His Regret by Bella J.

Chapter Nine

Hunter staredat the woman sitting in front of him. The whiskey in her glass swirled from side to side as she twirled the glass in her hand. The bruise on her jaw had darkened, and the way she was sitting with her one arm wound around her midsection, he knew she was still in pain.

“You want some painkillers for that?”

She shifted a little. “I’m fine.”

She was putting up one hell of a show, but he wasn’t fooled. This woman was in pain and scared shitless of whatever was going on.

“Tell me.”

Her gaze shot up to his for a second before returning back to the glass in her hand. “Tell you what?”

He leaned forward. “Why did your cousin send all those guys after you in just one night?”

“Who knows?” She shrugged. “Maybe he misses me that bad.”

Having had it up to his eyeballs with her evasive, cocky comebacks, Hunter got up from the chair and walked over to where she was sitting on the couch with her knees crossed beneath her. He pulled the coffee table closer and sat down on it, leaning as close to her as possible.

“You’d better listen fucking carefully to what I’m about to say, because I’m only going to say this once.” He scooted closer and placed his elbows on his knees, clutching his hands together. “From where I’m sitting, I can see that you are in way over your head.”

“I can handle it.”

“Shut up and let me finish.”

For a second it looked like she wanted to try to punch him again, but then she leaned back into the couch, taking a sip of her whiskey. “Fine.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize there is much more going on here than a man just looking for his long lost cousin. So it’s safe to say that the story I’ve been told is bullshit.”

She let out a little condescending laugh and clapped a hand on her thigh in a mocking applause. “Well done, Mr. Genius. Do you want your golden star on your forehead now or later?”

That was it. Hunter was about to lose his shit with this woman.

He stood up from the table, towered over her, and placed both hands on either side of her head. All up in her face did not even begin to describe just how close he was at that moment. Scarlet didn’t look like the type of woman who got intimidated very easily. But by the way she stared up at him, searching his face like she had no idea what to expect next, he knew he was making good progress in getting his point across.

“For someone who doesn’t have a lot of friends lined up to help her, you sure as hell have an ungrateful attitude, don’t you, woman?”

She brought her face closer to his, and he smelled those damn cherry lips of hers again. “Is that what you’re trying to do, Ace? Help me?”

The warmth of her breath moved across his cheek and the sensation made his cock twitch. How was it possible that a woman who had the sure talent to do nothing more than piss him off also seemed to have the talent to make him think of sex when he was actually trying to make her realize just how fucking serious he was?

The fact that she still hadn’t covered up those big, voluptuous breasts hidden behind nothing but thin black fabric wasn’t helping either.

Fuck. Because he was thinking about her breasts, he couldn’t stop himself from looking down at them. And from where he was standing, leaning over her, he had the perfect view from the top, staring down the slit where her tits squeezed together.

Holy fucking shit, what a sight.Firm, big, round tits that when pushed together would be perfect for him to just pump his…

Scarlet cleared her throat, and he looked back up at her. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he was actually blushing from the thought her little throat clearing maneuver interrupted.

She smiled coyly. “Were you having a moment there with my breasts, Ace?”

Immediately frustrated, Hunter pushed himself away from her and stood up straight.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking this is a serious fucking situation we’re in here. So it would be awesome if you could pretend, just for a second, that a lot of shit went down tonight.”

“You think I don’t know just how serious this situation is?” She got up from the couch, her eyes dark.

“I’ve been in this fucking situation for a real long time.” Slowly she started to move, forcing him to back up as her entire demeanor changed from being a total tease, to totally fucking serious. “This is my life, my nightmare, my hell, and don’t you dare try to insinuate that I don’t know exactly how serious this situation is. This situation is the reason I constantly have to look over my shoulder, pretend to be someone I’m not, never letting anyone get close.” She continued to move as the fire in her eyes started to burn violently—beautifully. “I’ve been running, hiding, forcing myself day in and day out to fucking survive this hell I’m in, and I have. I’ve survived. I’m still fucking here, thanks to only one person.” Hunter’s back hit the wall and she leaned right into him. “Me.”

Jesus Christ. He was so turned on. The way her eyes bore into his, her anger beaming from those blue orbs, and the way her body was wound up so damn tight had his cock twitching and ready to get buried balls deep between her legs.

His gaze dropped to her mouth, and the only thought that raced through his mind at that moment was how those full, heart-shaped lips of hers would feel against his. Would they taste as sweet as the cherry scent he smelled every time he got close to them? Every male instinct inside him wanted to kiss them, lick them, suck them…bite them.

“Ace,” she tilted her head to the side, “why are you looking at my mouth?”

He didn’t take his eyes off her lips, he couldn’t. “Because your lips look disgusting.” Liar.

She stepped forward, her breasts pushing against his chest, and he wanted to rip that goddamn bra right off her body.

“I bet they taste disgusting too.” Her voice was soft, sultry, dripping with erotic intent.

She traced her tongue across her bottom lip and it glistened with invitation, tempting him with the need to taste the inside of her mouth. He was hardly able to control the carnal desire that pulsed down his spine, crashing against his balls. But then she swirled her tongue all around her top lip like she wanted to lick something…something he was on the verge of giving to her so damn hard.

And then he lost his shit.

Hunter grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, pushing her up against the wall. She gasped when he took both her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head while pressing his body hard against hers. He was spinning out of control, and by the feral look on her face she was enjoying it, to see him come undone by her.

He reached up and placed his hand around her neck, slipping his thumb down her lips to her jaw. With a slight squeeze he lifted her chin up so that her mouth came within inches of his. It would only take one deep breath for their lips to touch, for him to finally find out what she tasted like.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to sample a woman’s mouth so badly. The urge to push his tongue down her throat, to sweep through each and every corner of her mouth was making it hard for him to think straight.

Intense blue eyes that burned with a kind of hunger that could only be sated with ecstasy stared up at him. It was only a matter of seconds before he broke one of his rules—rules he had set to protect himself.

“What’s the matter, Ace? You scared to have a taste?” She came closer, so close that her nose touched his and her sweet scent fogged all his senses. “Afraid you might like it?” Her lips lightly brushed against his, and he wasn’t sure whether feeling them was purely wishful thinking rather than really happening. “Come on, Ace. Find out if my lips taste as disgusting as they look.”

She moved her face slowly, softly brushing the tip of her nose up and down his cheek. This woman was seduction personified. Lust and sensuality seemed to just ooze from her pores, eliciting a type of sexual desire that had the power to render any man incapable of fighting it. He was sure that not even the fucking pope would be able to resist this woman and the fire that seemed to burn in her veins.

When she gently took his earlobe between her teeth, he groaned, flexing against her in search of some relief. She moaned softly into his ear. “Taste me, Ace. You know you want to.”

Yes, he fucking wanted to. What man in his right mind would not want to taste a woman like her? But he knew the situation they were currently in was already complicated enough without them fucking each other senseless.

With an immense amount of difficulty and one raging hard-on, he pushed himself away from her, needing distance between them before he did something really, really stupid.

“Let’s…I think we should get some rest.”

Scarlet pushed herself off the wall. “Aah, I was just starting to have fun.” She placed both her hands on her breasts and squeezed.

Good God, was this woman for real? He already had trouble controlling himself without her doing shit like that. To what? To torture his dick? Well, it was fucking working.

He placed his fist in front of his mouth before pointing a finger at her, wanting to tell her to just stop this shitty game of hers. But then he shut his mouth, afraid that the words, “Turn around, bend over, hold on, and take what I give you, bitch,”might come out.

He turned away from her, his mind right in the middle of a raging war with his dick. His cock desperately wanted inside that woman, while his head was listing every reason for him to keep it in his pants.

He roughed his hand through his hair, frustration ticking away in his muscles. “After we get some rest, we’re having this discussion—you and I.”

“Sorry, Ace, but I’m not planning on sticking around much longer.” Scarlet brushed past him, but he grabbed her wrist.

“Like hell you aren’t.”

She looked down at where he held her, and back up at him. “Unfortunately for you, you’re not feeding me, financing me, or fucking me. So you don’t have a say when it comes to what I do and what I don’t do.”

Hunter didn’t know if he wanted to bend her over and spank her ass in preparation for some epic fuckery, or if he just wanted to give her one hell of a spanking because she fucking deserved it and because she frustrated the crap out of him.

Tightening his hold around her wrist, he pulled her closer. “You are staying here until we have our talk. But right now, I’m not sure I can handle more of you without breaking or punching something. So I suggest we get some rest, calm the fuck down, and then talk. You got it?”

With narrowed eyes she glared at him, probably thinking about the hundred and one ways she could stab him through the eye. But he didn’t care. All he cared about was getting answers, and she was going to fucking give them to him…in the morning.

“Fine.” She conceded, tugging her wrist out of his hold before walking off. “But I’m taking the bed.” And then she plopped herself down on his bed, wiggling her ass comfortably into the mattress.

Hunter walked over and stared down at her. “Yeah…I don’t think so.” With a quick swoop he lifted her off the bed and into his arms. As he turned around, she slapped him against the shoulder.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Put me down, you fucking caveman.”

“Okay.” And then he dropped her roughly on the couch. She winced from what he could only assume was the pain she was still feeling in her side. Too bad. If she wanted to act like a spoiled brat, he would treat her as such.

“Rule number three,” he started. “No one sleeps in my bed unless I’ve been inside that person, multiple times. And, unfortunately for you, I’m not planning on being inside you any time soon—or ever.”

The flabbergasted look on her face was fucking priceless. If he had one wish, it would be to take a damn Polaroid.

“Yeah, well,” she roughed up the couch, trying to make herself comfortable, “it didn’t seem that way when you had me pinned against the wall just a few minutes ago.”

Hunter walked over to the bedside table and opened the drawer, grabbing what he was looking for before making his way back to her. Scarlet punched the pillows.

“One would think that since you live in such a huge-ass apartment, you could afford some decent scatter cushions or something.”

Without hesitating, Hunter grabbed her wrist and locked the handcuff around it before securing the second cuff to the rail stretching down the back of the couch. He knew that damn rail would come in handy someday.

“Hunter, what in God’s name do you think you’re doing?” She tugged hard at the cuffs.

“Making sure that your ass stays right here.”

Scarlet kept on pulling, and for a second Hunter thought he saw the tiniest glimmer of panic in her eyes as she stared at her cuffed hand.

“Please, Hunter. Take it off. Take off the cuffs. I swear to God I won’t go anywhere.” Blue eyes stared at him—no, they stared right through him, and all he could see was her face. Her eyes. How was it possible that he had been able to suppress most of the pain for years, and then a stranger, who was nothing but a thorn in his fucking side, walked into his life and his pain seemed like it had intensified threefold whenever he looked at her?

“Hunter, I swear. I won’t leave until we’ve talked. Just don’t cuff me.”

He narrowed his eyes. Even though he was pretty sure she wasn’t faking her little look of panic, he was also sure that at this moment she couldn’t be trusted. She was scared, vulnerable, and her natural fight or flight mode was currently in overdrive. He couldn’t.

“Get some rest, Scarlet.”

“I don’t get why you feel the need to handcuff me to your fucking couch. You can trust me. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go anyway.”

“You’re right, you don’t. But don’t think for a second that I trust you, Scarlet Woods.” He leaned down, his lips once again mere inches from hers, the need to kiss her back with a damn vengeance. “Or should I say, Blanchette Wolfe?”