“I’m just trying to figure out what kind of guy I’ve been spending the last twelve hours with.”
“I get it. My track record sucks, and ifIwere looking at me from your vantage point, I’d think I’m a total douche. But I don’t want you having any doubts, so ask me whatever you need to ask.”
“Why did you start seeing her in the first place?” Hailey was genuinely curious. The answer might lend her more insight into what made Noah Hunnicutt tick.
He scratched Chance’s chin. “Honestly? She was pretty and bubbly, and when she came on to me, I was flattered. My ego was on life support after all the ups and downs with Ursula, and it needed shoring up.” He paused a beat. “Sandy told me she was coming off of a messy breakup and wasn’t into serious, so I thought ‘Why the hell not? Might do us both good.’ I didn’t expect anyone to fall for anyone else. It’s one of the reasons I cut out the first time, but I guess I forgot all about that when I ran into her again.”
“She must beverypersuasive.” Hailey tried to picture the femme fatale.
“Not really. She started out by apologizing for the time before and wanted to know if we could be friends again, that she knew I didn’t want to get serious. I believed her. Throw in the fact that I hadn’t been with anyone since Wyatt’s wedding and I was still licking my wounds, and one thing led to another.” He shook his head. “I know. You don’t have to say it. I’m a dumbassanda dick.”
“Maybe, but you’re also a man with some tender spots like the rest of us. It’s understandable.”
His eyes widened. “Itis?”
“We all need someone from time to time to let us know we’re attractive and that we’re not alone. Just because you don’t want anythinglong-term doesn’t mean you don’t need to feel that human connection now and again, like us last night.”
His eyes clouded over. “Wait. If you’re comparing last night to me fooling around with Sandy, you’re way off base.” He took a long-legged stride toward her, but she backstepped, bewildered. “I never said I wasn’t into long-term. I wasn’t into it withher, or anyone else for that matter.” A piece of Hailey’s heart tore off but mended when his voice grew soft. “But that was before I met you.”
She blinked.
One corner of his mouth quirked. “Yeah, you heard me right, surfer girl.” Then his arms were surrounding her, pulling her to him. She fell against him, melting into him, molding herself to his hard, strong planes. His arms held her close, keeping her safe, and she burrowed her fingers into his thick, silky strands. He stuck his nose in her hair and breathed in. “I know we haven’t known each other very long, but this … You feel different, and I like it a hell of a lot. I don’t want it to go sideways before it even gets off the ground.”
He drew back and peered at her, sliding his hands to her waist where they remained anchored. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and I hope like hell you don’t lop it off, but Ilikeyou. A lot. I like being around you, and I want to spend more time with you—even if youdoshut down my restaurant.” He reached up and yanked on a tress playfully.
Despite the knot of emotion swelling in her throat, she managed to choke out, “It’s only because you were horny.”
A warm, sexy chuckle rumbled through his chest. “I’d be lying if I said that never entered my mind, but you need to understand one thing: that horniness is selective. My dick seems to zero in on you and no one else, so from that standpoint, I’m wrecked. But it’s more than that, and I can’t put my finger on it. I just feel … I don’t know …goodwhen I’m around you.” He gathered her hair in his hands and wound it around his knuckles. The tug on her scalp sent tingles through her bloodstream and flared heat in her core. “I haven’t got shit to offer, Hailey, and I have no clue how to relationship, but with you, I want to try. I want to follow where it leads us, as far as it leads us. You’ve seen me at my worst, and you’re still talking to me, so I call that a huge win already. What do you say, surfer girl? Wanna be my hoochie mama?”
She couldn’t help but smile when she looked up into the most beautiful green orbs she’d ever seen. They twinkled with hope, and her insides liquefied into a warm puddle. No one had ever declared himself to her the way he just had, nor had anyone everlookedat her the way he was looking at her. Her innards began breakdancing. Havoc was being wreaked inside her. Happy feet tap-danced in her veins.
Apparently, her giddiness took too long to sort because he nudged. “But if you don’t, I get it, and if you’d rather keep it cas—”
“Fuck buddies?” she blurted.
His eyes widened. “Not the term I had in mind, but the same general idea. Except … wait. You know what? No. I’m not down with that. If you want the body, you’re gonna have to take the man that goes with it.”
Seriously, could she get any gooier inside? Soon her liquid emotions would be oozing from her pores.
“Um, I could get on board with that scenario. Does this mean we’re like an official couple? You’ve pinned me like old people used to do when they were young or something that makes us exclusive?” Shit, she was no good at relationshipping either.
He threw his head back and let out a laugh that warmed her all over. Then he dropped tender kisses on her forehead, her nose, her eyes, whispering, “Yeah, consider yourself pinned.” He nipped her earlobe, and in a heated voice that dripped with decadence said, “And to prove it, I’llpinyou to the wall later and show you just how much I love the idea of belonging to only you.”
Chills cascaded down her spine.
Chance looked on and let out a happy little whimper. “My dog likes that idea too,” Noah mumbled right before his mouth launched a spirited assault on her neck, her jaw, her ears. His hands got in the act too, dipping below the top of her panties and shoving them out of his way. He filled his hands with her bare ass and squeezed, pressing her to his steely length. “Feel that, babe? My dick’s already showing off for you,” he growled against her skin.
“Oh God,” she squeaked. In a breathless rush, she added, “But first we need to deal with your little dilemma.”
He came to a grinding halt and stared at her. “We?”
Lust had her nodding like a bobblehead. “Yes. I have an idea. Maybe.”
A lazy grin spread across his handsome face. “I want to hear all about it. But first things first. Sandy’s not expecting to see me for a few hours, which means …” A roguish gleam lit his eyes.
“Means what?” God, she barely had air enough in her lungs or brainpower to articulate a coherent thought because he kept stealing them from her.
“WhichmeansI get to take you upstairs and make love to you a few more times. Unless you want to do me in the closet. I think that’s about the only place we haven’t been yet.”
