I caught her wrists, smiling even though I was dying. “Bossy.”
“You like it,” she said.
“I do.” I liked it a lot.
I walked her backward down the hall, my lips on hers between steps, hands at her waist, her hips, the bare strip of skin where her tank had ridden up. Every time my fingers touched her, she made the sexiest sounds. By the time we reached mybedroom, I was hanging on by a thread. Catherine stopped in the doorway and looked at my bed. Then she looked at me. For the first time since she’d stepped inside, uncertainty flickered across her face.
I touched her chin. “Talk to me.”
She let out a shaky breath. “I’m nervous. I’m not as experienced as some of the women you’ve probably been with.”
Her admission did something to me. “They didn’t matter to me. You do.”
She responded with a soft smile that touched her gorgeous green eyes. “Thanks for saying that.”
“It’s how I feel.”
“This is a big deal,” she said. “This can’t just be about sex.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s big for me too. I wouldn’t risk your parents’ friendship, your spot with the team, or mine if it wasn’t.”
“I want the team to respect me for who I am. I know this goes against that, but I want to try this for me. Does that make sense?” she asked, looking deeply into my eyes.
“It makes perfect sense. I haven’t done anything for me in a long time either,” I said. “Now where were we?”
Her smile grew. “I was about to have sex with my dad’s captain.”
My jaw tightened at the words.
She noticed. “What?”
“I don’t want to be that to you,” I admitted. Amy had wanted me for my last name and bank account, and apparently not all my wounds had healed.
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
“A dirty secret you’re sneaking around for.”
Her face softened. “Hunter.”
“I know we have to keep this private. I know why. But I don’t want you feeling like I’m hiding you because I’m ashamed,” I explained.
She stepped closer and pressed her palm to my chest.
“I know,” she said softly.
I exhaled. Deep down, I did know. It was just old wounds rearing their ugly head. “I want you, Catherine. I trust you, and I know we have to keep things quiet for now, but maybe it’s for the best. It gives us a chance to see if this can be something real.”
She exhaled a sigh of relief. “I want that, Hunter. I want to be seen for me and not my family. I want this… I want you. I don’t think you’ll hurt me. Not the way…”
She pulled her gaze from me.
I put my fingers on her chin and tilted her head so she would look at me. “I know what betrayal tastes like, and I would never intentionally hurt you.” I cupped her face in both hands. “You are wanted.”
Her eyes searched mine. I brushed my mouth over hers. “This is the least easy thing I’ve ever done.”
She laughed softly against my lips.
“But I want you anyway,” I said.