Page 26

I’d given more lap dances in my life than I could count, but from the very start, there was something different about this one. Hunter was on some sort of mission to weave his way into my life—my rules be damned. The moment I felt like I had my control back, it had a way of slipping right into his pocket.

I was supposed to hate it. Reject it. Push him away like I had every other man who walked into my life. But somewhere along the way, wires crossed in my head, and as much as I tried to convince myself that I didn’t enjoy his company or didn’t want more of it, it was only my mind playing tricks on me.

Andi sat in my lap, and for the first time, she looked at me long enough that I could read the emotion behind her eyes.

She was scared … of me. Not in the literal sense, but she was scared of how I was making her feel.

That made two of us.

Andi said it herself last night—she was already breaking her rules for me. And that was just by texting each other. This lap dance … it was like taking a sledgehammer to her rules and completely obliterating them. She could have given me a subpar lap dance to check the box. Instead, she put her fucking heart into it and lost herself along the way.

“Andi, listen to me.” I sucked myself into her intoxicating emerald gaze, feeling like one lucky bastard to earn the right to look at her this long.

Moving my hand from her leg to her jaw, I stroked my finger along her cheek, inching dangerously close to her plump bottom lip.

Too risky.

“I think we should just take a pause.” She lifted herself from my lap and made her way to the wet bar, chugging a bottle of water like she’d just woken up from the world’s shittiest hangover.

“Please, just listen to me. I don’t expect you to give me anything here. I just need you to hear where I’m coming from.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees with my head hung low. For once, I didn’t think I could look at her when I said what was on my mind.

Grabbing another bottle of water, Andi made her way back to the couch, reaching out with the plastic bottle as a peace offering. When she took a seat next to me but didn’t say a word, it was the only sign I needed that she would hear me out.

I tipped the water bottle back, imagining it was something stronger.

“You’re the first woman I’ve been interested in getting to know since my wife died.” The words I’d never admitted to another woman slipped from my tongue.

“Oh. My. God,” Andi choked out between coughs from the water she swallowed at the same time I chose to speak up.

When she finally collected herself, she looked at me in a way I hadn’t seen anyone look at me since Sarah’s passing.

Sad and empathetic.

“Hunter, I-I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.”

“There’s nothing you need to say. I’m just tired of feeling a certain way around you and not expressing it. You’re so closed off with your rules, and I’m sure you have a damn good reason why. Up until I met you, I was the same way. I fucked around and didn’t care for anything more. But you, Andi—” I ran my hands through my hair, letting out a pent-up sigh. “There is something about you that I haven’t been able to shake.”

“Hunter…” Her soft voice was laced with sympathy.

“If you’re going to say you have no interest in getting to know me, then please … at least give me a good reason why first. If you truly don’t care to see what there could be between us, I’ll walk away.”

I had spent most of my adult life alone. So, if she denied me, I’d get over it.

At least, that’s what I was trying to convince myself of.

Since I talked to Carter, I couldn’t shake our conversation. He reminded me that I hadn’t expressed any kind of feelings for a woman since my wife died, and here I was, trying my hardest to act on the messy feelings I couldn’t quite explain.

“I have an idea.” Andi twirled the bottle cap between her fingers.

“I’m listening…”

“Clearly, we are two messy human beings who suck at feelings and run away from them at all costs. Except for whatever the hell is happening right now…” Andi took another sip of her water before finishing her thought. “You have to understand that this is new territory for me. I don’t admit my feelings—I usually don’t even have them. But I kind of feel like I want to get to know you better, too.” She continued to fidget with the bottle cap.

“So, is your idea that we get to know each other? Because—not that I hate that being an idea, I actually like it very much—but it sounded like you were thinking along the lines of something else when you mentioned it?”

“This might sound wild and crazy, but do you remember me telling you my brother is locked up?”

How could I forget? That was just last night.