He hung up before Sawyer could respond and let Beau snatch the phone back.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Beau seethed. “Hasn’t even started high school yet, and, at the first opportunity, he has a party?”
“Right, we’ll talk to him . . . but,” Hunter began, his smile wide. “We look the other way for Sawyer tonight, he’s gonna have to do the same for us.” He pulled me close, his smile slipping into a smirk that was soft and intimate and all mine. “Parents aren’t gonna be back until tomorrow.”
“I heard,” I whispered, pressing myself even closer before turning to look at Savannah, but she was solely focused on Beau as he stared at her.
Those hard eyes moving across her face like she was the only thing in the world he treasured. The corner of his mouth ticked up for a moment before he asked, “Got plans tonight?”
“I do now,” she said playfully before tossing me a knowing look over her shoulder. “Wanna stay at my place?”
“Only if you’ll stay at mi—” My response was cut off by my surprised gasp when Hunter lifted and tossed me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing at all. Excitement and anticipation coursed through me, and my laughs filled the night air as he carried me through the parking lot. “Hunter Lee!”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“If you drop me, so help me . . .”
A sharp yelp burst from me when he abruptly lowered me back to solid ground and said, “I didn’t ask you.”
I sank against his chest as confusion tugged at me. “What?”
“I didn’t ask you.” He released his hold on my waist, his brow furrowed when he removed his baseball hat and drove his fingers through his hair before replacing it and pulling the bill down low. “If you wanted to stay . . . if you wanted to do any of it. I just let you know what we were gonna do. If you—”
“Hunter . . .” Affection and amusement sounded in my throat as I grabbed one of his hands in mine. “I think this is the first time ever we don’t have to sneak past both our parents. Are you kidding?”
“No,” he said gravely, his expression severe as he studied me. His eyes darted around us before settling on me again, and then he was dipping closer.
His voice lowering and filling with an intensity that was pure Hunter and did amazing things to my heart.
“Mads, I never wanna assume with you. Ever.” He released my hand to trail the tips of his fingers up my arm, sending a shock of chills in his wake. “Your body will always be a gift. Every time. You understand?”
“Yeah.” It was all a stunned breath as I tried not to melt or throw myself at him.
“So, no, I’m not kidding.” He took a small step back. “I don’t care how many times we’ve had sex. I don’t care that there’s a night where we won’t be disrupted.” A huff burst from him, his chest shifting from the action. “I won’t care if we’ve been married for fifty years. You tell me you don’t wanna sleep next to me that night, I’ll be sleeping by myself.”
I pressed my lips close together, but the smile still broke free. “Bad fight?” The question was a whispered, gentle tease, and had his dimples flashing.
“Oh yeah,” he whispered back. “You kick me to the couch? Gotta be bad.”
A soft laugh danced on my lips as I pushed up on my toes to brush my mouth across his, lingering only for a moment before settling on my heels. “Thank you . . . for everything you said and for being unbelievably amazing. But I crave these times, Hunter. I crave being near you. I ache for the nights where I get to fall asleep next to you.”
I grabbed his hands and started backward, rounding Beau’s Explorer.
“So, don’t ever worry about assuming. I promise you, if there’s a chance of being with you, I’m already there. I’ve always been there.” I stopped at the door, my lips twisting into a wicked smile as I pulled off his hat and set it backward on my head. “Besides, my boyfriend was punched in the jaw tonight, I need to take extra care of him.”
He had me pressed against the door and his mouth on mine, swallowing the last word. Giving me a hint of what the night would hold with the way his tongue teased and tortured my own. The way his hands gripped and claimed my hips, pulling me closer and making me ache.
“You know . . .”
I sucked in a sharp breath at Savannah’s drawl, but Hunter only moved far enough away that our lips continued brushing with each ragged breath.
“If y’all would get in, you could get to that a lot quicker. In private.”
A huff of a laugh burst from me and ended when Hunter pressed another slow, lingering kiss to my lips.
Reaching behind me for the handle, he popped open the door to the Explorer, then dragged his mouth to my ear. His voice all rough and grit. “A hit to the jaw isn’t gonna stop me from tasting you. From taking my time with you.”
A shudder ripped through me, and my stare slowly shifted to his.
Dark with need and lust and making me forget why he couldn’t do those things to me right there.
“Car, Mads.”
“Car.” I cleared my throat, my head shaking as I forced it to clear. “Right.”
I climbed inside when he held the door open for me. Movements unsteady and knees threatening to give from the intoxicating combination of his love and his kisses and his sensual words.
“Don’t forget to call your parents,” Savannah warned as I settled in my seat.
“Right,” I mumbled again and reached for the empty seat beside me for my purse.
“Ordered pizza,” Beau grunted when Hunter slid in behind me and shut the door. “It’ll be ready by the time we get there.”
Hunter made a confirming sound in the back of his throat, but his mouth was on my neck, making the search for my purse drift to the back of my mind.
“I can’t find my that,” I murmured as my eyelids fluttered shut.
Amusement rumbled against my neck. “Your that?” he teased.
“Hush.” I pretended to push him away, but ended up curling my fingers around the back of his neck instead, silently asking him to continue.
“Adorable,” he whispered as his fingers moved over my hip and into my back pocket to pull out my cell phone. “Your bag’s at my house, but here’s your this.”
“Better watch it,” I said lightheartedly as I opened my phone and went to the contacts. “I might just make you sleep alone.”
I felt his answering smile against my neck.
Hunter had been responding to my this and thats for most our lives. After so long, he knew what I was referring to without needing any kind of explanation. And for all my feigned offense, that’s all it was. Feigned. Because everyone knew the more distracted I was, the more I did it . . .
And Hunter liked distracting me.
“Fucking adorable,” he repeated as I pressed the phone to my ear and waited for my mom to answer.
My breath caught when his hand slid around my waist and teased the underside of my breasts. My eyes rolled back when his teeth barely grazed my skin. By the time I left a message for my parents on the answering machine, I was a puddle.
“Done,” he murmured when I snapped my phone shut, grabbing my cell and tossing it to the seat.