Page 46 of Sunrises & Salvation

HUNTER

A few months pass by as the cold starts to fade and the days turn warmer; the trees regrow their bright green leaves and flowers pop up in an array of bold colors.

My life is finally back on track. The bookstore is doing well, better than I ever could have imagined.

An influx of new customers came in at the start of this year, and it’s been a madhouse trying to keep up with stock.

Trent’s boyfriend, Kian, has been in a few times.

He mostly hangs out in the lobby area and reads whatever book he can get his hands on, but recently he’s started helping me if he sees I need it.

When he first stepped foot inside my bookstore, I wanted to hate him.

With his pretty curly hair, septum piercing, and freckles lining his cheeks. He was gorgeous.

And I felt a stab of jealousy, not because he has Trent but because he’s confident in how he looks and doesn’t cower or hide away when he’s uncomfortable.

Instead, he stands there with his head tilted up high and his shoulders back, walking in every room like the people inside should acknowledge him.

But then, he kept coming back. Asking me for recommendations about what I like to read, taking my advice, and sitting in here for hours while I silently worked.

It was… weird. But he’s become a friend now.

It might still be a little awkward, especially because Trent has stopped by a time or two to see him.

But I don’t hate them, either of them. I don’t have any room in my heart to resent them when they look so happy together.

Adam typically stops by as well, always bringing me an iced coffee. I tried to hide my smile and blush the first time he did it, but Kian caught on quickly.

Today has been slow, so I’ve been working on placing restock orders to prepare for next week.

There’s a festival coming to town, and I have high hopes that people will stop in.

Not to buy books, necessarily, but I will have drinks and snacks, so that will at least get people in the door.

Adam offered to help me set everything up, and he’s supposed to be here right at five o’clock, so I still have a few hours to finish checking everything off my to-do list.

Being friends with Adam is… fine. It’s fine.

When he comes over to my parents’ house for dinner, he always makes sure to bring the chicken dumplings I like and a bottle of wine.

Typically, we have a glass or two with dinner, and then we sit on the couch and watch a movie or play a card game.

It’s easy being with him like that, with no expectations and no secrets between us.

He talks about his projects at work, and how the restaurant is doing, the one that he and Trent own. He always has the funniest stories about the patrons, and I love watching a slow smile break across his face while my parents laugh, his mismatched blue eyes twinkling in delight.

Time goes by quickly, and I finish up my order just in time for the overhead alarm to chime, letting me know someone walked in the front door.

I close my laptop and stow it away on the shelf underneath the cash register.

I don’t have an office here, choosing instead to use the space as a quiet spot with bean bags, weighted blankets, and remote-controlled lights that can be brightened or dimmed based on preference.

The idea came to me in therapy, and what better way to have an inclusive environment than to make sure everyone can be comfortable?

“Honey, I’m home,” Adam jokingly yells out, his loud voice echoing in the quiet space.

I’m glad no one is here, or I would have to reprimand him because this bookstore is a quiet place.

But the smile I’m fighting tries to break free when I see him round the corner.

His hands are full of… stuff. But carefully, more like precariously, balanced on top, is the usual iced coffee he brings me.

“I thought you would never show up,” I tease, approaching him to at least take my coffee off the top so he doesn’t spill it.

“I’m not late, am I? I thought we agreed to five?” he questions, his forehead creasing while his eyebrows downturn, the two dark slashes furrowing.

“We did,” I say simply, sipping my sweet, cold beverage while he deposits the boxes on the floor.

“I have more boxes in the car, let me go grab them.”

“Do you want help?” He waves me off, walking backward, and he scrunches his nose up as he shakes his head.

The movement is so silly and inconsistent with the asshole he tries to be, I burst out laughing.

He smiles widely, his bright white teeth glinting against his pink lips.

“This is why I go to the gym, to show off how strong I am to sexy people.” I flush, but he turns and walks out the door before I can come up with a quip.

His flirting flusters me, and my thoughts stutter through my head.

Adam doesn’t say anything else while he walks in, and I don’t bring it up again because I don’t know what to say. We’ve both been very careful about staying strictly friends, but today feels different. I don’t know if it’s coming from him or me. Or both of us.

“What do you want to get started on first?” I lay out my decoration plans, the thick pieces of cardstock marked and highlighted with each decoration plan, and highlighted accordingly.

Adam examines each one carefully, turning his head every so often to survey the area.

When he nods his head in finality, he claps his hands together. “Let’s do this.”

“This was not a good idea.” Adam is standing on the top of the ladder, his arms extended, and he’s pinning the rainbow banner onto the wooden rafter.

A drop of sweat slides down his arm, and I have to bite my tongue so I don’t do something stupid like lick the droplet up.

His muscles are bulging with every flex, and my dick gives a pitiful throb in my pants.

I’m practically a born-again virgin, the way I am lusting after a man just because of some muscle definition.

A man with whom I agreed to be friends .

But that’s always been the problem with us, we’re tethered together, and just friends will never be enough.

No matter how much I try to delude myself.

Will I make the first move to let him know I’m interested in more, though? Absolutely not.

“Collins, you’re not even doing anything except holding the ladder steady. Why was it not a good idea for you?” He exhales loudly, finally putting the last pin in place and climbing down the ladder.

I scuttle out of his way, wanting to avoid touching his body in any way, shape, or form. Or heaven forbid I start humping his leg.

I don’t say anything, and watch in stunned silence as he pulls the hem of his shirt up to wipe away the sweat beading his forehead, showing off the sensual V-line that leads right to the treasure in his pants. The dark stripe of hair accents the strong muscles of his core even more.

“See something you like?” he asks, and I dart my eyes up to see him smirking. My face burns.

“Just making sure you’re not dripping your gross sweat on the floor.” I would rather trace my tongue across him and swallow down every drop I can get. It’s not the most sanitary, but the thought of him hot and sweaty does things to me.

“I would never.” His sarcastic, affronted gaze lights up his face.

“Mhm, sure you wouldn’t.”

His laugh is loud, and my own follows.

When it dies down, I stare at him, really taking him in.

The short stubble on his face covers his sharp jawline.

The color is just a few shades darker than the hair on his head, and has more of an auburn tone to it, catching just right in the light, he almost looks Irish.

His different-colored blue eyes are framed by dark lashes that flutter every time he closes them.

There are a few freckles on his forehead that he didn’t have in college, either, that must have come from his time out in the sun.

How can he still be the same guy, but so different? The Adam now versus the Adam then is the same at the core, but there’s something… changed about him.

He’s staring at me, his eyes darkening with longing and lust. The same things I’m feeling.

Were we kidding ourselves when we agreed to be friends?

Can I even be friends with him when the feelings that I have still run as deep as they did back then?

They never went away, not completely. I covered them the best I could, but even my best efforts fell flat when it came to him.

He has this way about him, a way to crumble my walls until there’s nothing left but pebbles.

“Collins?” His voice is husky, and I step closer to him, listening to the voice in my heart screaming at me that this is our Adam.

I keep my mouth shut until I’m standing close to him, our shared breaths filling the space between us.

He opens his arms when I take another step, and I fall into them.

I let him hold me close and let his warmth surround me, protecting me from the unknown.

He smells like expensive cologne mixed with a hint of sweat, and I inhale deeply, filling my senses with him.

Adam keeps me cocooned, pressing kisses to the crown of my head while I nuzzle farther into his neck.

We stay like that, both of us enjoying the moment, while the world moves on without us. Everyone lives their day-to-day lives right outside that door, not knowing the unstoppable feelings that are being shared inside this quaint bookstore.

“I’m scared,” I finally whisper, risking the words and hoping they don’t come back to bite me in the ass.

“What can I do?” he says, his breath ghosting across my short hair. He cups the base of my neck and massages the knots while I gather my thoughts.

“I don’t know,” I finally settle on, trying to pull away from his grasp as tears burn my eyes.

I’m embarrassed that I admitted I’m scared, but I can’t even tell him how he can help me.

I’m playing with his emotions at this point, pushing the boundaries that I set, and he’s too good to deny me anything.

Adam doesn’t let me go, instead, he holds me tighter. The thump of his heart pumps against mine, the synchronization beating to its own tune.

“That’s okay, Hunter. I’ll prove to you that you can trust me to protect you. I’ll take care of you from this day forward,” he vows, his words strong. And I’m helpless to do anything but believe him.

I should have known that being friends with him wouldn’t be enough for me, after everything we’ve shared. Adam is and will always be the person I can rely on to support me through the hard times.

When I heard him talking to Danielle all those years ago, I thought the worst. And it was bad, but he didn’t truly know the depth of the hurt that I was going to feel because I had never talked to him about what happened to me in high school.

If I had trusted him with that information, things would have turned out differently for us.

But maybe that’s what was supposed to happen.

We needed to be two teenagers in love so we could learn and grow and come back together when we were ready to fight against the world and stand up for what we believe in.

And I believe in Adam, in what we have. Only time will tell, but I have a feeling this is going to be life-changing.