He walks around me and takes my face in his hands. His eyes never leave mine. “No one should be treated the way she treats you and I just want you to understand that I know I’m an asshole sometimes, but I’m here. You might think you have no one to lean on, but you do. I saw you today with the girls. I saw that brick wall of yours start to crumble. Let people in, you might be surprised at what happens.”
His hands snake around me, resting on my ass. “I wouldn’t blame you if you told me to go fuck myself but I want you. Not just tonight. Not just for sex. I want you.”
I’m speechless. Everything he just said to me is what I have yearned to hear. I just wanted to know I was good enough for someone. Everyone always wants more from me. Hearing him say that I don’t need to change is like a dream. Can I do this? Can I make this leap with Hunter?
“Yes.”
A smirk graces his face as he pulls me tight against him. “I can’t wait to sink myself deep into you again. Tonight is about you, though. I plan to exhaust your body until the thought of another orgasm seems impossible. I will have you in every way imaginable and I won’t stop until your voice is gone from screaming my name.”
I gasp as Hunter backs me towards the bed.
This is a fresh start for us.
A new journey.
Chapter Twelve
Samantha
I open my eyes, deliciously sore from the night before. As I stretch, it’s almost as if I can still feel his hands on me. I look beside me to see Hunter still asleep. I’m still shocked by everything he said to me yesterday. After the way he had been acting, I never expected those words to come from him. I stand up needing to go to the bathroom and start getting ready for today’s events.
I open the door to the bedroom, wincing as I step on something. “Dammit!” I look down to see what I had tread on and I lose my breath. “Hunter!” At my feet is a black rose, next to it a white notecard with the word Soon. written on it.
“What the fuck?” I bend down but he grabs my arm. “Don’t touch it, there might be fingerprints. Get dressed.” He steps over the flower and I can hear him on the phone.
Someone was here. Someone was here and neither of us had any idea. We slept through an intruder. He could have killed me, he could have killed Hunter. A chill runs through me as I realize all of the things that could have happened last night. The same person from the beach. The same person who wants to hurt me.
I get dressed, the entire time not able to look away from it as if it might explode. Who could be doing this? Why? Hunter comes back into the room and seems to be assessing me. “You okay?”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my emotions and get a hold of myself. Tears fill my eyes but I keep them from falling. I nod at his question. He takes a few steps toward me and wraps his arms around me. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Sam.” His promise is sincere, I just hope he can keep it.
“What if you had been in your room? If I were alone, they might have done more than leave something outside the door.” His arms tighten around me. “Why is someone doing this?”
“I don’t know. But we are damn sure going to find out.”
The door to the room opens and my mother walks in. She assesses my messy appearance and the fact that Hunter is only wearing a pair of sweatpants. I brace myself for the verbal beating sure to come.
“Before you say anything, don’t. She has had a rough morning, so if you are going to come in and be your normal hell hound self, then walk right back out the way you came.” His voice is deep and authoritative.
My mother’s face contorts with anger. “You have an appearance scheduled for eleven, don’t be late.” She walks away without another word. I shouldn’t be surprised. I should expect this from her. It still hurts.
My phone dings and I walk over to the end table to see what it is.
Mom: The press knows, they will ask about it in your interview.
I was hoping we could keep this quiet for longer but with the scene at the beach, I knew it would eventually come out. This situation is the last thing I want to talk about in an interview on a big late night talk show. They shoot around dinner time and then air it but I don’t plan on talking about this in front of millions of people.
“Sam, the detectives are here.” I nod my head walking toward him. He takes my hand leading me out into the living room. I explain to them at least three separate times what happened and that we didn’t hear anything.
“Mr. Stone, you’ve been hired to protect Miss Baker?” The detective looks over at Hunter, this is the first time they have addressed him.
“Yeah, about a week ago.” I grab Hunter’s hand, wanting his support and trying to lend him some of mine.
“So it would be safe to say if Miss Baker wasn’t in this situation, that you wouldn’t have this job?”
I feel his body tense beside me. “I don’t know what the fuck you are trying to insinuate, but I don’t have shit to do with what is happening.”
The detective doesn’t flinch. He continues to grill Hunter about his intentions, his life, and his background. After about an hour, they leave and I breathe a sigh of relief. I look over at Hunter on the couch and I can still see how pissed he is at the questions they asked him. He almost lost it when the detective was going over the information they gathered. He had mentioned that Hunter had a sister, Amy. Before he could say anything else, Hunter had jumped up and told him that he would not talk about her. He seemed so unhinged at the mention of her that I even flinched as he told them in no uncertain words to drop it.
I want to ask him why. What happened? I know right now isn’t a good time, though. I go into my room and get dressed. I have two photo shoots today and then the talk show appearance. Luckily, all of them will give me an outfit to wear when I get there so it really doesn’t matter what I show up in. However, I know that the paparazzi will be all over me now that the news has broken and the last thing I want to do is give those vultures any ammo.
I slip on a pair of jeans and a pink button up shirt. When I walk out to see what Hunter is doing, I find him at the window. I touch his shoulder and seem to jolt him out of whatever state he was in.
“You ready?” No. I want to ask him about Amy. I want to help him through whatever battle he is fighting in his head, but I have a feeling that asking him right now would not end well.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” We take the elevator downstairs and I can hear the crowd outside. One of the main things that was nice about yesterday was that I didn’t have to deal with anyone being all over me. Meeting Hunter’s friends yesterday was great. I fell into an easy relationship with them. Jules had talked to me about Hunter and his whore ways. I couldn’t help but laugh and cringe at some of the stories her and Lacey would tell.
Hunter grabs my hand, leading me through the mob and safely getting me into the car. When he gets in the other side, I smile at him.
“What?”
“You’re getting good at this, slug.” I laugh as I repeat the name his friends gave him.
“Watch it, cupcake. I still have a wild side you have no idea about.” His eyes roam my body and I can feel a blush slowly spreading across my skin. “You need it? You want to forget everything and lose yourself? Tell me what you want, babe?”
I look toward the front, sending the privacy wall up. “God yes. I want you.”
He laughs in my ear. “Hmmm, my greedy girl can’t wait till tonight? I’m not going to give you my dick in the back of this car because I don’t have nearly enough room for what I want to do to you.” I groan a sigh of disappointment. When I look over at Hunter, he is no longer next to me. “Over here.”
I look in front of me and he is crouched on the floor of the SUV. His hands move to the waistband of my jeans, pulling them and my panties down to my ankles. His head is positioned between my legs and he licks his lips as he looks up at me.