Page 85 of By Your Side
When we finally pulled apart, both of us breathing harder than we should’ve been, she stayed close—her forehead nearly resting against mine.
“Hunter,” she whispered, like she didn’t know what else to say.
I wanted to tell her everything then. I wanted to say that I was hers and that I’d been hers since before I even knew what love was. But the words stuck, because I knew she wasn’t ready for that yet. And maybe I wasn’t either, at least not here.
So instead, I pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering there. “You don’t have to go back in yet if you don’t want to. We can stay here, just us, for a while.”
She let out a shaky breath, her fingers curling tighter into mine. “Maybe just a minute.”
And so we stayed—just a man in love and the woman who didn’t know it yet, holding on to each other under the glow of the tavern’s parking lot lights while the party rumbled on without us.
The night hummed softly, cicadas buzzing in the distance, the faint thrum of music spilling from the tavern door. For a long moment, neither of us moved. I didn’t want to. Being out here with her felt like the first breath after holding it too long.
Eventually, she let out a tiny laugh, nervous and sweet. “If we stay out here any longer, someone’s going to come looking for us. And Piper will make it weird.”
“She already makes it weird,” I said, smiling down at her. “That’s her job.”
Her eyes softened, and she squeezed my hand. Then, slowly, like she was still gathering courage, she stepped back and tugged me toward the door.
The warmth of the tavern wrapped around us as soon as we walked in—music from the jukebox, chatter from the crowd, the clink of glasses behind the bar. Lark and Briar were laughing with Piper near the cake table, and Noah was leaning up against the jukebox with Spencer and Deacon, all three pretending they weren’t scoping out the crowd.
And then the heads turned. Not all at once, but enough that I noticed—the way people’s gazes slid toward us as Paige led me inside, still holding my hand.
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t let go. Not right away. And the part of me that had been aching, the part that thought I’d lost her, settled just a little.
Spencer caught my eye from across the room, his grin bright and knowing. I smiled back. He could tell me ‘I told youso’ a million times, and I wouldn’t care.
Paige finally slipped her hand from mine, but not before brushing her thumb against my palm in a touch so quick no one else could have noticed.
“You hungry?” she asked, her voice light but her eyes saying something else entirely.
“For food?” I asked. “Or for you?”
Her lips parted, her breath catching before she rolled her eyes and swatted at my arm. “You’re bad.”
I grinned, leaning in close enough that only she could hear. “I’ll behave. For now.”
Her flush deepened, and she turned toward the bar, leaving me to follow in her wake. And damn if I didn’t feel like the luckiest man alive just to do that.
Chapter 28
Paige
The tavern hummed around me—laughter, music, the clatter of glasses—but it all blurred to background noise the second Hunter leaned against the bar beside me.
He didn’t need to say anything. Just being near him was enough to make my pulse do that uneven thing I pretended wasn’t about to send me into a joy orbit. My shoulder brushed his arm as I turned slightly, catching the sharp line of his jaw in the glow of the string lights. He looked good. Too good. So good, I was tempted to take his hand and get the hell out of here so I could have my way with him.
I tilted my head, unable to stop the smile tugging at my mouth. “You clean up nice,” I said, soft enough that the music swallowed it.
His lips curved, almost teasing, but there was heat behind them. “You look…” His gaze dipped to the sweep of purple fabric at my waist, then back up, his voice roughening. “Unreal.”
I swallowed, my cheeks warming under the weight of it. “Can you believe my mother picked this out?”
“Remind me to thank her,” he murmured, his fingers brushing the back of my hand on the bar. Barely there. Enough to make me ache for more. “Like I said, it’s prom night all over again, except a million times sexier, and I get to touch you this time.”
“Purple sparkles,” I said softly, glancing down at the shimmer of my dress before meeting his eyes again. “Not this shade, but close. You told me I looked—what was it? Like the only star in the sky. I thought you were just trying to cheer me up. But now I know it was more. For both of us. Remember?”
His mouth quirked, but his eyes darkened with memory. “I remember every second of that night.”
