Page 134 of Only the Hunter

My breath turns uneven.

“Gabe…,” she murmurs.

I lift her slightly onto the counter without breaking the kiss.

Her legs part instinctively.

Adrenaline. Fear. Relief. Want.

It’s all tangled.

My hand slides from her waist up the curve of her back, fingers splaying wide as if I need to confirm she’s still mine. Warm. Real.

Her palms flatten against my chest.

“Your heart’s pounding,” she says quietly, feeling it.

“If something had happened to you, god….I’d kill Brie.”

“Don’t be mad at her. I didn’t give her a choice.”

I don’t argue—although I could. I just bend and kiss her again.

Slow enough to taste the faint trace of coffee on her tongue. Slow enough to feel the tremor she hasn’t quite shaken. My hand cups the back of her neck, thumb brushing the sensitive skin just below her ear, fingers tangling in her hair.

She exhales into my mouth.

Her fingers curl into my shirt and tug.

The fabric stretches between us before she breaks the kiss just long enough to drag it over my head and toss it somewhere behind me.

Her eyes darken when she looks at me.

“You were scared for me,” she says.

“Terrified.”

It’s brutal honesty. And something she needs to comprehend.

Her hands move over my chest, down my ribs, fingertips exploring like she’s mapping reassurance.

“You don’t get to scare me like that,” I say quietly, mouth trailing to the line of her jaw.

“I didn’t plan on it.”

My mouth finds her neck; just beneath her pulse.

She gasps—and her thighs tighten around my waist.

I feel the vibration of her hum against my lips.

And a shiver.

Not from cold.

She draws me closer.

Her skin hot through layers of fabric.