Page 48 of Hunter

Right… like someone like me could plow over a man of his mammoth size.

His smile widened, and there was something predatory about it.

I should turn away and run away from such a smile.

Instead, I found myself shifting forward slightly before I realized what I was doing and stopped.

“That’s all right, love. You can run into me any time you want.”

He winked, and I shouldn’t find that charming, but Lord helped me, I did.

I licked my suddenly dry lips, not knowing what to say.

He frowned and leaned in closer to me, making me feel light-headed.

Heat emanated from him, and though I had been hot with the summer sun just moments before, I didn’t find his body heat to be… unpleasant.

“Are you all right?”

I blinked up at him.

I had been right before. He easily towered over me.

He was possibly the biggest man I had ever met in my entire life.

“Miss?”

I gasped and pulled away. “Yeah,” I sputtered out. “I’m okay.”

If my face hadn’t already been red from before, it was now. I was such a loser. It was no wonder all of my “potential” boyfriends in college left with barely a word to me.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes softening in kindness, though there was something off about it.

He was being kind to me now, but something told me this was not a kind man.

He was not someone I wanted to mess with, and not just because of his size or the fact that he really looked like he could handle himself in any situation, but that there was a sort of darkness that clung to him.

He looked like he had seen all sorts of bad shit in life, and my sense of self-preservation must have been lacking when it came to him because I had the sudden urge to give him a hug.

Slowly, he reached for me, holding out his hand and grabbed my elbow, leading me to the nearby seating area they had set up in the lobby.

I shouldn’t have let a strange man touch me so intimately or even let him lead me anywhere, but it was like I was experiencing an out-of-body trance. My mind screamed at me to get away from this man who looked like he could eat me for dinner and still have room left over. My heart told me to follow him as long as he kept touching me like this.

My heart was a stupid, useless organ.

It was also winning the argument.

He sat me on the sofa bench and sat next to me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

I pulled back, finally getting out of this dazed state I was in, and I flushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry. I didn’t sleep well last night. I must be out of it. I didn’t mean to act like such a dork.”

He blinked before a small smile graced his lips. “I wouldn’t exactly call you a dork.”

“Yeah, and what would you call me?”

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