Page 26 of Dare To Kiss You
I lift my chin. “Okay, fair’s fair. That’s why I asked you to the gala. What made you ask me on a date?”
His handsome face softens, the mischievous smile melting into something far more romantic. “Truthfully, you did. I could tell you were nervous, asking me to the gala. But you did it anyway. And I managed to convince myself to just go for it by rationalizing that you wouldn’t have asked me if you didn’t feelsomethingfor me. I figured even if you just meant us to go to the gala as friends, me asking you to dinner wasn’t that big of a stretch.”
“Well, I’m really glad you did.”
“Me too.”
We both fall silent, staring at each other with what I’m sure are dumb, swoony looks on our faces.
“I wish we hadn’t wasted so much time with both of us being nervous.”
Hunter’s head ducks down at my quiet statement. He’s staring at his hands. “Yeah, me too. If I had just…”
He trails off. But there’s no way I can handle not knowing what he was about to say. “If you had just what?”
His eyes raise to meet mine again. “If I had just asked you out when I first met you, like I wanted to. Then we wouldn’t have wasted so much time.”
“I was with Tyson,” I say lamely, but it’s a weak excuse. A half-hearted attempt at protecting my heart from falling for Hunter even more.
“Not when I first moved in next door, you weren’t.”
There it is. The confession that makes me simultaneously thrilled and scared. The fact that Hunter has harboured secret feelings for me for as long as I have for him should make me feel better about finally moving forward with him. But what if, now that it’s out in the open, now that we’ve taken this first step, he realizes those feelings aren’t all he thought they were after all?
A somber quiet descends once again. I know this conversation is important, but I can’t help wishing for Hunter to turn on his magnetic charm and bring some lightness back. Because the longer things stay heavy and emotionally charged, the more the walls around my heart start coming down, and the pull I feel toward him grows more and more intense.
As if he read my mind, Hunter reaches into his backpack, pulling out a thermos and two mugs. “What do you say we raise a cup of hot chocolate to Lily’s dare, starting the chain reaction that led to this moment. After all, if she hadn’t challenged you, who knows how long we’d have suffered as neighbors, pining over each other, never knowing the feelings were mutual.” The mock horror in his voice breaks the tension exactly the way I hoped he would.
I giggle, taking the mug when he hands it to me. “You know, Lily didn’t just dare me to ask you to the gala,” I say, eyeing Hunter over the top of my mug.
He narrows his eyes. “Really. What else did she dare you to do?”
I lift my shoulders in a slight shrug. “If I remember right, she mentioned something about finally getting some much-needed orgasms.”
“Huh. I see. And she was hoping I’d be the one to give those to you, I assume?” he says all too casually.
My body starts to heat up. I tug my lower lip between my teeth. “Mm-hmm.”
My only warning is a low growl before Hunter lunges at me, knocking my mug out of the way and tackling me to the snowy ground. Hot chocolate spills out over the snow, and I let out a shriek as he somehow manages it so we land with him underneath me, his hands going straight to my ass, pulling me tight against him.
“You have no idea what it does to me hearing you talk about orgasms, Kitty Kat. If I wasn’t worried about freezing certain body parts, I’d take care of that for you right now.”
I drop my head down, closing the small gap between us, and nip at his lip before kissing him. “Then tell me why, exactly, we’re lying in the cold snowtalkingabout orgasms when we could be on our way home now tohaveorgasms?”
He tilts his head to the side, the movement so similar to what a dog would do when faced with a delicious treat. I can’t help but laugh again. “Good point.”
Then Hunter rolls me off him, bounces to his feet, and drags me up to stand, straight into his arms. “Let’s go.”
We move over to the bench, and I start picking up my water bottle and gloves.
“Hurry up, woman,” he commands, and I look over to see him frantically shoving things into his backpack. He turns to me with a mock glower. “We need to get back down the mountain, Kitty Kat, or it won’t matter how cold the snow is, you’ll be getting those orgasms right here.”
Chapter twelve
Hunter
I won’t lie and say I didn’t break some speed limits getting us home, but I still drove carefully, mindful of my precious cargo in the passenger seat.
Part of me can’t believe this is happening. Kat wanting to have sex with me. But a deeper, darker, more primal side of me is slowly taking over, telling me to claim her, show her she’s mine, and never let her go. Because I’ve never been with someone who makes me feel so good. Like I could maybe do anything, like I’m not thenever going to amount to anything importantman I’ve believed I was for so long.
