His eyes, however…
He was an attractive man before she’d started to like him, before he’d started spending sunrises with her, and certainly before they’d kissed and he’d set her world aflame. Now he was like the entire dessert menu at the Cheesecake Factory, and she had a gift card.
“Sweet mother of Abraham Lincoln,” she hissed as her eyes clashed with his again and her face and neck flushed at once.
Taryn and Dan snickered, and she elbowed whoever was closest.
“Honey, if I were getting looked at like that,” Taryn said out of the corner of her mouth as she checked her camera screen, “I would not be standing here taking pictures.”
Mal glared at her and fumbled in her satchel for another lens as the group moved out of the house to the back patio to admire the view. This was one of the premier houses on the resort, apparently, and had some great and rich history, and the family who owned it had done a lot of work to make it both rustic and modern… and some other stuff that Mal had completely forgotten. But it was located above many of the others, so the view was spectacular.
If only someone would let her appreciate it.
Was this what it was going to be like all the time? She was going to die. A slow and painful and rather embarrassing death.
The girls headed off in one direction, the guys in another, all chatting aimlessly. Hunter had stopped his tour guide act and was talking with Caroline at the moment, thank goodness. Mal focused on the amazing view she had, wondering if the homeowners would mind if she came back. She could only imagine how fantastic this view was at sunrise and sunset, with morning fog, with rain coming in… She wanted to see this view in every season and in every condition.
“Taryn, can you get a focal point shot of that tree on the ledge?” she asked, clicking away madly. “I think you could get a spectacular aspect.”
“She’s already doing that,” a distinctly non-Taryn voice murmured from behind her.
Hot and cold shocks exploded up and down her back, and she gasped at the contact on her arm. Hunter gripped her tightly, pulling her away from the patio and the view.
“What are you—?” she tried, resisting initially.
“Stop talking,” Hunter ground out.
Mal looked back toward the others, but no one paid any attention to her except Taryn and Dan, who waved. Then Caroline saw her and raised a brow.
No one tried to stop them.
“Hunter,” Mal said carefully, trying to avoid stumbling on the walkway.
He shook his head and opened the side door to the house, moved to the glorious and state-of-the-art kitchen, then tossed Mal into a pantry just to one side and followed. He closed the door quickly, her arm still in his grasp.
She didn’t have time to say anything before he had her up against the wall. He took her camera off her neck, slid the satchel down her arm, and in the same motion, managed to get a hand behind her ear while his thumb grazed her jaw.
And then he waited.
Mal looked up into his face, trying her level best to be mad at him. “You are ridiculous,” she scolded, her voice sounding harsh and rasping to her ears. “I thought you were going to be reserved. You said you could do that. Well, nothing about you is reserved, pal. You’re making a scene, which I specifically asked you not to do. I am going to get so much crap for this! What in the world has gotten into you?”
Hunter apparently didn’t hear a single word. He stared at her, eyes flicking between her lips and her eyes. She held her breath, waiting, and then he kissed her. Softly at first, just once. Then his other hand came up to match the first, and his kiss became hard, insistent, and possessive. She was unable to move, to think, to breathe… Everything was suddenly and completely attuned to him.
His lips were magical and wicked, and she had no idea how to match them, how to keep up, and she felt herself growl in impatience. He angled her face up, their difference in height more enhanced by the cramped pantry, but their forced proximity only made things hotter, more exciting, more… something.
He kissed her deeply, parting her lips with ease and skill, draining her of thought and any resistance she’d ever had. His hands cupped her face, fingers stroking and gripping against her cheeks. He wrung every ounce of sense and pleasure from her, kiss after drugging kiss, and soon, the wall was the only thing holding her up.
When he finally saw fit to give her a break, her hands were gripping his lapels, and his chest was moving just as fast and unsteadily as hers. There was some comfort in that, at least. If she was going to be completely senseless, at least he was there too, to keep her company.
“What was that for?” she eventually gasped.
He stroked her cheek, one hand leaning against the wall above her. “After your little stunt in the truck, I haven’t thought of anything else all day. I needed to see if I imagined it.” He waited a beat. “I didn’t.”
Mal swallowed hard and slid her hands on his blazer. “Wow.”
One side of his mouth curved up. “Is that a compliment?”
“Sure,” she managed, clearing her throat. “I just…” She had no idea what had come over her this morning; she’d only known that she had to kiss him on her own, just once, in case it never happened again. “I thought it was a one-time thing,” she admitted lamely.