Page 26 of The Mating Game
“Grabbed a better coat,” I tell him. “But thanks for lending me yours.”
He’s still frowning at the garment like it offends him, looking from it to me as if he doesn’t believe I actually got a warmer one. He finally takes it after a beat, and when his fingers accidentally brush against mine, it feels like a current of electricity passes between us, one that I feel zapping deep in my belly. Even when it passes, I still feel the echo of the sensation, like it’s reverberating through me.
Huh, that’s weird.
“Ready to go?” Hunter’s voice is a little rougher as he tucks the coat under his arm.
“After you, Gramps,” I tease, trying to ignore the strange sensation currently coursing through me that has me wanting to snatch his coat back and bury myself in its warmth again.
Hunter rolls his eyes, but it doesn’t stop him from walking me to my side of the truck, yanking the door open, and holding it until I climb inside. I try to remember the last time anyone opened a door for me but then scoff at my own line of thinking.
He’s just being nice.
The thought almost makes me laugh, sincebeing nicedoesn’t seem to be Hunter’s forte.
And as he climbs back into the Bronco, I tell myself that the twinging desire to ask for his coat back is just the chill clinging to the cabin of the truck. That the strange tightness of my skin can be attributed to this also.
Because honestly, I have no other idea what it could be.
6
Hunter
I do mybest to ignore the fact that Tess smells like me on the drive home, but it proves difficult. I wasn’t thinking when I offered her my coat; seeing her shiver had forced my hand, and before I even knew what I was doing, my coat was off my body and thrust toward her.
Fucking hormones.
It’s strange that she could be so self-sufficient and fiery and still so small and fragile. Everything about her seems to invoke my protective instincts, which in turn makes me more and more irritated with myself. Even knowing all the facts—knowingwhyshe affects me like this—doesn’t curb the knee-jerk desire to ask her to leave if only to spare myself the slow torture that is being in her presence.
As we’re getting out of my Bronco, recovering from a quiet drive during which neither of us seemed too keen on conversation, it’s like I can feel her on my skin. Her scent is melded with mine, seeping out from the coat under my arm and into my clothes. It’s intoxicating.
It’s also really fucking annoying.
“So, your brothers will be here tomorrow?”
Her head jerks up as we walk up the stairs to the front door, her expression distracted. “Hmm?”
“Your brothers,” I repeat. “You said they’d be here tomorrow.”
“Oh, right. They will be.” She nods aimlessly, her brows furrowed. A breeze flutters past, and I can smell her scent in the air, causing me to tense. “Around lunchtime, I think.”
“That’s…good. You can get started then.”
Her brow lifts. “Oh, so you’re on board now?”
“Don’t think I have much of a choice now, do I?”
Even with my dry tone, the corner of her mouth lifts. “Not unless you’re up for chasing me away.”
Oh, I’d chase you.The thought comes unbidden.
I brush it aside.
“Seems easier to let you get on with it,” I say. “I’m looking forward to seeing you rip this place down board by board.”
She rolls her eyes as I unlock the front door. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Not anytime soon, no.”
