Hunter

“You’re going home with me,” Hunter snapped at me from the foot of my hospital bed.
“I am not,” I insisted.
“You don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“I’d rather sleep in the gutter,” I sneered.
“Why can’t you just accept my help?”
“Because you’re not offering, you’re demanding.”
“Who fucking cares? You need a place to stay and I have it.”
“That’s besides the point,” I said, coughing harshly as my chest burned from the smoke that was still affecting me. Hunter had pulled me from a burning building, which I was extremely grateful for, but now he seemed to think he could boss me around. He stormed over to my bed and forced the oxygen mask over my mouth. I breathed in the air and relaxed into the bed. I just wanted some fucking sleep, but that wouldn’t be possible with him standing over me and staring at me with fury in his eyes.
When the coughing subsided and I could breathe easy again, Hunter sank down into the chair next to me and ran a hand over his bald head. Sighing heavily, he looked up at me and for a moment, I thought he was going to go soft, but then his brown eyes turned harsh and he stood up, pacing around the room.
“This is ridiculous. You don’t have a place to stay and I have plenty of room. Besides, I already fucking told you that things were going to change between us. You might as well accept that now.” He leaned his large frame back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. His muscles in his arms bulged and stretched his shirt tight across his massive chest. I almost started fanning myself at the sexy sight of him, but that would just prove to him that I wanted him.
“No,” I said firmly.
I stared at the sexy hunk of a man across from my hospital bed and refused to give in. He was the most gorgeous specimen God had ever put on this planet and by far the best I had ever had in bed. I wanted him so badly, but I absolutely refused to give in to his demands to go home with him today. If I did that, I knew it would be that much harder to hold onto my heart.
Hunter thought that I was the same as him, out for a good time and nothing else. To some extent, that was true. While I was working my way through my masters degree, I had no intention of dating anyone that might cause a distraction. I had been working too hard and too long to deal with complications when I was so close to my dream. I was starting to teach at a college outside of Pittsburgh in the fall and there was no way I was messing it up. Since it was my first year, I needed to be doing my job just as well as all the other teachers if I wanted to stick around.
In reality, I was like every other woman. I wanted to find someone that made me happy and settle down with a family. Hunter was not the man to do that with. He had always been a good lay, but I saw his wandering eyes at the bar and I took it for what it was. Hunter was a man with a voracious sexual appetite that one woman could never fulfill. So, as much as he stood in front of me and insisted that I would be going home with him to be taken care of, I couldn’t let my heart believe that he was serious. Hunter was the one man I wanted and the one man I knew would destroy my heart.
But then something happened. Suddenly, everyone was in my room, trying to make demands on where I go. Hunter was fussing over me in an angry, brooding kind of way and when he insisted I go home with him, I couldn’t refuse again. The look in his eyes as he caressed my cheek had me melting right then and there.
“Humor me.”
I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell him that if I humored him, I would end up a gushy puddle at his feet on the floor. But I couldn’t deny him, so I nodded and let him take me home. He carried me down to his truck, which I thought was way over the top, but gave me such happy feels that I let him do it without argument. When he walked around to the other side and got in, he seemed slightly less angry, but I noticed that his knuckles were still clenched on the steering wheel. It was almost as if he was angry with me.
“Did I do something to make you mad?” I asked.
His hands tightened on the wheel some more and he didn’t say anything. I shrugged and stared out the window. There was nothing I could do about his brooding mood. My head slipped against the window as the scenery went by. I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night with Hunter pacing my room and hovering over me like I was about to die. I had been in a fire and had some smoke inhalation, but I had been cleared and was fine. All that excitement had worn me out though and I was asleep before we reached the edge of town where his house was located.
When we got to his house, I jerked upright, wide awake in two seconds. I quickly got out of the truck before he could come around and get me out. I had to keep my distance from him.
“Lucy, stop!”
I turned and looked at Hunter, who was running to catch up to me. “What?”
“You shouldn’t be-”
“Walking? I’m fine, Hunter. I had smoke inhalation, not a broken leg.”
“You’re so damn stubborn. Why won’t you let me help you?”
“Because I don’t need it. I’m fine and I don’t need someone hovering over me.” I sighed and looked longingly toward the door where a bed waited for me. “Look, I’m tired. Can we just go inside so I can go to sleep?”
His eyes softened and he nodded. “Yeah. You can have the guest room.”
I nodded, not wanting to show the hurt on my face. The guest room. This was why I had to guard my heart from Hunter. He had demanded all night that I was his and he would take care of me, but then he took me to his house and put me in the guest room. Hunter definitely wasn’t ready to let a woman into his life.
He led me up to the guest room, which I knew all too well. Whenever Hunter and I had sex, we came to this room. He never let women into his room. It was his sanctuary and he didn’t want it tainted. I ripped off my clothes, not wanting to sleep in sweatpants and a t-shirt and crawled under the covers.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to sleep,” I said with a yawn.
“I see that, but why did you take off your clothes? We’re not having sex, you know.”
I glared at him, “I know we’re not having sex, but I want to be comfortable. What do you care anyway? It’s not like you sleep in here.”
I rolled over before he could say anything and closed my eyes. I heard him walk around the bed and go over to the other side. Sinking down on the bed, my eyes flew open when I felt him making himself comfortable.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m just making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m sleeping, Hunter. There’s not much that can happen to me in here.”
“Look, you don’t have anyone else to look after you. Why do you have to bust my balls over this?”
I sat up and leaned back against the wall. “If you really felt it was that important to watch over me, why did you put me in here where you don’t sleep?”
His brows furrowed and he shook his head slightly. “Because this is the guest room.”
“I know that. But why did you put me in here instead of in your bedroom?”
“Because that’s my bedroom.”
“Exactly. You can leave now.”
“I’m not-”
“Yes, you are or I’ll go stay in a hotel. I don’t need you to watch me sleep or sit here and make sure I’m breathing. I just want to be left alone and since we only have sex, there’s no need for you to do anything more than give me a place to stay.”
A growl rumbled through him and he shifted on the bed into my space. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you that you’re mine?”
“If I was really yours, I wouldn’t be in the guest room where you fuck all your random hookups.”
“It’s the guest room,” he exploded. “You are a guest, the last time I checked. Guest. Room. Understand?”
“Perfectly.” I flipped off the covers and picked up my clothes. There was no way I was staying here. He just didn’t get it and I didn’t have the energy to keep explaining it. How hard was it for him to understand that I didn’t want him in my space?
“What are you doing?” he asked incredulously.
“I’m going to a hotel.”
He ripped the sweats from my hands and held them away from me. “You’re not fucking going anywhere.”
I smirked at him and walked downstairs in just my t-shirt. I had no problem going to a hotel in just my t-shirt. Sure, it would be awkward, but right now, I would do just about anything to get away from Hunter.
“Lucy! Fucking stop!” He raced after me and spun me around, hauling me up over his shoulder. “I told you that you weren’t going anywhere.”
“And I told you that I wasn’t staying here!”
“Stop being so damned difficult. I’ll stay out of your fucking room.”
“Now wasn’t that simple?”
I let him carry me upstairs and put me back in the room, glad when he plopped me on the bed and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I was finally able to drift off and get some sleep, knowing that at least for the moment, I had successfully kept Hunter at bay.

✯✯✯✯✯

When I woke up, it was after dark and I was starving. I got dressed and went downstairs to find some food in the kitchen. Hunter was in there, brooding at the table with a beer. His eyes raked over my body as I walked in and I could see the hunger there. It couldn’t happen though. Now that I knew exactly what Hunter wanted from me for the moment, I knew I had to stay away from his bed.
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Starved.”
“Sit down. I’ll heat up some dinner for you.”
“Thanks.”
“So, I was thinking that I could take you shopping in the morning for whatever you need. Maggie dropped off some stuff for you earlier, but I’m sure it’s not enough.”
“I’ll need to swing by the bank tomorrow and get out some money.”
“That’s not necessary. I can get you whatever you need.”
“Hunter, we’re not together. You need to get that through your head. I appreciate the place to stay, but I’m not going to let you buy me new things.”
“Why can’t you let me fucking help you?” he said, slamming his hand down on the counter. “You’re so damn stubborn. I’m trying to show you that I want to be there for you and you just can’t fucking let me in.”
“Am I really supposed to just believe that all the sudden you want me for more than a quick fuck? That’s all we’ve ever been, Hunter. I was in a fire and now you want me?” I shook my head at him. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t work that way.”
He walked over to me and sat down in front of me, pulling my hands into his large ones. He stared at them for a minute and I saw a flash of a vulnerable side to Hunter. “My best friend was in a fire and I thought he was dead. When I saw your house on fire…you can’t imagine how fucking terrified I was. And then I saw you passed out on the floor and I could have sworn my heart was going to pound out of my fucking chest. It was like seeing Knight dying in that building all over again. Only this time it was worse because it was you and I didn’t even have a chance at something real with you. That’s all I want is a fucking chance.”
I was speechless. I didn’t think Hunter would ever say something like that to me. We had never had any deep, meaningful conversations or anything that was remotely serious. This was a new side to Hunter and it gave me hope that just maybe we could have something more.
He leaned back in his chair and ran a hand across the stubble on his jaw. “Sorry,” he said with a chuckle. “I know that’s not really our thing, personal stuff, I mean. I just wanted you to know that I am fucking serious about this thing between us. I don’t know the first fucking thing about how to be in a relationship, but I want to try with you.”
He looked up at me and I could see it in his eyes. He was serious and I was finally ready to give him the chance he was asking for. “Okay, let’s try.”
A faint smile touched his lips before he stood and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. When he turned away to get my dinner from the microwave, I couldn’t help but place my fingers to the spot he had just kissed. It was so tender and so unlike Hunter and made it all the more special.
I ate quietly and then let Hunter lead me back upstairs. This time, he took me to his room, seeming to struggle with actually letting me in there as he opened his door. The room was masculine and cold, exactly what I would expect from Hunter. There were no signs of life in his room other than a few pictures on his dresser from his days in the military.
His bed was huge and looked like the only thing he truly cared about in the room. There was a fluffy comforter that looked so cozy I could wrap myself up in it and sleep for days. I walked over, running my hands along the comforter and sank down onto the mattress. A sigh escaped my lips when I was enveloped by the comfort of the soft mattress. It was heaven. My eyes slipped shut and that was the last thing I remembered.

✯✯✯✯✯

A strong arm was wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against a hard body that I knew to be Hunter’s. I smiled dreamily as I thought about what he said to me last night. He wanted to try. Things were finally looking up. I was going to be starting a job in the fall and I now had a man that truly cared about me. Someone that I found myself equally attracted to, but never thought I would have something more with.
The sun was shining brightly through the windows and putting me in the best mood I’d been in for days. I stretched my arms above my head, ready to relax back into the comfort of the bed when I felt a sharp bite over my exposed nipple. I had gone to bed last night in clothes, but this morning I was naked. When had that happened? Hunter was watching me intently as he laved my nipple and sucked it hard into his mouth. I moaned and thrust my chest up higher into his mouth.
His hand slipped down my stomach, gliding smoothly across my skin and dipped down beneath the covers. I shuddered when his fingers slipped through my folds and pinched my clit. My eyes drifted closed as he pleasured me and brought me to orgasm. Hunter knew exactly how to take my body from zero to sixty and always gave me an ending with fireworks.
His lips trailed up my breasts to my neck as he slid between my legs. His erection pushed at my entrance as he rocked against me. I moaned as I begged for him to thrust inside me, but he just kept teasing me, making me wetter with every thrust.
“Hunter, get inside me.”
“I don’t think so. I wouldn’t want you to overdo it. You just got out of the hospital,” he teased.
“If you don’t get inside me now, you’ll never have another chance again,” I threatened. His eyes narrowed at me as he pushed inside me to the hilt. His cock moved slowly inside me, thrusting in long, hard strokes that had me splitting apart in seconds. I bit my lip as I felt my body clenching around his. He threw my legs up over his shoulders as he started pounding me harder.
My eyes rolled back in my head as pleasure washed over my body. I would never find anyone that could give it to me the way Hunter did. His primal need for me matched mine for him in every way.
“Fuck me harder, Hunter. Give me what I need.”
He pulled out and pounced on me like a tiger. “I’ll fuck you the way I want to and you’ll take it.”
“Then stop talking and do it.”
He flipped me onto my stomach and gripped onto my hips, pulling me up against him. I felt his rough hands spread my ass cheeks as his dick rubbed against my ass. “If you weren’t just in a fucking fire, I’d be a lot rougher with you.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “I can take it.”
“Not today.”
He slapped my ass and pushed hard inside me. He was pounding me so hard that he had to hold me up. Normally I could hold my own with Hunter, but I wasn’t quite myself today and now I could see why he was going easy with me. He pulled my body up against his, kneading my breasts as he kissed my neck. He sank down onto the bed with me in his lap and continued to thrust up into me. It was gentler than what we normally did and so much more intimate. When his hand slipped down to my pussy, it didn’t take long for me to come again for him. He followed me over the edge and then held me tight to him as we both came down.
“Hard enough for today?”
“Yeah,” I said breathily. We laid back down on the bed, both of us slipping in and out of sleep throughout the day. When I was awake, I couldn’t help but stare at him and wonder if this was real. It felt like it was a dream. Just yesterday, we were nothing to each other. How did this all happen so fast?
By the time late afternoon rolled around, I was tired of being in bed. I slipped out of bed and was making my way to the bathroom when he snagged me around the waist.
“So, you’re staying?” he asked as he held me to his chest.
“Yeah, I’m staying.” He nipped at my ear and I batted him away. “But you could at least give me a drawer so that I don’t have to have my stuff in a bag on the floor,” I said, pointing to the bag he had put in the corner that was full of things Maggie had brought for me. I pulled out of his grasp and made my way to the bathroom, blowing him a kiss over my shoulder. I almost stumbled as I saw him looking intently at my bag with a strange look on his face. I didn’t want to think about what that meant. Everything was fine. I was just letting my mind go crazy, thinking about what ifs.
I showered, taking my time to scrub the remnants of the fire off me. I should have taken a shower when I got home yesterday, but I was just too tired. After drying off, I walked out of the bathroom to an empty room. I grabbed my new bag of clothes and pulled out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Maggie had packed me everything a girl could need and after finishing up, I headed downstairs to see Hunter staring out the window. I slipped my arms around his waist, but he stiffened when I kissed his shoulder.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” he said shortly. “What do you want for dinner?”
His mood was different than before, darker and I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in the short time I had been upstairs cleaning up. I stepped back from him, a little uncomfortable with this new tension and shoved my hands in my shorts. “Uh, I’m fine with whatever you want.”
“I have to run into the office for a little bit. I can just pick up a pizza on the way back,” he said, but he wouldn’t look at me.
“Sure. I can just hang out here.”
He nodded and picked up his keys, leaving without saying goodbye. I tried to watch TV and I tried to read, but I just kept going over what had happened this afternoon. He had asked me if I would stay, or had he phrased it differently? Maybe he hadn’t been wondering if I would stay, but wondering when I was leaving. That’s not what his body language suggested, but maybe I was reading him all wrong. I dissected every word, every move since I had come here yesterday for the rest of the night. Hunter wasn’t back by dinner time, so I made myself a sandwich and flipped through the channels some more.
When eleven o’clock rolled around and he still wasn’t home, I decided to go to bed. I had to go check out the farm tomorrow and talk to my sister, Claire about what our next steps would be. When I woke up in the morning, Hunter still wasn’t there and I was beginning to think I had made a very bad decision in letting him into my heart.

✯✯✯✯✯

Claire had picked me up and we drove out to the farm together to see how bad the damage was. The house was in shambles, barely anything left standing. We walked through the burnt interior and found some picture frames that hadn’t been totally destroyed, but there was nothing left of the photos that were once in them. There was no upstairs, which meant that all of our things had been destroyed. After ten minutes, there was no point in looking anymore. There was nothing to find.
We went to the chicken coop and took care of the chickens, but at this point, I just didn’t have it in me to do anything with them any more. What was the point?
“Claire, I think we need to just sell the chickens and put the farm up for sale. I don’t want to deal with this any more.”
“I don’t think I can make that decision right now. There are too many things to consider.”
“Well, if you want the farm, it’s all yours, but after everything that’s happened and with Dad no longer here, I just don’t see the point. I’m going to be starting a new job and the last thing I want is to be driving out here to do upkeep on a farm we don’t even live on anymore.”
“Alright. I’ll take care of the farm from now on until I make a decision.”
A truck pulled in the drive and Claire and I watched as Derek and Hunter got out of the truck. Hunter stalked toward me with his sexy swagger that had my insides lighting on fire, but the closer he got, the more I realized that he wasn’t happy. My eyes flicked to Claire, who obviously was seeing the same thing as me.
“Why the fuck did you leave the house?” he snapped at me as he got closer.
“Excuse me?”
“You fucking heard me. I got home and didn’t know where you were.”
Claire scurried off to Derek and they quickly made themselves scarce. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Hunter. “The last I checked, I don’t have to tell you when I’m doing something.”
“You could have some fucking common courtesy and leave me a note or something.”
“Like you did last night?”
His eyes narrowed at me. “I was working and I told you I would be.”
“Right. You also said that you would be bringing dinner home, but you didn’t call and you didn’t come home.”
“See, this is why I don’t have relationships. I go to work and then have you nagging me when I don’t come home on time.”
“I’m not nagging you. I don’t really give a shit if you don’t come home because you’re working, but you don’t get to yell at me when you just did the same thing to me.”
He ran his hand over his head and started pacing in front of me. “Look, we just need to take a step back here. This is too…fuck, I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. One minute, just fucking, and the next, the next there’s this expectation for more and I don’t know how to deal with that.”
“Hunter, let me ask you something. Did you stay away last night because of the whole drawer thing?”
He looked up at me and I could see it in his eyes. It had totally freaked him out. “It was just too much. I should have talked to you about it, but I’m not used to having to discuss shit with someone else.”
“You know that I wasn’t asking for more, right? You asked me to stay with you and I just wanted someplace to put my things.”
“I didn’t…” He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck and sighed. “I didn’t know. I just thought it was moving really fast and it freaked me out.”
I nodded and looked over to where Claire and Derek were walking around the house. I wanted what my sister had. I wanted a man that would cherish me the way he obviously did my sister and didn’t have to second guess or hold back because of fear that I wanted more than a drawer. I would never get that with Hunter and that was clear as day. He was a great guy, but he just wasn’t ready for a relationship.
“Can you take me back to your house and then to a hotel?”
He looked up sharply at me in confusion. “You don’t have to go. I know I kind of freaked out, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave.”
“Yes, it does. Hunter, we’re great together, as fuck buddies. I like you, but when I start dating someone, I don’t want there to be all this second guessing. I don’t need someone to ask me to move in and offer me everything within the first month, but I need to know that he’s ready for a future together.”
“I’m trying, Lucy. Shit. I told you I’ve never done this before.”
“I know and I’m not faulting you for that, but you asked me to come stay with you and you freaked out after one night together. You didn’t even want me in your bedroom.”
“Fuck, Lucy. You have to give me time to adjust. This is all new to me.”
“I know, but I don’t want to go through an adjustment period. I don’t want to always be wondering what you’re thinking or if you’re freaking out. You just said we need to take a step back and we haven’t even been together a day. I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work with us.”
I walked toward his truck without another word. I didn’t want to stand there and argue about what was going to happen between us for the next hour. It was clear to me that even if Hunter wanted to try for more, he just wasn’t equipped to handle a relationship yet.

✯✯✯✯✯

I got lucky and found a small apartment over the laundromat in town. It wasn’t much, just a one bedroom apartment, but it was all mine. It needed some work, but I didn’t think that was going to happen, especially considering how cheap the rent was. Still, since I was starting a job in just under a month, I couldn’t be picky about where I was going to be staying. The college where I was going to be teaching was about a half hour from me. I didn’t want to move to Pittsburgh and the rent would have been higher there anyway, so this would suit me fine. Besides, Claire was going to be staying with Derek and my dad was in a retirement home now, so it wasn’t like there were other people to get an apartment with at the moment.
The apartment had been vacant for some time, so they agreed to let me move in right away. I wanted to paint the walls and spruce it up a little, but that would have to wait. I didn’t even have any furniture yet. I had a little in savings from working since I was seventeen, but it would only be enough to get me by until my first paycheck, I hoped. The only thing I really needed right this minute was a bed to sleep on. I could get a futon for the time being. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but it would work.
I set my bag of clothes and bathroom products that Maggie had bought for me in the corner of my bedroom and sighed at how pitiful it looked. Grabbing my keys, I locked the door behind me and headed for the closest Walmart to get the cheapest futon, sheets, and pillows I could get. I didn’t really need a blanket yet because it was still pretty warm outside.
By the time I got my all my stuff picked out, I realized that I didn’t have any towels or washcloths. I also didn’t have dishes. There was just so much that I was missing that you don’t really think about until you need it. I picked up the cheapest dishes I could find and the basics for the kitchen, not spending more than $200 on all of it. My total bill was much higher than I wanted, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
An employee helped me load the futon into my car and I drove slowly home since it was sticking out the trunk. When I pulled up to my apartment, I groaned at the prospect of dragging the futon up the narrow stairs by myself. I hauled the rest of the stuff inside first, knowing that as soon as I attempted to take the futon, I wouldn’t want to do anything else.
I took the huge box out of the trunk and pushed it across the sidewalk to the entrance door. With a little maneuvering, I was able to get it through the door and started pushing the heavy box up the stairs. I was about halfway up when I lost my footing and started to fall backwards. I tried to grasp onto the railing, but my fingers just brushed it before they slipped away. My eyes went wide as I realized I was about to be crushed by my own futon, but then I hit a hard chest and arms wrapped around me to grab the box, preventing it from sliding down further.
“Thank you so much. I’m sorry-” I stopped when I turned around in the massive arms and saw Hunter standing behind me with a smirk. “You.”
“Me. What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“Moving in.”
“To this dump?”
I squirmed to get out of his arms, but I was trapped between him and the box. “It’s my dump. Can you let me go?”
He lifted one of his elbows for me to squirm out from under and then he started pushing the box up the stairs as I did my best impression of a wallflower. When he got to the top of the stairs, he looked at the two doors and then back at me in question. I snapped out of my haze and rushed up the stairs to let him into my apartment. When I opened the door, I tried not to let my embarrassment show. Yeah, it was a piece of crap.
“You can just slide it in and I’ll take it from there.”
“I’ll help you set it up. Where do you want it?”
“The bedroom,” I pointed to the only other door in the place and he started pushing it over.
“This place is a rat trap. I can’t believe you’re staying here.”
“It’s what I can afford for now.”
“You could have fucking stayed with me.”
“Hunter, you do remember how that went, right? You, freaking out over a drawer?”
He opened the box and started putting together the futon. “I may have fucked up, but you’re still mine, and the next time you fucking need something, I expect you to ask for help.”
“I’m not yours. That’s not how this works. Do you even understand how to be in a relationship? You don’t normally have to demand that the other person is yours.”
He abandoned the futon and walked toward me with a glint in his eye that I knew all too well. “I don’t have to demand that you’re mine.” He took a few more steps, backing me up until I had nowhere to run. “You know as well as I do that you will always be mine. Your body knows it. Now we just have to wait for your head to catch up.”
I shook my head slightly and glanced around for some way for me to escape. I couldn’t resist Hunter and if he had his way with me, I would fall back into his arms. “We were never more, Hunter,” I whispered. “It would never have worked.”
“Then I need to remind you what you’re missing.”
His mouth latched onto mine, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and biting gently. When he pushed me up against the wall, I was powerless to resist him. The truth was, I craved him and his touch. If I had any hope of not falling under his spell, I was going to have to go out and find someone else to give me what I needed.