Page 48 of Shattered King

I was speechless, and with the double whammy of heart and belly flutterings I had going on, I was on the verge of stroking out or something. Josh had never warmed to someone so quickly. Ever.

Hunter sat him on the bench beside him and I watched the two of them make pancake batter. Well, Hunter made it while Josh splattered it all over the place with the spoon he was “stirring” it with. Neither seemed fazed. I couldn’t take my eyes off the pair of them. They both had dark hair and blue eyes. When they grinned or frowned, I thought they looked similar, didn’t they? Or maybe I was just trying to see something that wasn’t there.

I let my gaze travel over Hunter. Over his inked biceps, straining the fabric of his T-shirt. My fingers itched to touch, feel how hard they were, feel them flex under my fingers. I continued my perusal, over his broad shoulders, down to his lower back, where I knew my name marked his skin. A shiver worked its way through me. I still remembered when he’d gotten it. How special, how loved I’d felt. It seemed like a lifetime ago. It was a lifetime ago.

I dropped my gaze to his lean hips. A chain hung from one of the belt loops of his jeans, disappearing into the back pocket. It drew the eye to his perfect ass, the way the faded black denim hugged it to perfection. His thighs were solid, legs long. He was ruggedly beautiful. Fiercely masculine.

I wanted him.

Would always want him.

I slammed on the brakes. That was something else I wasn’t going to think about. I was going to live in the moment. For now. At least until it was safe for me and Josh to move on with our lives, or until Hunter woke up and realized he’d made a mistake having us here.

Before the reality of possibly of raising the son of his enemy sank in.

CHAPTER TEN

Lulu

We’d spent the day hanging around the apartment. Hunter had given me a new phone since mine had been broken and he’d entered everyone in the contacts. Everyone. Even Ruby, the crazy chick from his office.

After I’d played with my new phone and sent Aunt Sara a quick text to tell her I was okay, I got busy. I did the dishes and tidied up the apartment as best I could. Not that the apartment was messy, just neglected. Hunter frowned at me, but left me to it. When I finished, I took some more ibuprofen, since I obviously pushed things too hard too fast. This annoyed the hell out of me. Sitting around doing nothing was not me. I hated it. So, I started looking for something else to do.

It was then that Hunter, in his extremely deep, authoritative voice, told me to, “Go rest.” He said this in a way that brooked no argument. I still tried. The man did not yield, not at all, and since he could physically pick me up and make me rest, I decided to pick my battles and stomped off to bed for an afternoon nap with Josh. I slept for three hours.

This annoyed me as well. I don’t know why I was so irritated by it, but I was. Unreasonably so. Hunter had a way of running right over the top of me, and I’d had more than enough of that over the last few years. I felt like I had no control over my life as it was, so not even knowing my own body, and when to rest it, pissed me the hell off.

Here, with Hunter, I didn’t feel like the woman who’d worked herself ragged, who’d battled to keep her son and herself safe all on her own. I felt like someone else. I felt helpless.

I hated feeling that way.

That feeling didn’t improve when I walked out and spotted Hunter on the couch with Josh, who hadn’t needed three hours sleep, watching cartoons together. He twisted to look at me and grinned. “Better?”

I made a sound that came out like pah and stomped—yes, again with the stomping—to the kitchen to make tea. Which kind of hurt, but I refused to let it show. To keep my hands busy, so I didn’t try to strangle him, I contemplated what to make for dinner.

Sipping my tea, I checked out the fridge. He had pretty much everything I needed to make lasagna and a basic salad.

In no time, the place was filled with the smell of cheese, tomatoes, and garlic bubbling away in the oven.

I felt Hunter move in behind me. Just his nearness started up some serious flutters in my belly. He reached around me, grabbed my beer, and took a sip. The action was simple, casual, but it felt extremely intimate. I had to fight back a shiver of pleasure.

“Smells amazing,” he said softly.

“I know how much you like lasagna. It’s just a . . . a thank you for looking out for us,” I finished lamely.

His hands came to my hips, his lips to my ear. “You don’t need to thank me. You never need to thank me, not for that, not ever.” He gave me a little squeeze. “I love that you cooked for me, but promise you’ll take it easy. You’re still recovering after what happened. You don’t need to do for me. I’m a big boy. You worry about you and Josh. I’ll do the rest.”

Is that what I was doing? Yes, I’d cleaned and cooked, but I was just trying to be useful, wasn’t I? God, I didn’t even know what I was doing. This whole situation was insane. I was in Hunter’s house, living with him, me and my son. I’d just cooked him a freaking meal, like we were some old married couple, like the last three years never happened. It came so naturally, looking after my man, falling back into old habits. I’d always loved to cook for him.

It wasn’t just me, though. He was acting like the past had been wiped clean as well, like it no longer existed. But I knew it was only a matter of time before it came back to haunt us. Before it slithered up behind us, infecting, corroding this little make-believe existence I was living, before reality set in and it all vanished.

I tried to wriggle away, but he wasn’t having any of it. “I’m fine, besides a few aches and pains. Nothing I can’t handle. I was just . . . I want to do my bit, and we have to eat.”

“Okay. But I’ll sort dinner tomorrow.” His lips grazed my throat before he let me go. Then he stepped away, and I watched him get down on the floor with Josh and start playing cars with him, making the noises and everything.

Jesus. The man was killing me, or at least giving my self-control a serious hammering. I ignored the tingles from having his lips on my skin, which wasn’t easy, and dished up.

After dinner, I gave Josh a bath and put him to bed. He fell asleep halfway through his story. I wasn’t tired, not after my nap earlier, and headed back to the living room. Hunter had just turned on the dishwasher.