Page 58 of Submission

“Mistakes happen,” he says nonchalantly.

“I know you’re pissed, Hunter, but–“ I hesitate before looking up at him. “I promise never to dismiss the security detail again. I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t need this.”

I try handing him back the gun.

“Maybe you have,” Hunter says with little effect, perhaps still annoyed with my lack of willingness to share everything about my past with him. “But I want you to be armed as well.”

“Are you angry with me right now?” I swallow, suddenly feeling uncertain.

“Giving you a weapon to protect yourself is not a punishment, Megan.”

“Are you angry that I don’t want to talk about my father with you?” I ask again, not backing down.

“Yeah, I guess I am, but I’ll get over it.” He crosses his arms over his chest, watching me. “I want you to open up to me yourself. Forcing your secrets out of you against your will isn’t what I want.”

“I do trust you,” I admit slowly. “It’s just that I must do things in my own time.”

He emits a quiet sigh and then crooks his finger in my direction, and I walk over toward him. He pulls me into his taut body, and the heat from his body relaxes me in the very delicious way it has the power to do.

“I can give you the whole world, Megan. You just have to let me.”

“I don’t want the whole world.”

I just want you.

But I can’t voice that last part. I’m just too afraid to actually allow myself to have what I want.

“Then what do you want?” He presses.

I sink my teeth into my lower lip, remembering a brief moment in time when I could completely let go of the pressures of school and work and my past and just live in the moment.

“I want Paris again.”

His smile is slow, and my breath catches. “You liked it there that much?”

“I definitely enjoyed the experience, but I especially loved it because I went there with you. You made Paris unforgettable.”

It’s difficult to be this vulnerable with Hunter, or with anyone for that matter, but the look in his eyes is worth the effort.

“So, it’s me then?” Hunter leans his forehead against mine. “I’m what you want.”

“You’ve just been shot atagainand reunited with your baby sister, and this is what you want to talk about?” I playfully push at his chest and his chuckle is deep and throaty, and I feel it deep in my core. “What I want?”

“Always, Megan.”

His kiss on my mouth is fierce, as if he’s starving for me, and I don’t want it to stop. Now that the adrenaline from today’s events is starting to dissipate, there is a sudden craving I’m having for Hunter to fuck me senseless. I know if he does, it will wash away all the violence of today, as well as celebrate his reunion with Lacy… I mean Lena.

Damn, I forgot about Lena.

“Your sister is waiting in my office.” I place my palm on his chest. His heart feels as if it’s going to thump through his breastbone. “We need to finish this later.”

“No, she isn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s at that bar with Christian having a drink."

"A drink?" I ask with concern. She may be Hunter's sister, but she's still underaged.

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