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Hunter turns to hand me my beer, saying, “John… Sasha… you know my sister, Casey. ”
John stands up and gives Casey a hug, and I have to hide a smirk as Casey just looks at Sasha with cold eyes and says, “Hi, Sasha. ”
Sasha gives her a small smile and quietly says, “Hey. ”
Hunter brings his arm up around my shoulder and pulls me in close, so I’m tucked up against him. “And this is Gabby. ”
John leans over and shakes my hand. “Great to meet you, Gabby. ”
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I tell him, and it is genuinely nice to meet him. But then a lead weight fills my stomach as I turn to Sasha. She steps forward and sticks her hand out to me. “Hi, Gabby. I’m really, really sorry about what happened at the bar last night. If I’d known Hunter’s girlfriend was there, I never would have done that. ”
I take hers and give it a firm shake, and it doesn’t escape my notice that she said she wouldn’t have done that if she’d known Hunter’s girlfriend was there. Not, she wouldn’t have done that if she’d known Hunter had a girlfriend. Therefore, that implied to me that she would have definitely made a move on him if he had a girlfriend, just not in said girlfriend’s presence.
Yes, my gut instinct is preening right now.
“That’s okay,” I assure Sasha with a kind voice, although I’m feeling anything but. However, I don’t want to cause waves, and I’m secure enough with Hunter that it doesn’t really matter if she has designs on him or not. He’s not going back to that, I’m fairly positive.
“Hunter tells me you’re a general contractor,” John says in my direction.
I nod, taking a seat at the table. “Yup… for about three years now. I took over my dad’s business when he passed away. ”
Casey sits down as well, while Sasha and Wyatt remain standing. Hunter walks over to the grill and starts getting it ready. I’m not sure he knows how to cook anything unless it’s something he can char over an open flame.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” John says in commiseration. “I bet your dad would be proud of you though. ”
That is such a kind thing to say. I feel my heart immediately open up to John, and I give him a smile and murmur thanks.
Then I’m completely surprised when Sasha says, “I really admire what you do, Gabby. I know what it’s like to be in a male-dominated career, always struggling to prove your worth. ”
I blink at her a few times in surprise, and it hits me like a ton of bricks. Sasha and I actually have something very much in common. I have to give her points for her sudden empathy, and I’m starting to think that maybe I’ve misjudged her.
“I bet you do understand,” I tell her with sincerity. “It’s been tough to say the least. ”
“I sure as hell don’t know why,” Hunter says from over at the grill. “Her work is f**king amazing. ”
You know that feeling, when you’re on a roller coaster, and it reaches the pinnacle of a long drop, and you’re scared shitless, but after you fly over the edge and make your descent, you get a feeling of tingly euphoria?
Yeah, that’s what Hunter’s words do to me right now, and my cheeks heat up over his public proclamation of his pride in me. My eyes slide to his and he’s grinning, because he knows his words have an effect on me.
Maybe I’ll rethink staying over at his house tonight.
“More,” I moan, even as Hunter surges hard into me with a grunt, knocking the headboard into the wall.
“Jesus, Gabby,” he pants against my ear, but he f**ks me harder, the headboard now making a steady thwacking sound.
With a long groan, he slams into me one more time and closes his eyes tight as he comes… hard.
His entire body trembles, and his breath comes out in a rush as he collapses on top of me, where he lays like dead weight. He’s heavy, but he feels divine.
“I think you killed me,” he says between heaving breaths.
I giggle and push him off, stretching my body luxuriously. I didn’t come… at least not right before Hunter did, but he in no way left me high and dry.
You see… he made good on the promise to work me over for an hour—even timed it with the clock on his iPhone. The get-together tonight ended up actually being… fun. After I found out I had something in common with Sasha, I relaxed a bit and just let myself enjoy. My relationship with Hunter was out in the open, he’d declared to his family and closest friends, as well as his ex-girlfriend, that we were involved, and he was super attentive to me the entire evening.
My skin tingled when I caught him looking at me, warm sometimes, hot others. My belly fluttered when he would laugh… white teeth flashing, his face completely gentled by humor.
And then there were the times when he would touch me. Sometimes it was just casual, sitting beside me and slinging his arm around my shoulder. Sometimes it was intimate… like the time I helped to bring the food into the kitchen, and he backed me up against the counter. I thought he was going to give me one of his passionate kisses, since we were all alone. Instead, he brought his hand up and just skimmed his fingers along my temple, down my jaw, and behind my ear, winding his fingers to the back of my neck. The move caused my eyes to flutter closed over the soft touch, staying closed even as he leaned in and kissed me on my forehead, murmuring, “I’m so glad you came tonight. ”
It was that touch that caused my heart to stand up and wave the white flag of surrender to him. I realized at that moment, that I hadn’t truly opened back up to him since he crushed me years before. But I was open now.
And I opened up to him when our one hour started. I easily capitulated to stay the night, not just because of his one-hour promise, although that played a part. No, it was the kiss to my forehead that got me to change my mind, and I realized I didn’t want to sleep away from him.
Ever.
So, yes. I was in deep. I had no clue where this was going, but I was definitely going along with him.
End of story.
As I was saying, the one hour turned out to be mind-blowing but practically impossible for me. Not Hunter… he was strong all the way through, but after he gave me three orgasms in about twenty-seven minutes, I was wiped out. I actually had to push him away from me and beg him to leave me alone, because my sensitive flesh literally couldn’t take anymore. He chuckled, pulled me up in his arms, and told me he’d give me a break. We lay there for about ten minutes, talking quietly, about Nascar racing of all things. Neither of us were fans, so not sure why we started talking about it. But when Hunter’s iPhone relayed there was five minutes left on his hour time limit, he pushed me onto my back and slid back down my body, his face going back between my legs.
And damn if he didn’t get me to come one more time before that hour was up—just before he crawled up my body and slid inside. He was merciless as he f**ked me hard. I knew I didn’t have it in me for another orgasm, but it didn’t matter. I’d had enough, but it still made it no less special the way Hunter made me feel when he was inside of me. His body, his face, the way he touched me, the things he said, the sounds he made, the way he came… hard. Those things were all far more thrilling than the hour he had just spent worshiping me.
“Did you get your bid turned in?” Hunter asks me, drawing me out of my fond memories of Hunter’s sexuality and the way he makes me feel.
I turn over on my side toward him, tucking my hand under my chin. He turns toward me, mimicking the move, and our faces are close enough we can look straight into the other’s eyes, but not so close as to make our vision blurry.
“Yeah… they wanted the bids by email, so I sent it over this evening. They’re supposed to decide next week. ”
“How long will that project last if you get the contract?” he asks as he scoots his lower half toward me, slipping one of his legs in between mine, and resting his hand on my hip. The move is warm and intimate, made from a desire just to touch our skin together and nothing more.
“Probably six mont
hs since we’re building ground up. It’s a great project. That, along with your remodel, will really help get me to where I want to go. ”
Rubbing his thumb along my hipbone, he smiles at me and asks, “And where is it Gabby Ward wants to go?”
Good question. Where do I ultimately want to go? It’s not something I’ve let myself think about for the last three years, because I’ve been so focused on trying to keep my dad’s business growing. It’s a far cry from where I was three years ago, with a college degree within my grasp and a career as an educator.
This is also the first time, in a very long time, that I’ve thought about being a teacher. I didn’t allow myself to be sad about it when I dropped out of college. I had enough grief over my dad passing to keep me busy. But now… thinking about it, I feel wistful and dejected.
“Where did Gabby go just now?” Hunter asks softly.
I blink hard and realize that my gaze had slid down to Hunter’s chest, and my mind had completely drifted off. Dragging my eyes up, I find him watching me with amusement.
“I zoned out,” I admit, “was thinking about college. ”
“Do you want to go back?”
“I don’t know. I mean… I never thought I did, but it just hit me a little bit right now… maybe I miss the thought of being a teacher. ”
“You can always go back to college any time you want, Gabby,” he points out.
“Not while running a business, I can’t. I mean, I’d want to finish at UNC. ”
“If you go back to finish your degree, that implies you’d do it to start teaching. If that’s the case, you’d give up the business anyway. ”
It used to be that the thought of letting Ward Construction close up caused acid to bubble up in my stomach. It was such an unpleasant, painful feeling that it prompted me to immediately drop out of school and rush home to continue my dad’s work. But thinking about it now… it makes me sad thinking about giving it up, but it doesn’t hurt like it used to. I wonder what in the hell that means.
“I’ve had a job offer,” I say, sort of changing the subject but not really, because it’s related.
Hunter’s eyebrows shoot up in interest. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah… a buddy of Dad’s has repetitively offered me work with his construction company in Raleigh. He does mostly residential stuff, but it would be good income. ”
“Are you thinking about taking it?”
“No. Not really… I mean, that was my backup plan if I couldn’t make Ward Construction work. But with remodeling Last Call, and potentially getting the Coursier’s contract, I’m hoping that’s moot right now. ”
“Why was that your backup plan? Why not just go back to school?”
“It was part one of the backup plan,” I tell him with a smile. “Go to work and save money. Then part two was to take saved money and finish degree. ”
“Gotcha,” he says as he slides his hand up my ribs. The feeling is nice, calming. He caresses around to my back, and then presses his palm down to pull me in closer to his body. I slide in easily to his embrace, tucking my face into the crook of his neck, and then his arms wrap around me.
Hunter rubs my back softly with his entire palm, soothing me further, causing my eyes to get heavy with sleep. I think to myself, I don’t ever want to give this up.
“Let me tell you something about the Gabby Ward I know,” Hunter says softly, causing my eyes to open back up and my ears to perk with interest. “The Gabby Ward I know can do any of those things she just laid out to me, and she can do them to perfection. You have options, baby, and none of them are bad choices. Follow your heart. ”
I smile and press my lips against the skin of his collarbone before closing my eyes again.