Page 67 of Reckless Desire

“Fuck is right.” My humorless laugh surprises me. “Sorry I’m tainting this perfect date with my embarrassing story.”

“Sydney,” he hisses, his jaw tense. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. The asshole betrayed you, swindled you out of your money. The blame is all on him.”

His conviction is like the first spring sun warming up the soil, getting ready to bring new life and hope. If only I could tell him the whole truth.

“I let him do it, Hunter. I believed him. And even if Jeremy was a perfect con artist, what about Dan? He was my friend with benefits.” Hunter winces at my words. “And somehow he believed we were heading to the altar. And yesterday evening… I’ve known him for almost a year, and I never would have thought he was capable of practically assaulting me. I misread him. Just like I misread Jeremy. You see...” I search his face, afraid to continue, but all I find is tender care and understanding. “The intimacy between us scares the shit out of me.”

He cups my face. “I know these are only words, but you can trust me, Sydney. You know more about me than anyone else. Whatever this is, I won’t fuck it up. You cast a spell over me three years ago, and all I want is to be a better man for you. To be worthy of you. You can trust me, Sydney.”

And I do. All my experience screams against it, but I know—deeply, unequivocally, firmly—I can trust this man. My trust in him is born out of pure instinct, but is planted in a place of absolute wisdom. It would be so freeing to let him complete me.

“It’s me I don’t trust.”

ChapterTwenty-Two

Hunter

“But do you trust me?”

A pang of guilt swarms through me for pushing her. I file it away immediately. We’ve just discovered each other. Gotten the first taste. An initial image of what could be. It’s addicting. Consuming.

Settled.

No fucking way I’m letting her slip away.

Her vulnerability seeps to the surface through her tear-stricken face, flushed cheeks and the misguided resolution in those bewitching eyes—her confession notwithstanding. She looks fragile at this moment. A fierce need to protect her rips through me. To claim her as mine so the rest of the world can’t hurt her anymore.

As the betrayal story unraveled, it took all my willpower to control the red ogre growing in my chest. If that asshole husband of hers wasn’t dead, I would kill him all over again.

“Yes?” She swallows, questioning her own conviction. “But I shouldn’t.” Her face contorts again, her eyes glistening.

“That’s good enough for now.” I pull her tighter, holding her with the determination of a warrior. Despite her words, her continuous internal battle, she’s let down enough barriers since last night to fuel my belief that there could be an us.

Fuck, there is an us. And she will get on board fully. In time. Soon.

I nuzzle her neck, inhaling her scent. This beautiful woman who turned my world upside down with her chaste blushes, loyalty to my daughter, occasional unguarded humor, and stimulating conversation that challenged me. The layers still left to uncover. The mystery of her. And all those whimpers, moans and gasps.

“Would you feel better if I fuck you again now?” I whisper against the soft skin under her earlobe.

Sydney erupts with laughter and the heavy drape of our conversation lifts with the music of it.

“Hunter Stuart, you’re a deviant.”

“And proud of it.” I smirk.

“And you’re humble.” She cocks her head, a little playfulness returning.

“You have the ability to unleash the best of me.” I graze my teeth over her jaw. Her shivers seem to have a direct line of communication to my cock. “So, fucking it is?”

Our laughter turns heated pretty quickly and we spend the rest of the day and half of the night thoroughly discovering every inch of each other.

“I don’t want to face reality,” Sydney says as we reluctantly leave the room on Sunday morning.

“Nothing changes. This is our reality now, beautiful.” I scoot her closer to me as we wait for the elevator.

“Only, I have a job where my boss is the last person I want to ever see, and you have a daughter who doesn’t know about us. And I need to check the internal code of conduct to see if dating a parent would cost me my job. And—”

I silence her with a kiss. She tenses at first, but then melts into it. “We will solve it all. Stop worrying.”

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