Hunter (Broken Bad Boys 1): A New Adult Bad Boy Romance (17 page)

“A bit cold.” She wraps her arms around herself.

“I’ll lock the bike and we can go upstairs.” I turn back to the bike, lock it to the wall, and when I turn around, Lizzy looks around the place. “It’s not a big building, but the underground parking is nice,” I say. I take both the helmets in one hand and take the sleeve of the jacket into the other. “Let’s go.”

Lizzy moves her arm and then her fingers are sliding in mine. They’re so cold they make me shiver. Dammit. How long
did
she stay out in the rain? But I think that conversation can be better had when we’ve both warmed up.

We take the elevator up to my floor. There I open the room and step inside. “Don’t pay attention to the mess, I wasn’t expecting visitors.” There are clothes all over and I think there may be about a week worth of dishes in the sink.

Lizzy laughs. “I can see that.” Wow, finally, a laugh. A genuine laugh that immediately puts some color on her cheeks. She shrugs out of the jacket and now we’re actually in a place that has decent lighting, I can see how thoroughly soaked she is.

We look at each other for a while, before Lizzy shivers and her teeth chatter. That makes us both move. I turn on the heat in here, a bit higher than normal, and then I make my way to the shower and turn it on as hot as possible, as hot as I can stand.

“Hunter?” Lizzy’s voice from the living room is quiet and worry flares in my chest.

“Yeah?” I go back and Lizzy has sat down on a chair.

“Do you have something warm to drink?” Her lips are finally turning a bit more pink, but they’re still mostly blue.

“Let’s get you in the shower first. I’ll make you something after that, yeah?” I reach out for her but as Lizzy stands up she stumbles and grabs onto me tightly.

“Sorry, just a bit dizzy.” She stand back on her own and walks to the bathroom.

“I’m coming with you.” I can’t let her stay in there on her own. If she faints or something else happens, I can’t help her. I can’t chance that, not right now.

“What?” Her voice pitches as she looks at me, her eyes big.

“With you, in the shower. Just to be safe.” And for no other reason than that.

“I’ve… never done that before.” She averts her eyes.

“Never?”

She shakes her head. “Not with someone I—” She stops herself. “Never.”

Ah, so never with a guy she may have feelings for. Well, it’s not like that anyway. It’s so that I can make sure she’s safe. “Well, it’s like on your own, but with two.” I can’t help but smile. “You get in the shower, I’m getting us towels.”

When I watch her go through the door, I let out a groan. I’m so busted. This is such a bad idea, even if it’s for the right reasons.

T
he bathroom is already heated
up and I quickly strip off my clothes, keeping an eye on the door, making sure that Hunter isn’t coming in yet. The warmth is welcome on my skin, and I shiver as the cold that has taken hold of me slowly lets go. I step under the spray, closing the curtain behind me, turning under the stream and putting my head under it, flushing the icy water from my hair. As I hold up my hand, my fingers are slowly coming back to a normal color.

Then the door to the bathroom opens and Hunter comes in. He puts three towels on hooks at the back of the door and starts to slowly undress. He is standing right in my sight through a small slit in the curtain. I know I should look away, not peek. But as I watch him undress—stripping the wet cloth away from his skin, revealing his tattoos, revealing his amazing body—I can’t keep my eyes off him. A different type of heat is building inside my body, one that keeps happening every time I’m near Hunter, every time he touches me, every time he looks at me a certain way.

Then he turns around, finding my spying eyes through the curtain. His smile borders on predatory as he saunters over to the shower. “Sneaking a peek?”

I shake my head and feel my cheeks and neck flush even more. “A-accident,” I stammer, stepping out of his way. The shower stall is big enough for the both of us, allowing us both some freedom of moving. But I don’t dare to look his way anymore. My body is going crazy, just from having him this near, from him being naked, and… well… much better endowed than any guy I’ve seen before. Not that I’ve seen many—most guys have no interest in me anyway. I squeeze my legs together, trying to stop the spread of the heat, but it only seems to make it worse.

Hunter’s big hand on my shoulder startles me and I let out a sound.

“Can you hand me the shampoo?” He points at one of the bottles in front of me.

I hand him the bottle and slightly turn his way, which is a bad idea, as I’m once again faced with his amazing body on display. The water trickles down his well-defined six-pack and down… My nipples start to harden just looking at him.

Hunter shampoos his hair, which makes his body move in even better ways. His tattoos almost seem to be alive and I can’t keep my eyes off them. “If you keep staring at me like that, I may not be able to control my, eh… reaction.” Hunter’s voice is gruff and as my eyes dart downward, I can see what he means.

“Sorry.” I turn my back to him, putting my head under the stream and letting the heat spread through my body. I just have to put him out of my mind, I just have to ignore him. But the scent of his shampoo conjures up memories from every time he was close, every time we touched, the time we kissed. I let out a shuddering breath. So much for ignoring him.

“Here, let me.” He reaches into my hair with his rough fingers and starts to massage my scalp with the shampoo. I relax under his touch and can’t help the little sounds that escape me.

No boy has ever done this before—touched me like this, like they really care, like this is everything there is in the world. Then his fingers are gone and the spray from the shower is angled so that the suds easily flush from my hair.

When the shower is gone again, Hunter’s hands are on my shoulders, softly massaging, touching, easing away the stress. “Damn, you’re making my body go crazy.” His whisper is barely above a moan and suddenly my body isn’t so relaxed anymore.

My heart rate spikes and my breath stutters, not really sure how to react. I slowly turn around, putting my hand on Hunter’s, making sure he doesn’t pull away. His stormy eyes are dark, clouded by… what? Lust? Would there really be a guy interested in me that way? I reach out, touching his chest, his abs.

“Lizzy…” He moans, grabbing my hands. “This is not why I’m doing this.” He looks straight at me, as if he’s trying to read me, but I’m not even sure what I’m doing myself. I just know that I want to touch him, and now I can. I’ve been wanting to run my hands over him since the first time I saw him, when he stepped off his bike at the college.

“I want this.” I can barely whisper. I reach out with both hands, sliding my hands over him, feeling his muscles twitch under my touch as he stands perfectly still. I take a step closer, reaching up, wrapping my hand around his neck and pulling him down. Then I put my lips to his, this time not as surprised by the way my body reacts or how Hunter reacts. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer, tighter against him. I open my lips slightly and Hunter dips his tongue into my mouth, taking my breath away in one fell swoop.

I run one hand down his back, touching the muscles there as I trace his abs with my other hand. He’s amazing, like a wild animal, the tension just under his skin, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

He moves against me and all the places where he touches start to come alive, including some places where he doesn’t touch me. I can feel how excited this all makes him, and, for the first time ever, my body starts to go into overdrive, just from knowing I’m the cause of it.

I break the kiss. Our breaths come out hard, and when he looks at me, his eyes are almost black.

“Turn around.” His voice is hoarse.

I’m confused for a moment. Doesn’t he like me touching him?

“Do you trust me?” I can see the doubt slowly creeping in.

I nod and turn around, standing back against him. His hot body makes me shiver, in the good way. Then his arms wrap around me, his hands on my stomach, flat, trying to touch as much of me as he can. His mouth comes down on my neck, his lips a whisper on my skin.

I let out a little sound, one I’m sure I’ve never made before. I can feel his smile against my neck before he starts kissing. Then one of his hands moves up, taking my nipple between his fingers and squeezing it slightly.

I can’t suppress a moan and I squeeze my legs together because when he touches me there, I can feel it lower. He does it again and I push back against him, which makes him moan out too.

“You still good?” His lips are so close to my ear that I can feel the air move.

I shiver and close my eyes. “Yes.” My voice is little more than a moan as I push up against him.

“Can I do more?”

More? Damn, like… No guy has ever paid attention to me like this before, how would I know if I want more or not?

“You can tell me to stop at any time. Just enjoy yourself.” And that is apparently the last he’ll say because his mouth latches onto my neck as he rolls my nipple between his fingers and his other hand touches me all over, touching me everywhere but where there is a building pressure. I reach down myself. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never touched myself… there.

But for the first time… I’m not hating my body. For the first time, I’m curious about something in this messed-up body of mine.

Hunter’s hand joins mine and when he touches me, when he moves, I let my head fall back, my breath coming out in small gasps. I let him do whatever he is planning to do, because I’ve got no idea what I should do, and his hands feel so good.

He moves his fingers over to my other nipple, rubbing it, rolling it between his fingers, and his hand between my legs starts to rub in rhythmic movements at the same time. The pressure in me builds higher and higher, my focus narrows until the only thing that is left is the way that Hunter touches my body. The way that my body reacts to his touches, the way that my body slowly loses control.

“You’re so amazingly beautiful.” His whisper touches something in me and the world becomes undone.

Bright spots appear behind my eyes as my body tenses, as the control slips and my mind goes blank for a long moment. Damn. Wow.

For the first time, I feel like a woman instead of some husk of a person. I feel like an actual woman. And that’s kinda scary.

* * *

W
hen
I finally come back down to earth, Hunter is still holding me and I can feel how he’s not exactly been unaffected by this all. I turn around and wrap my hand around him.

“You don’t have to.” He reaches out, but I move my hand up and down and he lets out a sound that I feel all the way down my body, all the way down to where he touched me before.

I keep moving my hand, pulling all sorts of little sounds out of him. I love watching him, looking at him as he slowly loses control.

“Lizzy…” He weaves his fingers into my hair and takes my lips in a hard kiss. A kiss that sets me on fire again. A growl is the only warning I get before he pulses in my hand and comes all over us. He lets go of me, only staring at me, his eyes dark and so strong. Then he reaches around me and hands me a bottle of shower gel. He flashes me an amazing smile. “I think it’s time to clean up. I think I promised you something to drink.” He winks and pours some of the shower gel right onto my shoulder.

My senses are immediately filled with his scent, and I do exactly the same to him, loving the excuse to touch him all over again.

Hunter leans down and angles my chin up. “You stay under here, I’ll see if I can find something for you to wear. Okay?”

I nod, not trusting my voice right now.

Hunter steps out of the shower, grabs one of the towels, quickly dries himself off and then leaves the bathroom.

Suddenly my body starts to shake, the amazing feeling leaving me, only leaving behind a scary and unknown feeling that I’m not sure I like. I slide down the wall of the stall as I can’t stop the tears. Sobs rack my body and even though I’m all warm, there is a bit inside of me that is turning cold. How could I betray myself like this? How could I let go of control? Why did I think I deserve to feel these things? Haven’t I learned anything in the past? I don’t do positive self-image, I don’t indulge. I’m all about the control, so why did I let Hunter take away that control I have over myself?

I startle as the shower is turned off, and when I look up, there is some sort of understanding in Hunter’s eyes. He helps me up and then wraps a towel around me. Next he wraps the other towel around my hair.

He looks at me and lets out a deep breath. “You’re okay, this is okay.” He touches me, but I still can’t help but flinch, which darkens Hunter’s eyes, this time not in the good way. “I went too far, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have done this.”

He went too far? I’m pretty sure that I was the one who started all this. It’s my fault everything is messed up now. I swallow hard and shake my head. “Not your fault.”

“Yes, it is.” His mouth turns into a tight line. “I knew that you’ve never done something like that. I was the one who knew exactly what was going on. I shouldn’t have done this when you were in such a vulnerable state. I’m sorry.”

What he’s saying makes no sense, but I’m not sure that I really care right now. I’m exhausted. The only thing to keep me going was the feeling that if I could only find Hunter, that everything would be okay. Even if that may not really have been true after all…

Hunter leaves the bathroom for a moment. “I found you some clothes. I don’t think I’ve got any underwear that fits you. Sorry.” He puts the clothes on the hangers, just a shirt and some sweats. Then he leaves the bathroom, leaving me behind again.

I slowly dry myself, the towel following the same places as Hunter touched me and for a moment I imagine it’s him, that I didn’t just turn this all weird. Again. I put on the shirt and the sweats, even though they’re way too big on me. I clean the mirror and take a look at myself. I still look the same, even when inside, I’m ripped apart. I’m changed, different, and it’s scary. I look closely at myself, but there really is no change.

I redo my hair in the towel—it’s still way too wet—and put the other towel on the back of the door. When I open the door I hear Hunter banging around in the little kitchen. I look around the space. It’s not big. There is a dining space with a table that is covered in books and art supplies, right next to it is his bed, and a bit on is his kitchen and a living area. There is also a set of stairs, going up to the space above.

“Hi.” Hunter looks up, his arms covered in foam as he’s scrubbing at a plate. “Sit anywhere you want. Do you want something to eat, drink?”

I know I should eat something, but looking at the state of the house, I’m not sure that Hunter has anything to eat that I’d want. “What do you have to eat?”

“Eh. Check the fridge.” He inclines his head to the other side of the kitchen.

I walk over to the fridge and open it. Inside isn’t much that really makes me want to eat something. But I know I need to learn to eat ‘normal’ food. And his fridge is full of ‘normal’ food. I pull out some ham. “I assume that you have something to go with this?”

“Bread. In the freezer, you’ll need to defrost it.” He shrugs. “I don’t eat enough of it on my own. This way I don’t get stale bread halfway through the week.”

Well, I guess that, unlike the state of other parts of the house, his fridge isn’t that bad. I open the freezer and take out a slice of bread.

“Can you get me two too? I had to walk out on dinner.” He keeps doing the dishes, but it stops me right in my tracks. “Lizzy?”

“Why did you have to walk out on dinner?” I thought he just found me, that he was there anyway. Luck. Coincidence.