Part 13 (1/2)
And hearing her say yes had felt even better.
Hunter nodded, thumping the door gently shut behind her and himself back to reality. ”Well, I can take you upstairs if you want. I mean”-his chin winged up as he heard the innuendo in his words, too late-”to show you where the bathroom is, and everything.” Christ, could he fumble this any harder?
But Emerson just let out a soft laugh. ”I know what you meant.” Adjusting her brown leather bag over her shoulder, she followed him into the cottage and up the sun-filled stairwell. ”I'm not kicking you out of the only bathroom in the house, am I?”
Focus, dumba.s.s. He might want her, but he also wanted her to feel comfortable. ”Not at all. There's a guest bath up here and a powder room on the main level, so you've got the s.p.a.ce in the master bath to yourself for as long as you'd like.”
Hunter led the way down the upstairs hall toward his bedroom, which he'd made triple sure didn't look like a stand-in for the pigsty over at Whittaker Hollow, his boots coming to a stop on the floorboards when they reached the master bathroom.
”Here we go. One great, big bathtub, at your service.”
Emerson's eyes went wide, and she slipped past him to fully enter the room. ”Oh, wow. This is about as far as it gets from the bathroom in my apartment.” She lowered her bag to an out-of-the-way spot by the vanity, extending her arms out slightly as she turned a full circle over the sand-colored bathroom tiles. ”Seriously. It's gorgeous.”
A pang unfurled low in Hunter's belly as he watched Emerson take in the room. Letting his gaze follow hers, his eyes moved over the marble-topped vanity, the oiled bronze light fixture over the mirror behind it, the circular window set just below the gabled line of the ceiling that was too high for anyone to see inside yet large enough to fill the room with soft, golden sunlight.
He returned his stare to hers as her eyes traveled the length of the wheat-brown walls, then the plain white molding framing both the door behind them as well as the one off to the side, keeping the toilet private. Even though he'd never used the bathtub, Hunter had to admit that the fixture really did make the room, with its curved, glossy edges and st.u.r.dy feet finished with the same oiled bronze as the faucets and the light over the vanity.
Of course, his appreciation for the cast-iron monster tripled when Emerson caught sight of it with a sigh.
”All I did was paint, really. The builder did the rest. But I'm glad you like it,” Hunter said, taking a step back despite the fact that every part of him save his conscience was strongly vetoing the maneuver. ”The towels on the bar here are all clean, and there's soap and shampoo on the counter there if you'd like to borrow some. I'll be downstairs if you need anything else.”
Yep. You'll be downstairs fending off the world's biggest hard-on. And she'll be up here. Warm. Wet. And naked in your bathtub.
Emerson fixed him with a smile as sweet and slow as b.u.t.ter over warm bread, and Good Christ, he hadn't thought this through even a little bit.
”You know, I've been thinking.” She stepped toward him, her skirt rustling and swaying around her ankles. ”It seems a shame you've never used your own bathtub.”
Every part of Hunter froze except his heartbeat. ”Guess I'm more of a shower guy.”
”Most guys are,” Emerson said, stopping only when there was less than a foot of s.p.a.ce between their bodies. ”Still. It's an easy fix, right?”
”I do live here. I guess I could use the tub anytime I wanted to.”
Emerson's pupils dilated in the soft sunlight, but her aquamarine gaze didn't waver as she leaned in even closer. ”Like right now, for example.”
Surprise winged through him, followed by a hard shot of heat. ”But you're going to be in here.”
”I am.” Her hands found his waist, fingers skimming the top edge of his jeans with a light, lazy touch, and his c.o.c.k stirred just from the proximity. ”You could stay with me,” she whispered. ”Two birds, one stone, and all.”
Yes, yes, yes, came the chant from above his neck and below his belt, and it took every ounce of restraint in the universe for him to grate out, ”Are you sure that's what you want?”
”Do you think I'd ask if I wasn't?” Emerson's mouth tilted into a smile, and he reached up to swipe his thumb over the curve of her peach-colored mouth, satisfaction spearing through him as she shuddered in response.
”No. But just to be clear, if I stay in here with you, you're not getting what you came for.”
Emerson's smile grew wicked in a way Hunter had never seen before, her tongue darting out in a s.e.xy, torturous glide over his skin. ”Oh yes, I am. All you have to do is give it to me.”
Hunter's heart pounded, his c.o.c.k painfully hard against the fly of his jeans. Staying in here with her was impulsive and crazy and all the things he knew he should avoid like a forty-pound land mine. She'd broken his heart once. The only way to keep himself safe was to play it safe.
He brought his mouth down on hers without thinking twice.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
Hunter kissed her hard enough to make her lips ache and her legs consider giving out, and Emerson nearly moaned in relief. Hunger pulsed through his touch like wildfire, traveling from his fingers all the way to her core, and even though the strength of the kiss bordered on pleasure/pain, all she could think was more.
”Hunter.” His name rolled a path past her lips to fill the heated air around them, and he responded with a sound she felt under her skin.
”I'm sorry,” he said, cupping her neck to pull her in for another bone-melting kiss before she could make her confusion form words.
”For what?”
He pulled back to pin her with a steel-blue stare that was all certainty. ”For delaying the bath I promised. But I've waited twelve years to have you back in my bed, Em. I'm not waiting anymore.”
In one swift move, Hunter wrapped both arms around the back of her rib cage, pulling her tight against his body. Sensations slammed into Emerson from so many directions that, for a split second, she could barely process them all. Hunter's firm, full mouth coaxing her lips open to glide his tongue over hers. The press of his chest on the thin layers of fabric between his muscles and her aching nipples. The suggestive friction of his erection, low and hard over her belly, and oh G.o.d, she didn't want to wait, either.
”Your bed sounds good. Go.”
They moved in a combination of deep kisses and laughter and tangled limbs, back over the threshold of Hunter's bedroom. His simple, masculine bed sat in all its king-sized glory in the middle of the s.p.a.ce, and Emerson found herself thanking G.o.d and every saint she could think of that they'd been only a dozen steps away.
”Yes,” she whispered. Wasting no time, she kicked off her sandals. She reached out to slide her fingers beneath his T-s.h.i.+rt and lift it up, wanting more, wanting everything, hard and fast and now, now, now before her body could betray her.
But Hunter stepped out of her grasp, capturing both wrists with his work-roughened fingers. ”Not yet.”
Emerson's heart pounded, the ache between her legs following along with the rhythm. ”What do you mean?”
”I mean not yet.” His eyes glittered with an edgy intensity all new to her, and her breath caught in her lungs.
”Hunter, please. You just said you don't want to wait.” Her face flushed. She hadn't felt this good in so long-h.e.l.l, she might not have ever been so desperate for an o.r.g.a.s.m. She needed to be naked, the sooner, the better. ”Please take me to bed.”
The smile lifting one corner of his mouth hardened her nipples to tight peaks behind her sheer white top. ”Just because I want you in my bed right now doesn't mean I want to rush through being here.” Dropping her wrists, he hooked a finger beneath her chin, letting his mouth hover just over hers. ”You want me to do more than kiss you?”
Emerson s.h.i.+vered in antic.i.p.ation, biting back the moan in her reply. ”Yes.”
”Do you want me to undress you?” At the sound of the hitch in her breath, Hunter's eyes flared. ”Put my hands on you? My mouth?” He angled his lips even closer, his promise-filled words making her panties go damp as he asked, ”Do you want me to spread your legs and bury myself inside you until we both lose our minds?”
Need raced through Emerson's body, humming beneath her skin. Oh G.o.d, she was already losing her mind. ”Yes. Please, yes.”
But rather than strip her naked and skip to the end of the list the way her brain and body were demanding, Hunter just smiled.
”I want that, too. But not yet,” he said, quelling the protest building in the back of her throat. ”I've waited twelve years for this. To remember where you blush.” He traced a line from the soft spot beneath her chin to the hollow between her collarbones, her skin p.r.i.c.kling with a flush beneath his fingers. ”To relearn how you sound.”
His touch drifted lower, coming to a stop on the bare skin at the deep V of her s.h.i.+rt, and this time, Emerson couldn't hold back her moan. ”Hunter.”
A dark edge filled both his smile and his stare as he brought his lips down on hers in a hot, suggestive sweep. ”To remember how you feel and how you taste. So no matter how bad you want to rush, I'm taking my time with you. Starting right now.”
Sending his arms around her shoulders, Hunter brought their bodies flush. He kissed her slowly, exploring her mouth with his lips and teeth and tongue, and as much as Emerson wanted to stay one step ahead of her traitorous body, slowing down felt too good to resist. She knotted her fingers in Hunter's hair, meeting some of his movements while surrendering to others. Deep strokes of their tongues played off soft licks, soft licks leading to the sweet sting of her bottom lip between his teeth, and finally, she pulled back on a gasp.