In Between Seasons (The Fall) (16 page)

“I win,” I teased,
smiling underneath him.

He blinked twice
and
spit the sno
w out of his mo
uth,
“I guess so.
”

“Your
lesson today is to never under
estimate me,” I joked
as he gave me a hand to stand up.

“
I’ll
keep that in mind,
” Hunter replied
,
his hand slipping slowly out of mine.

I had to take a deep breath as I turned to walk to where the other women were. My heart was hammering against my chest
,
and
I struggled to keep it from showing on my face. My eyes met Mara’s
,
and
she was smirking
in a way that made me want to throw
a snowball right in
her face too.

“So how does this work?” I asked
as the women spread the circle they were standing in so I could join.

“We
fight until they give up,
”
Mara explained
.

“What
would make them give up?” I wondered
,
looking over my shoulder at the group of men. Hunter was looking at me with the smuggest smirk I had ever seen
,
and
I couldn’t help
but
stick my tongue out at him. He shook his head
and
laughed as Rob punched him in the shoulder.

“
They want us so m
uch they can’t stand it anymore,” Amy responded
,
a b
lack eyebrow arched in way
that
I assumed
she thought was sexy
.

“Shou
ldn’t take too much,
” Mara said
as she pointed
at her eyes
and
th
en at Rob
. He
was already staring at her as if he wanted to race across the field
and
kiss her.

“So do w
e have a plan of attack?” I asked
just as a snowball smacked me right in the
but
t,
“Ughh! Is that the only target on me?”

“Apparently,” Mara yelped
as the group dispersed
,
running to the nearest tree
s
.

I looked over my shoulder at Hunter who had his hands in his pockets as he looked up at the sky.

“You!
You’
re going to get it!” I yelled
,
and
as
his eyes
met mine his lip arched
up on one side.

I grabbed a handful of snow
and
launched it at him. It landed short though
,
and
he just shook his head at me as he lurched forward
and
grabbed a handful of snow. It flew into the air before I could react
and
hit me right in the chest.

There were snowballs blu
rring into the gray air like an
endless stream of low lying clouds
,
and
I had to duck as I raced towards a tree for protection against the onslaught that was being propelled at me.

My mind was racing as I tried to think of how I could actually get a
snowball anywhere near Hunter when he was so far away from me.  My only chance was to dart between the trees as quickly as I could when someone else was moving
,
so that I could use them as a distraction. We all wore essentially the same color sweatshirt
,
so we all blended into each other. Mara was at the tree next to me
,
and
I could see she was getting ready to run to where I was. Just as
she did I ran,
passing behind her as a snowball hit her right in the side.
I looked out from the side of the new tree
that
I was at
and
saw that my strategy had
worked.
Hunter was prop
elling balls of snow at Mara instead of
me. I raced to the next tree
and
peeked out again.

“That’s Mara,” Rob shouted
to Hunter elbow
ing him
in the side,
“Your girl
disappeared.”

Hunter looked around at the trees
,
and
I ducked before he could see my smiling face.

Two more trees
and
I would
be close enough to hit him
. I made it to the tree I
had aimed for
and
found myself
only ten feet away from him. It seemed I had mastered the silent running that Hunter did so well
,
or
the snow was helping to muffle my elephant feet.
I needed premade ammo if I was going to overtake him
,
and
I hurried to make several snow balls in front of me.

“Where the h
ell did Kate go?” Hunter asked
Rob.

“How am I supposed to know? I was just watching Mara unti
l you started to aim at her too. N
ow I don’t know where she’s disappeared to either.”

I looked to the side of me
and
Mara was two trees over.

“Good one,” s
he mouthed.

I shrugged
,
picking up two of my snow balls
and
throwing them at Hunter’s head.

“What the?” Hunter reacted
as he looked
over at me.

I smiled
and
threw
two
more
at him,
“You give up yet?”

“Never surrender!” Hunter yelled as he rushed towards me pelting
snow balls at him as fast as I could.

He tac
kled me to the ground laughing,
“Do you give up?”

“Never,
”
I replied
as I threw handfuls of snow in his face.

Hunt
er pinned my arms to the ground,
“Now?”

I shook my head.

“A compromise
?” Hunter suggested
.

“
What kind of compromise?” I asked
,
narrowing my eyes at him.

“I help you make the cookies
,
and
I get to eat some too.”

“I like that compromise
,” I replied
as he rolled to the side of me
and
we both sat up.

“There’s one more thing,” h
e said
,
and
when I turned my head he thrus
t a snowball softly into it
.

“Sometimes I hate you,” I huffed.

“Come on;
I had to,” h
e said as he leaned in
and
wiped the snow off my face.
That pretty much fixed any anger that I had into pure joy.

“Fine, I forgive you
…
This was really fun,” I responded
as we walked away from the slew of snowballs that were still being thrown.

“It’s times like these when we can finally forget how much we hate each other…even
though it doesn’t last for long,
”
h
e
said
,
looking over his shoulder as he put his hand into mine.

“Yeah,” I seconded as I looked
ahe
ad of us where Mara
and
Rob were walking inside the house laughing.

The snow was too deep for the men to do any outdoor training
,
so they had j
o
ined us in the common room
. I knew
I was going stir crazy
,
but
I could see it
even more in Hunter’s eyes. His eyes
flashed between me
and
the darkness that hung over him
in the
whispered conversations with his
men over the pool tables.
I had strained my ears to hear them speaking so many times over the TV t
hat I didn’t have to try at it
anymore.
Most of the time the conversation was about training schedules
and
what orders were to be given next
. O
ther times it was so crude I stopped lis
tening as soon as I heard it. This time my
ears picked up my name in their conversation.

“
Kate’
s banging Hunter
,
but
I’m starting to
think she’s not a prisoner at all. You couldn’t have her if you wanted h
er. You couldn’t force her to
do something she didn’t want to,
”
Charlie commented,
his voice deep
and
not in the slightest way respectful.
The thought of being forced to do anything as POW was disgusting to me, and I knew Hunter felt the same way from the look on his face.

“I
think you need to stop thinking
. Y
ou’re hurting your brai
n,” Hunter stood,
“Kate, let’s go.”

“Sure,” I replied,
getting up
and
wa
lking towards the door with him,
“Push me up against the wall
and
kiss me.”

“No, I won’t do that for them,
”
he replied
in a hushed voice
as his eyes flashed
at the thought.

“They need to believe you’re just like them. Isn’t
t
hat
something they wo
uld do?” I asked as I looked
at him from the corner of my eye.

He shook his head before turning
and
pushing me up against the wall
.
Even
though I had told him to do it the movement
still knocked the breath right out of me. Hunter
pressed his forehead to min
e as our fingers entwined
. His l
ips didn’t move as he whispered,
“I’m sorry.”

His lips crushed into mine
softer than I would have ever thought from his hardened exterior
,
and
the breath was knocked out of me again as I kissed him back. Someone whistled
and
he pressed his lips harder
against mine as he kissed me on
e last time before pulling away. He swept me into his arms
and
carried me outside before placing me on the ground. We walked in sil
ence up the stairs into his apartment
,
and
he shut his door before turning to face me.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed, his eyes closed.

“Why do you keep saying th
at?” I asked as he opened his eyes,
“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“That’s not what I would have thought our first kiss would be—me pinning you to a wall and forcing you to kiss me…”
Hunter’s hands went into his hair, and my heart into my throat. He had thought about kissing me?
“I hate it when I have to do something to keep up
this charade.
”

“Was it bad?” I asked
,
feeling as though my heart was pounding through my stomach.
Oh, God…

“That’s not what I meant…”

“What did you mean?”
I pushed
.

“Let me show you…” he answered,
stepping closer
and
p
ulling me
gradually
into his arms. He caressed my cheek with his hand
and
bent his head slowly to me,
“I would have wa
nted to kiss you more like this,” he explained as
hi
s breath teased
my lips.

He kissed me once so lightly I could barely f
eel his lips
,
and
it was almost too much for me to bear letting him be so controlled in his emotions. He seemed to read my mind as
the kiss grew more
intense. My brain had stopped working
,
and
all I could think
and
feel was him
.
I let
my mind slip away as
my lips drift
ed
to his chin
and
then
to
his neck. He sighed as he lifted me
,
and
I wrapped my legs around his waist. He laid me delicately on his bed
with his body hovering
above mine as if he was afraid he might crush me with the weight of his
own
.
I longed to feel the weight of his body though.
Hunter’s lips found mine again far more patient than my own.  He pulled away
and
kissed my neck before his lips grazed
my ear,
“You know I’m not going anywhere
,
right?”

I turned my head
and
looked into his eyes
,
and
he seemed to lose his pat
ience as I stared at him. H
is lips found mine again
panicked as if he didn’t know if he would ever kiss me again. I slipped my hands under his shirt
and
pulled it over his head as I kissed his scars. With every kiss
and
every touch it was as if all the feelings I had been keeping in were being silently shared. His hands slipped down my arms
,
gently pulling my shirt up
and
over my head as his lips flowed
up my body
and
to
my face
,
leaving a trail of goose bumps
across my flesh
. It was like time
had
froze
n
as
he stopped kissing me,
his brea
thing coming heavy as his fingers tangled into mine
. His eyes were closed as
he
put his f
orehead against my chest
and
sighed,
“We can’t.”

“What’s wrong
?
” I whispered
only just able to speak.

“Not like this…not here.
I don’t want to give into what they think I should do.
”

“You h
aven’t forced me to do anything,” I felt myself unraveling
,
“I
f
you didn’t want to kiss me you didn’t have to.”

He looked up at me
and
shook his head as he stood. The darkness was in his
eyes again
,
and
I knew
there was no way for me to fight to get him back.
He found his shirt
and
pulled it back on before running his hands through his hair. He looked at me sitting shirtless on his bed
and
shook his head again
. H
is eyes
were
to
o
distant for me to understand what he was thinking.
He turned
and
left the room as
I curled up in a ball
and
sobbed myself to sleep.
I realized in that moment that my feelings were out of my control
,
and
I was
utterly
in love with him
just like Mara had said. The worst thing was that
he didn’t love me
back
.