Page 63

“How long ago?”

“Seven years ago.”

Hunter raised a brow.

She exhaled. “He was grateful that I’d saved his life. Jonah came to the hospital a lot to check on me during my recovery, he visited me when I was released, stayed with me during the trial⁠—”

“Did you fuck him?”

Her chin could not notch up more. “I really don’t like your tone, Hunter.”

“Sorry.” He did not sound even mildly apologetic. “The tone happens when the jealous bastard part of my personality comes out. So, let me rephrase…did you fuck that asshole?”

She lifted her brows. “Your rephrasing isn’t any better, and your tone is the same. Maybe even worse.” She released another slow breath. “I never had sex with Jonah Campbell. I never went on a date with Jonah Campbell. I never so much as kissed Jonah Campbell.”

“But he told you how he felt.”

“Yes.”

“And you told him…?”

“I told him that my boyfriend had just tried to kill me and had murdered my friends. The last thing I wanted back then was to get involved with anyone else. So I stayed in town until the trial ended, and then I left. Happy? Have you grilled me enough? Because it’s been an exhausting night, and I want to get in bed.” With that, she turned and strode for the bedroom.

“Shelby.”

“What?” A snap. Maybe a snarl.

“Was it good for you, too?”

Shock rolled through her. She wrenched her body around to face him—only to find that he’d been stalking after her. “Are you serious right now?”

“Dead serious. Because making love to you was fucking fantastic for me. But I worry I was too hard, too rough, too intense for you.” A muscle flexed along his jaw. “So if it wasn’t good enough, know that I will not rest until I give you so much pleasure that it seems like your whole body is shattering apart. Over and over again.”

She’d already felt that way. “It was good for me.” Weak response. So weak. She cleared her throat. “I shattered apart.”

His hand lifted. He cupped her cheek.

Without thinking, her head turned. Her lips brushed over his palm.

“Shelby.” Guttural. “Do not play dangerous games with me.”

She wasn’t playing a game. But she had no idea why she’d just kissed his palm that way. She took a step back and his hand fell away from her. “Good night, Hunter.” They’d talk in the morning, when things were…

More civilized.

When this strange desire for him wasn’t still spiking in her veins even as fear—and the memory of poor Tiffany Blake’s body—whispered through her head.

“No.”

Just that…no. His eyes glittered.

She backed away from him a bit more even as her brows lowered.

“You retreat from me far too much.” His deep, dark rumble. “You know I would sooner cut off my arm than hurt you, right?”

Shelby had no response.

“I’m coming into the bedroom with you.”