CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lucy and Hunter
LUCY
“So, how’s everything going with Hunter?” Claire asked.
“Good. It’s all going really good.”
“Has he asked you to move in with him yet?”
“What? Why would you think he would ask me that?” I glanced over at Hunter, who was drinking a beer in the kitchen with Derek. It was Christmas Eve and we had all decided to stay home this year and celebrate together, even though Derek’s family was doing a big get together. We just wanted to keep things low key.
“Oh come on,” she rolled her eyes at me. “You spend every night together at your apartment. Why would you assume that he wouldn’t ask you?”
“Because that’s not Hunter. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s been great and I think he really is ready for more, but let’s not push it.”
“Lucy, you’re blind. He wants to marry you. Anyone can see it.”
I looked back at Hunter and frowned. “No, I don’t think you’re right. Besides, we haven’t even officially been together that long. It’s way too soon to even be thinking about something like that.”
“You know, this is your problem. You think love works on some kind of time table. Now, I’m not saying that you have to run out tomorrow and get married, but I have a theory that you should only have to date someone for six months before you know.”
“Know what exactly?”
“If you could marry that person. So could you?”
“I don’t know. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Nobody knows that fast.”
“Derek did,” she muttered under her breath. “Look, I’m not saying that you should know if you will marry that person, but if you can’t see yourself married to the person you’re dating after six months, then it’s time to move on.”
“How did you come up with that?”
“It’s just logical. Think about it. If you’ve been with someone for six months and you’re still thinking, I don’t know if I could stand the man for the rest of my life, then what are the chances that you would ever get married? I’m just saying it’s a logical way to look at things. If after six months, you think he has possibility, then you see where things go.”
“You know, I would expect this of anyone else but you.”
“I’m telling you, Lucy. You’re still pushing him away.”
“No, I’m not. He hasn’t made any moves on me. He’s gone all soft or something.”
“So, now you want Hunter to go back to his domineering ways?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”
“You just have to show him that you want more,” she whispered as she looked over at me. I watched as he talked to Derek and wondered if she was right. Could it be that he was waiting for me to give him some kind of sign? Claire was right. I did want to marry Hunter. I had been dreaming about it since he started sleeping over with me, but I hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up. She was right though. I needed to find a way to show him I wanted more.
Derek and Hunter walked into the living room and Hunter bent down to give me a kiss. “You doing okay, baby?”
“Great,” I smiled.
“Hey, I was wondering…” He glanced over at Derek and Claire and then cleared his throat. Hope bloomed in my chest because he looked really nervous. He would only be really nervous if it was something important. “I was thinking you could maybe stay over at my place tonight. You know, just for a change.”
My face fell and I fought back the tears that were pushing to the surface. Why had Claire brought marriage up? I had been doing my best not to say anything about our relationship or get my hopes up and then she had to go open that bag of worms. I couldn’t let him see me cry. I sat up quickly and ran off to the bathroom before I broke down in front of him. He didn’t really want more with me. He was going back to his old ways. I slammed the bathroom door and slid down to the floor, holding my knees to my chest as I sobbed. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes.
✯✯✯✯✯
Hunter
What the fuck had I done wrong this time? All I did was ask her to stay with me tonight and I had already pushed too far. Everything I did was wrong and I didn’t know how to make it up to her. It seemed that everything I did in this relationship was wrong. Derek was right, I was a complete fuck up.
“What was that about?” Derek asked as he walked up to me.
“I don’t know. I asked her to stay at my place tonight.”
“And she ran out of the room crying?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what the hell I did wrong. Do you think I pushed too hard?”
Derek shook his head and chuckled. “No, I think the problem is that you don’t push hard enough.”
“What did you do to my sister?” Claire asked as she stormed over to me. “We were having a perfectly nice night and then you had to go and make her cry.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I said in disbelief. “I asked her to stay the night with me and she ran crying from the room.”
“Men,” she said, shaking her head as she walked off to the bathroom.
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked Derek.
“It means that you fucked up.”
“No shit, Sherlock. But how did I fuck up? I don’t know what to fix because I don’t know what I did.”
“It’s what you didn’t do. You should have asked her to move in with you.”
“Are you kidding? She never would have gone for that. I can barely get her to stay over at my place. She’s still convinced that I don’t want a real relationship with her.”
“Dude, I’ve told you this a million times already. You are so fucking stupid,” he said slowly, emphasizing each word.
“Why don’t you just tell me how to fix this instead of calling me names?”
“Here’s how you fix it. You ask her to move in, you tell her you love her, you tell her you want to marry her!”
“But she doesn’t want that with me.”
“How do you know if you don’t ask her?”
“Why the fuck would I ask her to marry me?”
“You don’t want to marry me?” Lucy cried from the hallway.
I spun around and saw her crying in Claire’s arms as Claire glared at me.
“What? Of course I want to marry you.”
“But you just said why the fuck would I ask her to marry me.”
“That’s only because you would say no anyway.”
She sniffled and ran a hand under her nose. “Why would you assume I would say no?”
“Because you’re so fucking stubborn,” I roared. “Every time I try to get you to stay at my place, you get all wigged out and make excuses.”
“That’s because I didn’t want to pressure you into anything, you stupid oaf,” she yelled at me.
“Well, I wasn’t trying to push you into a relationship with me. I thought you wouldn’t think I was being genuine,” I yelled back.
“How would I know if you want to be in a relationship long term with me when you don’t ever talk about it?”
“Of course I want that from you. I spend every fucking waking minute with you. I love you and I want you to marry me. I’ve been carrying around the fucking ring in my pocket for the last month!”
“Then why haven’t you asked me?”
“Because I thought you’d go crazy on me like you are now and walk away. I wanted to make sure you didn’t have any doubts about me. Is it too much to fucking ask that you give a guy a hint? I’m not a fucking mind reader.”
“Yes, I want to marry you. I just didn’t want you to think that I was pressuring you into it.”
“You’re not. I’ve been wanting you in my house and my bed from the start. It just took my head a little time to catch up with the rest of me.” I pulled her into me and kissed her like she would run away at any moment and this was our last kiss. Then I pulled back from her and dug into my pocket, pulling out the ring that had been burning
me since I picked it out. I yanked her left hand up and pushed the ring on her finger. “There. Now you’re my fucking fiancé and there’s no take backs. You already told me you wanted to marry me.”
“Fine. I guess we’re getting married.”
“Fine!” I shouted, pulling her into me and kissing her silly.
“Now they’re back,” I heard Derek mutter.
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For The Love Of A Good Woman Series:
Jack: A romantic comedy
Cole: A romantic thriller
Logan: A revenge novel
Drew: A new beginnings romance
Sebastian: A mystery/thriller romance
Sean: A Love Triangle Romance
Ryan: A Contemporary Romance
The Reed Security Series:
Sinner: A Reed Security Romance
Cap: A Reed Security Romance
Cazzo: A Reed Security Romance
Knight: A Reed Security Romance
Irish: A Reed Security Romance
Hunter: A Reed Security Romance
WHiskey: A Reed Security Romance, Oct. 18, 2018
Also coming soon: The Cortell Brothers- series still to be named
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Hunter: A Reed Security Romance Page 25