HUNTER

by Jessie Cooke

  “David, what’s up?”

  “Kat’s not answering her phone. I just wanted to check in…”

  “She’s fine, David, I promise. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

  “I know. She’s probably more capable of taking care of herself than you or me, either one. I just missed her.”

  “I’ll have her call you…”

  “Actually…could you have her come out to the lighthouse once everyone is asleep?”

  Hunter looked across the sand out to where the water was beginning to slam into the rocks that lined the bottom of one of the cliffs. He looked up at the small lighthouse perched near the edge of the cliff. “No way…aren’t those things manned by the Coast Guard or something?”

  “Nah, that’s old school. Most of them are electronic these days.”

  “So then how did you…? Shit, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  David chuckled. “You’ll send her out?”

  “Yeah, it might be late, though. I don’t want anyone to see her.”

  “I’ll be here all night.”

  “Kids,” Hunter said.

  David laughed again. “Yeah, that five years or so you have on us has done wonders for you, I’m sure.” Hunter thought, if David only knew some of the places he’d been naked in. He wished it was him getting naked in the lighthouse…but not with Kat. He liked her a lot, but his parts south had their sights set on the girl with the aquamarine eyes, the pipe, and the bail-jumping daddy.

  7

  Kat was digging through her backpack for something to wear to bed when Hunter came in the door. He had been grumpy when he came back from the cottage, but she didn’t get a chance to talk to him then. As soon as Claire walked in the room with a pot of coffee and the dessert she’d saved for him, his mood suddenly elevated and Kat disappeared from the room. It wasn’t that she minded Hunter ignoring her, she didn’t want his attention. But now she was worried about how infatuated he seemed to be with Claire. Will he be able to go through with arresting her father when the time comes? She supposed it remained to be seen.

  “How’d it go?” she asked as he pulled his gun out of his jeans and laid it on the dresser.

  “I didn’t learn much. There were two toothbrushes at the cottage, but other than that, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. No sign of Larry. After you left the room earlier, I tried to get information about her family. She talked about growing up in Italy, but wouldn’t give me any specifics about her family. She kept changing the subject.”

  “I doubt she’ll just come right out and tell you, if she’s hiding him.”

  “I doubt it too. But sometimes when you get people talking, they say things they don’t necessarily mean to. Don’t put that on.” It took Kat a minute to realize he’d changed gears to the nightshirt she was holding. It was long and would come past her knees, and black…Why the hell would he have a problem with it?

  “What? Why?”

  “You need to put on something warm. Did you bring sweats?”

  Kat furrowed her brows at him. “No…it’s not cold in here. What’s wrong with you?”

  “In about an hour when everyone finally turns in for the night, you need to walk over to the lighthouse on the hill. It’s a good two or three miles’ walk and it’s colder than shit out there by now…”

  “You’re sending me to the lighthouse? You think Larry’s there?”

  “Nope, but David is.”

  “What? David?”

  Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, David Brady, the cop, the Catholic, the good son…has somehow broken into a state-owned lighthouse and I believe he’d like to have sex there, with you, tonight.”

  “No fucking way!”

  Hunter laughed and shrugged. “Well, he didn’t tell me about the sex, I just assumed.”

  “David doesn’t do things like that.”

  Hunter shrugged again. “I’m just passing on the message.”

  David broke into a lighthouse…to have sex with her? Has he lost his mind? Suddenly Kat found herself smiling from ear to ear. She looked at Hunter and said, “I didn’t bring sweats, did you?”

  “Damn, I don’t get sex but my sweats get to go…”

  Kat laughed. “If you want, I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”

  Hunter groaned. “Please don’t.” He reached in his bag and pulled out a pair of black sweats and tossed them to her. They were going to swallow her up, but they’d keep her warm…until David took over the job.

  Kat used the light on her phone to guide her through the dark to the lighthouse. She knew that if David was expecting her, he was also watching for her, so she wasn’t worried. She also had her little .22 tucked in her boot, just in case. She made it as far as the stairwell, which was shrouded in darkness. The six-foot iron gate that was meant to keep people like them out was open, and she could hear soft music coming from above her. She shook her head and smiled before slipping into the dark stairwell and climbing up the winding stairs in search of the music. The higher she climbed, the breezier it got and by the time she reached the platform at the top, her hair had whipped across her eyes and she couldn’t see.

  “Hello, baby.” She pushed back the hair and looked around her. David had candles lit and burning against the brick sides of the platform where the wind couldn’t get to them and he’d spread out a sleeping bag and sprinkled it with rose petals. There was a little plastic hotel ice bucket, full of ice and a bottle of champagne chilled inside. The music was coming from his phone. David was standing to her right with a handful of wildflowers and a smile on his gorgeous face.

  “What’s all this?”

  “Did you think I was just going to forget our anniversary?”

  “Oh my God!” They were together for two years before they’d broken up and were apart for five. September fifth was the day they’d gone out on their first official date, and for the first two years Kat had remembered and made a special meal for them on their “anniversary.” So much had happened in between, though, that this time she’d forgotten. “I can’t believe you did all of this…why didn’t you remind me, when I said I was doing this with Hunter?”

  He looked embarrassed. “I was angry with you for forgetting. I’m sorry. It was stupid and childish. This is more about giving you a hard time than the anniversary thing. I know you’ve been bored lately. I promise life with me is not going to be boring. I thought you needed time to heal and…” Kat rushed him and stopped his words by jumping on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, and covering his lips with hers. David held onto her and they kissed, passionately, until she finally had to come up for air.

  “I love that you worry about me as much as I hate it,” she said, breathlessly.

  David laughed and said, “And I love that you’re such an enigma that I can almost never figure you out.” He sat her down and she started to pull off her sweatshirt. He laughed again and said, “I just have one more thing to say, and then you can take it all off…if you still want to.”

  “Uh-oh, is it something bad?”

  “No, baby…at least I don’t think so.” He dropped down to one knee and Kat’s stomach clenched. For seven years she’d dreamt of this moment, never firmly believing that it would ever happen. He took a ring box out of his pocket and she said:

  “Yes!”

  David shook his head and then rested it in his hand. His shoulders were shaking with laughter. He finally looked up at her and said, “Can I do one thing…my way? Please?”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “Katrina Hurricane Brown, will you marry me?”

  Kat dropped down to her knees and kissed him again. “Yes!” She took the box out of his hand and said, “Is this for me?”

  “Yes,” he said with a smile. “You’re something, Katrina Brown.”

  “Yep, and you’re crazy for wanting me. Can we do this tonight so you don’t have time to change your mind?” She flipped open the box while he was still laughing and suddenly a lump fi
lled her throat. Her eyes stung with tears and she had to search for her words. “David…what did you do?”

  “I didn’t mean to upset you. I talked to Dillon about it first. I can buy you another ring…one that’s all yours…” She stopped him again, this time by flinging her arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder. “Baby, don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

  It took her a while to compose herself. Kat almost never cried. She hated it. She hated showing emotion, but David was so good at provoking it. The ring she had in her hand used to belong to her mother. When she was murdered, the police had eventually given it back to Dillon and he’d kept it in the box on a shelf in his room all of these years. It was a small princess-cut diamond set on a white gold band. David had had it altered, though. Kat’s birthstone was topaz and David had the diamond surrounded with them. It was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen, but beyond that, David had known how much it would mean to her. Finally, wiping the tears and snot on the sleeve of Hunter’s sweatshirt, she said:

  “Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. God…how did I ever get so lucky? I don’t deserve you.”

  “Stop that,” David said. “You deserve the world, baby, and I’m going to give you every piece of it that I can.”

  “Can I put my ring on?”

  David smiled. “I know you’re not big on tradition, but can I put it on you?”

  She nodded and wiped her nose on Hunter’s sweatshirt again before holding out her left hand. David raised an eyebrow at the ring that was already there. She’d forgotten to take it off. “Oh, fuck,” she said, sliding it off. “Hunter’s Cracker Jack box ring.”

  “Nice,” he said, rolling his eyes. She stuck it in her pocket and David slid the real ring on her finger. “It fits.”

  “Perfect,” she said, taking his face in her hands. “I love you.”

  “I love you, baby. So much.” They kissed again and this time it got more heated. David ran his hands up underneath the loose sweatshirt. Kat hadn’t put on a bra and while his tongue explored her mouth, his hands found her breasts and began to massage them, letting his palms rub against her hardened nipples. He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes as he slid his hand down her stomach and took the hem of the shirt into his hands. Kat ran her tongue across her lips and David lifted the shirt up over her head and slid it down her arms. She was surprised when he stopped at her wrists. Instead of pulling it all the way off, he used the sleeves to tier her hands together. He stood up then, slowly pulling her after him and walked her over to the edge of the platform where the light shone out over the bay. It was a gorgeous view of the bay and she was focusing on that when he lifted her arms up and used the rest of the large sweatshirt to tie her to one of the railings. The cold air was seeping into her bones, but she was so excited that it was all part of the exhilaration she was feeling. David took care of the wind soon anyways. He stood in front of her, bending down low enough that he could take one of her nipples into his mouth. She hung there in the wind, overlooking the water as the moon shone across it while he licked, sucked, and nibbled and sent shock waves of pleasure rippling through her body.

  He moved over and began pleasuring the left nipple, while the wind picked up and took over where he left off on the right. Kat was aching to touch him, but so fucking turned on by his sense of adventure. Her heart pounded in her chest when his mouth left her breast and he licked down her abdomen as he pushed down her sweatpants and panties. He left them around her ankles and got down on his knees. His face was close enough that she could feel his warm breath against the wetness on her inner thighs, but he didn’t use his tongue, yet. He used his fingers to tickle her drenched lips, sliding them up and down her slit, teasing her. She strained against her restraints and tried to press her crotch into his face. David smiled and let his finger slide in between her lips, casually letting it drift up until it contacted her clit and she cried out at the moon.

  With her clit throbbing, David leaned in and finally let his tongue contact it. Kat screamed again and once again pushed her hips forward. David pulled his face back and smiled up at her as he pressed one of his palms against her swollen clit. He began to move it in slow circles and Kat used her upper body strength to swing forward, lift her legs, and wrap them around his shoulders, forcing his face into her pussy. She could feel him smile against her flesh before he sucked her clit into his mouth and took her on a slow ride to heaven. Kat came in shivering gasps, feeling it throughout her entire body and almost completely overloading her system and shorting it out. Her brain was foggy when she finished and her body was completely spent. David gently lowered her legs and stood up, kissing her deeply again and letting her taste herself on his face and lips. When he broke the kiss, he stepped back and let her watch him take off his shirt and then his pants, slowly and seductively like a private, kinky striptease. By the time he finished undressing, Kat was overwhelmingly horny again and ready for another earth-shaking orgasm.

  David pressed his naked body against hers and ran his hands down her back, grabbing both of her cheeks and squeezing them while he kissed her neck. He licked it and sucked on it and even bit down on the tender flesh just above her shoulder blade. He slid his hands around to the front and once again slid his fingers across her pussy lips, opening them up and sliding a finger inside. She rocked into his hand and he slid in another finger, crooking it just right to find her G-spot and making her cry out his name. He fingered her for a long time, the whole while kissing her neck, the side of her face, her earlobes, and her lips. When she was on the verge of her second orgasm he slid his fingers out and made her whimper. Taking his throbbing hard cock into his hand he said:

  “This what you want, baby?”

  Breathlessly she nodded and said, “Yes.”

  David licked his lips and let his sexy green eyes slowly take in her body…she could almost feel them touching her, and she was so filled with heat on the inside that the cold on the outside barely penetrated any longer. He stroked his cock slowly, while she watched and licked her own lips. She was ready to beg when he finally pressed it against her lips and slid it up and down until it slid into her opening almost of its own accord. They both gasped and once again David took her butt cheeks into his hands and he held her tightly as he sunk his full length into her. Kat was gasping and cursing and whimpering as he fucked her. He wasn’t gentle, he pulled all the way out and plunged all the way in and moved faster and harder with each stroke. She felt like she could hardly breathe when her second orgasm assaulted her body. David kissed her and she all but screamed into his mouth. He let her finish her orgasm and then with even more forceful strokes, one, two, three more times, his shoulders tensed and became as hard as iron. His cock swelled inside her, almost painfully so, and the groan that came from his chest and entered through her mouth vibrated her body all the way down to her toes.

  He took his time coming down from the orgasm, untying her and carrying her over to the sleeping bag. When he laid her down gently, he pulled two flutes out of a small backpack he had and poured them each a glass of champagne. He handed her one and said, “To us.”

  “I’m going to be Mrs. Brady,” she said. “Un-fucking-believable.”

  8

  The sun was trying to slide up out of the bay when Kat opened her eyes and felt the panic in her chest. She had to get back to the house before morning. David was still sleeping next to her on the sleeping bag. They’d finished off the bottle of champagne and made love again before passing out only a few hours before. She hated to wake him, but she didn’t want to send him home without saying good-bye. “David, wake up, baby. I’m late.”

  David slowly opened his eyes. Kat could tell that he was trying to process where they were. When it hit him, he sat up straight and said, “Damn, sorry, baby. I need to get out of here too and get this place secured. It will be back on line at six a.m. What time is it?”

  “Around five,” she said, looking at her phone. There were no texts or ca
lls from Hunter, so that was good.

  “Okay, let’s get you back and then I’ll clean up here.”

  “I can get me back,” she said, already pulling on her clothes. David watched her tuck the .22 back down in her boot and while she laced it he said:

  “This guy Hunter is chasing, is he dangerous?”

  She shook her head. “Hunter said he’s just some unlucky schmuck with poor hygiene and no good sense.”

  “Okay, be careful anyways, just in case.”

  “I will.” She finished dressing and took his face in her hands. Glancing down at her ring, she smiled. “I can’t stop looking at the ring.”

  David smiled. “Lucky ring.”

  “I can’t stop looking at you either.” She leaned down and kissed him. Their kiss turned into a passionate one and David’s hands started to slide up underneath her clothes again. It was hard, but she had to step back. “I can’t, baby, I’m late.”

  He smiled again. “I know. Go. Be safe. I love you.”

  “I love you so much.” She squealed, like an actual girl, and said, “I’m engaged.”

  “Me too,” David said with a grin.

  “Don’t ever tell anyone I squealed like that. I’ll cut you.”

  He laughed. “I know.”

  “Bye, baby. Thank you.”

  “Thank you for saying yes.”

  Kat practically floated down the spiral staircase and out onto the wet sand that her boots sunk down into. The walk down the cliff was trickier than the trek up had been. It was still dark and even more slippery now that the tide had come in. She almost made it safely to the bottom when her leg suddenly fell through a hole, or something. She cried out in surprise, and then again in pain when her hip got caught in the hole. It took her several minutes, but once she got her bearings again she said, “Fuck!” and fished out her phone. Her first impulse was to call David, but the sun was almost up. It would make more sense for Hunter to rescue her if anyone happened by. She sighed and pressed in his number.