Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Stace

Hunter punished me for teasing her. Did she ever.

"Holy shit," I gasped as she looked down at me with a brilliant smile of satisfaction. Seeing her wearing the harness and strap was almost enough to make me come without any other stimulation.

"I liked that," she said, stroking a hand down my chest. "A lot."

"Good," I said. "If you're happy, I'm happy."

I twisted our fingers together and then heard Buck whining. He needed to go out. Of course he had the worst timing.

"Is he okay?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, he just needs to go out. Gimme a few minutes." Hunter fell onto her back next to me, wrestling with the harness.

"I'll come with you," she said, finally figuring out the buckles.

I turned my head and kissed her shoulder. "You don't need to. I'll be right back."

Getting up took too much energy, but I managed to get to my wobbly feet and throw on my sweatpants, sweatshirt and my shoes.

Buck waited patiently for me to clip his leash to his collar. It only took a few minutes outside for him to do his business and then we went back upstairs to Hunter.

She was still on the bed, naked, and I hurried to get my clothes off again. I loved being naked with her.

Hunter sat up and smiled as I climbed back into bed with her.

"I like having you here," she said, as if that wasn't glaringly obvious.

"I like being here with you, Hunter."

She bit her bottom lip and I sensed that she was about to say something I wasn't going to like.

"I know I said we had to keep things casual. That I don't do relationships and I still think my reasons are valid. But. Being with you…it makes me happy. You're good, Stace. I'm still scared that all of this is going to end or destroy us both, but what if? What if it doesn't?" She said the last part with such hope and hesitation.

I combed my fingers through her tangled hair. "Even if it doesn't work out, would you trade these moments we've had together?"

Her answer was instant. "No. Even if you left tomorrow and I never saw you again, at least we had this."

I laughed and kissed her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere, baby. I told you. I'm in. I'm all in. I've been all in since the first moment I saw you. Even if it was unprofessional. I knew you meant something to me."

Hunter's eyes went wide and she studied my face as if she was searching to see if I was joking.

"You're so sure of things."

"Only certain things. And certain people. I'm sure about you, Hunter."

She let out a shaky breath.

"I can't tell you that I'm sure. I can't tell you that I'm all in. But I can tell you that I'm in. I want you in my life. And I want to give this a shot. I want to see if we could be something together. It scares the shit out of me. You're going to have to be patient with me when I have my freakout moments, because I will have those. I'm going to have moments where I'm probably going to run. But chase me, Stace. Chase me and bring me back. Remind me about this. About us."

I kissed her hard.

"I will, baby. I'll remind you every single time."

She nodded again. "Okay. Then let's do this."

I had to work the next day, but we stayed up late into the night talking. Talking and kissing and fucking slowly. I edged her again and again until she threatened my life if I didn't make her come. We ate lukewarm pie and got crumbs everywhere and I couldn't stop smiling so much that my cheeks started hurting.

There was still one thing left that I hadn't told her, but it could wait. She didn't need to know that I'd absolutely and completely fallen in love with her yet. This thing between us was delicate and tentative and she could still run if she got too scared.

It wasn't going to be easy. There would be times when she gave in to those fears and I'd have to reassure her and remind her. We were going to fight and have bad moments and good moments and in-between moments. But life would be so much better with her than without her. I didn't want to live a life without her.

I loved this woman so much that I could barely hold myself back from flinging open her window and screaming it so the whole city could hear. So the whole city could know that I loved Hunter Olivia Larson. I wanted to put it on T-shirts and sweatshirts and inform every single stranger I met.

I needed everyone to know that she was mine. That she had chosen me.

The following week was one of the best of my life. I was busy with work, but there were always messages from Hunter waiting for me. Pictures and jokes and dirty things she was going to do with me when we were together again. All of it lit me up and everyone around me commented on my mood.

Coop and Rivera immediately knew what was up and I told them about Hunter. They demanded to meet her as soon as possible and I said I'd work on Hunter and see if I could get her to come out with us for drinks.

"I knew it!" Mom screamed when I told her. I'd stopped by the house to drop off Buck for my overnight shift. I'd thought about asking Hunter to stay with him, but she was still getting used to having him around and that was a lot of responsibility.

"Yeah, yeah. And before you ask, I'll try and get her to come for family dinner."

"You'd better," Mom said, pointing her finger at me. "I need to get to know this girl who you're in love with."

"Mom. I didn't tell you I'm in love with her."

She touched my face. "You didn't have to."

I rolled my eyes and said I'd be back later to get Buck.

While I was out on calls, I tried to keep Hunter in the loop. She knew that I was a first responder, but actually dating one was different. She'd have to get used to the fact that I went into potentially dangerous situations on a regular basis. I planned to sit her down and have a talk about it at some point. Not yet. Soon.

We alternated which apartment we stayed at, but hers was much nicer. The kitchen alone made me want to move in.

"Guess who was at yoga tonight," she said on Thursday night when she walked into my apartment. I'd had keys made for her so we didn't have to constantly swap back and forth. She'd accepted the set of keys with raised eyebrows but had pulled out a set she'd had made for me.

"It's annoying having to get up and buzz you in," she'd said in explanation.

"Who?" I asked, getting up from where I'd been cuddling on the couch with Buck and reading an Eloise Roth book.

Hunter dropped her stuff and set a bag of groceries on the counter.

"Micah," she said as I kissed her and got my hands all over her. All I wanted was to drag her into bed, but I knew she needed to decompress after her day.

"Oh really?" I asked, my hands on her hips as she rested hers on my ass. That was a thing she did now. We'd be standing together and she'd just hold my butt. Like a security blanket.

"And?"

"And he and Tor definitely talked and there was blushing and they left together. I may have followed them a little bit and watched them just outside the locker room and it was steamy. Like, I'd be surprised if they didn't get into the shower together." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Get it, Tor," I said, and she snorted.

"Really, though. Not sure what changed, but I want details." She poked me in the chest.

"I'll see what I can get from Tor. How was your day otherwise?"

I picked her up and carried her to the couch, setting her down and pulling one of her feet into my lap.

"Oh, that feels good," she said, closing her eyes. The other night I'd come back from a call and she'd been sleeping. I'd tried to get into bed without waking her, but she had woken up and asked me how it went. I'd told her while she pushed me until I was sitting up and sat behind me, digging her fingers into my tense shoulders. I got regular massages to work on my tired muscles, but Hunter's massages were so much better.

"You know, for someone who doesn't do relationships, I'd say you're doing pretty good so far," I said when I switched to the other foot.

"I think so. This is my first one, but I'd give myself a good grade."

"I'd give you an A+, baby," I said. I called her that all the time now and she loved it every time.

"Aw, thanks babe," she said, and I stared at her in surprise.

"Was that too much? I wanted to see how it felt."

I set her foot aside and hauled her into my lap.

"It wasn't too much. It was just right." I kissed her deeply, sweeping my tongue into her mouth as she clutched my shoulders.

"Babe, babe, babe," she chanted.

"Stop it, you're going to make me swoon," I said, and she laughed.