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"Some buddy"

I join him behind the bar to pour so ?" I spit, sarcastically

"Just a date," Hunter says with a grin, "I’ll leave the rest up to you I bet you’ve got soaze and spill soda all over my shirt "Now look what you’ve made me do!" I exclaim, frustrated I don’t stick around to hear his protests of innocence; I storm away, down the hallway and into the storerooencies like this

I strip off my damp shirt, cheeks hot with e with hi ner ad can co like the stupid klutz, yelling at people and spilling stuff everywhere because I can’t stay cool knowing he’s in the building

Damn him, and his endless confidence

"Brit?" The door opens, and before I can grab another shirt, Hunter steps inside the sht of me stripped to my skirt and bra "Oh, shit, I’m sorry!"

My pulse kicks My first instinct is to dive behind the shelves, but then I see the expression on his face He’s frozen, drinking in the sight of ht and rapturous in his eyes

It’s the first time I’ve seen him shaken since the ht, and I’ to ?" I ask calrab a fresh tank top, taking lance back at Hunter He’s still staring atlike I just whacked hirin "Or, you know, giving a girl soesture for him to turn

"Oh Sure Yeah" He snaps out of his daze, spinning quickly to face the wall

I pull on the shirt, giving silent thanks I picked a cute bra today: black lace with a purple tri all at the sa the upper hand like this, but I’ll take any advantage I can get when Hunter can slay le s, but when he turns back to rin is back on his face He’s pulled hi but a ns?"

I yank my shirt down and refasten my apron "You a fashion expert now?"

"I knoay around a pair of panties," Hunter winks, and despite ive aze slips overwhat it would feel like for his hands to follow their sa the soft silk over hs…

I shiver

I can’t It’s too dangerous As eous Hunter back was a problem, this is so much worse Because this isn’t just a handsoly sexy man

Who knohat pleasure he’d show me--or what havoc he’d wreak?

I force myself to focus on that, the bitter aftertaste any kiss would leave "You don’t get a hint, do you?" I snap "I’ve told you a hundred times to just leavecloser Suddenly, he’s just inches away, so close I can feel the war fro the dark intensity in his eyes "You haven’t You’ve bitched, and bantered, and turned o"

My breath catches Hunter stares down at me, determined, the chiseled planes of his face shadowed in the dio, just tell ain"

I open ue, but nothing comes out One simple lie, that’s all it would take, and I’d be free from him forever

But it’s still a lie I can’t do it, not to him Not when Hunter is the only truth I’ve ever known

I exhale a slow sigh and press my lips shut in defeat

Silence

There’s a beat, and then victory blazes, fierce in Hunter’s eyes

"Brit," he whispers I wait for hi in ently, lifting one hand to touch ertips softly stroke the outline ofme so closely that I feel more nad than when I was half-dressed

It’s too ently takes hold of my chin and keeps my face steady in place, so I have no choice but toblue stare

He sees right through ht it with a quip or a barbed co from me, and I have no choice but to surrender I feel nad, stripped bare, like all ht there for him to see The worst of me, my darkest secrets

Still, he doesn’t look away

Thebut the sound of his slow, steady breaths and ertips continue their slow, agonizingly sweet discovery My blood rises under his touch Every movement, every whisper of sensation onso fragile and tender I’ve never known before I’ away until ertips on my cheek and the endless blue of his eyes, and the heat of his breath whispering as he slowly, slowly closes the few tortured inches of space between us