I’ve never seen him in anything other than suits and perfectly pressed shirts.
Yet somehow, this looks just as right on him.
My breath catches.
It’s ridiculous, really.
I can’t seem to look away.
His hair remains exactly as it always is, not a strand out of place, but without the suits and all the usual formality, he seems... different.
More the man from the ring than the professor.
The Wardgrave heir.
The future CEO.
But it’s his eyes that affect me the most.
Those amber eyes remain fixed on me, dark and intent.
Possessive in a way he has absolutely no claim to be.
I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to be looked at that way.
Like I matter.
But he only wants sex from me.
He can’t love me.
And I don’t ask him to.
I don’twanthim to.
I can’t ever allow him to have feelings for me.
But at least I don’t have to worry about that.
Hunter has made his feelings on the matter perfectly clear more than once. He’s not built for relationships or love.
In another life, that might have hurt.
In this one, I’m grateful for it.
Because like the worst person on this planet, I take it as permission to pretend nothing is wrong.
To pretend I have any right to this, to him.
I blink and pull my thoughts back to the present as the rest of the room comes back into focus.
Everyone has moved further inside.
It’s just the two of us, caught in some bizarre trance.
And while Hunter appears perfectly unaffected, I’m busy having a full blown crisis in my head.
I pull off my jacketand leave it by the door before kicking off my boots.
