Page 37 of Torment

“I did. I deserved all of it.”

“No. You didn’t.” She turned to him, and he faced her as well. “Just like me, you didn’t know how all this would play out. The whole Blue, Willow connection is something neither of us could have seen coming.” She closed her eyes. “It wasn’t just you yesterday. It was everything. It was James, Willow…him.”

“I know.”

When she opened her eyes, her piercing blue stare bore right into him. “Yet you still let me do it. You still let me take it all out on you.”

“You needed to.” He shifted his hand next to his side just an inch and felt his pinky softly brush against hers. “And for some reason I seem to keep on wanting to give you what you need.”

She didn’t move her hand away, but he also didn’t attempt to further the touch. There was no denying that he saw Blue in Scarlet’s eyes, but for a moment, he saw the Scarlet he had seen a few days ago, before the whole Blue slash Willow saga erupted. He saw the woman he had rescued outside of Twisted Fable. The woman riding that damn Kawasaki motorcycle, making him so damn hard thinking of the power she could handle between her legs. The woman who was handcuffed to his couch wearing nothing but a black bra and leather pants. The woman whose mouth annoyed the living shit out of him, yet turned him on like a damn house on fire.

He also saw the woman who succumbed, who surrendered her body and mind to him for one night while he had her tied up, making her body his playground. That night, something shifted between them, the trust she showed in him—the trust he begged her to have in him. For the short while between that night and what followed the next morning, Hunter found himself thinking that there might be something worth sticking around for. Scarlet was the exact opposite of what he searched for in a woman. And there might be physical resemblances between her and Blue, but they couldn’t have been more different.

But one thing was starting to become clear—he was starting to care more for Scarlet than he thought would ever be possible for a man like him. And the more he lay there staring into her eyes, his finger still touching hers, the more he found himself wanting to stay. Wanting to keep her even after all this was over—which was a real bad thing…for him.

“I’m sorry, Scar.”

“I know.”

He felt the slight movement of her finger against his, and his gaze flitted down to her lips. So close. Her lips were so close to his, he could practically taste them already. All he could think about was kissing her, getting drunk on her taste. He inched forward, licking his lips.

“Ace?”

He paused. “Yeah?”

“Don’t kiss me.” She didn’t move. “I’m afraid that if you do, I won’t be able to stop.”

“And that would be bad?”

“Yeah.”

Hunter leaned forward more, his mouth so close to hers he could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips. He could see her pulse starting to race just by glancing at the vein in her neck, and she didn’t attempt to pull away. “I never thought about her while I was with you, Scar. Not once. Yesterday was the first time. All the other times I was inside you, it was only you and no one else. You need to know that.”

He continued to stare at her for a few seconds more before he pulled away and got up. As he reached the door, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “I truly am sorry, Scar.” And then he left.

He had said what he needed to say. She needed to know that all the times he was with her, it was just them. Blue was never there. Not once. Not like with all the others he had screwed over the years where all he would see washerface while he was buried deep in some woman’s pussy.

It was different with Scarlet. He might not have realized it right away, but after all the boulders of shit that came tumbling down around them,nowhe realized it. If he ever had another chance at love, it would have been with her—with Scarlet.

But that ship had sailed, and it was no longer an option.

Chapter 12

“Tomorrow?” Scarlet stared at James.

“Yes. Riggs setup the meeting with the lawyers for tomorrow.” He leaned forward over his desk with a worried expression on his face. “Brent will be there.”

“What?” Hunter jumped up, knocking over a little side table. “No way in hell. There’s no fucking way she’s going near that son of a bitch.”

“It’s natural for him to be there. He has power of attorney. He has to be there.”

“Has to be theremy fucking ass. No. No fucking way.”

Scarlet rubbed her temples, feeling a migraine developing. “Hunter, calm down. I can handle it.”

His eyes darted toward her. “Yeah? Well, I can’t.”

As they stood there staring at each other, it felt like his gaze bled into hers. The determination, the desperation carved into his expression made her heart thrum against her ribs. It was almost like he…cared.

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