Chapter 7

Kelly

I couldn’t believe what I had just done. I’d just witnessed Hunter beat two men nearly to death and now I had invited him into my home.

What the hell was I thinking?

The tattooed man standing there, smoking a cigarette like he hadn’t just torn apart one of the only places that I felt safe in, was now about to be in the same place I slept. I suddenly felt sick. How did I get so swept away in the moment? Why was I acting like a schoolgirl around him? Sure he had saved me, but who can just do something like that?

“All right, honey. I’m coming,” he said as he stomped out his cigarette.

When he stood up, his body was just inches from my face. He towered over me and blocked out the midday sun that had been shining down. I could see him, all of him. I could feel my eyes go wide, trying to take in every inch of the man in front of me, and I felt dizzy again. I had the urge to run my hands across his hard chest and over his shoulders and arms, to press my body against his. My head was spinning. Maybe I had made a mistake. I immediately wanted to run away and take back everything from that morning, but, at the same time, couldn’t stop the need I felt to have his massive arms wrapped around me. I wasn’t afraid, but I didn’t feel safe. I wanted to go, but couldn’t help just standing there in his shadow, waiting.

Waiting for him to do something, anything.

As he stared down at me with his piercing blue eyes, I could feel my whole body tingle like there was hot water cascading over it. I was suddenly very aware of my breathing and tried to slow it down.

As if he could sense everything that was happening to me, a slight smile broke out over his face. He pocketed his one hand and ran the other across the rough hair on his cheeks. He kept smiling. He looked at me like he did when we first met, but this time with something else behind his eyes. It was almost as if he knew something I didn’t. I felt like I was shaking.

“Lead the way, sweetheart. I’m sure you can use that beer as much as me. Maybe even more,” he said with a chuckle.

The sound of his voice echoed through my bones and I barely noticed that we had started walking away from the diner and toward my house. I needed to break the silence and searched for something to say.

“It’s just around the corner here. It’s not much, and I really haven’t kept it up lately. Work and all. You know how it can get. Life just gets so busy sometimes, right?” I was rambling. I rambled when I was nervous. What happened to the calm I felt a few minutes ago? I was lost inside myself and was starting to show it.

“Don’t worry,” Hunter said, taking my arm in his huge, rough hand. He stopped us both dead in our tracks. “I guarantee I’ve seen worse, all right?”

I stared up at the man gripping me. I didn’t doubt he had. All I knew was that I had never seen anything like him before. He let go of my arm and I felt calm again. We kept walking, but in silence now. It somehow felt more comfortable, like he had silently drawn me into whatever had broke that smile on his face. I had never been more certain and confused in my entire life. My head was racing as fast as my heart. This was a mistake, but one I needed to make. I couldn’t get out of it, but I had to regain some control over myself before I was pulled into him any further.

“Well, here we are,” I announced. “I think I’ve only got time for one though, and I’m not much of a drinker anyhow. It just felt like the day for it if there ever was one, you know?”

More rambling. It was true, I wasn’t much of a drinker, but I had all the time in the world. I just needed to create some sort of time limit, a reason to break free from him. Hunter just looked back at me with that same sly smile, as he climbed the stairs of my porch. It was as if he could see the future, see what was about to happen, while I was still in the dark.

“I won’t take too much of your time, darling,” he said as he reached the door.

He was so certain of himself. He was a man who took the lead. It was my house and he was the one standing at the door. I looked up at him. His shoulders filled the entire frame and his stare shot right through me. He looked down on me and smiled like he was taunting me.

“You coming in or am I going it alone here?”

I couldn’t say anything, and I couldn’t turn away. I didn’t want to turn away. He just stood there, waiting, and staring into me like he could read me like a book. And it was true. It was as if he could read me. There was something going on inside me that only he could see. I could feel it coursing through my veins. I needed to find out what it was.

What was it that he knew about me that I didn’t even know about myself?

I walked up the stairs, past him, and through my doorway, feeling his eyes on me the whole time. The smell of his sweat, cigarettes, and body followed me in. It was like the diner all over again. I knew he was there, I could feel his presence and pull, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and face him. Something had come into my life and I had brought it into my home. He placed his hand on the small of my back and I felt myself arch as his touch sent a wave of sensation through me. I watched as he strode past me, into the kitchen, as if it was his house and not mine. As his hand slid off me, I was pulled in after him, almost in a haze. I stopped just inside the room and drank in the pure sight of the man that was looking out the window. He was right there, standing over the table where I ate my breakfast. For a moment, I forgot where I was and how I’d gotten there. I just felt drawn into the electricity that seemed to pulse with every rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed in the room.

With his broad back to me, he crossed his arms. The movement stretched the white tank top across his muscular back to the point I thought it was going to rip. Slowly turning around, he made sure I saw every muscle in his tattooed chest and arms. He leaned against the table and relaxed his stance. His eyes casually looked around the room as if he was judging its ability to hold him in. When his gaze found its way back to me, I was frozen.

This was it. He had me and he knew it. I was finally caught in whatever it was he was going to do to me. I wasn’t afraid, I didn’t want to run. But I was no longer in control, and he knew it as much as I did. My vision started to go blurry. My breath sped up. He made the whole world go still and quiet. He just looked me dead in the eye and spoke with complete calm and power. He was no longer smiling.

“Yeah, darling. I’ve seen much worse.”