Page 39 of Altered

Every time I looked at him, the lyrics of Alanis Morisette's songHead Over Feetfloated through my mind.

I had well and truly fallen head over feet for Hunter Casarazzi, and it wasall his fault.

It was alarming how fast I had fallen for this man, and how quickly he had managed to erase two decades of unconditional love. He had replaced the only man who had ever held claim to my heart, and had taken up immediate and permanent residency on the throne of my soul.

I wasn’t proud of myself for it, but that's what happened.

I studied and memorized every part of him, right down to the thick, lush lashes fanning his cheeks, the carefully trimmed stubble on his face, and the way his lips parted ever so slightly. He didn’t snore or jerk around and kick.

In fact, he barely made a move at all.

With the exception of his ribcage rising and falling slowly, it was like sleeping alongside a ghost.Oddly peaceful.

But the strangest part of sleeping with Hunter was what happened when I touched him.

He didn’t lash out or tense like I was used to.

He groaned in appreciation and shiftedcloser.

"Hi," I whispered, with a rapidly rising heartbeat, when his eyelids fluttered open several hours later.

"Morning, sweetheart." His voice was thick from sleep, but his blue eyes were warm. He looked sopleasedto see me that it made me ache. I wasn’t used to being looked at like this.

Unable to stop myself, I reached over and smoothed his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "See?" I whispered, covering his warm cheek with my hand. "You're awake, and I'm still here."

I was rewarded with a smile so beautiful, it caused me physical pain.

He was just so dark, so twisted and dangerous, and I was hooked.

Because the heart inside of the man – the soul?

Itsangto me.

He was singing the words of a song my soul seemed to know, seemed to remember from what felt like an eternity of past lives. I'd gotten things so very wrong. I should have waited for him. Falling in love with him was the sink my father always spoke about. It was the final drop. There was no coming back from it. The connection between us was unbreakable, and god knows I had tried to break it.

Before I met Hunter, I never truly knew how selfish love could make a person behave.

Now I knew.

My love for him transformed me into a stranger – even to myself.

I found myself stepping over relationships and family to be with the one my heart desired.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

But the pull?

It was indescribable.

It was like an invisible chord linking us together. Regardless of the pain and the consequences, I allowed myself to be pulled towards him.

I couldn’t fight it, the attraction, the way my soul screamed out for his, sated only when he was with me. Nothing less would do. I didn’t think anyone could understand it; my feelings for him – the undeniablelureI felt towards him.

Rolling onto his back, Hunter reached over and pulled me onto his lap. "Yes, you are," he chuckled, settling me down on his hips so that I was straddling him. I could feel the hard ridge of his cock pressing against my inner thigh, grazing my pubic bone, and it made me ridiculously wet. He was big and thick and he made my clit pulse with need.

Until two days ago, everything I knew about the male body had been through books, porn, and television. With the exception of the night I lost my virginity nine years ago, and that awful night with Jordan last month, I had no fucking clue.

How pathetic was that?

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