Page 21 of Out of the Shadows
“Maybe. Doesn’t matter to me, though. I askedyou.”
“You did. Just wanted you to be aware of your options. Look, if this is going to work, we need two things.”
“Which are?”
“One, we need to commit to a story — when did we start dating, how did it happen, that sort of thing.”
“Easy. You and I met four years ago through our parents buthaven’t gotten together because you moved away for college. Now that we’re both at the same school, there was no reason not to, and we started dating over the summer when we saw each other again at one of our parents’ get-togethers. And the second?”
I mimicked him and crossed my arms over my chest. When I tilted my head, my ponytail swayed, loose hairs tickling my skin. His eyes followed the movement as if hypnotized. I grinned mischievously as he shook his head, trying to clear his mind.
“Sounds good. I don’t know the best way to put this, but we need to have a talk about … limits.”
“Limits?” I repeated questioningly.
“Yeah, I mean, where’sthe linefor you with all the touching and stuff?”
“I don’t have one.”
He jerked back, a look of disbelief on his face. “Come on, be serious.”
“I am. I’m perfectly fine with you touching me. To everyone outside this room, you’re my boyfriend, and that comes with physical contact. Whatever you did with your previous girlfriends, you can do with me.”
“Hailey—” He sighed, averting his gaze to the floor. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but there were no previous girlfriends.”
I recoiled, shocked. “Okay, what about hookups?”
He cleared his throat, a blush rising to his cheeks. “Nope. Not my thing.”
I wasn’t blind or deaf, most girls didn’t notice him the way I did — but I was so sure Colt would jump at the chance to sow a few wildoats in college.
Guess not.Their loss, my gain.Now I was even more thrilled.
I bridged the short distance and stood between his parted legs, placing my hands on his shoulders. With flushed cheeks, he looked at me through his lashes.
“All right, then, let’s just say that anything you’re comfortable with is cool with me.”
“Anything?”
I slowly uncrossed his arms and carefully brought them to my waist to place his hands there. They were so big that he encircled my torso and his fingers could actually touch each other on my back. I fucking loved it. Nodding, I took another tiny step closer, my stomach almost touching the still considerable bulge in his jeans. “Anything I should know about your limits?”
He barked out a laugh. “Nope, you can do whatever you want.”
I smiled wickedly. He was playing right into my hands, and my insides were twisting with giddiness at all the possibilities. Maybe I’d start testing how far I could push him. After all, Ella wasn’t here.
Then his phone started buzzing in his pocket. With a furrowed brow, he pulled it out and muttered, “He never calls,” then answered the call.
“Hunter? What’s up?”
Hunter’s emotionless, deep voice sounded from the other end, just as I remembered it. “You weren’t checking your phone.”
“Um, no, I wasn’t. So what?”
“So they started bugging me. Fix it.”
“Who?”
“Dude, just check your phone, will you?”
