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I needed Hunter. I wanted him. In a way totally unlike anything I’d felt before.
And definitely in a way that I hadn’t wanted Graham.
My eyes flew open as sudden realization swept over me. This was the reason I’d been so upset last night. And why the last week had been like trudging over broken glass. I’d broken one of the cardinal rules. I’d fallen for Hunter. He wasn’t just my best friend anymore.
My heart wanted so much more from him. And maybe—just maybe, he felt it, too. From the way he was kissing me, it definitely seemed like it.
Just the thought of it made me float on air.
“Hunter...”
I murmured as his touch became more insistent. He broke his mouth free to place hot kisses underneath my jaw and down my neck. He was breathing heavily, his fingers working their way
into my hair. I shivered as goosebumps rose along my skin wherever he touched. It was easy to see that Hunter made me feel alive like no one else did. Kissing him, feeling him touch me, was awakening something inside of me I thought had long perished this past year.
It felt like hope.
I grasped blindly for his hands, caught between wanting him to continue kissing me until I was dizzy and spilling this new found truth I’d discovered. But it couldn’t wait. I had to tell my best friend the wonderful news.
“Hunter, wait. I have to tell you something.”
His hot lips pressed against a spot behind my ear that made me wriggle with pleasure. I laughed and squealed, pushing him away slightly.
“Wait, I have to tell you something,” I said, smiling at him as he stood before me, his chest heaving.
His face was flushed, and his lips swollen. He was looking at me as if he’d like nothing more than to devour me right then and there. I was half-tempted to let him.
“I think I figured out why this week has been so weird for us,” I said, swallowing down the last bit of nerves I held. It should’ve been easy to say after the way he’d just kissed me. Still, it was never easy confessing to your crush. “I like you, Hunter.”
A grin slid onto his face and he squeezed my upper arms. “I like you, too, Char.”
“No, I mean, I really like you.” I stared up at him, pressing my lips together. “I think...I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“You’re...what?”
The post make-out glaze over his gaze disappeared in one single blink. He pulled back slightly, his brows lowering. It took him a few seconds to absorb what I’d said. And then, I watched as all the blood drained from his face and his hands fell limp to his sides.
“This was a mistake.” He glanced around the clearing, looking everywhere except for me. “We shouldn’t have done this.”
Hurt and confusion shot through my gut like an arrow. I grabbed his arm, trying to pull his gaze back to me.
“It wasn’t a mistake. Everything’s finally clearing up for me. I like you, Hunter. And I know you like me, too. What’s so wrong with that?”
His hazel eyes darted to mine and what I saw there was a deep, raw pain. He disengaged his arm from my hands, stepping back to put some distance between us.
“We can’t do this, Char.” He held out his palms toward me, as if I were going to attack him with my lips. “It’s against the rules.”
I laughed and it echoed in the trees around us. “You mean the rules we made when we were in middle school?”
He nodded solemnly, taking another step away. “We made them for a reason. We can’t do this. You can’t fall in love with me. It’ll ruin everything.”
Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I’d never felt so cold. Not even after nearly drowning. Hunter was hitting me with a blast so frigid I was pretty sure I’d have frostbite on the edges of my heart. I didn’t understand. It was so clear that he had feelings for me, too. You didn’t kiss a girl like that without feelings involved. Why was he shutting me down?
“Hunter, I can’t help the way I feel,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “You ordering me to just ignore my feelings isn’t going to change anything.”
We’d been so naive when we’d set those rules. As if we had a choice who we fell for. It was laughable now. I could see that.
Hunter took a breath that made his tensed shoulders rise. With a stricken expression, he exhaled and then pinned me with his gaze. “Well, then, I guess we can’t do this anymore.”
