Page 62 of Baked

That only seemed to make her laugh harder, prompting him to turn to the counter and break off a piece of cake.

“Here, try it.” He held the bitesize piece up to her mouth and swallowed down a groan as she wrapped her lips around his fingers.

Goddamnit. She was made to be mine.

She was going to need to agree to be his again pretty damn soon at this rate because his control was slipping by the second. Her hummed “Mmm” wasn’t helping either.

“Okay, I gotta admit, it tastes way better than it looks.”

Success.

“It’s the love.” He told her.

He watched Rachel’s face gentle. “Yeah, Hunter, I bet it is.”

“Say you’ll be mine again.” He wasn’t above begging. In fact, that was the plan B he came up with this morning. “I just don’t work without you.”

He lost her eyes as her head dropped and started to shake. You didn’t need to be a genius to work out that wasn’t good.

“I don’t know how you can still want me, Hunter, after everything that happened. You got shot because of me, for God’s sake.”

This again? How could she possibly blame herself for what happened? This was all Leo.

Hunter wasn’t going to let her hide away, that’s how he lost her before. Using his index finger, he tipped her chin and stared deep into her eyes. She needed to see him just as much as she needed to hear him.

“I’m never gonna stop wanting you. Do you hear me? You’re it for me. Not one goddamn thing is ever going to change that. I’d take a bullet every damn day if it meant I got to call you my own. And as far as it being your fault, you know as well as I do that’s bullshit. Did you borrow money from those guys? Did you gamble it all away? No. You didn’t. Your dad did. This is on him, not you.”

“I went to see him.” Her voice was shaking almost as much as she was. “I told him I was done with him. He’s never to contact me again.”

So fucking strong.

“Do you feel better?”

She nodded, knocking his finger that was still nudging up her chin. “I don’t want to be like him. Or my mom.”

“You’re nothing like them, baby.”

“I’m scared you’ll leave,” she blurted. “I’m scared one day you’ll wake up and realize you don’t want me, like they did. I don’t think I could cope with someone else I love leaving me.”

She was destroying him.

Cupping her face with both his hands, he made sure she could see him. All of him.

“Listen to me, Rachel. I’m not going anywhere. If I didn’t think it would scare the shit out of you, I’d get down on one knee right fucking now. I want you. Forever. You’re my one. I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you. I knew you’d have the power to destroy me, and that’s why I stayed away. But do you know what I figured out these past few months?”

He waited for her to shake her head in his hold before continuing.

“That I don’t fucking care. Let my heart get shredded. Let it get stomped on. Rip it from my goddamn chest. I don’t care. ’Cause if it means I get to be with you, even for just a short while, it’d be worth it. You’re worth it.”

More tears broke free, but this time he let them run, dampening his thumbs as he kept hold of her face.

“It wouldn’t scare the shit out of me,” she whispered.

“What?”

“If you got down on one knee, it wouldn’t scare the shit out of me,” she repeated just as quietly.

Okay. Now he was worried he was having a full-on heart attack.

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