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“Us.”

He blinked. Sharpened his stare on her.

“What we did,” she clarified into the awkward silence.

He waited.

Oh, fine! “Sex. I’m talking about us having sex!”

His grin flashed. “I really just wanted to hear you say…it.”

His grin caught her off guard. Shelby actually felt the impact of his smile throughout her body. Warmth spilled through her. Lit up all of her dark places. And she had plenty of darkness.

“What exactly do you want to discuss about…it?” Hunter asked her. “Need me to work on my technique? Want me to go down on you longer? To lick you harder? To suck you stronger? Do tell. I am happy to oblige.”

Her mouth dropped open. Heat also spiked in her. Her legs shifted a bit.

“Want me to thrust into you slower? Faster? Don’t think I can do deeper. Pretty sure I was as deep into you as it is possible to go.” His voice roughened. “You want to be on top? Or how about you grab the headboard, and I come at you from behind while you moan my name? That good for you?”

Her breath came too fast. “I thought we were…” Her words trailed away.

He edged closer. “Thought we were…what? Done?”

A nod.

“Do you want to be done? You want us to go back to just being professional? Because I have to tell you, that’s not what I want. At all.”

“What do you want?” Shelby felt lost. And turned on. His words had painted pictures in her mind that, oh, yes…yes, please.

“I want to be in you as often as possible. I want to taste you again and again. I want to mark you the way you’ve marked me. I can still feel you, Shelby. Everywhere.” His head bent toward her.

Was he about to kiss her? Her head tipped back. Her toes pressed harder to the floor as she pushed up.

“Think about it,” he murmured against her mouth. “Long and hard. I told you what I want. Now decide what you want.”

He pulled away.

Dammit.

Hunter cleared his throat. Yanked a hand through his thick hair. “You should get dressed. Then we’ll grab breakfast and hit the college campus. I don’t want Jonah being the only one there when it comes time to search Tiffany’s dorm room.”

He hadn’t kissed her. And he—back up. “Jonah is not going to let us in her room. No way. That’s not happening.”

“Of course, it’s happening. The man is in love with you. Annoying as fuck, but true. He’ll let you do whatever you want.” He reached down and snagged her hand again. This time, he lifted her hand up, curled her fingers so that only her index finger was raised. “All you have to do is crook your finger at him, and he’ll break every rule in his book for you.”

“He will not!”

“No? Weird. I would.” No blinking. Just a hard stare. “I’d do whatever the hell you wanted. All you would have to do is ask.”

A shiver skated down her spine. He didn’t mean those words. Surely, not.

But…

What if he did?

She didn’t speak during the elevator ride down to the lobby. When she’d first come to his office in New Orleans, Declan had ridden in the elevator with her, and, just as his buddy had described, Shelby took a position right against the back wall. And instead of her eyes being on the descending floor numbers, her gaze was on Hunter.

Only fair, though, because his gaze was on her. She consumed his focus, so why not watch her?