Page 34 of Hot Holiday Fling
Adie had not known that.
Hunt looked down at the pizza box, his hands gripping the counter. He eventually lifted his eyes to meet hers and Adie sucked in a hard breath at the turbulent emotion she saw rolling through all that ice and smoke.
“I had a shitty day and I was annoyed that I missed you today. I don’t miss people, Adie.”
Everything inside Adie warmed a couple of degrees at his terse admission. She’d missed him too, and she’d thought about him all day, wondering what he was doing. She’d spent thirty minutes talking herself out of heading for his office for a late afternoon catch-up session. There wasn’t anything important she needed to discuss with him; she’d just wanted to see his face. Adie compromised by going to his apartment and she’d taken her time wrapping the presents they’d purchased, desperately hoping he’d come home before she was finished.
“I was trying to convince myself that I wanted to be alone and that I needed some time on my own. I also had a bitch of a headache. I walked into my apartment and there you were and I was both confused and so damn happy to see you and I didn’t want to be either. So I got pissed.
“And then I shouted,” he added on an embarrassed shrug.
“You did shout.”
“I’m sorry,” Hunt said, looking miserable. “You make me irrational.”
It was the nicest, grumpiest compliment Adie had ever received and her internal temperature rose another degree or two. If he carried on this way she might spontaneously combust.
“I don’t like the way you make me feel,” Hunt admitted, his knuckles white as his grip on the counter tightened.
Adie picked up his half full glass of wine and took a sip. Despite knowing she shouldn’t and that she was playing with fire, Adie asked the question anyway. “How do I make you feel, Hunter?”
“Confused, excited, out of control... So damn horny I don’t know which way is up. Or if I’m even breathing.”
Oh, God, so she wasn’t the only one dealing with some wild emotions. It was such a relief to know that Hunt—unemotional and distant—also felt unsettled and unbalanced.
Adie took another sip of wine, conscious of his eyes drilling into her. Meeting his hot gaze, she saw the desire in his hot, stormy gray eyes and saw how fiercely he wanted her. Men had wanted her before—as a notch in their belt, as a conquest, out of mild attraction, as a way to pass time—but, with Hunt, she didn’t feel like she was his way to alleviate boredom.
He wantedher.
Nobody else.
And she felt the same. She shouldn’t, it was dangerous—but she did.
Don’t do it, Adie, don’t take the risk.
Because it was Christmas, she was feeling more vulnerable than usual and she didn’t want to slide back into the bad habits of her youth. But, on the other hand, she wasn’t the desperate girl she’d once been, she knew her faults and her weaknesses, she wouldn’t allow herself to feel more for him, to confuse sex with love. She could do this, maybe shehadto do this, to prove to herself she was stronger than she thought she was.
Maybe she should trust herself, after all. What harm would one night do? And maybe, if they were lucky, a night long on sex and light on sleep would burn this need out of their psyches.
They should give into it so they could get over it.
It made sense to her...
Still holding his glass of wine, Adie took his hand and told him to grab the bottle of wine.
Hunt gestured to the box of pizza. “I thought we were going to eat.”
Adie lifted herself up onto her bare toes and brushed her mouth against his. “Later. Right now, I can think of something else I’d rather do. Can you?”
Hunt’s thumb slid over her bottom lip and his eyes deepened to the color of wet concrete. “I can think of several things I’d rather do and all of them involve you getting naked.”
Adie turned her head so she could nip the pad of his thumb. “Well then, what are you waiting for?”
Adie turned away, but Hunt tugged on her hand and she turned back to him, feeling a little exasperated. If he kept delaying, she’d start thinking and she might end up talking herself out of this...
“Are you sure?”
Yes, no...yes.