Page 34 of Strut

His mouth turned up in a slow, sexy smile. “I’m all yours.”

I liked the sound of that far more than I should have.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Alec

I droppedmy hand out the side of the bunk and patted around the floor until I found my phone to silence the alarm.

“Jesus, Alec,” Peter whined from the bunk above as he rolled over. “I need to sleep, asshole. What day is it?”

I snorted and poked his mattress through the slats. “Tuesday. And good morning to you, too. I’ll be out of your hair in five.”

He grumbled something unintelligible and was snoring again in ten seconds flat.

I glanced at the empty lower bunk on the other side of the room and frowned. It was the second night Tim hadn’t slept in the apartment. I’d seen him briefly Monday morning when he’d come back from wherever he’d been staying to shower and change, but we hadn’t talked. He’d smiled and looked okay, but it wasn’t like Tim to let me go without an interrogation, especially since he knew I’d gone out with Hunter. Then I’d been in too much of a hurry to get to the gym and to a couple of casting calls, thinking we’d catch up at those, but he hadn’t turned up. Also, not like him. And then he wasn’t at the apartment on Monday night either, and my text sat unanswered. So yeah, I was worried.

I fired him another one.Hey. You missed the castings yesterday??? Haven’t seen you. Just checking in.

It wasn’t until I showered, dressed, and juggled for some personal space in the crowded train on my way to surprise Hunter at his shoot that I got an answer.

Hey. I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t answer. I went celebrating with Miles. I landed a cover with Esquire. Decided to skip the castings.

Relief flooded through me that he was okay, but missing the castings was a mistake the agency wouldn’t appreciate.That’s great! Congratulations. When’s the shoot?

Couple of weeks.

I frowned at that.Not much warning.

Their original model cancelled. Not that I’m complaining.

You home tonight

It was a minute or so before Tim answered, and I wondered if he was checking with Miles.

Not sure. I’ll text.

Please.

Yes, Dad.

I smiled and pocketed my phone, happy that Tim was okay even if I couldn’t shake a niggle of concern. But he wasn’t a kid even if he looked like one. He was almost twenty and had managed on his own for four years. The best I could do was watch from a distance and be there if he needed me.

I knew that dropping in on Hunter while he was on a shoot was risky, but Cage was in the same general direction and I had an appointment with their booker, Cara, in the afternoon about the Berlini thing. Cara was the link between Cage, us models, and the clients. She’d know what Berlini was looking for and what they expected in their models. I wanted to grill her for information, whereas Cara would see potential dollar signs and want me not to fuck it up. A match made in heaven.

If Hunter didn’t want me at his shoot or looked at all uncomfortable, I’d understand and head on out. There was plenty to do around that part of town to keep me busy until the appointment.

The night before, with the bedroom to myself for a bit, I’d called Hunter and we’d chatted for an hour. Things were just so damn easy between us. Hunter told me about his day finalising the details of the editorial shoot, whereas I’d had long boring waits at castings. I’d used most of my stand-around time to research Darcy Fenchurch and get a feel for the photographer’s style, and I grilled Hunter about the man as well. Getting Darcy’s tick of approval wasn’t just an option on Friday. If he didn’t like me, my chances with Berlini ended right there.

After that, the conversation had quickly become flirty and ended with me horny as a teenager and more than regretting the gauntlet I’d thrown Hunter about not jerking off before Friday. Keeping my end of the bargain hadn’t been easy. Hunter had at leastseenmy body, or large chunks of it during the various shoots we’d done together, not to mention he’d actually held my dick in his hand the year before. The less said about that the better.

Whereas Hunter’s body remained an exasperating, mouth-watering mystery to me. All I had to work with was the feel of his hot skin under my hand, the luscious curls of hair spread thick over his belly, the hard muscle of his back, and the solid length of his cock when it was pushed up against me. All of which left my own dick tying itself in knots at the images those tantalising details evoked.

I was also cheerfully ignoring the warning signs. I’d seen Hunter all of four times, and I was already so pathetically and gobsmackingly obsessed, I was an embarrassment to myself and sensible farm boys everywhere. Why him? The question played over and over in my head. What was it about Hunter that fucked me so completely? I’d had boyfriends before, and a few I’d genuinely cared about. But Hunter was different. Different, delicious, disarming, and dangerous to my heart.

Still, it was too late to go back, and I wouldn’t if I could. Hunter and I would be whatever we were going to be and all I could do was hang on for the ride. We had four weeks to see if we had what it took for anything longer.

No pressure then.

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