Page 7 of Hunter

Viper nodded, knowing my mind again. “Send a text to one of the prospects and get them to cover the bakery until we get back. Tell ’em to scare the living shit out of any guy who goes near her.”

Nodding, I withdrew my phone from the inner pocket of my cut and followed Viper’s suggestion. When I pressed send, some of the tension in my chest eased.

“Here you go,” Sadie chirped as she handed my brother a to-go cup and paper bag. Then she turned her eyes back to my face and smiled. Any blood that had returned to my brain was now swelling my cock.

Fuck! What the hell had happened to my self-control? No one had ever been able to shake it before. Then along came this pretty, innocent little thing, and I was ready to snap.

“Do you want anything?” she pressed.

“You have to stop asking men shit like that,” I grumbled. “It puts dirty ideas in their head.”

Her mouth formed a little O, and she double blinked.

“Coffee, sunshine,” I finally ordered, steering us away from the sexual tension building in the air.

“Black?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yeah, baby,” I confirmed. “Black.”

Just like my fucking soul.

Sadie beamed at me before grabbing a cup and the coffee pot.

“New around here?”

“Sort of,” she answered with a smile as she poured, then replaced the pot and reached for a lid. “I grew up twenty-five minutes from here, but I’ve never actually been to Old Bridge.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Can’t have been to many places at your age.”

Sadie quirked a brow and giggled as she lifted the lid on a glass cake stand holding frosted sugar cookies..“How did you know that?”

“I’m good at reading people,” I admitted. “This is your first job.”

She blushed and shuffled on her feet. “Am I that bad at it?”

“You’re perfect, sunshine. An open book. I like seeing your thoughts and emotions so clearly on your face. But then again, at eighteen”—I guessed—“you haven’t really learned to close yourself off yet.”

“I’m nineteen,” she corrected with a frown. “And that sounds lonely.”

“Can be,” I acknowledged. “Doubt anyone would feel that way around you, shining so bright.”

“Um, thank you.” She placed one of the sugar cookies—frosted in bright yellow—in a small bag and handed it to me.

I reached into my pocket for my wallet, but she waved it away.

“My treat.” Her face flushed as she smiled bashfully. “A little sunshine to take with you.”

“Thank you,” I murmured. Our fingers brushed when she handed me the cup and cookie.

Electricity raced over every nerve ending, and it took every single shred of my control not to leap over that counter, throw her over my shoulder, and run.

“Hunter,” Viper interrupted, his tone apologetic. “Gotta run, brother.”

My hand flexed, itching to wrap around his neck and strangle him so he’d stop trying to drag me away from my sweet girl. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. And killing him in front of Sadie would probably make claiming her a fuck of a lot harder. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. Ever. I wanted to be the one to take away all of her fears.

First, I had to get this club shit out of the way. Since I’d already been planning to take a few days off when I got back, now I could devote all that time to her.

“Soon, sunshine,” I told her in a low, gritty voice. My lips twitched when she shivered and blushed.

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