Huntsman by Cambria Hebert
20
Virginia
I wanted to like it.I really did.
How fascinating it was to listen as Earth explained the steps in brewing his own beer, seeing all the different equipment and even getting to see the beer in different stages.
I loved the way he transformed this old building everyone thought was useless into something capable of producing something for people to enjoy. He was so smart and capable, so much more than he let on.
Even though he scowled and put on a big fuss, he still poured some of the brew that had been resting at room temperature for a little over two weeks—so it could carbonate—into a glass so I could try my very first taste of beer.
It was a big moment, and I felt his keen stare as I lifted the brew to my lips.
It was warm, bubbly, and kind of tasted like stale bread. It wasn’t… terrible.
Fine, I’ll say it. It was how I imagined pee would taste.
Beer tasted like pee.
I swallowed, feeling the warm liquid prickle down my throat. Tilting the glass, I studied the amber liquid, wondering if perhaps the second sip would taste better.
Earth’s laugh rumbled up to the high ceiling, creating a buzzing sensation in my ears. “You hate it.”
“I do not!” How offensive!
Stifling his laugh, he crossed his arms over his chest. He did that a lot, a gesture probably meant to make him look closed-off and intimidating. All it did, though, was make his T-shirt stretch over his biceps when they flexed. It was distracting and created a flavor in my mouth that was far better than beer.
“Don’t lie.” He admonished me.
“I’m not. I could never hate something you made.”
His arms slackened a bit, the hard edge to his eyes giving way to something more tenuous, something, for a few silent seconds, he wasn’t able to bury behind that opaque glare.
Although we said nothing, the energy around us became electric. Butterflies knocked together beneath my ribcage, and for a moment, it was a little harder to breathe. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I knew whatever it was, he felt it too.
There was no way he couldn’t. And for those brief minutes, that charged energy stripped us bare, leaving behind naked emotion that neither of us ran from or acknowledged.
As much as it intrigued me, as adventurous as I was, it was also frightening. The one and only time I’d felt the stirrings of something like this, it did not go well, and the letdown had hurt.
With Earth, it was even stronger than before. It made me… want. It made me… ache.
It made me wonder why Neo didn’t want him around me.
Thoughts of my brother were sobering. We’d just gotten in a fight, and I knew deep in my gut this would only make it worse. I loved my brother. I didn’t want to fight with him.
So I pulled back from the enticing current between us, just enough so I could breathe again. Just enough to restore the balance we seemed most comfortable in. Even so, it was still there. It pulsed in the air as if it waited for the opportunity to strike again.
“Is this what it’s supposed to taste like?” I asked.
Pushing away from the steel table he leaned against, Earth hooked a long finger inside the rim of the glass, lifting it out of my grasp. I didn’t know why the action was so mesmerizing, but I watched him sip the same liquid I just had, unabashedly watching the way his Adam’s apple bobbed.
His lips were slightly glossy when he pulled the glass down, his eyes thoughtful as he swallowed. “It’s a good batch,” he announced, setting aside the glass. “Once it’s cold, it will be even better.”
“Does all beer taste like pee?” I wondered.
A choked sound ripped from his throat. “And how do you know what pee tastes like?”
“That beer just told me!”
He laughed.
“Maybe you should add sugar,” I suggested.
“Maybe you should stick to water.”
“Earth?”
Another current of that charged energy cracked through the room like lightning just before a thunderstorm.
“What, sprite?” The sound of his voice did nothing to quell that energy.
“It kinda tasted like bread.” I realized something. “Actually, you always smell faintly of bread. This must be why.”
Thick, dark eyebrows arched up his forehead. “You think I smell like bread?”
“And stale cigarettes.”
He blinked, then scowled. “What are you smelling me for?”
“Well, it’s kinda hard not to when you pick me up,” I replied, feeling self-conscious.
He grunted. “It’s the hops. It’s like yeast. You use it to brew beer.”
His dark eyes strayed to where his leather jacket lay across a table. There was a hint of vulnerability to that look, and I found it endearing.
“It’s actually kinda comforting,” I said.
His eyes snapped back, and I smiled.
His movements were controlled and slightly stiff as he moved about, cleaning up the glass and putting some of the ready beer into cases to bring back to the Rotten Apple.
“Now that you’ve had it, don’t let me catch you drinking it anywhere.” His voice was gruff as he worked.
“As if I’d want to,” I muttered.
He chuckled. “It’s an acquired taste.”
Not one I’d be acquiring.
“After I pack some of this up, we’ll go,” he said, still moving around.
His aloofness was not something that ever bothered me. It was just how he was. But the more the silence stretched on, the more worry began to prickle me. Maybe it was because of what happened earlier with Neo. Maybe it wasn’t.
“Did I hurt your feelings?” The words rushed out, practically chasing him around the room.
His entire presence stilled, but even as he stood unmoving, I felt dark chaos. “I don’t have feelings.”
Turn and look at me.
“Now who’s lying?” I challenged.
“And what makes you think that’s a lie?”
Nerves coiled in my middle. I felt shy, but I wanted to be bold. “Because if you really had no feelings, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
He finally turned, the weight of his stare settling on me. It was a delicious weight, one that oddly soothed some of the tension in me.
“You heard me crying, and you wanted to distract me, right? You didn’t want me to be upset and alone at the Tower.” The more I spoke, the softer my voice became, but it didn’t matter because I was still bold enough to speak.
The same charged mood lying in wait started to move, curling around our feet and beginning to swell.
The nerves I felt shifted to something more, fluttering lightly at first sort of like I was being flirted with but quickly turning much more aggressive as his stare narrowed into crescent moons and the black began to glitter.
Unable to sit still under that intense, simmering gaze, my hands gripped each other, wringing nervously in my lap.
“So did I?” I asked, feeling breathless. “Because the thought of hurting your feelings after you were so thoughtful really isn’t something I can bear. At least let me apologize.”
He moved suddenly, but despite the burst of movement, Earth was graceful and stealthy, soundless even under speed. The distance between us shrank, but the thickness in the air grew.
Crouching before me, he settled his hands over my anxious ones, quieting the fidgeting with a single touch. I was afraid to meet his eyes. Afraid to peer up from beneath the lashes offering some semblance of a shield. My stomach was full-on tumbling now as if someone pushed my wheelchair down a hill and it was racing out of control, taking me on the ride of my life.
In an effort to ground myself, I reached out. The closest thing my grip found was him. The second my hands clung desperately to his, two things happened:
- The party in my stomach spread into my chest, making my heart jitter instead of beat.
- His hands curled around mine tighter, as if accepting the death grip and returning it.
My heart galloped beneath my ribs so forcefully I could hear it echo in my ears. Pulling in a shuddering breath, my lungs vibrated on the exhale, making me feel all shaky and unstable.
Why was I like this? What was it about him that made me react this way? I wanted to push him away, but even as I thought that, my hands seized his tighter.
“You’d have to try a hell of a lot harder than that to piss me off.”
As he spoke, I still didn’t look up. Instead, I turned, captivated by how swallowed-up my hands were in his and the contrast between my pale coloring to his olive tone. We couldn’t have differed more, but somehow that very stark contrast was reassuring.
“I hadn’t planned on bringing you here. But you’re right. I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving you behind.”
His words beckoned, forcing my eyes up. I felt fragile and weak, my body still trembling under the strange assault of his closeness. But still…
I wanted more.
More breathlessness. More weakness. More erratic heartbeats.
His thumb stroked over the joint where my thumb met my hand, causing a burning sensation to swell in my middle.
His stare was wolfish yet guarded as though he were trying to hold back.
All the times I had held back or been held back by things out of my own control surged forward, crashing over me like a tsunami, threatening to fill my lungs with water and swallow up all my air.
I was weary of holding back. Weary of so many things.
In a war against that tsunami within in me, my hands ripped free of his. His face was warm under my palms, the chiseled angles of his jaw like smooth granite. A question poised in his eyes but never met his lips.
“Earth?”
He answered not in words but in the shifting of his gaze. Recognition and something more possessive sparked in its depths the moment I whispered his name.
“No one has ever kissed me.”
His nostrils flared, the irises of his eyes expanding. His tone did not match the unspoken reaction. “Why would you tell me that?” The words ripped out aggressively, almost as if he were angry with what was transpiring between us.
“Because I thought…” Be brave. “Maybe you would?”
The fingers curled so protectively around mine tightened almost painfully, and the guarded glint in his stare turned predatory. I couldn’t even feel shy or proud at my own boldness because the currents racing between us were too strong to allow anything else in.
He wanted to kiss me. I could see it on his face. I could practically smell it on his skin.
Yet he still sat there, unmoving, nearly hypnotizing me with those black eyes.
“I shouldn’t,” he finally said, his voice sounding foreign to my ears.
Disappointment stabbed me. The only thing keeping me from doubling over from the pain of his rejection was my pride. But even my pride wavered; even my pride began to bleed.
“But that’s exactly why I’m going to.” The self-loathing in his voice was secondary to the absolute desire firing in his eyes.
Before I could even make out what he’d said, his hands hooked under my arms, lifting me out of the chair like it took no effort at all.
My lower body hung inert but, for once, not feeling as lifeless as it was. I felt the way his arms flexed, the slight quiver in his muscles as he held me up so I was slightly suspended above the floor.
The length of my hair fell down my back and over my shoulders. Even though I was completely dependent on him to keep me upright, I wasn’t scared.
All I could do was anticipate, held captive by the entrancing, hungry eyes that looked like they wanted to make a meal of me.
All at once, he pulled back, and the sound of my gasp echoed around the room. I slipped down maybe an inch before he caught me again, pressing our chests together, my entire upper body now in contact with his.
I was breathless. Tingling.
He whispered my name. “Sprite.”
The second my chin lifted, he bumped his nose gently against mine, extending the contact by dragging his upward, the tip of his nose caressing the way mine slightly sloped. A kiss without meeting the lips. A kiss of emotion.
Lips parted as I sought for air.
The air I found was him.
He wasn’t cautious or even gentle. He claimed and owned the instant we met. The rumble deep in his throat vibrated between us like a lion finally taking down his kill.
A heavy veil fell over me, blanketing every thought my brain might have. Sensation took over, and literally, all I could do was feel.
For a girl who spent most of her life only half feeling, I was totally overwhelmed.
His lips were thick and warm, slanting over mine with abandon as if it didn’t matter part of me couldn’t participate because the part of me that could was more than enough.
The friction of our lips rubbing together generated electricity that stood the hair on my neck on its ends, shivers of intense delight raced over me, and a storm of desire waged on.
Something about this kiss felt dangerous, like I was teetering on the edge of something sinister, but it promised so much sinful delight I was incapable of resisting.
Releasing his biceps, I slid my palms up his arms, dragging over his shoulders to grasp his neck. I held on tight, the pads of my thumbs digging into the underside of his jaw. He growled in what I assumed was approval and adjusted the angle of the kiss, slamming me with desire all over again.
I tried to give as good as I got, but he kissed with experience I didn’t know. He attacked as the predator I was not.
Our lips were slick when he nudged back just slightly. The huffing breaths he pulled in puffed against my wet lips, making me shiver. The arms around me were tight like vises, though he’d been holding me up for an undefined amount of time.
A few steps forward and he sat me on one of the steel-topped tables.
Holding my waist, he pulled back enough for our eyes to meet, silently asking if I could sit here without his help. I nodded once, and both hands moved to my knees, eyes never once straying from mine as he pushed my legs open enough to step between.
Both hands grasped my neck, palming the sides, wide fingers caressing the base of my skull. I shivered, my upper body quivering visibly, my eyes lowering halfway. His thumb caressed the corner of my mouth, and the sound of his heavy breathing was making it impossible to think.
Suddenly, my head was tilted upward, forcing my half-shut eyes to his attention. His were dark and ominous, clouded with something I didn’t recognize but had definitely put there.
His head lowered, making the space between our mouths just enough to keep us separate. “This okay?”
All I could do was make a sound, and it was all he cared to hear.
He claimed me again. The sound of us fusing filled the room, and the way he seemed to suck in air as he kissed me without pulling away made my hands fist in the front of his T-shirt.
He still kissed with ownership, but this time, he also explored. Almost as if he were satisfied he’d already made his claim, so now he could play.
Dear God, I didn’t know what was more deadly: his ownership or his playfulness. Perhaps they were equal.
All of that became an afterthought when his thick tongue dragged across my lower lip. My lips parted, gasping at the new sensation, but he didn’t pause. That wicked tongue slipped inside me, twisting and twirling around mine.
My fingers fisted in the hair at the back of his neck, and he kissed deeper, going so far as to lick along the roof of my mouth.
My ears turned hot, cheeks tingled, and heart slowed to a thump. Every part of me was taken over. Every part of me hummed just for him.
I’d asked for a first kiss, but Earth… he’d given me something far more than that. Something I would never be able to even define.
Retreating a little, his lips and tongue gentled, and when he nibbled on my lower lip, I pressed a hand to my stomach and sighed.
I didn’t know how long that kiss lasted, but when he finally lifted his head, he did that thing again with the tip of his nose, caressing mine tenderly—the ultimate act of affection.
My body started to slump and might have fallen over, but his arm curled around my waist to cradle my lower back, keeping me upright as I stayed suspended between wherever that kiss just took me and the reality of being right there with him.
His lips were an ultimate destination. When he’d kissed me just then, I wasn’t a girl in a wheelchair who could only feel half. I wasn’t a girl trapped in a tower, feeling like she needed permission for even her own life. Instead, I was brimming with emotion, free from all confines, and flying high.
There once was a girl who was told she’d never walk again… but a girl doesn’t need legs to fly.
“Your lips are swollen.” The pad of his thumb pressed lightly against my bottom lip.
“They are?” I sounded drunk. Who needed beer when this man was walking around with that mouth?
That little gem of realization made me straighten, the hand against my back no longer necessary to hold me up. The idea of him kissing anyone else like that was like being tossed into a pool filled with ice.
“Did I go too far?”
My gaze flickered up, our stares like Velcro. Once meeting, they stuck and held. His eyes were fuzzy, warmer than I’d ever seen them. There was something soft in their depths, something akin to satisfaction, which made me wonder if he normally walked around unsatisfied.
There was a sheen on his lips, a lustrous gloss I knew was from me. I wasn’t nearly as skilled with my tongue as this man, but I responded to his devilish call.
I knew—I felt—that he’d been the one doing the claiming, but just then, I knew I’d left my mark.
“No,” I answered, that previous icy thought literally melting to a puddle just from his stare. “I liked it.”
“We should go.” His voice was gruff.
My arms looped around his neck when he lifted me off the table. The shyness that couldn’t break through before suddenly came rushing in, squeezing my heart and making my face feel hot. Dropping my cheek to his shoulder, I did my best to hide my face.
My first kiss. And my stars, it was amazing!
“Did you like it?” I asked even though I was embarrassed and afraid of his reply. Look, I learned a long time ago a girl like me had to act when she could, because if she didn’t, she’d find herself shut away in her tower, wondering about the things she should have done when she had the chance.
His footsteps didn’t even pause. “I’m not doing it again. So don’t ask.”
I made a face. “I wasn’t going to.”
“Well, why not?” he bellowed, irritation loud and clear.
I pressed my face into his shoulder, hiding my smile. Maybe he liked it after all.
He grunted when I didn’t answer but was gentle when placing me back in my chair. Before he could pull back completely, I pressed my palms against his cheeks, smooshing his lips together just slightly.
A confused look flashed in his eyes, but he didn’t pull away.
I felt his jolt of surprise when I leaned up, pressing my mouth fully against his. Opening one eye, I noted both of his were wide with shock, watching aptly as I kissed.
It definitely wasn’t the kind of kiss he gave. Just a quick, firm meeting of our mouths with maybe a little smile thrown in. But it was enough to make my pulse pound.
Feeling pretty accomplished, I sat back, released his face, and gave him a cheeky smile. “Why ask when I can just do it myself?”
Still rooted in place, Earth rolled his lips inward as if he still couldn’t believe I’d just kissed him.
“You’re really not scared of me. Not at all.”
I puzzled, feeling my nose crinkle. “Should I be?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. No hint of doubt. Just clear, unadulterated honesty. He really seemed to believe he was dangerous, but to me, he was anything but.
“If you really wanted me to be scared of you, then you shouldn’t have kissed me that way.”
He drew back, a mix of emotions flitting over his face the way fireworks burst then disappeared in the night sky. He turned away, gathering up everything we needed to leave.
When he spoke, his voice wasn’t loud but still echoed ominously around the room.
“I never said I wanted you to be afraid, just that you should be.”