having a brief few days with him. There was a flight bound for LAX with his name on it at the end of the week, and he had to go. The Globes were next weekend, and if he skipped those when he was scheduled as a presenter, industry politics would ensure he was labeled a pariah to avoid. It could mean less work further on down the line. There was nothing to be done, as he was already locked in to presenting, but if it were at all possible for him to stay forever, he would.
Colin seemed to take that in stride. "Good. After breakfast, do you want to see my room?"
"I'd love nothing more," Hunter said honestly. He'd dined with royalty, the crème de la crème of Hollywood, the President of the United States, and he could say that this was the best meal of his life. Roni could have served him sawdust and cockroaches, and it still would have been the best, as Colin chattered away.
He spent the day with Colin. It was without a doubt one of the greatest days he'd ever had. His son was smart, showing him how he loved to build robots. Hunter laughed more that day than he had in a long time as Colin showed him his superhero collection. Colin was generous to a fault, sharing his toys, and everything he had with Hunter. So much so, that Hunter felt like his heart would burst forth from his chest at the love he felt for his son.
They took a walk on the beach across the road from the house, where Colin revealed all of his favorite spots. By the time they'd had dinner and it was Colin's bedtime, Hunter was exhausted. And through it all, Roni gave them space. She was at the house but didn't intrude. She masked her feelings, at least from Colin, but there was obviously something bothering her.
"Colin, time for bed," Roni said, walking into the living room.
Colin gave her an angelic, crestfallen look as he pleaded, "Five more minutes, Mama. We're having so much fun."
At that, Roni put her hands on her hips in what Hunter was coming to view as her no-nonsense mom face. "I already gave you five more minutes than usual under the circumstances. Go upstairs and brush your teeth, and then I will be up in a minute to read you a story."
Colin remained crestfallen for all of two seconds before he asked sweetly, giving her a gregarious smile, "Can Hunter read the story tonight?"
A wounded look entered Roni's eyes but Colin didn't catch it. "Um, sure, that wo
uld be fine. As long as Hunter would like to."
His son's blue gaze shot to Hunter. "Would you?"
"I'd like that," Hunter replied, wanting it to be the first of many bedtime stories.
Colin did a fist-pumping butt wiggle at the victory and raced up the stairs, saying, "I'll be fast."
"Okay, I'll meet you in your room."
Hunter shifted his focus to Roni. "You okay?"
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You'd better go on up. He can be very insistent about his bedtime story. Tell him I will be up in a bit to kiss him good night."
"I'm not trying to…" Hell, he didn't know how to explain it to her. But he knew her emotions were in just as much turmoil as his were. Was it because he and Colin had basically been inseparable all day?
"Just go up. I'll be there in a bit." Roni walked toward the kitchen, shutting him out. He was about to follow her when Colin called down for him.
"Hunter, are you coming? I have the best story for you to read," Colin hollered down the stairs.
With a last look at Roni's retreating form, Hunter took the stairs two at a time, putting the discussion he and Roni were due to have on the back burner.
Guilt was a wretched, foul emotion.
It had dogged her steps all day long. Instead of dealing with it, Veronica did laundry, she cleaned, and she completely unpacked her suitcase. She'd even gone so far as to leave Hunter with Colin while she went to the market. She'd called her mom, calling off from work at the pub, saying she was under the weather from her travels.