Page 48 of Strut

“I prefer to call it hopeful,” I countered.

He jumped, then whacked my arm and kissed me softly. “Well, it makes me very happy. But that doesn’t solve the issue, does it?”

I pulled a face. “No, and this is the part where you tell me how you feel about distance?”

He shrugged. “It’s not my first choice, but for you I’d give it a try.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. “I feel like we wasted a whole fucking year, and it was all my fault.”

He said nothing for a bit and his expression turned serious. “To be honest, I’m not sure it wasn’t better this way.”

My brow creased and I studied him. “How so?”

He sat up straight and looked at me. “Okay, hear me out. I think I needed to be clearer about you and what I wanted, to understand you a lot better. And I think you needed to really want this, Hunter. I think you needed to work for it, and I’m not sure you would’ve done that back then. We might’ve just crashed and burned.”

My instinct was to push back but then I realised it was true. The fact I had run back then said it all. I’d had no idea what I wanted. And now I did. “I think you’re right.”

He looked relieved.

“And regarding the distance thing, I’m more flexible than you are right now. I’ll do my best to work around your shows and schedule. For a start, I can base myself here for a bit. It’s better for my fashion work—”

“But what about the travel shoots and the other commercial stuff? You wanted to expand that side of your business, you—”

I kissed him gently to shut him up. “They’ll still be there. Right now, I want to try this with you, Alec. If things work out, we can decide the rest later. And if you land this Berlini contract, maybe you’ll find yourself with some more options as well.”

Alec’s brow creased for a second and then it was gone and he was almost in my lap. “Is it crazy that we’re talking about this stuff after just a week and a couple of fucks?”

I snorted and kissed his nose. “Such a romantic.”

He pulled back with a frown. “No, honestly. Does it scare you?”

I didn’t rush an answer because it was a good question and a fucking important one. But eventually I shook my head. “Is it crazy? No. If you’d asked me a month ago, my answer might’ve been different.” I tucked a lock of his still-damp hair behind his ear and he leaned into the touch. “But am I scared?” I let out a long breath. “Oh, yeah. Neatly wrapped and tied with a big red bow.”

Alec’s gaze never left mine. “Ditto.”

I pulled him into my arms and he straddled my lap, wrapping those long limbs around me like a tall blond orangutan, and burying his face into my neck. “I like you a lot, Hunter. As in, I’m-scared-to-say-how-much-I-like-you, a lot.”

I tilted my head back so I could see him better and waited until his eyes slowly tracked to mine. “I like you a lot, as well, Alec. As in, fuck me, this-is-terrifying a lot.”

Neither of us moved, a million questions in that one shared look.

And then Alec kissed me, long and slow and full of promise. And when he finally pulled away, he cradled my face and said six words that meant every-fucking-thing.

“Your heart’s safe with me, Hunter.”

CHAPTERELEVEN

Alec

I tiptoedfrom the bathroom and slipped back into the warm bed.

Hunter rolled to face me, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me close. “Mmm,” he murmured, resting his head on my shoulder while keeping his eyes closed. “Stay.”

“I will.” I kissed his head and watched his eyelids slacken with sleep as the warmth of his body took the chill off my skin. I should’ve turned the damn heating up. I’d woken thinking about Darcy Fenchurch, and when the ugly thought had lingered, I’d left bed to piss him down the toilet where he belonged. But the fucker remained a niggle in the back of my mind.

A weak slice of sunlight fell through the crack in the curtains and onto the bed. I studied the way it wrapped around the curves of Hunter’s semi-exposed arse and smiled, drawing the covers over him. Sex with the gorgeous man had been everything I’d imagined, and more. We clicked both in and out of the bedroom, and the thought made my stomach swoop.

It all seemed too good to be true. Hunter back in my life. Hunter wanting to give things between us a real try. Hunter the sex god and all-round caring guy. I was trying really hard not to wait for the other shoe to drop. For a repeat of Auckland. For him to run. I’d half-expected him to pull away the previous week, to realise what he was doing and backtrack. But he hadn’t. And here we were. One week into whatever this was, although it was very definitely turning intosomething,and we were talking about a future. Go fucking figure. One week.

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