Free Now, Please by Willow Summers Page A

trying to capture his kiss. Trying to cross the barrier that terrified him. Wanting to protect him with love and support.
    He hugged me tightly as his movements got smaller, but infinitely more potent. His lips glanced off mine again but still didn’t connect. His tongue came out and licked my bottom lip.
    I moaned, everything so tight. The movements so intense. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak.
    With his next powerful thrust, I shattered. A swell of pleasure pulled me under. I clutched Hunter, squeezing him close as I cried out my release. He shook a moment later, groaning.
    The sound of our labored breath filled the room. One by one, my muscles relaxed, and then melted. I closed my eyes, content with his weight and warmth on top of me. With his body still inside me.
    He shifted and kissed my cheek tenderly. He moved to the side, turning me to face away from him before curling up behind. His arms still hugged me close. My back pressed into his hard chest.
    I slipped my hand into his and settled more firmly into the pillow. I knew he’d wait until I fell asleep, and that my back would be cold when I woke in the morning. But I did not regret these times with him. Not for one moment. He kept saying he couldn’t love, but each time we were together was more intense. More passionate. He gave in just that little bit more. I just needed to be patient.

Chapter Six
    T he phone in my room rang. I paused with my brush caught in my hair and dashed over. “Hello?”
    “Olivia, this is Bruce.”
    “Oh hey.” I yanked on the brush, wincing as my head yanked with it.
    “I was thinking about heading to the lagoon in a while, if you’d still like to join me?”
    “Yeah, sure. You know, there’s a spot closer to the hotel that has better Wi-Fi, if you’d rather go there?”
    “Great. Where?”
    I explained the location to Bruce, a place Hunter had found and texted me about an hour before. Bruce confirmed we’d meet in half an hour before hanging up.
    I yanked at my brush again, trying to dislodge it. My hair was a rat’s nest from all the rolling around I’d done with Hunter last night.
    My heart warmed at the thought.
    He’d lain with me until I’d fallen asleep, as I’d expected. What I hadn’t expected was waking up in the small hours of the morning as he slipped his arm out from under me before quietly making his way back to his own room. I wasn’t sure if it was another compromise, that he’d loaned his body heat and comfort to reduce the sting of his father from earlier, or if he’d stayed for his own benefit.
    One explanation made more sense than the other, but hope was a dangerous thing. I chose not to think about it much. It was safer that way.
    I threw on a sweater and took to my hair again, working the tangles out one by one, another lesson in patience. That done, I slipped into my sneakers and grabbed my computer. Hunter said I was to devote as much time to Bruce as needed. He was my sole focus. If Bruce wanted to blow off work and stick our toes in the lagoon while drinking margaritas, my job was to say, “Absolutely.” As Bruce was a really cool guy, I wouldn’t be at all put out if he did!
    With a bounce in my step, I pushed through the door of the building, headed to my trusty sidekick, the golf cart. As I turned the corner, I bumped into a tall, robust man.
    “Oh, sorry,” I muttered, stepping to the side to clear the way.
    “Not at all.” Rodge smiled down at me, a look that had probably knocked women out when he was younger.
    “Excuse me,” I said, skirting by him.
    “You’re going to meet Bruce, I take it?” Rodge stepped with me, shadowing me to the empty space where my golf cart should’ve been.
    I glanced around, seeing not just the absence of my golf cart, but of all the golf carts.
    “They must’ve cleaned up. Here, I’ll walk you,” Rodge said, holding his hand out to the right.
    I started walking left. “No thanks.”
    “Hunter is putting a lot of faith in you,”