There was a knock at the door some time later.
Gretchen looked up just as the door opened. Hunter stood there in the doorway, his frame poker-stiff as ever, his face inscrutable. He wore a dark navy dress shirt, the collar slightly open. His hair was damp, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower, the ends curling, and she wanted to touch it.
He cleared his throat and then focused his gaze in her direction—but not on her. “Is there a problem?”
“Yes. You won’t look at me.”
He looked startled at that, his gaze flying to her. “I—”
“It’s okay,” she interrupted, getting to her feet and picking up the stack of letters she’d set aside. “I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable. I just know that you always look away when you’re uneasy. You’ve been avoiding me since the greenhouse.”
He said nothing, but she watched the red rise in his cheeks.
“Look, Hunter, I apologize if my actions made you uncomfortable. I want us to be friends. We can still be friends, can’t we?” She forced herself to keep her expression as innocent as possible.
“Friends,” he bit out after a long moment. “Of course.”
“Great. I thought I’d ask you, friend to friend, if you could help me with my project a little.”
He shut the door behind him, stepping into the room a bit further. “Of course.”
She smiled and extended the stack of carefully folded letters to him. “Perfect. I’m trying to transcribe this in a way that’ll be interesting to readers, and I’m having trouble with the dynamics.”
Hunter picked up the first letter and began to open it. “Dynamics?”
She laid her hand over the letters—so he couldn’t read them too early and bolt—and gestured at the couch. “Shall we sit?”
She half-expected him to decline, but after a moment’s hesitation, he followed. Discreetly, she glanced at his crotch. He was already hard with wanting her, unable to control himself. In that moment, she loved his virginity.
Gretchen slid a little closer to Hunter, leaning over his arm and pressing her breast against him, pretending interest in the letters she’d handed him. “I think if we’re able to act out some of the things that are described, it’ll be easier for me to write them. I’m a visual learner, after all.”
“I see.” His gaze moved toward her, and then he glanced away as if burned.
She noticed he was careful to keep his good side of his face toward her, and a little part of her heart ached to see that. Did he truly think he was so hideous that he needed to hide who he was? The scars were not beautiful, but they were fascinating. They made him different.
She liked different.
“Shall we start, then?” She reached for the first letter and brushed her breast against his arm again, her nipple hardening at the contact. Gretchen had to stifle a moan of pleasure. He was so big, hard, and warm against her and he smelled divine. Hell, give her a few more minutes of this torture and she’d be rubbing up against him like a cat in heat. “Why don’t I read the first one? You can read the next.”
“Very well,” Hunter said. She noticed his gaze had moved from the letters to her br**sts.
Gretchen cleared her throat politely, unfolded the first letter, and then peeked over at him. “There is a man and a woman mentioned in this letter. I’ll be Lula, and I’d appreciate it if you can be Ben for me.”
He gave a quick nod.
“My dearest Ben,” Gretchen began in a soft voice. “It has been thirty days since we last saw each other. How languidly time passes when I am not in your arms. How achingly slow the sun moves through the skies, and the days cycle into evening. The nights are the hardest for me.” She peeked up at him again, but he hadn’t moved away. Encouraged, she continued. “It seems the darkest hours are our time, my love. Last night I had a dream of our most recent party together. I remember that you found me in the dark. You put your hand on mine and guided it to your lips.”
A hint of a frown touched Hunter’s mouth, bunching the scars on his cheek. He reached for her hand. Fascinated, she was so distracted by his touch she almost missed the graze of his mouth over her knuckles, and she felt heat flash through her anew.
Gretchen’s voice grew a little shaky as she read on. “Then, it was like you changed your mind on what you wished to do to me. You took my hand and raised it over my head, pinning it there. I remembered that you held me down on the sofa and your weight settled over me.”
Hunter stiffened against her, and Gretchen thought he would refuse her. Then he laced his fingers in hers and lifted her hand over her head. In a swift move that left her breathless, he pushed her down to the couch, his weight settling over her and between her legs.
His face was close enough to kiss, his breath brushing against her skin. His gaze moved over her face, and Gretchen felt a hint of nerves.
He studied her. “Was this a plan to get me to touch you?” he asked softly. His thumb caressed her wrist, his eyes boring into hers.
“Who, me?” She gave him an innocent look. “I just wanted you to help me act through some of the letters.”
“Mmmhmmm.”
She shifted her hips, wriggling underneath him a little until she felt his c*ck cradled against her hips. A sigh of pure pleasure escaped her. “I might have had a slight ulterior motive. Slight.”
His thumb continued to stroke her wrist and he said nothing. Just that small motion was driving her wild. With his weight settled between her legs and that small touch teasing her, she definitely understood Lula’s sentiments.
“What comes next?” he asked huskily.
“Let me see,” she whispered, distracted when his hand began to slide down her thigh. “My pantaloons are damp with arousal just thinking of your touch. I think of your lips grazing over my skin. How you’d rip my clothing away and bury your face into my feminine petals, determined to make me cry out with delight. You would taste me and please me even as your hands reached up to caress my br**sts.” Gretchen fanned her face with the letter. “Whew. Sounds wild.”
He ignored her chatter, carefully sliding his hand away from her wrist and moving it down her torso. He hovered for a moment over her breast and then, ever so slowly, laid his palm against her breast through her shirt. His thumb grazed over her nipple and she sucked in a breath, surprised at how good that felt.
Hunter looked down at her br**sts, his own breathing speeding in time with hers. Very gently, he circled his cupped hand on her breast, kneading the flesh and catching the nipple between his fingers and plucking at it.
She whimpered, biting her lip and angry at herself for making noise. The look on his face was so incredibly intense that she hated to interrupt—she didn’t want him to stop, not for anything.
He continued to caress her breast and whispered, “What did the letter say again?”
“Um.” She forced her gaze away from him. His fingers were playing on one of her n**ples, coaxing it into an even stiffer peak, and her pulse was pounding at the junction of her thighs. She rocked her h*ps slightly as she shifted to read the letter again, enjoying the feel of his c*ck pressed against her p**sy. She forced herself to focus on the letter. “I think of your lips grazing over my skin.”
“Lips on skin?” He lifted his hand off her breast and began to slowly push up her shirt, seemingly gaining confidence with every moment that passed. He pushed her shirt up around her neck, exposing her bra cups and her belly. He looked down at her in wonder and ran the backs of his fingers over her bare skin, then leaned into kiss the swell of her breast.
She moaned in response. “That feels so good, Hunter. More.”
He licked her flesh, pushing aside the cup of her bra and revealing her aching nipple. “Does he lick her here?”
“I’m sure he does,” Gretchen breathed.
When he leaned close, she arched her back and offered her nipple to him.
He groaned, moving down to take it into his mouth, sucking lightly on her flesh. He ran his tongue over her nipple and whispered, “Tell me what to do—what pleases you.”
“Just keep doing that,” she told him, running her fingers through his hair. She let the letter flutter to the ground, no longer interested in it. Her eyes fluttered closed and she lost herself to the sensation of his mouth on her skin. “God, Hunter, you feel incredible against me.”
“Rip your clothing,” he breathed, and it took her a moment to realize that he was quoting the letter. “Bury my face into your feminine petals.”
His hands were suddenly frantic, tugging at her yoga pants and sliding them down her hips.
She lifted her h*ps to assist, excited. “Yes. Hunter, yes.”
He tore her pants down her thighs, exposing her flesh. Before she could direct him to do anything, he pushed her thighs apart, stretching the fabric around her knees, and buried his face in her aching flesh.
Gretchen gasped, startled at the sudden move. She’d been thinking she’d have to convince him to touch her, but now that it was all laid out in the open, he’d dove upon her like a starving man.
“Ah, fuck,” Hunter moaned, and she felt his breath on her p**sy. His tongue stroked out and licked her lightly, and then he groaned again. “You taste so good.”
Dear sweet heaven, his mouth on her felt incredible. “Yes. Keep touching me.” Her hands moved to his hair, holding him there.
“Tell me how,” he growled, sending shivers through her body.
“My clit,” she breathed. “Put your tongue there.”
He did, and she almost came off the couch. Sensation flared through her body and she dug her fingernails into his scalp, desperate for the pleasure he offered. “More.”
The licks he gave her were rough and untrained, but there was something raw and delicious about his enthusiasm. She’d wanted this—and him—for what seemed like so very long. When he flicked his tongue against her cl*t and then circled it, she shuddered in response. “Oooh, you’re good at that.”
To her surprise, he stiffened against her. Alarm bells went off in her mind, but before she could encourage him again, he sat up and dragged away from her, breathing hard.
Gretchen opened her eyes, blinking up at him, still throbbing with need. “What’s wrong?”
The look on his face was tortured. His hand moved over the front of his pants, rubbing the length of his c*ck through the fabric and then jerking away again. “I . . . can’t.”
“You can’t?” She gave him a mock pout. “Please, Hunter. You were so good at that.”
He groaned again, dragging a hand down his face. “It’s not you. It’s just . . . I . . .” He clenched his fists and remained silent.
He what? Wouldn’t last? At the moment, she didn’t care. She just wanted his mouth back on her again, enthusiastically licking away. “You won’t touch me? Don’t you like touching me?”
Hunter gave her such a tortured look that her breath caught in her throat. “Love touching you.”