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“Is he really worth it?” Phillip’s jaw clenched, and the muscles along his neck strained. “He treats you like you’re fragile and weak. He doesn’t see how strong you are, and I don’t think he ever will. He’s a small-minded man who thinks a woman only needs to be protected.”

I opened my mouth, not terribly sure what I wanted to say but confident I’d figure it out. “What makes you think you have any right to weigh in on any of that? Weren’t you just telling me to do whatever I wanted?” I threw my hands up in the air, scoffing. “I can’t with you.”

The Hunter’s large hands cradled my face, and my jaw snapped shut in shock. “He can’t treat you the way you need to be treated. He won’t challenge you. He won’t push you to be more. He’ll hold you back from all your potential. It’s a waste.”

“A waste?”

Suddenly, Phillip’s face was close enough that his breath bathed my lips and memories of our kiss came rushing back.

Forget that we were out in the open, on a mission, and very likely in viewing distance of the same guy I discarded a week ago, but it was like I couldn’t find the headspace to be bothered. All that mattered was what Phillip said to me and his heat close to mine.

“You’ll never be satisfied with him. You might pretend to be, but he can’t give you the kind of pleasure I can.”

Pleasure?

I yanked my face out of his hold and broke the trance he’d put me into. “I don’t know what gave you the idea that a relationship is decided on pleasure alone, but it’s not. Not the kind I want to be in, anyway. I want more. I won’t settle for less than that.”

I glared at the expressionless Austrian as he stood silently in front of me. “It doesn’t matter. No one deserves to be made a target just for being with me, and that’s the only reason I let him go. I won’t drag anyone into something like that. Least of all Nigel. So, no, I hadn’t reconsidered our break-up. If anything, I reconsidered having relationships as a whole.”

Phillip didn’t say anything for minutes, just watched me. Then he was back in front of me, strong hands clutching my face, stubbornly refusing to let me get away again. Swiftly and without hesitation, the other Hunter’s mouth overpowered mine. His tongue pushed past my lips and tasted the inside of my mouth in a way that made my knees weak, all but stealing my will to fight.

Before I knew what I was doing, my hands twisted into his shirt and dragged him closer, answering his kiss like I’d been waiting for it. As if his kiss was exactly what I needed all this time and hadn’t realized it.

And it didn’t matter how it was by far the most inappropriate place and time, or how we could be easily discovered. Nothing mattered when Phil’s kiss was the answer to endless questions churning inside my head the last several weeks. The answer to deep need and yearning that plagued me for as long as I’d been around him.

Phillip’s low groan of satisfaction rumbled between us. Hands slid into my hair and brought our mouths impossibly close, never letting me stray a single breath away. The Austrian’s lips tasted mine with confidence and urgency. Like my mouth was the first drink of water after nothing but desert. Like my lips were the most delicious food he’d ever tasted.

His kiss was powerful and sure, just like the man himself. It pooled heat into my hips and set my nerves on fire. Enough that I completely forgot myself in hopes of living in it for a second longer.

I might not have kissed anyone before the Austrian, but something told me kisses like Phil’s weren’t easy to come by. He knew exactly how to derive the most pleasure.

And when he swooped down, sliding his lips lightly along the column of my neck, there wasn’t any way I could pretend I didn’t want it. It was quite literally the most amazing sensation I’d ever felt, and left prisoner to it any longer would likely have me begging for more.

Phillip nibbled my lower lip before pulling away. His enchanting blue eyes flicked up to the ridgetop and then back down to me. “This isn’t finished.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant.

In a daze, I watched the other Hunter put space between us. Then a voice called out. I looked over lazily and caught sight of Nigel striding with purpose our direction. Guilt plowed into me like I’d been physically assaulted, and I worried for a second the Shifter knew. But his small wave and apologetic smile suggested he hadn’t.

Phillip’s fingers moved across the screen of his phone, and mine pinged a second later. I looked down to find a text from him:“We moved too fast for a Shifter to see.”

Glancing up, Phillip’s expressive eyes beamed at me.

Another text came in:“But I’ll give it to you slower next time.”

‘Next time,’ he said. Despite the guilt, my heart raced with the thought there’d be another time, maybe soon. And then I was consumed by self-disgust.

My head and body were at odds.

Why couldn’t I just stop myself and stay away? Why couldn’t I reject the temptation the way I had before? What about Phillip made me not want to?

Glaring at the sneaky scoundrel beside me, I didn’t bother to text back. The asshole didn’t expect me to, either. His grin said so. The satisfied expression on the Hunter’s face agitated me to no end while he addressed Nigel, who looked at the two of us with suspicion in his eyes.

“Find anything of interest?”

“Unfortunately, no. I didn’t see you two at all. Did you guys check out another area?”

The guilt hitting my stomach was unbearable.