With His Love (For His Pleasure, Book 16) (10 page)

“Well I don’t know about you,” Hunter said, “but I’ve lost my appetite.” He put his napkin on his plate.

Lydia had a satisfied smirk on her face that Kallie honestly wanted to slap.

“This was a really shitty way to tell me you aren’t coming to my wedding, Sean.

And it honestly makes me sick that Mom and Dad and everyone else went along with having you tell us like this. It’s cowardly.”

“Nobody wants to hurt you, Kallie,” Sean replied. “You’ve left us no choice.”

“The two of you aren’t healthy for one another,” Lydia added.

“We’re not healthy for each other?” Kallie asked. “Just what the hell does that even mean?”

Lydia sat back and crossed her arms. “I’m not a therapist—”

“Clearly,” Kallie interrupted.

“—but I know that something is just plain wrong with the two of you. Hunter has some kind of mind control over you, Kallie, and it’s obvious to everyone else but you.”

Hunter stood up, suddenly. “Thanks for dinner, but no thanks for the tasteless commentary. I think Kallie and I can find our way out.”

Sean still couldn’t look at her.

Kallie stood up with him. “This is how you repay the man who saved your life?”

she said to Sean.

Now Lydia stood. “Sean is just as brave as Hunter. Hunter just happened to get shot, that’s all. That’s the only reason people assume he’s a hero.”

“Or maybe it’s because Sean hid when that crazy son-of-a-bitch started shooting up the restaurant and Hunter fought him and saved our lives.”

“Kallie,” Hunter said calmly. “Kallie, it’s not worth it.”

“See?” Lydia practically screamed, pointing at them. “Mind control. Mind control!”

“You’re right,” Kallie muttered to Hunter, shaking her head.

The two of them walked out without saying another word.

***

The car ride home was strange. Kallie and Hunter were quiet for the first few minutes of the drive. He glanced at her. “Are you all right?”

“Not really.” She stared at the road ahead. “I think maybe I’m in shock.” She took out her cell phone and considered calling her parents, screaming at them actually.

“That was a really shitty stunt those two pulled,” Hunter said.

“It wasn’t just those two. It was my entire family.”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“You think they lied?”

“I’m just saying that things can be distorted. Maybe they lied to your family about us and then got them to agree to this dumb idea of boycotting our wedding…”

Kallie shook her head. She remembered the look on her parents’ faces when they found out about the engagement. “I don’t think Sean was distorting anything. I wish that’s all it was.”

“What reason do they have to think we’re so bad together?”

“They just don’t trust you. Since you and I started seeing each other, I’ve been attacked and nearly killed.”

“I didn’t do that to you,” he said, his voice hardening.

“I know. I’m explaining why my parents and family see it that way.”

“Don’t they realize I risked my life for you?”

“They just think you’re…dangerous, I guess.”

Hunter’s lips formed a thin, straight line. “Well, that’s just bullshit. I’m dangerous?” He shook his head and his knuckles turned white on the wheel. “I would do anything to protect you. Anything.”

“I know you would,” she said softly, putting a hand on his leg.

She saw his shoulders relax a little. “Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m a bad influence or something. Maybe I call that kind of shit into my life, and it puts you in danger just being around me.”

“We’re through with that sort of thinking,” she told him. “You’re not a bad person, you’re the very best person I know.”

And she meant it, too. At the same time, she did understand her family’s concerns. After all, even now, Terrence’s son Trevor was on the loose, potentially waiting for his chance to attack them.

But what her family couldn’t understand was that none of the bad things that Terrence or Trevor had done were Hunter’s fault. Hunter had tried to protect Scarlett and in doing so, incurred the wrath of two very unstable people. Hunter couldn’t be blamed for having the courage to stand up and protect an innocent person.

It made Kallie angry that her family hadn’t even bothered to get to know Hunter.

They’d found it easier to just paint him as the bad guy, the person stealing her away from them, rather than the man who had given her everything she’d ever wanted.

He was the love of her life and they hated him for it.

Hunter was quiet for most of the rest of the ride home. Kallie couldn’t tell if he was angry with Sean and Lydia or just tired. After all, he’d been working almost nonstop lately on the first draft of the screenplay of his new book.

The sequel to Blue Horizon was already set to have an enormous first print run and the early reviews from critics who’d seen advance copies of the book were extremely positive.

As a result, the second film was already in development, and pressure was on for Hunter to deliver a script with which to lure more A-list talent. Even without a finished script, they would probably get A-list talent. But as usual, people wanted things NOW.

Everything had to happen yesterday, there was never any time to just stop and appreciate your current success.

Kallie had even experienced that phenomenon with Bryson’s script, and how selling it and getting a film into production with all of the support behind it was already treated like a thing of the past.

All anybody asked her these days was what she was working on next, what was the next script, the next project, when was Hunter’s new movie coming out—and on and on.

It was frankly exhausting. It felt like she and Hunter had been on a non-stop treadmill, and there was no end in sight.

Hunter was still suffering from the physical repercussions of the attack in L.A.

Sometimes he had difficulty sleeping, and Kallie would hear him pacing around at night downstairs, or typing away on his computer in his office.

They’d gotten an even better security system installed since coming home and finding out that Trevor had been released from police custody. There were now monitors in the bedroom and kitchen area that showed the road leading up to the house and the surrounding countryside, as well as floodlights and sensors to alert them of any suspicious activity.

Of course, sometimes they would get alerted to “suspicious activity” that would turn out to be a deer or some other form of wildlife. As much as the added security made her breathe easier, it also could draw her attention to just how dangerous the situation was.

Psychologically, it wore on her. But then again, so did being involved in Hunter’s business.

With all of the demands on Hunter’s time, Kallie had been forced to step into his shoes in other areas, constantly fielding phone calls from producers and directors and studio executives. There were questions, emails, forms and contracts to read and fill out.

There were financial decisions to be made.

On top of that, Kallie still wanted to read scripts and find the next project that she could get behind. But finding time to read scripts was getting harder to do. Hunter had been pushing her to take on a bigger role with his company and his new film, all of which took away from her true passion of discovering new talent.

Wedding planning had been on her mind of late as well. There were still a lot of decisions to be made, and Kallie had put them all off while she treaded water with Hunter on all of these projects.

This latest attack from Sean and Lydia seemed like it might be the straw that broke the camel’s back, she thought to herself, as they drove up the long and lonely road to the castle.

Hunter pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. He looked over at her.

“Want to talk about it?”

She stared out the window as if they were still driving. “My mind is about to shut down from information overload, Hunter. I feel like what Sean and Lydia did tonight was just the universe’s way of giving me the finger. Is someone up there trying to tell me something? Have I offended someone high up on the food chain?”

Hunter laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she said.

“Well, I mean, that sounds a little naive. I think we have it pretty good, relatively speaking, if you look at the rest of the world and the possibilities.”

“I know that’s true. But I’m just drained. All you’ve been doing since we got back from L.A. is working. We never got to rest and decompress and just be.”

“After I finish this script, things are going to calm way down.”

“Now who’s being naive?” she asked him.

His smile faded. “I never promised you that I’d slow down. You know that book was like a monkey on my goddamn back, Kallie. Getting that book done was almost as hard as surviving that gunshot wound. Shit, maybe it was harder, come to think of it.”

“I know that. And I’m so proud of you for doing it. Nobody’s prouder of you than I am.”

“So stop busting my balls about how hard I work. This is what I do.”

“I don’t even know why we’re talking about this right now,” she said, her frustration growing. “Somehow, what started off being a conversation about why I’m having a hard time tonight, became all about you. Again.”

His brow furrowed. “You did that, not me.”

She opened the car door and got out. “Just forget it, Hunter. I’m sorry I bothered telling you how I felt.” She slammed the car door.

“Kallie,” he yelled, getting out of the car after her. “Kallie, goddammit.”

“No, leave me alone.” She started towards the house.

Hunter caught up, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her toward him. “Don’t run away from me.”

She stared up at him. “Let. Go. Of. Me.”

“What if I refuse?” His frown twitched into a slight grin.

It infuriated her that he was actually enjoying this. “You’re sick. Seriously. Let go of me.”

Now the frown was back. “Don’t be like this, Kallie. I’m trying to talk to you.”

“Fuck you,” she yelled. As soon as she said it, she regretted it. In fact, she knew that the insult wasn’t even directed at him. It was intended for her brother, for Lydia, for her parents and her other siblings. But right now, Hunter was here and he was pissing her off, so she threw the words at him instead.

His expression darkened. “Fine,” he said. “Have it your way.” He released her wrist. “Go on,” he told her. “Go do what you want. I won’t bother you.”

She shook her head guiltily. “I’m sorry I swore at you. I didn’t mean it.”

“Then why did you say it? I guess I’m just an asshole. I guess I wasn’t sitting right next to you tonight, being insulted and having to shut my mouth and take it.”

She reached out and touched his chest. “No, you were insulted too. It wasn’t just me.”

Suddenly, he grabbed her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Why are you playing games with me right now, Kallie?”

“I—I don’t know.” Her blood was pumping and she was suddenly excited.

“Maybe I just need you to take control instead of asking me how I feel.”

“Is that it? Or is that just another game and you’re going to change your mind again in five seconds?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “You tell me.”

And then Hunter was kissing her, and she could feel the frustration as his lips pressed into hers. He pushed her back into the car, and the cold steel of it jutted against her body. The cool glass of the passenger window was against the back of her head, the door-handle angling into the small of her back.

It was uncomfortable, but she didn’t really care. Hunter’s tongue dove into her mouth, aggressively searching, pushing. She could taste him, feel him, smell him.

His muscular body was pushing into her now, and he was controlling both of her wrists with his hands. He pushed her wrists over her head and then started to kiss her neck and breasts.

She moaned. “Fuck me,” she said. “Fuck me hard.”

“I’ll do what I want, when I want. Now shut your mouth before I put something in it and shut you up myself.”

“I don’t think you have the guts,” she said. Kallie was surprised by her own impudence. She knew that she was breaking written and unwritten rules by mouthing off to Hunter. But she wanted it. She wanted the intensity of him, the ferociousness of him, so that she could numb the pain and frustration she was feeling.

Hunter stared at her, his eyes widening momentarily. And then he let go of her wrists and grabbed the collar of her shirt and tore it, ripping the front of her shirt nearly in half and exposing her breasts. She was wearing a bra and he grabbed it from the front and tore it as well. There was a brief sensation of pressure before the back of her bra snapped and gave way.

Hunter tossed it on the ground like it was trash. Then he spit on it.

Her chest was heaving, rising and falling rapidly. She felt like she was tempting a wild animal, a hungry animal, with raw meat.

“You don’t scare me,” she said.

He grabbed her breasts in his hands and squeezed her nipples. Kallie’s eyes rolled up towards the back of her head and she moaned.

“You can’t fool me,” he said, his lips pressing against her ear as he continued to squeeze her nipples. “You would drop to your knees and beg for my cock if I told you to right now.”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “No I wouldn’t.” She grabbed his hands and tried to force them away from her breasts, but he wouldn’t let her. He was much too strong.

He bent down and began sucking her nipples, as she cried out and tried to force him off her. The harder she fought, the harder he sucked, and the wetter she got between her legs.

As if sensing this, Hunter dropped to his knees and pulled her pants down far enough to access her privates. Instantly, his tongue was forcing its way into her slit, sucking up her juices, lapping at her greedily.

Kallie tried to fight him off still, but she was losing her will to do so. Instead, she was pressing her hips into him, trying to make him suck her pussy even harder.

He pulled her pants down to her ankles, spread her legs by grabbing her inner thighs and forcing them apart. With her pants around her ankles, her feet would only go so far, and the pants became like manacles. Hunter switched his hands to her lower hips, and his thumbs were practically touching her wet hole.