Page 46 of Save Me

Hunt snorted. “Darlin’...if somebody’s not getting enough of it, they’ll always go huntin’ for it.”

Lainie grinned. “I suppose you have a point, unless you’re one of those ladies who’s had the best and isn’t willing to settle for second-rate. Like me.”

He licked a drip of ketchup off his lip and stared. “You didn’t—”

“Not even tempted. I kind of turned it off, I think. Did you date?”

“Not even once,” he said. “I’m a one-woman kind of guy.”

“So...you turned it off, too?” she asked.

“I didn’t know how to turn off wanting you. I just made love to you every night in my dreams, and suffered through the reality that you were gone,” he muttered.

The faint brush of despair in his voice made her sad all over again for what they’d lost. Timing couldn’t be worse. She still looked like she had one foot in the grave, but they were together again, sharing food and space, and a future of possibilities.

She wiped her hands and turned to face him.

“Hunter?”

His eyes narrowed. She never called him by his full name unless it was serious. “Yes, darlin’?”

“I know I promised you a sexy nightgown and a pretty body, but if we turn off the lights and you’ll settle for as is, you know how to turn me back on.”

He took the statement like a fist to the gut, then inhaled to make sure he was still breathing. “Are you finished with that burger?”

Her whole body quickened. “I can be.”

He nodded. “I’ll gather up the trash.”

Today was a day for moving forward, and this moment had been a long time coming.

The drive home happened faster than when they’d left. No sightseeing, or calling attention to points of interest. Just a heart-racing need to be together.

When they pulled into the garage, Hunt ran to her side of the car and picked her up to carry her inside.

“Honey, I can walk,” Lainie said.

“If you can say that again in a couple of hours, then you’re on your own. But this is me, clearin’ the way to paradise.”

She said no more and settled for the bird’s-eye view she had of his face. Upside down or backward. Front view or silhouette...he was beautiful in her eyes.

He carried her into the house, all the way down the hall to their bedroom before he put her down.

“I’m going to wash up first, or I’m going to taste like ketchup,” she said.

“Fine, but don’t wash it all off. I like ketchup, too.”

Lainie laughed as she walked into the en suite and shut the door. She knew what he was doing...wanting her to forget about how she looked and remember the fireworks when they were together.

When she came out, the shades were down and the covers pulled back on the bed. He was waiting in the shadows, and when she walked into his arms, the removal of their clothing became a dance.

A head bowed to remove a shirt.

A foot lifted to step out of their pants.

The stroke of his hand down the middle of her back.

The rhythm of his heartbeat against her palm.

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