He shook his head slightly, and something about his expression made her hurt. “Not as good as you.”
“Please,” she protested, snorting softly. “I’m a mess.” As if to emphasize that, her bangs dislodged again, and she shoved them back quickly.
“You’re beautiful,” Hunter said at once, his tone and eyes warm, and a quiet sigh escaped him. “I’ve missed you.”
Mal looked at him for a long moment, drinking in the sight of him, letting the warmth race through her. “I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered.
He shifted his weight, still leaning against the cab, that tightness in his body more pronounced. “Then why don’t you pick up when I call?” he asked, his chest heaving. “Why are you hiding from me?”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “I thought…” she tried, her voice more of a croak. She cleared her throat. “I thought we were done.”
“What in the world gave you that impression?” he demanded, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’m not done with you. I’ll never be done with you.”
She staggered to the side, staring at him in shock. “What?”
“Did you not understand what I was saying at Lake Lure?” Hunter asked slowly, shaking his head again. “That I’m in love with you? That it took less than a week for me to realize that what my life was missing was you?”
Mal’s tears started down her cheeks slowly. “I saw you with Emma,” she managed, her tone far less accusing than she thought it would be when she said these words. “You hugged her and…”
“Of course I did,” Hunter said, his tone gentler. “She and I have been friends since we were kids. She wanted to get back together, and I told her there would be no getting back together because I had found my one and only. She was sad, but she got it. She’s fine. And I’d be fine too, if my one and only weren’t doing her best to avoid me.”
Mal had the most intense desire to cover her face with her hands, but she couldn’t feel them. “I was scared,” she admitted, swallowing back more tears and staring at him in agony. “I always knew you belonged with someone like her, and I was reaching for the stars. I knew I’d never be good enough for your world–”
“Shut up.”
“What?” she hiccupped, going suddenly cold.
“Shut up,” he said again. He shook his head, sighing heavily. “Don’t you get it? You are my world.” He swallowed, and she watched his throat work in wonder. “I love you. You are what I’ve always wanted, and I’m tired of trying to get you to see it. Tell me what I have to do, Mallory Hudson. Because I will do anything you say if it means I get you at the end of the day. That’s all I want. Just you.”
Something inside of Mal burst like the grand finale fireworks at the Fourth of July. The saxophone solo from “Baker Street” was playing in her head, and she could suddenly breathe for the first time since Lake Lure. Her lungs expanded with freedom, and she dropped her bag and coat, her feet moving at twice their usual stride to get to him.
She reached for his face and pulled his mouth to hers, nearly crying again at the relief of feeling his lips on hers. She kissed him as she had never kissed him before, with fervent abandon and reckless passion. She inhaled sharply when his arms seized around her waist and lifted her against him so only her toes were touching the ground. His slow moan of satisfaction matched hers, and she broke contact briefly, running her lips along his breathlessly.
“I love you,” she breathed, her lower lip grazing the skin of his chin with her words.
Suddenly, her back was against the cab, and Hunter loomed over her, pressing her back against the metal frame, his mouth a frenzy against hers. She slid one arm under his jacket while the other surged into his hair, earning her a rough growl of approval that she swallowed with delight.
He devoured her, slowly and steadily, his hands pulling at her waist and her hair, her fingers pressing into his back, tensing almost rhythmically against the taut muscle straining beneath his shirt.
There was no way of knowing how long they kissed, and she didn’t care. Even the cab driver seemed perfectly content to let them go as long as they wanted. There was no hurry. They had all the time in the world, and no one was going anywhere. Eventually, the deep kisses faded into soft, breathless grazing of lips against each other and panted breaths on cheeks and throats.
“I’m so sorry, Hunter,” Mal whispered, stroking his cheek and jaw gently. “I’m so sorry.”
He kissed her again in response, infinitely tender, clearly in no rush to hear any apologies from her.
“The cab won’t wait,” Mal eventually stammered out, taking at least four breaths to manage the effort.
Hunter chuckled and nuzzled her throat. “Sure it will. I paid the driver a lot to do whatever we wanted. He’s fine.”
He was missing the point. Mal didn’t want to stay here against the cab forever. She slid her hand from his hair to his throat and played with the open collar. “Fine,” she said with a defiant stare as she met his eyes, their noses almost touching. “I won’t wait.”
A slow, simmering grin crossed Hunter’s face. “Now that’s more like it.” He gave her an assessing look. “You didn’t eat all night. Hungry?”
“Starving,” she said bluntly, enjoying the double meaning in that.
He closed his eyes as if praying. “Mallory.”
“I love you,” she said again, reaching up to touch his face. “And I’d love a pizza.”