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"Um…" I glanced nervously at Hunter who was now awake and watching me. "Yeah, I can come over."

"I'll see you soon," was all she said before the line went dead.

"Shit," I muttered, dropping my phone down on the nightstand beside me. "That was my mother." Frowning, I chewed on my bottom lip and said, "She sounded mad…wants me to go over there to talk."

Anxiety churned inside of me.

"Oh my god, what if something's happened with David?"

"Nothinghas happened with David, HC," Hunter was quick to assure me. He trailed his calloused fingertips across my bare skin, settling on my lower stomach. "Stop worrying, sweetheart."

"I can't help it," I shot back, flushed. "I'm a worrier, and my mother's never snippy."

Hunter arched a brow as he looked up at me with an amused expression on his face. "Snippy?"

"Don’t tease. You didn’t hear her," I grumbled. "Something's up with her –" Pausing, I turned and gaped at him. "Oh shit. Do you think they know about us?"

"Would it bother you if they know about us?" he replied, tone a little harder now.

"It will bother me if I'm not the one to tell them," I stated, eyes locked on his.

He stared hard at me for the longest moment before letting out a heavy sigh. Throwing off the covers, he got out of bed and stood before me in all his glorious nakedness. "Come on, HC. Shake a leg."

"Where are we going?" I asked, unable to stop myself from staring at his impressive early morning erection.

Jesus Christ.

How did that thing ever fit inside of my body?

"We're going to see your mother," he replied. "And my eyes are up here, sweetheart."

Mortified at being caught in the act of ogling, I looked up at him guiltily. "Sorry."

Hunter smirked. "Look away. I've got nothing to hide." With that, he padded into the adjoining bathroom, giving me a perfect view of his ass on his way.

The sound of the shower filled my ears then.

Flopping back down on the mattress, I released a frustrated groan.

How the hell was I ever going to coexist with a man I couldn’t look at without turning all cave woman?

"You coming?" he called out from the bathroom.

Oh yeah.

I was most definitely coming.

****

Lucky

"You good, HC?" I asked when we pulled up outside the red-bricked, two-story house on Thirteenth Street.

The question was a pointless one; she looked so far opposite from the word okay, I should have rephrased the question to 'are you going to faint'.

Her knees were bobbing restlessly as she sat in the passenger seat of my truck with her eyes wide and full of fear. Her clasped hands had turned white from the sheer force she was putting on them.

"I'm not good, Hunter," Hope finally replied, knees still bopping along, but now her head joined. "I'm really, really notgood." Turning to face me, she whispered, "Can we just drive away?" her voice was small, her eyes wide. "Get out of Boulder…. hell, out of Colorado, and start somewhere fresh."

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