Ryan Hunter

by Piper Shelly

“All right,” I surrendered. “But only if you bring cherry cake.” She made the best cake in all California, I swear.

  Out in the cool air, I took a few deep breaths, getting rid of the dry smoke in my lungs, then I turned to Liza who pressed her palms to her red cheeks. “Want to drive again?”

  She shook her head. “The way I feel right now I might very well wrap your car around a tree.”

  Still shaky from the excitement, eh? I put my arm around her shoulders like we already were a real couple. She didn’t back away. And when her shy hand moved up to rest on my hip, my stomach did a double roll of joy.

  Opening the passenger door for her, I let her get in first, then I walked around and made myself comfortable in the driver’s seat, adjusting it to my longer legs.

  Since Liza was looking out the side window, I figured she wasn’t up for talking, so I switched the radio on but kept the volume low. I liked how her beautiful scent filled the interior and my head. It was hard to concentrate on driving, when my thoughts drifted to my right time and again, and I remembered how her tender lips had felt beneath mine.

  After a few minutes, she turned her head toward me and studied me instead of the passing streetlamps.

  I cut a quick glance toward her. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” It was nice to speak in a softer tone again after shouting so much inside the club.

  Liza gazed at me for a couple of seconds longer before she answered, “It was okay.” Then after a short pause she added, “Actually, it was quite nice.”

  As I cut another glance at her, she made a point at playfully narrowing her eyes at me. “But I still hate you!”

  That coaxed a chuckle from me. “I know.” And I didn’t mind as long as she stayed in this car with me. “I’m sorry I dragged you into hell on that stage.”

  “And you should be.”

  A car passed us, and the headlights made me squint for a moment. But when the car had disappeared also from the review mirror, I moved most of my attention away from the silent road and back to Liza. “What about the lime surprise?”

  “What about it?”

  “Should I be sorry about that, too?”

  Liza let me wait on her answer for a couple of seconds. I was holding my breath in that time. Then she said in a nonchalant, “Nah. I should just have heeded your warning.”

  “Yeah. Or maybe…just not.” Because as far as I was concerned, it had been one helluva hot kiss, and I didn’t want to have missed it.

  With a lower voice than before, Liza drawled, “Or maybe not…”

  Heck, did she just agree? “You liked it?” I cut a quick glance to her side and noticed the blush on her cheeks. That made me smile. “Yeah, you did.”

  Liza didn’t say more to it, but after one last, shy look at me, she tilted her head the other way and continued gazing out the window. In the reflection of the glass, I glimpsed her pleased face.

  We arrived at her house way too soon.

  “Can you park a bit farther up this road?” Liza asked me then. “I don’t want my parents to find out I was gone missing.”

  Sunshine, they already know. But I did as she said, and as we got out of the car, I shut my door quickly to keep as much of her nice scent as possible saved inside for the ride home.

  I walked her back into her garden in a casual stroll. I liked watching her as we went. Everything about her was perfect. The only thing wrong was that she wasn’t tucked under my arm right now. It was definitely worth a try, but Liza turned her head to my side at that moment, and when her lips curved up, I knew I was caught staring. For a change this made me feel awkward. Somehow exposed. With a sheepish grin, I rubbed my neck, looking away.

  In front of the little shed in her garden, I took a stance with my back to the door and waited for her to put her foot into my laced hands to help her up. She grabbed my shoulders and stepped in, but before I lifted her, I took a second to look into her apple eyes. “What do you say, Matthews? Shall we do this again sometime?”

  Liza glanced up to her room and back at me. “Maybe we should. But let’s wait until my detention is over. I really hate sneaking in and out like a criminal.”

  I could live with that.

  With a strong push, I hoisted her onto the roof and waited until she’d made it to her feet. Sneaking back into her room, she whispered, “Good night.”

  “Later ’gator,” I said back.

  Heading back to my car, I could have slapped myself for missing the opportunity to steal a goodnight kiss before I’d shot her up on that roof. By now I was pretty confident she wouldn’t have slapped me for it. Damn, what if she’d even expected it and I just screwed that chance.

  I climbed into the car and banged my head on the steering wheel. I was such an idiot. Maybe I should send her a goodnight text at least. Just to tell her that I really loved spending this evening with her. And maybe making plans to see her again tomorrow?

  Shifting in the seat, I fished in my pocket for my phone then I stared at the screen. Suddenly I had a better idea. Way better…

  Chapter 11

  THE WARM NIGHT coated my neck with a layer of moist as I jogged back to Liza’s house. Underneath her window, I lifted my Indian’s cap, raked a hand through my hair, and put the cap on again. This was my chance at Liza, and I wasn’t going to ruin it. Not after waiting half my high school years on it.

  The light in her room was already off. I could call her to the window now then talk her outside again. Or I could give a damn about being a gentleman and behave like a man my age. Turning around, I took a short run toward the tree, jumped, and hoisted myself onto the thickest branch. From there it was only a large step onto the shed’s roof. I didn’t hesitate a second but strode directly at Liza’s room and ducked through the window.

  At that moment the light went on, and a sharp voice said, “Hunter. What are you doing here?”

  I looked up and found Liza standing barefoot and in that amazing, hot boy shorts, just a couple of feet away from me. “I forgot something.”

  She quirked her brows like she questioned my sanity. “You can’t just come up here. I’m already in my jammies.”

  Hell yeah, that was one of the reason why it had to be now and not any other time. “I’ve never seen anything sexier than those shorts on you.” Seizing every inch of her skin with my gaze, I prowled toward her. The longer I looked at her legs, the more of a goose bump dusting she got.

  Liza took a step back for each I took toward her. She wouldn’t escape. Finally she was stopped by her bed and I had still one foot of distance to overcome. But I stopped when she did, and hooked my finger into the waistband of her mouthwatering shorts instead. Pulling her toward me, I locked gazes with her. Liza’s eyes were wide and shiny. Her mouth hung slightly open as she moved her hands up and placed them flat on my chest. My pecs twitched in response to this intimate touch, and I was all set for ripping my shirt open, so I could feel her warm hands on my skin.

  Liza’s breathing hitched noticeably. “You forgot something?” It was a shy croak. “What?”

  Seriously, we had talked enough tonight. Now was the time of satisfying a deep need within me. I pulled my Indian’s cap off and tossed it on the bed, never breaking eye contact with her. With one arm around her delicate waist, I pulled her into me and thrust my other hand into her silky hair.

  Liza’s breath came fast against my skin. My gaze dropped from her eyes to her lush lips. I knew I was going to die, if I couldn’t sample them again this minute. Slowly, I leaned down and rendered her mine.

  Pressing a feather-light kiss on her lips, I waited to see if she kept breathing this time. Oh yes, she did. And more. Her soft, little hands moved up and around my neck, her fingers threading through my hair. It made me go crazy and wild about her. Growling, I pulled her tighter against me and invaded her sweet mouth with my tongue. The Coke and lime taste was gone, replaced by the taste of minty toothpaste.

  In slow strokes, I started playing with her tongue. Liza shivered in my arms. She
rose on her toes to match my height just a little more, rubbing her boobs in a dangerously seductive way against my chest. If there really could be butterflies in one’s stomach, there was definitively one playing havoc in mine now.

  She didn’t like it when I broke the kiss, but I inched back anyway then leaned my brow against hers, getting a grip on myself or I’d toss her onto that bed and make love to her. As I gazed into her bottomless green eyes, I remembered the diary again, and thought I could make up for it by giving her a little truth about me, too. Something she might like to know.

  “By the way,” I said softly. “I’ve known your name since the very day that you first came to watch Mitchell’s soccer training in third grade, Liza.”

  A smile tugged hard on the corners of her lips, but apparently she didn’t want to let it come. Instead she teased, “Have you, really?”

  If she wasn’t going to smile, then I wasn’t either, so I pressed my lips together, but I knew it wouldn’t work. I nudged her nose with the tip of mine. “Um-hm.”

  The next instant, I found my lips on hers once more. A low moan escaped her, which I cupped with my mouth, and it took me to the edge of self-control. To hell with gentle. Raking back her hair, I tilted her face farther up and ravished her mouth with a deep, ferocious kiss.

  She stood only at the beginning of learning, but she was quick and took up with the lust I breathed. In sensual moves, her tongue brushed against mine. She suckled and nipped my bottom lip, groaning when I did the same to her. Gone wild with longing, I stroked down her neck and spine, finding an easy way underneath her tank top, and explored every little bit of her.

  All the shyness abandoned, Liza utterly melted into my embrace. I placed my hands on her bottom, ready to lift her up so she would wrap her naked legs around my hips. But a hard pull at my collar made me stumble backward, and Liza slipped away from me.

  It was the shock in her eyes that made me realize who had come even before I heard the sharp bellow behind me.

  “What the fucking hell—Take your bloody hands off her!”

  I was hurled around, and a hard punch to my face broke the skin on my lip.

  “No! Tony!” I heard Liza’s strangled shriek as I staggered back. But I caught myself quickly and stopped her with a scowl from rushing to my aid. Sliding my tongue over my bottom lip, I tasted blood. Fucking brilliant. I was going to kill Mitchell for that.

  In an instant, I had him trapped between me and the wall, pressing my forearm against his throat. There was a lot of hatred in his eyes right now, covered by a layer of hurt. Damn, I knew why he’d come.

  Reconsidering my killer instinct, I eased the pressure on his throat but didn’t take my arm away. “I’ll let you get off with this because you’re my friend, Mitchell,” I growled. “But do this again and you won’t live through the night.”

  “You don’t scare me, Hunter,” he snarled back, and the next thing I knew was that my nose was broken. He must have head-butted me.

  That was the end of my patience. Mitchell was dog food. With murder on my mind, I started toward him, but Liza was suddenly there, squeezed in between us, and her trembling hand pushed against my chest.

  “No,” she told me, then she turned to Tony and said more fiercely, “No! You’re not going to do this. Not in my room. And not over me.”

  There was enough hatred in the room to wipe out Grover Beach, but clearly none of us wanted to hurt Liza. She sent me pleading glare, probably expecting me to be the smarter one and end this. I didn’t know how. With her standing between us, we let a minute pass, both bristling with anger. But when she didn’t get out of the way, we finally toned it down a notch.

  The frightened look in her eyes ceased. Now frustration seemed to take over, and she turned away from me, facing Tony. “Why did you come here?”

  “I had to make sure this asshole keeps his hands off your body.”

  He fucked up everything from the start and called me asshole? “You’ve chosen one helluva moment to show up,” I growled cynically over Liza’s shoulder.

  “Seems like I’m just in time. You’re not going to touch her again.”

  “I’m sure Liza can speak for herself and doesn’t need you to babysit her.” Anyway, it was time to get this over with. I wasn’t going to hang out here with Mitchell and discuss the matter over Liza’s head. Placing my hands on her hips, I moved her gently to my side. I’d never hurt this girl, but in the condition Tony was in, I couldn’t judge his next move, and I just wanted her out of the way. Fixing him with a death glare, I added, “This is none of your business.”

  “She’s my friend and sure as hell is my business,” Tony spat.

  “What’s your problem, man?”

  “You are. This shit ends now. I didn’t ask you to go that far with her.”

  The hair at the back of my neck lifted and I froze. “Shut. The hell. Up, Mitchell.”

  But the bastard pointed a finger at me and kept sputtering. “I didn’t mean for you to screw her when I asked you to distract her.”

  Shit.

  I clenched my jaw, waiting for Liza to take up on that. And she sure as hell did. Slowly tilting her head to me, her brows furrowed to a line. “Distract?”

  What could I say to make her understand that? “It’s not like that—”

  “No?” Her voice was a far cry from stable, and tears sprang to hear eyes.

  I wanted to take her face between my hands, make her look into my eyes and see the truth in there. That for me, it had always been her.

  “Bullshit, of course it’s like that,” Tony snapped before I could even lift my hands to her face. “He called me this afternoon, wanting to know why you’d quit training all of a sudden. I asked him to get your mind off—” He broke off then continued with less wrath in his voice, “Off us. I knew you didn’t want to see me, but I couldn’t stand the thought of you being in your room all alone, crying.” He moved a killer scowl at me. “But now that I think of it, it was a crap idea from the beginning. You deserve better than him. All he wants is to get you in the sack. Don’t you, Hunter?”

  “You don’t know anything, you fool!” Did he even know me one bit after all the year we’d been friends?

  But at the same time I growled at Mitchell, Liza asked him, “I deserve better?” She angled her head. “Then who, Tony? You?” Everyone caught her cynicism.

  Tony came toward her and replied, “I was good enough for you for the past ten years.” He was clearly hurting at her words.

  But I didn’t care. If anything, it madder than ever. With a hard shove against his chest, I sent him back against the wall. “Now you start to fight for her? You goddamned idiot!”

  “I don’t have to fight for her. Not with you. She never wanted you.”

  “She might, now. And that scares the shit out of you, doesn’t it?” I knew it was what had sent him back to her room tonight. “Giving her up, but not wanting her to be with someone else. You’re pathetic.”

  Liza walked up beside me and gazed for a long moment at Tony’s face. “What’s going on? You told me you’re dating Cloey. So why are you in my room in the middle of the night?”

  Tony didn’t answer her, and suddenly everything made sense. “Not hard to guess,” I said with a dry, painful laugh. “You slept with Cloey. And she dumped you like I told you she would, didn’t she?”

  The truth shone in his glistening eyes—visible even for Liza this time. She backed away, dropping on her bed. Tony went after her, knocking hard against my shoulder, but when he reached for her, she crawled away from him and hissed, “Don’t you dare touch me!”

  Tony planted one knee on the mattress. “Please, Liz—”

  “No!” She slapped him hard in the face. “Just go!” And when he didn’t move, she added with a voice gone toxic, “Now!”

  It would have been enough to make me back away. And Tony did, too. His face scrunched with lines of aching, he pushed past me and climbed out the window.

  I waited until he disappeared
in the dark garden. Then I slowly turned around to Liza. A stream of blood ran from my nose down to my lips. Wiping it away with the back of my hand, I told her, “I really didn’t—”

  “Stop it!” Liza raised both her palms rendering me silent. “I don’t know who of you two disgusts me more tonight. Leave me alone. I’m done with you.”

  She couldn’t mean it. All the crap that Tony had told her tonight—she must realize that it was nothing but a goddamned lie. “I didn’t come because Mitchell asked me to. I came because I wanted to see you again.”

  “Yeah, right. As if I would believe that. Distraction, huh? Tell me, did I look so miserable that you thought I depended on your mercy?” There was a tiny tear glistening on her cheek as it fell down. “Or did you really just want to get me into bed?”

  Coping with her accusations was one thing I could deal with. But seeing her cry was something entirely different. It was too much, and I didn’t know how to handle it. Not when I was the one who made cry. I pinched the spot between my eyes. “Cut the crap, Liza. You know that’s not true.”

  “Leave.” She wiped the single tear away, and when she spoke next, her voice was steady. And stone cold. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  No. Please, no! I couldn’t leave her now. There must be a way to get things straight between us again—to convince her that I never intended to only play with her. But that my heart was in that game from the very first moment.

  Her gaze only hardened, making sure there was no chance for us. Not anymore.

  My heart ached, and so did the rest of my body when I walked toward her. Leaning down to brace myself on the bed on either side of her, I searched her face one last time for a flicker of hope. There was none.

  All right. I had lost what I never really had. And that little bit of hope she’d awoken in me those past few days made the pain unbearable. “For a minute there, I thought I stood a chance. But I guess in the end, Mitchell will still be the lucky one.”

  Closing that last inch of distance between our faces, I inhaled her pure, beautiful scent one last time. She didn’t back away from me, but her eyes said she wouldn’t tolerate the tiniest touch right now.