2. Hunter

Chapter 2

Hunter

Kira—or whatever this girl’s name is—wants to meet me right then and there. Since it’s late and I’m in the middle of a project, I ask her if she can wait until the morning.

We exchange seventy-three text messages before she falls asleep.

Kira

There’s a nice big parking lot just off campus

Hunter

Campus?

There’s a long pause before she writes back.

Kira

Ridge College

Hunter

Do you work there?

If the answer is no, I know I need to find a way out of this. I have no business kissing a college student.

Kira

Yeah in the Admissions office

I let out a huge sigh of relief and shake my head. She’s still too young for me, but I can give her a really good date before making it clear I’d prefer to date in my own age range.

Hunter

You should have higher standards for your first kiss than a parking lot

Let me take you out for breakfast

Kira

Kissing after eating food? Sounds risky

Hunter

Coffee, then

Kira

Same question… would you want to kiss a coffee-flavoured mouth?

Hunter

How do you take your coffee?

Kira

I like sweet lattes, vanilla, hazelnut, that sort of thing

Hunter

Yes, I want to kiss your vanilla-flavoured mouth

Would you rather I not drink coffee? I can have hot chocolate or tea instead

Kira

No, if you like it…I think coffee is fine

Hunter

Getting to know someone a little first is nice, and there’s something extra sweet about having to wait for a kiss

When I wake up in the morning, I fully expect to find a message from her to cancel.

She doesn’t.

I get to Wake Up Call, the coffee shop she picked, a few minutes early. This early in the morning, Main Street isn’t busy. It’s a cold, rainy winter morning, and everyone who doesn’t have a reason to be out is staying tucked in bed.

I’m too big for the little table and chairs along the wall, so after I order my coffee and leave them fifty bucks for the next few customers—which I hope will include Kira—I sit on the sofa in front of the window.

She’s going to take one look at me and decide she doesn’t want a kiss after all. That’s the most likely outcome.

My phone vibrates and my fingers shake as I swipe in to see the message.

But it’s not her. It’s my younger half-brother, Wyatt.

Wyatt

Emily wants to know if you have dessert planned for Christmas Eve, or if she can make a trifle (we’re introducing her to Friends)

Wyatt

she promises not to put peas in it

Hunter

A trifle would be great, thanks

If his wife wants to bring trifle that had peas in it, I wouldn’t fucking care. That would be hilarious, actually.

The door opens, the bell above it chiming, and I drop my phone on the coffee table as I catch sight of dark, glossy waves framing a soft, round face.

She’s looking straight ahead, scanning the coffee shop. My chest tightens as I realize she doesn’t clock me at all. No instinctive glance in my direction.

I brace myself for a look of disappointment when she finally turns around.

She goes to the counter, slowly unzipping her coat as she orders a vanilla latte. Her hand pauses as the barista explains it’s paid for already. A gesture in my direction. Her head turns and?—

Fuck. Me.

Her eyes widen as our gazes connect. I stand, rising to my full height, and I have to brush my big hands on my jeans, they’re suddenly sweaty and damp.

She’s at least a foot shorter than me, and so damn pretty the force of looking at her nearly rips out my throat.

Hi , I mouth, pointing at my chest. Hunter.

She smiles.

Thank. Fuck.

She comes over and I start to hold out my hand before I remembered it was sweaty and also, who shakes hands with the girl they’re going to kiss? So I convert that to an arm pat that makes her laugh nervously.

Great.

So far, not starting out well.

“You’re here,” she says as I sit down on the couch again. “Thanks for the, umm, coffee. And the, you know…”

“My pleasure on both counts. Good morning. It’s nice to meet you in person.”

As I string together that barely coherent response, it takes me a minute to realize she’s looking down at the narrow space left on the couch beside me, and then my brain flat lines because I didn’t think about where she could sit.

On Daddy’s lap would be nice .

Not happening, Hunter.

I move over after an awkward beat, and she sets her latte down, then shrugs out of her coat. Underneath, she’s wearing jeans and a cream-colored turtleneck sweater that floats over full breasts and a soft little belly.

She’s perfectly ripe, my filthiest dreams come to life, and my cock throbs to life. Which makes it even harder to think when she finally joins me on the sofa, bringing with her a sweet vanilla and brown sugar scent that makes my mouth water.

“It’s so quiet this early in the morning.” She takes a deep breath. “This is nice. Thanks for suggesting this. I mean, it’s nice to have a…”

“Prelude to a kiss?”

She gives me a blank look, not getting the reference to the 1990s rom com at all. Right. She wasn’t even born then. “Yes, I guess that’s one way to describe it.” She grabs her latte. “How’s your coffee?”

“Great.” I haven’t even tasted it yet. I follow suit, and it is, in fact, excellent.

She lets out a nervous laugh. “I bet you think it’s silly that I’m this worked up over a kiss.”

“Not at all. I’m nervous, too. This is my first date in a very long time.” I shift myself sideways so I can better look at her. My knee bumps her thigh, and she sucks in a tiny little inhale before glancing at me from under her lashes. Then she presses back, increasing the contact there. Leg against knee. Warm, unexpected contact that feels really fucking right, at least for me.

We might be strangers, but I’m already game for whatever she needs from me.

I want to wrap my hand around her inside thigh and squeeze. I want to slide my arm around her shoulders and pull her close so I can breathe in more of her scent. I want to turn her nervous laughs into breathless sighs so fucking badly.

Instead, I ask her what else we have in common. “We were up late, but you made it here okay. Are you a morning person?”

She shakes her head vigorously. “Night owl.”

“Me, too.” I exhale. “I’m an illustrator. I used to draw comic strips, and now I illustrate graphic novels. When my daughter was little, the middle of the night was the best time to work.”

“Right, you’re a dad,” she says, her eyes wide. Like she’d forgotten that, but I know I told her when we were texting.

I’d never hide that fact from anyone. Even a girl I probably won’t ever see again.

“Is that a problem?”

“No.” She rakes her teeth over her lower lip, her cheeks staining pink. “I love kids. Which is irrelevant for the whole helping me out with a kiss thing, I guess. But yeah, that you’re a dad…that’s cool. Maybe that explains why you were the nicest DM I got yesterday.”

I growl, surprising both of us. My nose flares as I force myself to politely say, “Tell me you deleted all of those disgusting replies without answering.”

Her eyes go impossibly big, so bright and shiny like the midnight sea that I could drown in them. “Yes, I deleted them.”

I take her hand in my mine, shocked at the visceral relief I feel when she squeezes my fingers back. “Good girl. I wasn’t sure if you were being sarcastic when you said yes, Daddy.”

She laughs. “Not sarcastic, exactly? Maybe a little teasing. But I agree with you, those messages aren’t the vibe.”

“You’re smart.” She smiles at the praise, which feeds a long ignored part of me that pushes to the fore. “And, uh, you can tease me about being a Daddy as much as you want.”

Her eyes light up. “Nice.”

And if this were more than just a kiss, I’d take that deeper, because yes, it is nice. Very fucking nice. But this is not a date, not a fucking date, Hunter , so I leave it there and focus on the task at hand. My gaze drifts to her soft, plush lips.

“It’s hard to believe you haven’t been kissed yet,” I admit. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’ve been focused on— other things.” She bites her lip. “And maybe my standards are too high?”

Good.

Fuck yes. “Keep them sky high.”

Another pleased smile.

This girl makes all of my dirtiest instincts roar to life. I want to pet her and make her glow. I want to strip her bare and make her scream for Daddy.

I’m not going to do any of that. I’m going to make her first kiss magical, though, and set that bar as high as humanly possible so every person who follows has to treat her like a princess.

Taking a deep breath, I ease back, putting a bit of space between us. “Do you have any requests? ”

“For…the kiss?” That pink in her cheeks intensifies. “Umm… I’m not sure.”

“You must have imagined what it would be like.”

“Oh. Yes.” She sucks in a little breath. “I want…if you are interested…I want it to be open-mouthed. With tongue.”

My fly suddenly feels like an iron bar holding my cock back from taking flight. “That can be arranged.”

“I want a full kiss, you know? Nothing too…virginal. Although I don’t think I have to worry about that with you.” She roves her gaze over me. “You don’t look like the soft and light kind of guy.”

Jesus, what kind of looks have I been giving her?

“I can be gentle,” I promise her. “I do careful, precise work every day.”

“Don’t be too careful with me.” She licks her lips, leaving them shiny and perfect. Her eyelashes flutter against her cheeks, then blink open again.

She’s like an honest to God real life doll, and I want her so much it fucking hurts.

I have never had this kind of response to a woman. Ever.

It’s dangerous.

“Drink your coffee, sweet girl,” I manage to say. “And then we’ll go for a walk and I’ll give you the first kiss you deserve.”