Page 91 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

“It’s only reasonable for you to worry.”

“I’m not worried. Not anymore.” I look him dead in the eye. “It was never about you. It’s always been about me and –” Just tell him. He’s the one you want. There shouldn’t be any secrets. “It might sound crazy, but the gate was about a lot more than just you. I figured it out in therapy and realized that…I used to see Malcolm sneak out through the gate. I was young and didn’t know, but –”

“Oh, Amy, I’m so sorry,” Hunter says emphatically. “You were so young, you –”

I pinch back tears from my eyes. “It’s okay. I’m glad I know now. Because that’s unbuckled so much of that strange tension from how I felt about you. It never had to do with you at all. You’re wonderful.”

He flushes. I can see it through his beard. “I don’t know about that.”

“You are, Hunter. You are.” I look at our hands positioned so yearningly together. “I deleted my mom’s number.”

Hunter doesn’t say a word, just widens his eyes in shock.

“It’s time for me to move on from people who don’t love me the way I need to be loved; don’t you think?” I ask gently. “Maybe both of us…maybe we deserve this. Us.”

Hunter’s lips spread into a smile. He touches my chin, tilting my face up toward him. “I have to agree.”

When he kisses me, it’s like I’ve never been kissed before. His lips are both tender and straightforward, a shovel breaking into fresh earth. I pull myself into his arms, run my hands up his chest. Finally, things feel settled.

“Hey you two! Get a room!” Axel shouts. “It’s our engagement, not yours!”

I hold up my middle finger toward the party, relishing the burst of laughter after it. “Don’t you dare stop kissing me,” I say in the space between a kiss.

“Trust me, I’d kiss you forever if I could,” Hunter answers, pressing a hand against my lower back with possession.

I can’t wait to tell him he can if that’s what he wants. I’d be happy to give him my forever.

* * *

Both our brains are addled with champagne by the time we return to Hunter’s house. He lets the babysitter go after exchanging a few words about how the night went with Jessica. Thankfully, Jess is sound asleep and didn’t cause any trouble whatsoever, except she did require five books to be read to her before she’d lay her head on the pillow.

A girl after my own heart.

The second Hunter closes the door behind the babysitter, he pulls me into his arms and kisses me with the intensity of the noonday sun when the sky is clear. It is hot, passionate, and I need more, more, more.

We don’t make it upstairs this time. Instead, we dance back and forth between kisses into the kitchen, giggling at how easy it all feels.

“Great party,” Hunter mumbles halfway through a kiss, shucking off his sportscoat.

“Yes, I’d have to agree,” I reply. In turn, I undo the top few buttons of my dress.

“Ah-ah-ah, that’s my job,” Hunter intercedes, his hands knocking mine away casually. As he undoes each button, he kisses and laps at my neck, lower and lower until he reaches the swell of my breast. “My favorite part.”

I giggle. “That’s your favorite?”

“Well, let me be clear. They’re all my favorite,” he murmurs. “I like these…” He cups my breasts. “I like these.” Grabs my ass, pulling my hips to his. “But most of all…” Hunter gazes down into my eyes. “I like this.”

I bite my lip coquettishly. “What?”

“Your beautiful face. Perfect lips, brilliant brown eyes, your nose.”

“My nose?!”

“Oh, come on, that’s a normal thing to like.”

I narrow my eyes. “Is it?”

“Are you trying to tell me you hate my nose?”

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