Chapter 48

"Hugging you, isn't it obvious."I replied tightening my hold around his waist.

"Why?"Hunter inquired.

"Because I can and because you're my boyfriend and I can hug you when I want."I answered.

"But we are in the middle of a fight."Hunter reasoned as if what I was doing was the most ridiculous thing.

"Even better as to why we should hug. Now put your hands around me and hug me back."I demanded softly.

Hunter's chest rose and fell as he battled with himself and eventually the side of him that liked me won. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back.

"You're manipulating me."Hunter mumbled his voice much softer now.

"I know and I love the fact that's its working. I just want to show you that we can communicate without shouting at each other which is exactly what you had come to do."I explained.

Hunter and I hugged for a while longer until I felt his heartbeat calm down to its normal rhythm. Only then did I detach myself from him. He let me go and we both sat on the mattress facing each other.

"Now we can talk, calmly like adults."I said looking at Hunter and inviting him to have a reasonable conversation.

"I'm supposed to be the grown up in the relationship, not you."Hunter replied with a chuckle.

"Just because you're older doesn't mean you're more mature. I'm not saying that you're not mature but we can teach each other a lot of things and this is a moment for you to learn effective communication."I replied.

"Okay then, I don't like how you left without telling me. It hurt that you felt you had to run away from me. I was freaking out when I came home and you weren't there because I didn't know what happened to you. Then I discovered all your stuff was gone and I started overthinking that maybe I did something to make you leave. It went dark in my mind for a while before I called you. I'm sorry for shouting but I was extremely worried and scared that you had left me."Hunter expressed looking very vulnerable.

In hindsight I probably should have left like a note or even texted him. It would have helped a lot but that was already water under the bridge and it was time to repair the damage done.

"I'm sorry I didn't communicate better but I've been asking you about coming back here everyday and each time the topic came up you always found a way to distract me. Running away was my my last resort and I'm sorry I went about it the wrong way."I explained.

"I always distracted you because I didn't want you to leave. I thought that maybe if you stayed longer and saw how great life is when you live with me you'd change your mind about moving in."Hunter added.

"But I already said no to moving in with you. Changing my mind is up to me Hunter not you. There's nothing you can do to change my mind. Living with you is great but I need my own space too. I've only just began living my life and moving in with you will only clip my wings."I conveyed hoping he would understand me.

"I know and I understand all that. I'm just scared."Hunter professed looking vulnerable.

"Scared of what?"I asked him.

"That I'll let you go and you'll leave. Baby girl, I have been alone for a long time, even while I was dating Veronica, I felt alone sometimes but when I met you something changed. We don't even have to be talking or doing anything, as long as I'm around you I don't feel alone. I'm afraid of losing you when I just got you."Hunter confessed.

The look on his face wasn't that of the dominating alpha male I was used to but of a scared wounded puppy that needed protection from the world. I crawled onto his lap and hugged him to me. He wrapped his hands around my torso and buried his face in my neck.

"Hunter I am not going anywhere. Don't get me wrong, I'm not promising you forever because I don't have forever right now but what I do have is today and maybe tomorrow and they both belong to you and with you. We will not always be together but I'm here for you. You're mine and I'm yours and for as long as this is healthy for the both of us, it shall stay that way."I assured him pulling his face away from my neck so I could look into his eyes.

"Don't freak out but if I could, I'd marry you right now so we never have to be apart but I know you're not ready and if I'm being truly honest with myself neither am I. We both have a lot of learning and growing up to do but as long as we do it together I'm okay."Hunter replied.

"Together."I mumbled caressing his cheeks with my thumbs.

"Together."Hunter echoed leaning into my touch.

I don't know who moved first but the space between us disappeared as our lips met in a sweet kiss that sealed the deal for us.

"I'm sorry I was being too pushy. I'm used to being the boss and getting what I want but thank you for reminding me that this is a partnership and everything is fifty fifty."Hunter apologized cupping my face.

"You're forgiven and I'm sorry for running away instead of communicating better. Next time I'll make you listen instead of running away."I promised him.

"I'll always chase you baby girl. You're not getting away that easy."Hunter mumbled our lips a breath apart.

I sealed the gap and kissed him biting his lower lip. I loved kissing Hunter, his lips were always so soft and inviting. I pulled away to look into his eyes when I remembered something.

"I want to ask you a question. Please let me know if I'm invading your privacy too much."I requested Hunter.

It's something I'd been meaning to ask him for a while but I always backed out. It had come up again in our conversation so I was going for it while we were still in the talking mood.

"Of course baby, ask me anything."Hunter replied.

"Why did you and Veronica really break up? She told me that you guys were over way before she cheated and now you just mentioned that you felt lonely even while dating her. What happened?"I asked him.

Hunter's brow rose in surprise at my unexpected question.

"I'm sorry if I'm asking too much."I apologized already feeling guilty for butting my nose in his business.

"No it's okay, it's just no one has ever asked me that before. They just assume that we broke up because Veronica cheated and its true it was the final straw but we had been leading up to that for a long time."Hunter explained.

"What happened?"I repeated curious for more.

Hunter sighed and tightened his arms around me. I knew it was hard for him to open up about something like that but I still wanted to know.

"Veronica and I grew up together because of our dads. We were always friends and when our teens hit we started fooling around. We were each other's firsts for everything but we didn't label it. I dated around and so did Veronica but we made it official after we both graduated from university. Veronica just had her heart broken by some guy and I wanted to get out of my sleep around phase. Being together was familiar and safe. We loved each other but over time we came to realize that we weren't in love with each other but by then I had already proposed and our parents were already invested and involved. We didn't argue, didn't try to fight for us, we just existed in each others presence postponing the wedding more and more until our parents put their foot down. Then on the night we were to officially announce our wedding date publicly, I caught her in bed with Aaron. I wasn't even angry, more like relieved. We broke up, she got engaged to my brother instead and I've been single ever since until the night we met."Hunter explained.

It was a lot, definitely not what I had expected but it did explain everything. Like how Hunter had been able to get over Veronica so fast after dating her for six years.

"So you two were never in love?"I inquired.

"No we were just each other's safety nets. But now she's in love with my brother and they are happily married and I have you."Hunter smiled giving me that adorable look that always had my insides melting.

"Yes you do."I affirmed kissing him again.

I didn't what Hunter and I to ever be stuck in a rut, it was too sad and lonely. What we had for the moment was fantastic and I was hopeful that we could keep it that way for a long time to come.

"I've never told anyone that before, thank you for listening."Hunter expressed looking into my eyes as he caressed my face with his fingers.

"You're welcome and I'm always here for you when you want to talk about anything."I offered covering his hand with mine.

"I'm lucky I met you that night Miss Mugo. You are exactly what I needed in my life."Hunter whispered, the honesty in his words taking me by surprise.

I didn't have anything to top what he had said so I kissed him. It was a short, sweet kiss that I hoped relayed everything I needed to say but couldn't find the words for.

"Before this escalates I want you to know that you're not sleeping here tonight."I declared pulling away to look into his eyes so that he could see I was being serious.

"Kicking me out already baby girl?"Hunter lamented with a pout.

"Yes, we've been together everyday for the past one week and its time to put some distance between us."I declared.

"But I don't want to go."Hunter argued with a pout.

"I know bear but you have to."I insisted.

Hunter knew I wasn't budging on this one so no matter how much he tried to intimidate me, I wouldn't let him.

"Okay fine but at least let me meh take you out to eat. I'll bring you right back I promise. I know you don't have any food in the house so we'll do some shopping too. It's the least I can do after you've taken care of me all week."Hunter proposed.

I thought about what he was offering and as long as he was true to his words then there was no harm in it.

"Yes we can go out to eat."I agreed.

Hunter grinned victoriously and got up with me in his hands.