Page 86 of Strut

Alec’s hand landed on my arm to shut me up as he turned the phone. The breadth of his amused grin sent colour flooding my cheeks. “See, he’s great, Mum.” Alec ruffled my hair and I fell back on the pillow with an embarrassed groan.

“Yes, he sounds... lovely, dear.” There was a smile in Elise’s voice that was no doubt due to my ridiculous rambling. “Thank you, Hunter. We look forward to meeting you.”

“Nice to meet you, son. You take care of our boy, you hear?” Gordon added.

“I will.” It was all I could manage, and Gordon Williamson grunted in response. Who knew what the fuck that meant in father-speak? Probably nothing good.

“Promise you’ll call every day.” Elise’s voice was shaky. “We need to know how you are. We love you so much. You get that bastard.”

Alec jolted in surprise and I guessed his mother didn’t swear much. “I promise.”

They exchanged goodbyes and Alec threw his phone on the bed and slumped on his pillow. “Dear God, please tell me a week has passed since we got up this morning, because there’s no way it’s still Sunday.”

I crawled up his body and he spread his legs, so I dropped between them. I kissed my way up his neck until we were eye to eye. “You told them about me.”

Alec lifted his head and smirked. “You’re the best thing that’s happened in my life. Of course, I’m going to tell them.”

I side-eyed him. “So, it wasn’t just a distraction to shut them up from wanting you home?”

“Of course not.” He flushed from his neck to his hairline. “Well, notjustthat. I want them to know about you, Hunter. About us. I love you, and that’s enough reason right there.”

I slid my mouth over his and deepened the kiss until we were both groaning. Before things got too heavy, I pulled back and kissed his nose. “I’m going to call my mother tomorrow to tell her the same.”

Alec bit his lip and pleasure washed over his face. “I... um... God, we’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

“I guess we are.”

“But how will it work? My work means I have to base here—” He broke off and rolled his eyes. “Well, itdid. Who the fuck knows what this week will br—”

“Shhh.” I put a finger to his lips. “We’ll work it out. I could shift here in the short term.”

Alec’s eyes went wide. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Why not? I get plenty of work offers both here and in the UK. It would give us time. We both have to travel with our jobs, but we could share a home base—” I broke off, suddenly unsure. “But only if you wanted. I mean, we could do the separate thing for a bit too.”

Alec cradled my face and stared at me with wonder. “Holy shit, Hunter. Talk about surprising a guy. You’ll be picking out dinner sets next.” He laughed at my obvious shock. “Relax. But yeah, I absolutely want that. Living with you?” He nipped along my jaw. “That’s the dream right there, baby.” He rolled us both until I was pinned beneath him. Then he set about owning my mouth as he rocked his dick into mine and sparked flares of heat in my groin that shot up my spine, and whoa, that had gone nuclear fast.

“Easy, there.” I gripped both his hips and steadied him. “It’s been an eventful day and neither of us have eaten. Why don’t you grab an hour’s nap and in the meantime I’ll take a quick shower and cook us something simple for dinner?Thenwe can see what you have left in the tank, yeah?”

Alec winced. “I’m not sure I can eat anything. I shouldn’t have drunk that last beer.”

I ran my nose over his face and he hummed a little. “Then how about that leftover soup from the deli and melted cheese on toast?”

He pushed my hair back from my face and kissed me softly, once, twice, and then a third time. “Soup sounds good, although I might skip the toast if that’s okay.”

“I can do that.” I rolled to the side of the bed but he didn’t let go of my hand. When I turned to face him, he looked so fucking lost, it almost broke my damn heart, and I knew I’d been right to slow things down.

“Thank you, for today.” He bit his lip, looking almost embarrassed. “I’m not sure what I would’ve done without you.”

I sat on the bed and lifted his knuckles to my lips, my gaze lingering on those damn bruises. I forced myself to look up into his eyes instead. “You would’ve done okay. You’re strong. But I’m glad I was here so you didn’t have to do it alone.”

“Me too.” He fought back a yawn, turned to his side, and dragged the covers over his body. I tucked him in and ran my fingers through his hair until his eyelids fluttered closed. Then I headed for the kitchen and poured the soup into a pot ready to heat and made some sandwiches for myself. When I was done, I peeked back into the bedroom to find Alec softly snoring. Rather than risk waking him with the noise of the shower, I let him sleep and collapsed on the couch to watch an hour of ESPN and marvel at how my life had been completely upended in three weeks.

When Alec had slept a good hour, I shed my clothes on the couch and tiptoed my way into the bathroom, desperate to wash the memories of Darcy Fenchurch from my damn brain. The torrent of hot water did little to soothe the roller coaster of emotions running hamster wheels in my brain. With my forehead to the hard tiles, I tried to focus on anything but the total fuck-up entangling Alec, through no fault of his own, and failed dismally.

I slapped my palm against the tiles and winced at the shooting pain. Shaking it out, I reached for the body wash, but the bottle was plucked from my hand and a cool arm slid around my waist.

“Let me do that.” Alec pressed me against the wall, nudging his semi into my crease.

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