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“Relax. Breathe,” Stace said, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Everything is gonna be fine, baby.”

That word always made me melt. She stroked my shoulders and I could feel her touch through the fabric of my sweater.

“Okay,” I said.

Stace bit her bottom lip. “I wanna kiss you so bad right now.”

The feeling was mutual. Whereas all my other kisses with Stace had made me float, I felt like a kiss with her right now would ground me.

Instead of telling her it was okay to kiss me, I just rose up on my toes and pressed my lips to hers.

She let out a little sound of surprise and then kissed me back, pressing me against the door of the car. The heat from her body seeped through my clothes and I wanted to cling to her.

“God, Hunter. You can’t do that to me when we’re going to see my family. Kissing you makes me have very impure thoughts.”

I smiled and dragged her bottom lip through my teeth, making her moan a little.

“What kind of impure thoughts?”

She laughed and pressed her forehead to mine. “The kind that make me want to drag you somewhere we can get naked immediately.”

“Oh, like my backseat?”

She let out a laugh that made me feel like I’d drunk a glass of champagne. Being around her just felt so damn good. Why would I ever deprive myself of this?

“You’re trouble,” she said, kissing me one more time before stepping back and closing her eyes.

“Okay, we can go now. I’ve put all my naughty thoughts away.”

I surprised myself by winking at her. “I haven’t.”

“Hunter!”

Chapter Nineteen

Stace

I really didn’t expect her to come. When she showed up it kind of felt like a miracle. And then she kissed me, and I wished we could have gone straight back to her place or mine, whichever was closer.

I lied when I told her I put all my dirty thoughts away. That wasn’t possible when she was nearby. But I could shove them behind a door and put some plants in front of it to hide that and hoped for the best.

I had to clench my hands into fists so I wouldn’t reach for her hand as we walked through the restaurant to the table my parents had reserved.

“Stay!” Carson yelled and ran over to throw himself at me.

“Oh, hey,” I said, picking him up and giving him a huge bear hug.

“Who’s that?” Carson asked, staring at Hunter over my shoulder.

“That is my friend Hunter. Can you say hello?”

I set Carson down and he walked right up to Hunter.

“Hello, I’m Carson. I brought you this.” He held out one of the colorful rocks that he’d painted in art class.

Hunter glanced at me as if she didn’t know what to make of him. I pressed my lips together to hide a smile.

“Hi Carson. I’m Hunter. It’s lovely to meet you. Thank you so much. This is beautiful.” She studied the rock and then slid it into her pocket.