Give Me All Of You Page 6

  She felt foolish and carefree all at once.

  She roared beside him. Wiping tears from the corner of her eyes she felt a shift, and then Hunter’s hand was around her waist.

  She wiggled into the pressure, snuggled her face against his wet, hard chest. A hiccup racked her as she tried to stop laughing. He held her until her laughter died down to silly sniffles.

  He tipped her head back with the gentlest of nudges, making her feel languid with contentment.

  Their eyes met, his was serious. “I’m glad you made it,” he whispered.

  “Me too,” she replied, surprised she meant it.

  A lump grew heavy in her throat. Did Hunter want to know her or was he simply bent on possessing her? Maybe she was going too fast.

  She turned to look out over the water. “You look so comfortable out there, have you swam in many ponds before?”

  Hunter sat forward, bringing her with him. He drew her close to his side. She tensed against the feel of his half naked body next to hers.

  She waited but no threat came from him, touching him actually felt safe. She relaxed.

  “Quite a few, actually,” he screwed up his lips and she tried unsuccessfully to ignore the tempting jut of his slightly fuller bottom lip.

  Without warning he turned, and his blue eyes were filled with faint brown swirls.

  He held her probing look. “This pond would qualify as one of the cleanest and safest I’ve been in so far,” he gave her a devilish smile.

  She couldn’t resist the sparkle in his eyes, “How so?”

  “Let’s just say that neither dirty diapers nor constrictors make wholesome companions in the water.”

  She suppressed a guffaw of laughter. “Perhaps you should’ve carried along a fishing pole, you might’ve come across something edible.”

  Hunter made a comical look of disgust. “I highly doubt that,” he laughed, “I’ve long accepted the fact that some snakes aren’t worth the effort.”

  “True hunger isn’t so picky,” she replied primly.

  They stared at each other for long moments. Assessing, evaluating.

  Hunter’s face sobered. “What are you trying to tell me Mina?”

  She took a deep breath and blurted out. “We’ve grown herbs, fruits, vegetables, that sort of thing in the gardens at the back of our property for over a hundred years. It’s free to the public.

  “You and Hermile are close,” Hunter said.

  “Yes,” her voice died away. She wasn’t ready to broach the complicated and tenuous relationship she and her father shared.

  She moved and ran into the intimidating weight of one powerful arm slung around her shoulder. Why hadn’t she felt him before?

  His hold was casual but there was no mistaking that he meant to keep her close.

  She chewed her bottom lip, she needed a distraction.

  “Are you and your family close?”

  He stilled, alarmed she searched his eyes, they weren’t hostile but neither were they friendly. She fidgeted nervously in his grasp.

  Had she offended him?

  She began to pull away. His arm firmed just enough to warn her to stay put. She relaxed hesitantly, but was a little piqued by his high-handed treatment.

  As if in apology, he ducked and placed a feather-light kiss on the top of her head. She sighed.

  “We were…close, until they died.” His voice was low, as if he’d forced the words past obstacles in his throat.

  She knew that kind of pain, though Josephine was very much alive. Words of comfort were useless. She cupped his lean face, pulled him down, their eyes met.

  Dark blue eyes peered into hers, he smiled candidly. “Like you I was also an only child … already in college. Taking care of myself wasn’t such a shock.”

  The words were flat but there was no mistaking the old hurt beneath them.

  She came to her knees within the circle of his arms, on the way up her chest bumped against the wrought expanse of his.

  She brushed her palms down one of the many lines of muscles which extended from his neck down his shoulders to the middle of his torso. His ragged intake of breath made her glance quickly at him.

  He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

  More confident, she wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders, stretching them to their fullest to try and grasp him.

  Heat began to pool in small drops between her thighs. She knew what that meant, the danger it signaled, but she closed her eyes. She wanted this and couldn’t conceive of stopping.

  Chapter eight

  Hunter’s senses went into a dizzying tailspin the moment Mina rose before him. Impatient with her innocent strokes, he plastered her supple body to his.

  She gasped at the crush of his embrace but didn’t demand release as the old Mina would’ve done.

  He closed his eyes and let the feel of her freely given touch seep through him, sink lower into the hole his parent’s passing had left in his life.

  She cared, there was no mistake about that.

  The wonder of it was new and he didn’t quite know how to handle it. Except to return her embrace. The urge surprised him. He had thought his life reasonably full, privileged.

  And he had no right to touch her. Not after last week and Desiree but still he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her mouth.

  Her lids were slumberous and shining with unconcealed desire.

  His blood boiled, she became hotter, sexier every time he touched her.

  He asked with his eyes and anticipation leapt into her face.

  Heat, instant and uncontrollable surged into his veins, making him tense, harden all over.

  He ruthlessly stamped down his own misgivings.

  He needed Mina.

  Surely one mistake couldn’t wipe out what he’d spent months trying to build with her?

  Palming her tiny waist, he reveled in the beauty of her body. She felt so good. Soft, guttural mews came from her mouth.

  Blatant pleas for release.

  He bent hungrily, nipped her plump bottom lip, she cried out.

  He reared back, and tenderness cracked open inside him at the naked hunger in her eyes.

  “Breathe Mina, breathe.”

  She groaned instead and rocked against him.

  She sucked in several deep gulps of air, and then she was out of his arms, before he could pull her back.

  She stayed within the confines of his legs, looked down at him, her eyes gorgeous points of heat in her aroused face.

  Breasts heaving, she lifted her arms and yanked the sundress over her head, a sole dainty thong greeted his eyes.

  He’d just died and gone to an unwarranted reward.

  Her chest pumped up and down and standing tall in their glory, her full breasts moved to the harsh rhythm of her breathing.

  He forgot to think. With a quick, rough movement he caught her and hauled her astride him. His lips clamped hungrily over a thrusting nipple.

  She cried out, raked his shoulders with those kitten claws, he groaned and suckled her even more strongly.

  Gripping her compact, shapely rear, he squeezed and molded the juicy flesh. He couldn’t touch enough of her. Running his hands down the length of her long legs, locked on either side of him, restraint and reason began to unravel.

  She grasped the short curls at the back of his head and tugged his mouth away from her breasts to her lips.

  “Is this what you want?” he growled, needing to hear her say it.

  She licked her bottom lip with slow precision, making him wince in agony, “Yes.”

  He ravaged the insides of her mouth with unfettered desire, plunging and tangling with her tongue until he was dizzy and wanted nothing more than to sink deeper inside her.

  She whimpered brokenly, twisting against him, broke away, her eyes were wild, her breathing haggard.

  “Please Hunter,” she begged against his lips, her hands traveled lower and he jerked under the tentative play of her fingers over his hardened fle
sh.

  She watched his response, her own eyes were needy and … honest.

  Her strokes went from unsure to tormented pleasure when she cupped his sack. His eyes crossed.

  Dammit! How he wanted her. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have traded at that moment to have her. But the guilt, the irony of what he’d done to be in this situation in the first place sat unmoving in his brain.

  With shaking hands he lifted her fingers away from him. “I can’t,” he croaked.

  Silence fell between them like a loadstone, their rough breathing the only sounds.

  The shutters came down in her eyes, but they couldn’t quite hide the sting of rejection.

  The urge to confess choked him but how could he say, I can’t sleep with you because I fucked a nympho to keep you from learning that I’ve been lying to you all this time about who I really am?

  He waited for her rage. Seconds passed, then a minute but there was … nothing.

  She simply froze atop his lap, her naked body silky in the afternoon sunlight.

  She began trembling, her hands came up halfway then stopped. She’d intended to cover her breasts but at the last moment her natural courage had reasserted itself. He admired her even more.

  She clenched her hands into small fists. “Do you find me unattractive?” the words wobbled, underscoring the strength it took for her to say them.

  He barked a laugh, reached out, she flinched away, he grasped her ass and crushed it against the stone ridge in his swimming trunks. “Does that feel like repulsion?”

  She shuddered, shook her head. Her face was blotted with confusion. “I don’t understand. You want me. I want you now too. Why?”

  It was his turn to hedge, to reach for courage he didn’t have. “Things have gotten a little more complicated since you agreed to give us a try.”

  Anger flashed in her eyes. “What?” she demanded, jealousy flashing in her eyes.

  It was both adorable and frightening.

  He fought to summon some logical explanation. “Sex will be a major move for us. If we come together now there’ll be no turning back. I won’t want to wait. Are you ready to marry me tomorrow?”

  She stared longingly at him, then the doubt crept into her eyes. She shook her head. “But I feel like I need to be close to you,” she whispered.

  The anger went out of her with that admission. He hauled her into his arms, heaved a sigh of tremendous relief. “I’ve felt that way for months, honey. I’ll find a way to clear this up as soon as I can.”

  She was quiet against him, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

  Chapter nine

  Driving through the twilight, Mina stole lingering glances at the full moon as it rose to its place in the sky. She smiled as she remembered.

  Her body still hummed in all the places Hunter had skimmed with his fingertips or brushed with his lips throughout the remainder of their afternoon together. He’d blown hot little clouds of air across the expanse of her skin which had made her gasp and groan.

  Her breath came short at the memory of his raven head bent low over her, his tongue a hot, marauding instrument which had made her cry out more than once.

  She squirmed in her seat, if she didn’t calm down, she’d caused a wreck.

  Pulling into the driveway of Bronswort mansion, a shadow loomed out of nowhere, she shrieked in shock. Slammed on the brakes. Heart hammering she studied it.

  Josephine?

  What the hell was she doing here?

  She felt a sharp pang of irritation. Her mother’s presence could only ruin the evening.

  Mouth pressed into an uncompromising line, she killed the engine and got out of the car.

  “What are you doing here?” She strode over to Josephine.

  Josephine paused uncertainly, her normally stoic face haggard in the receding light. “There’s something I have to tell you,” her voice was a plea.

  Mina didn’t care. “You didn’t have to come in person, a phone call would’ve sufficed,” she snapped.

  Josephine had abandoned them so long ago. She was heartily sick of all these little attempts at reconciliation. First the birthday get-together, now this?

  Josephine raised dark eyes to her face, and even in the fading light Mina could see that they were bruised with misery.

  Josephine’s shoulders sagged. “I deserve your anger, even your hate. I’ve been nothing but a reminder of the family you’ve lost.” She raised a hand to her.

  Mina stumbled back from the gesture, her heart twisted painfully. “I lost nothing. You were never a mother to me. Your leaving showed me that!”

  Josephine turned away, her proud, strong features mired in her own personal turmoil. “I’ve always loved you Mina.”

  “No!” the words were loud in the cooling night, they’d come from somewhere deep inside her, someplace that Josephine’s cruel, heartless words had ripped back open. She was beside herself with the torrent of horrible scenes and countless painful memories that she’d had to endure. “You’ve never loved me, if you had you wouldn’t have left when I was barely five years old,” she cried, willing herself not to break down.

  “You don’t understand,” Josephine began sobbing, her fingers curled into impatient claws.

  Mina shook and stayed pointedly out of reach. “Please don’t waste my time trying to resurrect what can’t be salvaged between us. We share the same blood, that’s all.”

  She turned and stomped towards the house.

  “Stop!” Josephine cried out.

  Mina didn’t know why but her legs stopped beneath her, stubbornly she kept her back to Josephine.

  “Six months after you were born, I got pregnant again. Hermile was ecstatic but I was angry. I felt trapped deeper into a motherhood I didn’t want,” her mouth twisted into a sneer. “I was very self-absorbed back then. I went behind his back and had an … an abortion,” a wrenching sob broke through, followed by another.

  Mina clenched her body tight. A part of her wanted to run to Josephine but she was afraid to move.

  Hermile had never explained the bitterness and anger that even as a five year old she’d seen growing between her parents.

  She turned because she could no longer bear to keep her back to her sobbing mother.

  Josephine’s eyes begged her to understand. “It was a horrible mistake. The doctor botched the abortion and I nearly bled out. Hermile had to come take me to the hospital,” Josephine’s eyes were streaming and Mina stuffed a fist in her mouth to keep from crying out. “Nothing I did or said afterwards mattered to Hermile. I’d betrayed him and killed our baby. After a few years of fighting to stay, I had to leave but Hermile made it clear that you would be staying.”

  Josephine tried to pull herself together, the sobs dwindled but now her slender frame trembled as though wracked with a fever. “I’ve always loved you with every fiber of my being, but I couldn’t stand against Hermile’s right to be angry,” she wrapped her arms around herself, “And I got worse. For many years I drifted, men and society filled my life.”

  Mina choked on a rush of old emotions so stifling she could barely wrap her mind around it. Josephine had wanted her, she hadn’t left because she’d wanted to. All those years of believing that had kept her anger going, had made it so hard but now …

  Josephine’s entire being was wracked with tragedy and regret. “I was so ashamed. I knew that I’d lost the right to love you, to be there-”

  Mina shook her head frantically, “No … no you didn’t,” she finally found her voice, “you never lost me, my life was never full without you, work, dad, I was never truly happy. Sometimes I’d cross the street in front of your house dozens of times just to catch a glimpse of you. I was hurt, angry but underneath it all I was just so lonely for you.”

  Josephine cried out and darted towards her. Mina held on to her gaunt frame and the pain finally began to fade.

  She’d been too anxious. Facing Hermile after Josephine’s departure wasn’t something she was e
motionally prepared to do.

  She was overwhelmed. Josephine’s abortion and subsequent behavior had wrecked her family. But they were still her family. A chance at having a real family again meant so much.

  Nervousness crept in, her hands grew sweaty on the steering wheel.

  So why then was she going to Hunter? How would he be able to help with her family’s soap opera?

  After this afternoon there was a legitimate shot that he’d join their ranks and she needed somebody other than her father to talk to right now.

  The light in his window could be seen from the street. Jittery with nerves she pulled in behind his car.

  What will he think of her appearing on his doorstep at night, disheveled and sorely in need of sleep? Only one way to find out.

  She hustled to the door and paused as it flew open.

  Hunter searched her face in the low light pouring out of the room, unceremoniously she was deposited inside.

  “What the hell are you doing here at this time of night?” he demanded, his voice rough with concern.

  She smiled like a fool. His brusque demand didn’t hide the concern in his voice.

  She snuggled into his solid warmth, one afternoon in his arms had turned her into a snuggle bunny. “I needed to see you,” she replied airily.

  He growled, “After spending the whole afternoon with me?”

  She giggled. Emboldened by his fierce protectiveness, she went big and brushed a kiss across his chest, covered in a thin cotton shirt.

  A vicious, delightful curse ripped from his mouth. “Have you become a tease Mina?” he snapped. He began raking his fingers through her hair, bolts of pain and pleasure tingled through her tender scalp.

  She moaned and leaned back into his touch, eyes closed. “No … why would you ask?”

  “Because you don’t seem to grasp the repercussions of turning up at a man’s door at night and falling into his arms without a valid emergency.”

  She chuckled and embraced the sensation of her earlier misgivings about him falling further away.