Open Arms

Chapter 7

He kissed me slowly, and carefully, like I was a piece of glass about to break at any second. I kissed him back, and it felt so damn right. Like I was meant to kiss him, like it was meant to be this way.

We kissed for a few minutes, my lips felt like they were on fire, and we both finally pulled back, catching our breaths. Hunter leaned up to his regular height. Damn he was tall. I only went up to about the bottom of his chest. He reached down and moved piece of hair behind my ear. He smiled at me, a warm and gentle smile, and he was blushing a bit.

I smiled back, everything just felt so right. For once in my life, I felt like I belonged, here, with him. I reached my arms up to his shoulders, pulled him back down and wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed once more. His strong hands on my small back made me feel safe, like he would never let anything happen. He pulled me against him, and picked me up by the back of my thighs, and wrapped my legs around his waist. Even still, I didn't reach his height but it made it much easier for him.

Every time he touched me, it felt like pure electricity: something inside of us both saying that this was right. That it felt right. Once we pulled back, we looked outside just in time to see the sun setting just behind the mountains. He pulled me against his chest, legs still wrapped around his waist, embracing each other as we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets. The lights in the poolroom turned on automatically once the sun sunk deep enough into the sky. I hopped down from Hunter and we got out of the pool.

"So, what would you like for dinner", he asked resting his chin on the top of my head from behind me as I dried off. I turned around. "Whatever you want", I said, "I'll eat anything".

After agreeing that he would order Chinese food, we grabbed our towels, he grabbed his phone from the dock, and he grabbed my tiny hand as we walked up the stairs. As we walked in a beautiful silence to the main floor, he kissed the hand of mine he was holding. When we got to the kitchen, we had one last kiss before parting to change.

I opened up the door to the guest room, closed the door behind me, and just slowly slid to the floor, leaning against the door. A tear, of happiness, ran down my cheek, and I looked up, and closed my eyes. I pictured my mother and her beautiful smile, looking down at me with a look of love. I smiled and got up from the ground and got changed.

I grabbed my stuff and opened the door, and took a brush out of my bag. My curly hair was knotted as all heck. I put down my stuff by the door with my shoes. Hunter was, again, walking down the stairs, this time wearing salt and pepper Roots sweat pants, and a burgundy muscle tank.

He saw me attempting to brush my hair, and came down the stairs, kissed my lips and grabbed my hand, leading me to the kitchen. He motioned for me to sit on a bar stool at the counter, so I did. He took my brush from me and gently ran it through my wet hair, releasing all of the knots.

When he was finished, he put my hair over one shoulder and leaned down, resting his chin of the other. "You smell so good", he said with his eyes closed.

"Stop, I probably smell nasty, and like chlorine".

"No you smell like...honey and vanilla", he said with a clap of his hands, congratulating himself for getting it right.

After getting out the take out menu from Mr. Chow's, I called to order and decided on pick-up.

"Are you cold, or warm? Like, I can fix the heater if you're one of the above", he laughed.

"I'm fine", I said kissing his cheek as I pulled off my crew neck sweater. I had a grey tank underneath so I was just perfect.

"You're so tiny", he smiled, holding up my sweater, "Don't worry. You're adorable. Adorably hot", with a wink. I playfully hit his shoulder, as he leaned his arms against the counter behind me, blocking me from going anywhere.

"Looks like you're stuck", he said with a smirk, "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Hmmm...well I know something that might work", I said grabbed his neck, pulling him down to kiss me.

"Now that'll work", he said between kisses.

We kissed, and I started to move forward, and he moved back, and I hopped off the stool and ran out of the kitchen, giggling. He realized what I had done, and chased me around the main floor once until I finally ran up the stairs, which let him almost catch up to me by skipping stairs with his long legs. I had made it to the second floor, when he finally grabbed me and picked me up from behind, twirling me around. After one more kiss, we went to his truck to pick up the food.