Page 61 of Embraced at Seaside
He made a guttural sound and reluctantly went around to the drivers’ side. Jana was lost in a fog of desire, her body buzzing with need. Hunter sped out of the parking lot, taking turns at breakneck speed. There were no streetlights, no cottages to tell her where they were as he zipped down backstreets. The truck rattled to a stop and he cut the engine. She knew Hunter was too possessive to chance anyone seeing them. Hunter fisted his hands in her hair and crashed his mouth to hers.
“How did I get lucky enough to be the man you picked?”
Her heart swelled with his words. “Like you’d have it any other way?”
As she gazed into his eyes, the adoration and deep emotions she saw made her feel like this was her first time. Like she was eighteen all over again. But she wasn’t that girl any longer. She wasn’t even the woman she’d been a month ago. The ache consuming her wasn’t about sex and consumption; it was about respect and fulfillment, wanting to be closer in every way possible, wanting to experienceallof Hunter, the physical, emotional, and everything in between. It was her heart that spoke the loudest, and her trusting words fell easily from her lips. “Take me, Hunter. All of me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
HUNTER COULD HARDLY believe he’d finished the sculpture in time for the competition. He’d been so wrapped up in Jana that his creativity had flowed like a river, and he was able to spend the last two weeks getting Jana’s studio ready. It took a few days for him and the guys to build two rooms for classes and extend the registration desk. He’d since painted and was getting the final touches ready. He’d found furniture online from a designer in Harborside, just a short drive from the Cape. He’d ordered wooden chairs with elaborate carvings of trees and giant leaves as backings, and then he’d designed two end tables using wood and iron to complete the lobby area.
He’d finished making the sign, and Jana had loved it so much she’d ordered business cards with the same design. He’d stopped by earlier to check out the landscaping. He’d hired a crew to make the entrance as beautiful as Jana. They’d come close, but nothing could top his girl.
He glanced at her now, as she stepped from the truck, her pretty painted toes on display in a pair of cute leather sandals. She wore tan shorts with a blousy top, which went well with Hunter’s tan pants and short-sleeved white button-down shirt. Her hair fell loose, like a mane down her back, just the way he loved it. She was beyond gorgeous, and she no longer looked like she wanted to throttle him and have sex with him all at once, like she used to. As he came around the truck, she looped her arm into his, looking like she wanted to climb beneath his skin.
Little did she know that she already had.
“Ready?” They were going to the Bombshelter, a local pub where their friends were celebrating that Sky and Sawyer had chosen their wedding date.
“Yup.” She smiled up at him and wound her arms around his neck.
He loved when she claimed him. He pressed his lips to hers and couldn’t resist backing her up against the truck to deepen the kiss. She had this incredible sensuality that resonated in everything she did and said, and he knew he’d never get enough of her.
“I forgot to tell you,” he said between kisses. “I made a key to your place so I could run over and change before the competition tomorrow, since your place is closer.”
She pushed back and wrinkled her brow. “You made a key?”
“Yeah. I figured—”
“Hunter, don’t you think you should have asked me about that first?”
Surprised by her response, he took a step back to clear the desire from his mind and focus on the conversation. “Jana, we’ve been practically living together for weeks.”
“Living together? We’re not living together.”
The panic in her eyes sent his mind back in time, and he tempered his annoyance at her attitude, reminding himself that this was classic Jana. One step forward, two steps back, until she slammed into a wall, beat it for a while, and finally leapt—because she was too rebellious and stubborn to take two steps forward and one step back like others did.
He softened his tone. “Baby, we stay together almost every night of the week. You cleared out a drawer for me. I have my stuff in your closet, your bathroom.”
Her brows knitted together and her hand went to a lock of her hair, twisting it furiously. “You…We…When did that happen?”
“Over time, I guess.” He pulled his keys from his pocket, removed the key he’d made from the key ring, and placed it in her palm. He closed her fingers over it and brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
“Take the key, baby. I’m sorry I overstepped my boundaries.” He knew she just needed time, and maybe he had assumed too much, but her denial of their situation stung.
“Hey, guys!” Sky hollered as she and Sawyer crossed the parking lot to greet them. “I’msoexcited.”
Sawyer pulled Hunter into a manly embrace. “Ready to get your butt kicked in pool, dude?”
My butt was just kicked in love. Why not pool?
THE BOMBSHELTER WAS a dimly lit dive located beside the Bookstore Restaurant in Wellfleet, and it was one of Jana’s favorite places. She loved everything about the pub, from the crowded dance floor to the clanking of the billiard balls and cheers for the sports teams on the televisions above the bar. The place smelled of testosterone, perfume, and anonymity. Tonight, as she sat with her friends, she wished she could feel anonymous, but she felt…panicked.
Hunter staying over all the time wasn’t the same thing as actually living together, was it? Living together meant sharing bills, planning dinners, getting a dog or a cat, andhaving his own key. Living together was the opening act to a much bigger and more permanent commitment. Shouldn’t he have talked to her about that instead of making the determination on his own and assuming it was okay for him to make a key? What if she wasn’t ready for the opening act, or even the main event?
What if I am?
She needed another drink, stat.
