Page 61 of Fourth Base with the Alpha
He reaches across the space between us, and brushes his thumb against my cheeks, wiping away tears rolling down my face.
“How much is the debt?”
“$80,000. It probably doesn’t sound like very much to you,” I add hastily.
“I’ll give you the money.”
I laugh shakily. “No Hunter, you don’t have to do that.”
“I do. People write to me all the time asking me to help their sick child or donate to this or that cause. I give when I can, Isabella. If I’d known your sister I would’ve given you the money then. So let me give it to you now.” He growls a little. “Why the hell didn’t Kim tell me about this?”
“Kim offered to pay the debt off herself. But I’m not accepting charity. We will pay it off – even if I have to resort to some unconventional ways to do it.” I squeeze his hands and attempt a watery smile.
“I have more fucking money than I know what to do with,” he says quietly. “Let me do this for you.”
I shake my head again. “It would be weird. When you’re my boss and my,” I lean in closer, “fake-boyfriend.” And I sucked your cock and am definitely developing inappropriate feelings for you.
His jaw rotates as he grinds his teeth together, considering my words.
“I’m not done talking about this.”
I poke him in the stomach. “I am.”
He looks at me with a deeply serious expression. “You don’t have to censor yourself when you’re with me, Cupcake. You can talk about her. Talk about her all you want.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, wondering if it’s possible for this man to make me even more gaga for him. I open my mouth, and pause. It’s hard to find the words.
“Tell me what she was like.”
And so I do. I tell him all about my beautiful little sister. I cry a bit and I laugh a bit. I recount old boring stories of the two of us. I explain how she got sick. The whole time he sits there and listens, nodding, smiling, squeezing my hand. It feels so good to talk about her.
“When my mom died,” he says, “my dad banned us from ever mentioning her name. He took down all her pictures, tried to erase the memory of her. But me and my brother and my sisters, we used to talk about her in secret. It helped, Isabella. It kept her with us.”
“My dad died when I was little, but I don’t really remember him.” I let out a puff of air.
“What you’ve been through is a part of you. You shouldn’t keep it hidden.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, resting my head against his shoulder. For a moment we are silent, both lost in our thoughts, soaring through the sky. “Let’s watch a movie,” I say.
Hunter presses the screen in front of him and an array of movie choices sprawl across the screen.
“I’m guessing you’re going to want to watch one of your sappy movies.”
“If you mean a romance, then, yes. And they aren’t sappy. They’re addictive. Heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking and like a long hot, soothing bath for the soul.” Hunter scoffs beside me. “I suppose you’re into some high-end scandi noir drama bullshit.”
“I don’t usually watch movies or TV.”
“Well, let me introduce you to a world of yumminess!!” I flick through the movie categories, clapping my hands together when I find a huge list under romance. “There are some classics on here. Let me see …Dirty Dancing,Romeo and Juliet,Notting Hill… wait here’s a fake-dating one!” I tap the screen. “Maybe we should give that a miss. Don’t want to find out we’ve been doing this all wrong.”
Hunter watches me continue to peruse the list, then asks me, “What started this love of romance?”
“The mouse with big ears.”
“You were a fan?”
“It’s all me and my sister watched growing up. We knew all the songs, used to dress up as the princesses.”
“Are you one of those people who visits the theme park every year?”
