Since making love to her, Hunter had taken their relationship from zero to sixty. He’d made her breakfast in bed, placing a bunch of acacia, what he called “wattle”, in a vase on the tray. Yesterday he took her for another picnic by the billabong. This time, she’d accepted his invitation to skinny dip and they’d had sex in the cool water—twice.
Hazel had decided to stay with Aunt Joyce for a couple of days, only returning earlier this morning. Annie wasn’t sure if Hunter had asked his mother to stay away or if the woman had a sixth sense about their budding relationship. Either answer was completely plausible.
Hunter had invited her to come with him to pick up Dylan at Sydney International, but Annie wasn’t willing to depart Eden, not even for a few hours. She’d gotten spoiled by the absence of paparazzi. She’d turned him down, more than happy to use her fear of flying as the excuse.
She rubbed her palms against her jeans nervously. Hunter said he’d explained things to his brother. In their haste to get into each other’s pants, Annie had failed to nail down exactly what those things were. What had Hunter said? That they were dating? Fucking? Friends with benefits?
Regardless of Hunter’s romantic gestures, neither of them had ventured into the feelings realm and, because of that, Annie had dismissed his declaration of love the other night as a slip of the tongue. It was a common enough thing to say when in the midst of sex.
She suddenly wished she and Hunter had talked about what was happening between them. It would be a difficult discussion on its own, but with Dylan at the station, it would be even more awkward.
She watched the propellers slow to a stop then Hunter climbed out. Her breath caught. He’d only been gone ten hours and yet, she’d missed him terribly. She stepped out of the ute and waved, smiling from ear to ear. He looked good enough to eat. She started to walk toward him, but stopped as Dylan came around the helicopter.
Mutt, spotting his owner, leapt out of the truck bed and ran over to Dylan, barking loudly. Dylan stopped to pet the dog. Annie wondered how he managed to stay upright when the huge dog jumped up, placing his enormous paws against Dylan’s chest. Dylan laughed as he rubbed the dog’s ears affectionately.
Hunter made a comment she was too far away to hear and Dylan laughed. She knew they were identical, but seeing them side-by-side drove home just how much so.
Both men looked at her as they crossed the field.
She and Dylan stared at each other for a moment before she broke the silence. “Hi, Dylan.”
“Annie?”
She nodded. No doubt he’d expected to glimpse the American girl he’d seen through Skype. In one short week, that pale woman had disappeared, replaced by the tan one standing before him in tatty jeans and boots, an Akubra on her head. Her nervousness grew worse. Hunter, God bless him, must have noticed. He stepped away from Dylan, closer to her. She struggled to read the look on his face, and again she was struck by the likeness between him and Dylan.
“You look like your brother.”
Dylan grinned. “Nah, I’m the good-looking one.”
Annie smiled. The response was so typically Dylan. The Dylan she’d come to know and consider a friend.
Hunter rolled his eyes and muttered, “idiot,” but there was no malice in his voice. In fact, Annie could sense the affection, the love they shared for each other.
“So, you and Hunter, eh?”
Leave it to Dylan to take the bull by the horns.
She nodded slowly, wondering if that was the right reply.
Dylan’s green eyes radiated warmth and affection, but none of the lust Annie had grown used to seeing in Hunter’s. “Well, I suppose we better go ahead and make sure fate was right.”
Annie frowned, confused. But Dylan didn’t give her a chance to question him.
He placed his palms on each side of her face and pulled her toward him for a kiss.
Shock held her still for three heartbeats, four, and then she joined the experiment. She softened her lips and let Dylan lead the kiss. She tried—really tried—but after several seconds, her suspicions were confirmed. Dylan appeared to come to the same conclusion as well. He released her.
“Had your fun?” Hunter’s voice held a tinge of annoyance, maybe even a bit of fear, but no real anger.
Dylan’s easy smile returned. “Bit like I imagine kissing Linda would be,” he said to Hunter. Glancing back at Annie, he explained, “A cousin from Perth we rarely see.”
As easily as that, the ice was broken. Annie gave Dylan a friendly hug that he returned. He even picked her up and spun her around a couple times.
“Damn, it’s good to finally meet you, Annie. Has my brother been taking good care of you?”
She blushed before she could stop herself and Dylan laughed loudly. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Hunter tugged Annie away from Dylan’s embrace, wrapping his arm around her shoulders in a sweetly possessive gesture. “We weren’t expecting you home so soon. Sort of got the feeling you were taking a fancy to New York.”
Annie couldn’t imagine Dylan actually enjoying city life. Every time she’d tried to picture Hunter traveling to New York, she realized it would be like placing a wild stallion in a pen, never allowing it to run free. That unnerving thought had woken her up from a sound sleep the previous night. Her first week in Farpoint had passed far too quickly. This time next week she’d be the one standing near the helicopter, preparing to return to the States or—as she’d come to think of it—hell.
“New York was all right.”
“And you met Monet?” Of all the people Annie had left behind, Monet was the one she missed the most.
Dylan nodded, his easy smile fading a bit. It confirmed Annie’s fears. Whatever had occurred between her best friend and Hunter’s brother, it hadn’t ended well. “I did.”
He didn’t offer more. Annie looked at Hunter, but his expression proved he was just as in the dark as she.
“I guess we better get you back to the house before Mum stomps out here on her own to see you.”
Dylan quickly accepted his brother’s reprieve. “Much as it pains me to say, I actually missed the old duck.”
He slung his pack over his shoulder and headed for the pickup truck, climbing into the bed with Mutt.
Annie looked toward Hunter for an explanation, but he merely shrugged. “Whatever happened, he’s not talking.”
“Maybe he just needs time.”
Hunter nodded, grasping her hand and leading her to the truck. His expression told her he didn’t believe time would help Dylan any more than she did.
* * * * *
Five days passed and Dylan still wouldn’t talk about his hasty departure from New York. Annie stopped pressing for details as other anxieties began to creep up on her. She was scheduled to return to New York the day after tomorrow.
Annie lay staring at the ceiling of Hunter’s bedroom, listening to his soft breathing while fighting off a growing panic attack.
Her Scarlett O’Hara approach to her relationship with Hunter had been a huge mistake. She was running out of tomorrows.
“I thought I was the early riser.”
She glanced to her left to find Hunter awake and looking at her.
“Trouble sleeping?”
She nodded. “I leave soon.” For days, she’d fought against announcing the obvious. Their days had fallen into an easy routine that Annie was too willing to cling to. She’d been pretending her time here was reality. She couldn’t live that lie anymore.
Hunter sighed. “I know. It’s been on my mind pretty much twenty-four-seven since you got here.”
“Really?” He’d never mentioned it, never let on he was bothered by her imminent departure. Maybe she wasn’t the only one trying to stop time by living in fantasyland.
He reached over, pulling her to her side, facing him. It was a position she was becoming addicted to. He kissed her softly. “Of course I have.”
He would have said more. She knew he was willing to talk
it out with her, but once again, her fear kicked in, overwhelming her common sense. She lifted her leg around his waist, grinding her pelvis against his erection. Hunter had teased her last night, claimed she was insatiable. She’d taken it as a compliment, pushing him to his back and riding him in true jillaroo fashion.
She tried to kiss him, but Hunter held her back, his hand on her cheek. “Annie, don’t you think we should—”
“No,” she interrupted. “Not now. Not yet. I can’t…I want…”
Hunter had become adept at reading her face, her emotions. She couldn’t remember there ever being another living soul who was so in tune with what she was feeling.
He let her kill the conversation with kisses, touches. They slept naked, neither of them wanting even the thin cotton of a t-shirt between them at night. Hunter pushed her to her back and entered her in one smooth, well-practiced thrust. They’d dispensed with condoms that day by the billabong when Hunter had taken her in the water.
His kisses grew harder and she sensed the desperation behind them. She felt it. Shared the same fear. She gripped his hair, fisted it tightly. Hunter hissed but didn’t break away. Reaching up, he took her hair as well, mimicking her actions, pulling on her tresses in the way he knew drove her wild.
It was always like this with Hunter. This all-consuming need to hold on to each other so tightly, they’d never fall apart. Annie wrapped her legs around his waist and forced him deeper.
Hunter bent his head, bit her neck, leaving his mark. She cried out with pleasure, scratching his arms, drawing on his body as well. She’d make sure he never forgot her. Never forgot…
Panic consumed her once more, throwing her into action. She shoved at his chest, indicating she wanted him on his back. She followed him over, pounded herself up and down, up and down on his turgid flesh. Hunter’s fingers gripped her hips, guiding her, pulling her toward him harder. Using his strength to drive her.
“Fuck,” Hunter muttered. “More.”
He sat up, pulling her off his cock. With strong, sure hands, he pushed her facedown over his mattress as he knelt behind her. Then he was there, inside her again, thrusting so deeply she feared they’d break the bed.
Annie took his pummeling blows, increasing the impact by meeting him halfway. Still it wasn’t enough. She crawled forward slightly, flipping to her back once more. Hunter upped the ante, standing then dragging her body until her ass hovered at the edge of the mattress. She wrapped her ankles around his neck and Hunter accepted the invitation. He drove into her hard and she bit her lip to keep from screaming.
If anyone else was already awake, there was no way they wouldn’t know what was going on in Hunter’s bedroom. Typically, they kept their lovemaking in the house quieter, calmer, only indulging in the loud, kinky stuff while way out of earshot of other people.
So much for discretion.
Hunter grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed the ultra-sensitive flesh. She groaned, her fingers fisting in the sheets.
“More!” she demanded.
Hunter’s gaze darkened as he quickened his pace. Twice he pinched her nipple, causing her to buck beneath him, her back arching on the bed. Then he rubbed her clit and her control was utterly destroyed. The white-hot lights of her orgasm blinded her. It was only here in this moment that the real world disappeared and her anxieties subsided.
Oh how she wished she could call this perfect place home.
Hunter slowly lowered her legs until her feet hit the floor. It was only then she realized he hadn’t come.
She opened her eyes, her gaze eating up his handsome face, his muscular chest, the light sprinkling of hair that adorned it. “Hunter?”
He looked away from her, toward the nightstand. Opening the drawer, he pulled out a tube of lubrication. Though he’d promised to take her ass, he hadn’t breached her with anything more than his finger.
“Say no, Annie, and this goes away. I won’t do anything you don’t want.”
“I want it.” The words fell from her lips without a second thought. She wanted every part of Hunter she could get. Wanted to create a thousand memories of him so she could take them out later, on the lonely nights, and remember.
“Roll over.”
She turned easily, catching a second wind, her heart starting to race. What he was about to do seemed wicked, like something they should only attempt during the darkest hour of night. Not now, when the bright morning sunshine was just starting to flood the room.
She jerked slightly when he drizzled some of the cool lube on her ass. Annie struggled to breathe as he slowly worked the gel inside, first with one finger, then—holy shit—with two.
“You’re holding your breath.”
“I am?”
He froze. “Should I stop?”
“Good God, no. I didn’t realize how sensitive that area was.”
He began thrusting shallowly, working slowly to stretch her. Neither of them spoke for several minutes as Annie acclimated herself to this new experience. Hunter’s thoroughness and care as he prepared her to take him touched her heart. As if he hadn’t already claimed enough of it, he was stealing yet another piece with his concern. He would never hurt her, never intentionally bring her pain.
Finally, his fingers disappeared. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that he’d donned a condom. He carefully coated it with lube as well.
“Ready?”
She nodded once, nudging her ass higher, inviting him in.
Hunter wiped the lube off his fingers with his sheet, giving her a mischievous grin. “Guess I’ll be doing the laundry later.”
She was amazed at his ability to provoke so many emotions inside her at once—happiness and horniness mingled together into one giant blob of bliss. The head of his cock nudged at her tight opening and she sucked in a deep breath.
“Don’t do that,” he cautioned. “Release that air slowly and push against my cock as I move in.”
She followed his instructions, his cock slipping in an inch or so. Sweat rolled down Annie’s brow.
Hunter reached around to rub her clit. She sighed at the pure ecstasy that touch produced and his cock slid in even farther. Hunter continued to play with her sexual hot buttons, stroking her clit, sucking on the back of her neck, pinching her nipples. Every teasing touch caused her body to relax more until he was fully lodged inside her ass.
He pressed his chest against her back and kissed her ear. “Do you like this?”
She nodded. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“My girl,” he whispered. The words warmed her heart. What would she give to be his girl forever?
Before she could consider that answer, Hunter retreated a few inches, returning faster this time. The rhythm took her breath away. The first few thrusts pinched as she tried to decide whether the discomfort was a bit too close to true pain to be pleasurable. Before she could cry halt, though, her body gave way to the sensations, accepting them. Her pussy clenched the emptiness and she suddenly wished she had her vibrator.
Next time.
Please let there be a next time.
Hunter pumped into her solidly, though with less strength than he’d just taken her pussy. He was being careful, trying not to hurt her. She smiled—then pushed the envelope.
She met his thrusts, adding her own force to the cadence. Within moments, she heard the telltale signs of Hunter’s impending climax. His breathing quickened, his fingers tightened as he pulled her hips toward him.
“God, Annie. Jesus. Fuck!”
She loved his mindless curses, loved the way his body jerked against hers when his orgasm overtook him. She felt each pulse as he erupted, filling the condom.
Exhaustion gave way. He pulled out slowly, as both of them slumped facedown on the bed. She didn’t move for several minutes, too afraid to break the spell.
Hunter was quiet for so long she’d thought he’d fallen asleep. Then his eyelids lifted and he captured her gaze.
“I love you.”
His words, spoken softly, penetrated every dark, lonely spot inside her.
“I love you too.”
“Annie, I want—”
Before he could finish, a loud knock came at the door.
“Hey, brother,” Dylan called through the wood. “Hate to interrupt, but we just got a call. There’s some fancy-arse private jet about to touch down on our landing strip. Pilot says he’s got Annie’s dad onboard.”
“Shit.” Annie sat up rapidly, grabbing on to Hunter as a wave of light-headedness came over her. Her father? Here? In Oz?
Hunter, ever calm, cool and collected, yelled, “We’ll be out in a minute.”
“Okay.”
Annie listened as Dylan’s footsteps retreated, trying to figure out what the hell her father was doing here.
“Why would he come here?” she asked, more to herself than to Hunter.
“Do you think he could be worried about you?”
She scoffed. “Um, no.”
Hunter frowned. “Why the bloody hell not? If my daughter took off halfway around the world to hook up with some bloke she’d met online without telling me, you can be damn sure I’d be on a plane, flying off to find her. I’d probably be tempted to beat her backside for it too.”
“My dad’s not like that.”
“How do you know, Annie? I sort of get the impression you’ve never really tested him. From the stories you’ve told me, you’ve always walked the straight and narrow, getting good grades in school, earning that Magna Come thing, settling down near him in New York in an apartment he picked because he knew it was safe. Have you even done a single reckless thing in your life before this trip?”
“I don’t consider this trip reckless.” It was an inane answer and Hunter’s face revealed his frustration.
“Well, you’re the only one, besides maybe Dylan. I can tell you right now if you ever tried something so dangerous again, I’d be on the private jet with your dad and it wouldn’t be a race to see who’d beat your arse first. I’d win.”
Annie giggled. She knew he wasn’t trying to be humorous, but there was something strangely amusing about his caveman posturing.
Misplaced Princess (Foreign Affairs, Book One) Page 11
