20 Questions

Chapter 14

I readjust my bathing suit and check my surroundings. I had been so caught up in the passion between us that I hadn't even thought about who could see us in the hot tub. Thankfully, the lights are all still off and there is not a soul in the area. I breathe a sigh of relief and stand up to exit the water. Like a gentleman, Hunter grabs my hand and helps me out of the hot tub. He holds open my dry towel, wraps it around me and hugs me tight. If it weren't so cold outside and me being soaking wet, I could stay in this moment forever. We both slip on our robes and collect our belongings.

"Well, that was fun," he says and we both laugh. "Listen, I hope that I didn't make you feel uncomfortable with anything that may have come out of my mouth during that. Like I told you before, it's really hard to control myself around you. I know this is all kind of quick and I don't want you to think I am just trying to sleep with you or take advantage of you. I'm not that guy. I really like you, Jen, and I like how you make me feel."

"You didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all, quite the opposite. It was smoking hot. I don't know much about you, but I am confident that you aren't 'that guy'. I can assure you, I don't do anything that I don't want to do. If I felt uncomfortable, I would have punched you in the face," I reply. He laughs and grabs my hand to walk me into the lodge.

"You're kinda awesome. You know that, right?"

"Are you just saying that because I gave you a hand job?"

He cuts his eyes at me and I laugh hysterically at his lack of amusement.

"Seriously, I've never met a girl like you. Your confidence is so damn sexy to me. I just can't get enough of you. I'm really excited about our date tomorrow. I mean, I guess it's a date. Unless you don't think of it as a date and then it can just be friends hanging out."

I can't help but laugh at the way he is bumbling around. "It's a date, Hunter, and I too am excited about it. Not to mention, friends don't usually get each other off in a hot tub."

He gives me his signature crooked smile, raises my hand up to kiss it as we walk into the lodge. He walks me to my door and I open it on the third attempt because key cards apparently hate me. I walk in the room, but he remains in the hall.

"Did you want to come in for a little bit?" I ask him. He looks at me and then his eyes fall to the floor.

"I want to come in, but I don't think it's a good idea," he says.

"Oh," is all I can say.

"Jenna, don't get me wrong, I would love to come in and spend more time with you. Hell, I would love to lay next to you in bed and wake up to you tomorrow morning, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. I want to respect you, treat you the way you deserve to be treated and not smother you. You are a strong, independent woman and I know for a fact that those type of women don't like a man who is needy and insecure. I'm not either one of those, but I don't want you to think of me that way."

"Hunter, I don't think that at all. I only invited you in because I like spending time with you and I barely know that much about you. You are overthinking this. I really appreciate you being respectful with me. It's an honorable quality not many men have these days. It's totally cool though. We have the whole week and we do have our date tomorrow. We can call it a night, get some sleep and I will see you for breakfast tomorrow. Sound good?"

He smiles at me and rocks back on his heels. He bids me good night and turns to walk down the hall. Something comes over me and I can't let him go just yet. I need one more kiss. One more taste of those sweet lips. One more touch to get me through the night. I run down the hallway, grab his arm, swing him around and plant a deep kiss to his lips. We let the kiss linger a minute before I pull away and wish him a good night again. He tells me he will see me in the morning and makes his way back to his room. I walk into my room, shut the door and rest my head against the wall. I feel as if I'm floating on air. Today has been a crazy day and I find myself getting more and more tired by the second. I brush my teeth, wash my face and get in bed. I lay in the bed picturing Hunter's sweet smile and quickly drift off the sleep.