Page 38 of The Secret Life of a Witch

“I know.” He climbs back on top of me, straddling my hips and pinning my wrists down beside my head. His now chin-length blond hair hangs in his eyes as he stares down at me. “So, why don’t you tell me what’s bugging you so I can win this thing and it can be over?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You won’t win.” Then I writhe my body, trying to kick him off me. Instead, I end up grinding my hips against his in a very,veryerotic way.

Great. Talk about embarrassing.

Hunter tenses like he’s in pain, and then he hurriedly shifts his hips away from mine.

“God, Eva, I …”

“I’m sorry,” I sputter, my face feeling fiery hot. “I didn’t mean to do that! I was just trying to get out from under you.”

He chuckles, his muscles remaining wound tight, yet his fingers loosen on my wrists. “Well, for future reference, if you’re ever pinned down beneath a guy, grinding your hips against his might not be the best way to get him off you.”

My face floods with even more heat, but I manage to dazzle him with a wicked grin. “Well, it got you off me, didn’t it?” Then I yank my wrists out from his hold and push against his chest.

Thrown off guard, he tumbles onto the floorboard.

Seizing the opportunity, I sit up and scramble out the door. But the second my feet plant down in the dirt, I realize that I technically let him win this fight by getting out of the truck after all. Now all he has to do is lock me out and drive off.

“Dammit.” I reel around, ready to dive back in, but he hops out and blocks my path.

“Now what’re you going to do?” he teases with his hands spanned out to his sides.

I take off in a run to the back of the truck, preparing to climb in through the passenger side. However, he sideswipes me near the tailgate, looping his arms around my waist.

I spin around and flatten my palms on his sturdy chest to push him back, but his arms enclose around me as he yanks me against him. I struggle to get away, wiggling around and jumping up and down, when my legs somehow end up wrapped around his midsection.

I move to put my feet back down on the ground, but he backs us up and pins me between him and the side of the truck.

“You’re being super weird right now.” I pretend to be more annoyed than I am.

He leans his weight against me so our bodies are fused in every single way possible.

Seriously, is he trying to kill me?

“You’re the one who’s acting weird,” he retorts. “And I can tell it has something to do with me, so just spit it out, and I’ll fix it.”

“What if you can’t fix it?” I ask, my voice soft and weak. Whether from the worry of his betrayal or his body against mine, I’m not sure.

Holding me against the truck with his hips, he reaches up and sweeps my hair out of my rainbow-colored eyes that I’m sure look so much like the sky right now that it’s probably creepy. “I’ll fix it … No matter what it is. I promise.”

I sigh. “That’s a pretty big promise to make without having any idea what I’m going to say.”

His hand lingers on my cheek. “That’s because I’d do just about anything for you.”

I want to tease him about being a cheesy goof, but I’m too emotionally drained at the moment.

“Fine, you really want to know?” I ask, and he nods. “Okay, but you have to promise not to hate me. And I want a contract promise, not verbal.” Because if it wasn’t him who outed Ryleigh’s body’s location, he might hate me for even thinking it. And I can’t handle him hating me.

Then again, if we do a contract promise, and he does try to lie to me, I’ll probably end up hating him. Not just because he lied and betrayed me, but also because I’ll end up in so much tremendous pain when he breaks the contract promise.

He nods without a speck of hesitation, and I really, really start to doubt he’s guilty. I need to be positively sure, though, so I slip my hand down to my pocket to grab my wand, only to remember …

“Dammit, that stupid little troll demon broke my wand.”

“That’s okay.” He retrieves his from his back pocket. “We can use mine.”

“But I need to do my own spell to make the contract binding. And then …” I bite down on my lip, feeling awful for what I’m about to say. “And then, after we do that contract, I need to do another promise contract with you.”

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