Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107376 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Something softens in his eyes, and he leans into the bar, reaching out to pull me closer. When he tilts my chin up to meet his stare, everything fades around me: Maddox’s dance, the bar, the crowd— everything but him.
“You only just figuring this out now, Savage?”
My heart skips, and I catch my breath.
Shit.
I shrug a shoulder, a small smirk pulling on my lips. “I might have known for a little while.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Hunter presses his hand down on the bar between us, and in one fluid motion, he launches over the top until he’s standing right in front of me, one hand wrapped around my back, the other around my throat, making everything tremble within.
“Are you in love with me, Lyra?”
Ahh fuck. With the way he’s looking at me right now, there’s no denying it. He’ll see right through me. And I could lie just to make it easier, but I don’t want to, not about something so important.
I push up onto my toes and gently brush my lips over his. “And if I am?”
“Answer the question, Savage.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to hear the words.”
“Shit. It’s so much easier to hate you.”
“I know,” he murmurs, his arm tightening around me. “Say the words, Lyra.”
My heart races, and I take a shaky breath, and as I keep holding his stare and his arms remain secure around me, the heaviness lifts off my shoulders, and I realize that I have nothing to fear by allowing myself to be vulnerable with him. Not a moment later, a wide smile stretches across my face, lifting my cheeks until I feel it hitting my eyes. “Hunter Cole, I have absolutely fallen head over heels, stupidly in love with you, and unfortunately for you, I think you’ve fallen in love with me too.”
His eyes seem to dance. “Oh, you think so, huh?”
I nod. “Oh, I know so.”
Hunter laughs and lifts me off the ground before settling me on the bar and stepping between my knees, his gaze eating me up. “You might be right about that.”
I grin as I lean into him, kissing him briefly before smiling against his lips. “Say the words.”
He shakes his head. “No chance in hell.”
“Say the words, Hunter, or risk my wrath.”
He pulls back and holds my stare for a moment, amusement dancing in his deadly eyes that has my heart swelling a million times its size. It’s not often he looks at me like this. So carefree and happy. He’s usually so serious, so broody, and huffy. But in these rare moments, it’s absolutely everything.
He grabs my thighs and pulls me right to the edge of the bar, right to the point where I think I might fall, but he’s right there holding me up. “I love you, Lyra,” he tells me. “Since the moment I met you, right here dancing on this bar, I knew you were going to be mine, but I had no fucking clue how hard you were gonna make me fall. You ruined me, Savage. I no longer breathe for me, I don’t survive for me, it’s all for you. Everything I do now, every beat of my heart, it’s for you.”
I take a breath, listening intently to every word that falls from his lips. “Shit,” I whisper. “You’ve got it bad.”
A smirk kicks up the corner of his mouth. “So fucking bad.”
I laugh, but the sound dies on my lips the moment Hunter leans in and crushes his mouth to mine, kissing me deeply. I immediately melt into him, my arms hooking around his neck as he takes my waist, holding me so damn tight. I pull him in even tighter, getting so lost in his kiss. Maddox jumps down from the bar, landing with a thud just beside us, and I reluctantly pull back from Hunter’s kiss to find a proud grin on Maddox’s face.
“Fuck, that was such a rush,” he says, absolutely dripping wet. “You saw that, right? Nobody out sexies me. I’m a fucking beast, babe. You should definitely hire me. I’ll have the ladies lining up for days just to get a look at your new star attraction.”
A sharp laugh barks out of me. “Oh really?”
Maddox winks and props his elbow against the bar, trying to catch his breath. “You know it.”
I roll my eyes as Hunter’s hands fall to my thighs, and Maddox watches us, sensing something has shifted. “What’s going on here? Did I miss something?”
“Oh yeah,” I say, my hands roaming back up Hunter’s arms and grasping his strong shoulders. “Hunter here was just confessing how desperately in love he is with me. Quite embarrassing, if you ask me. The poor guy has got it bad. You know he said he couldn’t even wake up in the morning if I weren’t there to give him something to live for.”