“Definitely not bad,” I assured him, bending down to place a kiss on the arm wrapped around my chest. “It was just—”
I trailed off, not really knowing how to put into words what I was feeling inside.
“Let’s shower,” Hunter suggested, seeming to know what I wanted without me having to ask.
Then again, I wasn’t the only one who was sweaty and wrung out. My body was sore in all the best ways, but the exhaustion was still very real.
Nodding my agreement, we carefully untangled our way out of the nest before heading downstairs. Hunter held my hand the entire way, not saying a word as he led me into his bedroom and to the ensuite he had there, taking a moment to start his large walk-in shower and check the temperature before we both stepped inside.
He didn’t say a word for a moment, just held me beneath the warm spray as though he didn’t want to let go of me, if only for a second.
“Hunt?” I questioned, knowing I wasn’t the only one with something on my mind.
“May I?” he asked, picking up his shampoo that sat on the ledge, a look I couldn’t quite place in his eye.
“Sure,” I agreed, taking a step slightly out of the spray and tilting my head for him.
He took his time working the soap through my tresses, untangling all the knots, before shielding my eyes to rinse it before he began all again with the conditioner.
“The very first time I saw you after our first night together—when we ran into each other at the diner—I couldn’t get past the fact that you didn’t smell like me, that you didn’t smell like our wonderful night together.”
“Hunt—”
“Let me finish please,” he said, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it.
“Okay.”
“As much as I might have tried to fool myself, I knew then and there that you were something special. That you were something special tome, and I’m sorry it took me so long to get my shit together and tell you that.”
I turned around in his arms then, wanting to see his blue eyes as they stared down at me. There was no doubting the love in them, not even for a second.
“What changed?” I asked, raising a hand to caress his jaw that now carried a decent stubble from our week together.
“I stopped giving into the fear that was holding me back,” he said, turning his head slightly to kiss my palm. “I was so worried that I couldn’t give you the relationship you deserved, that I wouldn’t be able to, that I held myself back and ended up in a self fulfilling prophecy. As stupid as it’s going to sound, it was seeing you walk out that door without me, knowing that you could just as easily walk out of our lives at any time once you’re done here. And it wasn’t the fact that you could leave, because have no doubts sweetheart that we would follow, but it was the fact that you still didn’t know how much you mean to me.”
Tears sprang to my eyes, the water not doing an adequate job of cloaking them as emotion clogged my throat.
I knew Hunter had been holding back because of his past, but his reasoning, of wanting to give me what I deserved, was more than my heart could take.
I’d been so used to being a commodity, people wanting me for no more than my classification or how it would look to have an omegachoosethem and elevate their status. The guys didn’t care about any of that, and it made me realize that I had some very serious things to consider, and while I knew that it ultimately needed to be a group decision, I needed to think about what we all deserved now that we found ourselves so intertwined down the road we’d found ourselves on.
What started off as something easy going and light was still very much that, but layers of depth and love had now been baked into the foundation.
I had my offers in the city calling still and my unfinished work at the orchard and with the community. My body and mind were both exhausted, and I knew that if I didn’t take the time to really sit down with my thoughts that I’d regret not making a conscious choice about it.
I’d asked for Boone’s bite during my heat, and I knew that I had wanted Hunter’s as well in that moment.
I rested my head against Hunter’s chest, silently absorbing his comfort until the warm water ran out and he reached around to shut it off. It was when he was methodically drying me off that my eyes finally caught his again, the questions in them still present.
“I didn’t expect you to get so soft on me, sheriff,” I said, the words barely more than a whisper.
A chuckle escaped his lips. “This is the only time, sweetheart. There’s not a moment around that I don’t smell that fresh fall scent of yours and it doesn’t have me hard.”
A smile stretched my face before I took his lips, deepening the kiss briefly before pulling back.
“You mean a lot to me too, Hunt.” The look of relief that fell across his face made my next words more difficult. “A lot has changed for us, and I’m not questioning the pack or how I feel about all of you, but I need a night to really think about what happens next.”
He blew out a harsh breath, his grip tightening on me as if he didn’t want to let me go.