20 Questions

Chapter 59

Hunter

No matter how many times I make love to this woman, it will never be enough. Sex with Jenna has always been mind-blowing, but it was to a different level this time. I could practically feel the yearning and desire radiating off her body and I just ate it up like a starving man. I look down at this angel, resting her head on my chest, admiring her strength, her patience and her unwavering loyalty. I push her sweat-soaked hair off her forehead and thank God that He brought her back to me. I will never, ever let her go again.

"What are you thinking about?" she asks, her voice so sweet and her face so heavenly.

I run my hand through her hair as I take in her natural, God-given beauty. "I want to take a bath with you. There are so many things that I need to tell you and I thought we could do it over one of your beloved candlelight baths."

She smiles up at me and tells me that she would love nothing more. She slowly lifts herself off my chest, giving me free reign to stare at her gorgeous body as she moves. The way her hips sway as she walks is enough to kill any man. She is stunning and doesn't even have to try. I lift off the bed and tell her to give me her phone. She gives me a pointed look, but eventually puts it in my hand.

"Before we go any further, I am putting my number in your phone. I can't handle another year without you. This one almost killed me."

I call my phone from hers, making damn sure I get her number. She grabs the candle and matches and meets me in the bathroom where I have already started filling the tub. The way she glows in the soft candlelight makes her look like an angel, the angel that holds all my happiness in her tiny hands. She shuts off the lights before joining me in the warm, soothing water. As she lays her back against my chest and reclines her neck against my shoulder, I am overwhelmed with a relief that runs over my body like the water around us. I haven't felt this relaxed since the last time I felt her soft body against mine in this very same tub. I choke back my tears, tears of joy and liberation.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her snug to me when I hear her sigh, causing my stomach to become painfully unsettled. She needs answers and I know I need to tell her all about the past year, but I've craved this connection for far too long and I am worried that she may not understand or think I did enough. I kiss her hair and remind her how much I love her.

"Hunter, I need to know what happened."

There it is. She's holding nothing back, just like I knew she wouldn't.

I can't see her face, but the hurt in her voice is all-consuming. The distress I caused her wasn't intentional, but it breaks my heart nonetheless because I promised to love her, keep her safe and guard her heart. I couldn't do that. I need to show her how dedicated I was to reuniting with her, how much I love her and how I would never give up on what we have. I nuzzle my face into her hair, inhaling her sweet smell and surrendering my very heart and soul to this woman.

"We are," I whisper. "There's so much to be said so I guess I will start from the last time we were together."

I take a long, deep breath and pray I can make her understand. I feel like a failure for not getting her phone number in the first place and then a fool for misspelling her last name on top of it all. I don't even see how it's possible that my Google searches didn't suggest alternative spellings or similarities to the name. Lord knows it autocorrects everything else. At no point in time in my life did I ever mean to say that I am so "ducking" mad.

"I was devastated when I got back to the lodge and discovered that you had left. I had convinced myself that you had changed your mind on us. I thought I pushed you away with the engagement or scared you to the point that you felt your only option was to run. The doubts and my own insecurities overtook my rational thinking and the part of me deep down that knew you loved me, that you felt the same way I did. Jenna, it crushed everything in me."