Page 101 of The Mating Game
“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“Don’t be,” she sighs. “You’re just fucking huge. My poor vagina’s eyes are bigger than its stomach.”
“That’s horrifying,” I laugh.
“But not untrue.”
She looks up at me then, her eyes shining a little. “Hunter?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m glad it was you,” she tells me. “I’m glad that you’re the one here with me.”
And the knot that’s inside unravels a bit more, turning me into this loose, lax thing, and I mightactuallybelieve I’m worth all thefuss. I’veneverfelt the way I do when I’m here with her, doing something as simple as this.
It makes it impossible not to lean down and capture her lips, my tongue sweeping through her mouth, my lips lingering at hers, my voice rougher than it was before. “Still cold?”
“Nope,” she sighs.
My lips curl against hers. “Good.”
“You know…” She shifts a bit, looking mildly uncomfortable. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me.”
Something squeezes in my chest, and I wind my arms around her as I pull her tighter against me. “That’s a real shame.”
“I think I like camping,” she says softly, looking almost shy.
“I haven’t even shown you how to make breakfast over the fire.”
“That might be hotter than anything you’ve done so far.”
“Oh?” I make an indignant sound. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“I might need another point of reference,” she says seriously. “Just to be sure.”
I huff out a laugh. “Greedy thing.”
“Maybe,” she says. “But after last night…I don’t think anyone can blame me.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me in for another kiss, and I can feel it happening—the last of my walls crumbling and giving way to the vulnerable center of me, laid bare for her to do with whatever she might want. It should terrify me, but right now…I can’t find it in me to feel that. Not with her warm and sated against me.
I hold her a little tighter as I steal one more kiss, telling myself that this time might be different—that Tess is nothing likeChloe—even as some part of my brain tells me it’s impossible to be sure of that after knowing her for such a short time. Which is true, really, and I’m aware of that. But the problem is, now that I’ve started?
I can’t seem to stop wanting to kiss her.
Something deep inside me worries I never will.
23
Tess
“I’m just saying,”I tell him after eating the last bit of fireplace bacon. “There’s an argument to be made here.”
Hunter snorts. “Are you complimenting my cooking or insulting me in…other ways?”
“Maybe I’m goading you,” I suggest, waggling my eyebrows.
He shakes his head, stowing his plate away. “I’ve got to check the windows after the storm last night. Need to make sure there aren’t any cracks.”
