“What are you doing?” he asks, craning his neck to look.
“You’ll see,” I grunt, stretching my body across his to rifle through the drawer. I flick off the pen cap, getting a little black smudge on my thumb.
“What—are youmarkingme?” The amusement in his voice makes me giggle.
“It’s only fair,” I say, pointing the pen at the spot on my neck. “Now lay down and stay still.” I drag the ink across his skin, the tip of my tongue darting between my lips while I make my addition to his tattoo. “There!” I grin, tossing it back on the nightstand.
Hunter reaches over the side of the bed and digs through his pants, grabbing his phone and handing it to me. “I don’t want to get out of our little love nest to look in the mirror. Take a picture for me.”
When I hand his phone back to him, he studies the picture longer than the simple geometric drawing warrants. His eyes lock on mine, full of warmth and love. “You gave me a sun…”
“Yeah, well, it’s about time you had a little light in your life.”
“I do, honey bear.” He tucks a curl behind my ear, trailing his fingers down to my chin. “There’s sunshine with you.” The intimacy in his touch, the tenderness in his gaze, it all feels as familiar as the green in his eyes. And when I lean in to kiss him, it feels like home.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
HUNTER
“Thanks for fitting me in on a Friday,” I say, looking in the mirror at the line work on my chest.
Jimmy, my tattooist, pounds my fist and nods. “You were overdue for a touch up. It looks good. Let’s get you wrapped.”
After I pay and tip, I carefully slide the seatbelt over my sensitive skin. My next stop: the flower shop. Since my appointment went over, I don’t have time to grab my weekly sunflower bunch from the beach today. Luckily, regular sunflowers are Ashlie’s second favorite. It’s cheesy as hell, but I’m surprising her for our one-month anniversary. I’ve become the guy who gets off on celebrating arbitrary milestones and buying flowers, all to see my girl smile. I barely recognize myself, but it feels so damn good to realize I don’t hate it one bit. Everything with Ashlie is going great. Better than great. I’m completely gone for this woman.
I scroll through my phone as I wait for the florist to wrap up the small bouquet. The door chimes, and without looking up, I sidestep to give the next customer access to the counter.
“Hunter? Is that you?”
Everything inside me cringes. I look up, right into Ava’s face. “Uh, yeah. Hey.”
“How have you been? I thought you fell off the face of the planet the way you didn’t respond to any of my messages…”
I drop my eyes back to my phone. “Just been busy with life. Work. You know…”
“Here’s that bouquet!” the florist says cheerily from the cash register.
“Thanks.” I reach around Ava to grab the flowers.
“Are those for yourbest friend?” Ava makes air quotes as she eyes the bouquet.
“My girlfriend, yeah… I gotta run. Bye, Ava.”
“It’s Awe-vuh.”
Nodding, I purse my lips and hightail it out of the shop. I don’t know how I ever entertained her and all the other women like her before. Looking back, it feels like watching a movie from an alternate timeline. I can’t even fathom anyone else. All I see is Ashlie. Starting my car, I shake my head at the bullet I dodged.Fucking drama.
Dinner’sout of the oven, the three-wick vanilla candle is lit, and sunflower heads are scattered around my small dining table. I’ve dimmed the lights in my loft to set the mood. All I’m waiting for is my sunshine to walk through the door. And when she does, I almost abandon everything I set up in the kitchen for another kind of cozy evening. Even in sweatpants and a crop tee, with her hair secured in a loose bun at the top of her head, she knocks the wind out of me. I slide the overnight bag off her shoulder and wrap her in my arms, leaning in to drown in her kiss.
“Are we celebrating something?” she asks, looking at the setup in the kitchen.
“Mm-hmm. It’s our anniversary.”
She looks at me like I’ve grown another head. “Our what, now?”
“Well, it’s our month-i-versary. It’s been a month since I swept you off your feet at Patti’s and convinced you to give me a chance.”
“You made this fancy dinner, and I’m dressed like?—”