I followed him through to the kitchen still in a little shock at him bringing me here... to his home. I knew he had homes in the city but this was where he grew up, it meant something to him.

Who'd have thought Hunter Stone was sentimental?

Nobody outside the family has ever been here, he said. And I believed with every single pound of my heart as excitement and nerves wrestled between themselves.

I did however manage to keep a poker face because letting this man see how he affected me would not be a good thing. My wolf, however, was prancing and preening at being here, not holding back her thoughts at all.

Hell, she would have been purring if she was a cat!

Calm down in there. None of this meant anything—Did it?

She seemed so sure there was more to it but I wasn't, he was immune to my gift for a kick-off.

I took a seat at the kitchen bar and simply watched him; it was hard not to. No matter what room he was in—he always seemed bigger than the room, his presence was all-consuming.

It made me feel small, but weirdly safe.

Hunter removed his jacket, throwing it on a chair without a care. He walked towards the stove, undoing another button on his shirt and unclipped his cuffs, rolling his shirt sleeves up above both elbows. I'd seen no man cook in a dress shirt and trousers before.

But then again I'd seen no man cook before and not for me.

Well, when I say 'cook' I meant looking inside some pots sitting on top of a huge aga stove. "It's a lovely home you have here Hunter." And it was, it was a classic beautiful design and nothing like I expected. It felt like a family home and I almost expected two little ones to come running through at any second.

He turned to face me, and my insides melted and down south, well let's say it was becoming warm, my underwear would need to be peeled from my body. Bloody hell. I clenched my thighs. That smile of his would be the ruin of me, of that I was sure.

"Thanks, it was my parents. I own the three neighbouring houses as well, for my staff. I like them close."

I nodded my head. "Sounds good, close but not too close."

"Yeah, it gives me the extra land to roam around." He threw me a weird look, his eyebrows peaked—as if he knew something I didn't.

"Well, you can never have enough space. I loved living in France, On the property my—" I stopped. Crap. I shouldn't tell him anything—too many questions.

He turned to listen and I said. "Space is good."

Duh. Could I sound any more stupid? Idioté.

He watched me intensely, as if hanging on my every word, waiting for me to continue—which I didn't. I looked down and fiddled with my fingers.

"Do you like Pasta, looks like spaghetti and meatballs?" I looked up as he turned and stirred the pot before looking back at me with a worried look. "Fuck! You're not a vegetarian, are you?"

I pulled my head back. "No." And chuckled. "And it sounds yummy, I'm quite hungry." I was, as my stomach growled and gurgled.

He smiled again. Clench! I was sure to melt into a puddle at this rate.

"Yeah, I can hear it." He winked at me and looked thrilled with my reply, like when you give a child a toffee.

I didn't honestly recognise him. He was behaving nothing like I expected, nothing like what was described in his file.

A few minutes later he'd prepped our table and placed the food down. I took a bite and surprisingly it was superb. "Compliments to the chef, this is quite something, delicious."

He reached over and ran his thumb across my bottom lip removing a little excess sauce. I froze and swallowed, trying to ignore the crazy fluttery feeling around my core.

Holy Wolfsbane, Pearl was so right, I'm screwed.

He removed his thumb and placed it in his mouth, sucking it with a 'popping,' sound. "Thanks, but that would be Ruth, she looks after me. Too well sometimes. In fact, don't tell her this, but I would be lost without her. But I do cook for myself when I have the time. It's something I enjoy, helps me relax."

My stomach flipped and then tightened as if gripped in a vice. An image of Ruth flashed before my eyes, a tall beautiful woman with huge... meatballs. Mon Dieu. I was jealous of somebody I'd never met.

Pathetic Sage.

"Does she live in one of the neighbouring properties?" I squeaked.

He swallowed his food. "Yeah, she lives with me at my home in the city, but on Friday she comes back here. You will meet her if you stay."

My eyes double blinked. Stay? Did he just say Stay? As in stay over? Spend the night!

Mon Dieu. My hunger disappeared and down south burned even hotter, in fact, I was burning from the inside out. Holy crap! Every hair, hell every nerve on my body stood on end. My face must have been crimson.

His eyes became a little darker, almost black, but something twinkled in the depths. He's trying to hold back a laugh. "Fuck, don't look so worried Sage. You can stay in a guest room. If you stay. I have lots of those." He raised a brow before returning his attention to his food.

I'm so screwed. A thought then hit me, I wanted to see if I could feel him here, relaxed in his familiar environment. My blocker was more or less down anyway. Pushing them out, my feelers spread out. I hoped to pick up something, anything.

I touched his aura finding it without a problem, it was more or less touching mine. But that was it—nothing else. Hell, this was so frustrating. "You swear a lot," I said.

He smiled, leaning back in his chair, but didn't look the slightest bit guilty.

"Yeah, I've been told. Does it bother you?" He tilted his head slightly, his eyes burned into mine.

I thought about his question. Did it bother me?

Normally I found swearing a little crass and uncalled for. But not from him. It sounded natural and my mind pondered if he used that language in the bedroom.

Holy hell, quit it.

I shook my head, probably a little too quickly. "No, no it doesn't bother me at all." He smiled again and a shiver shot through me.

And the way he was looking at me now, like he could see inside my head made me a little vulnerable and hot...oh so hot. I had to change the subject. "So, Hunter, tell me about yourself, and your family?"

He forked up a mouthful of food, chewing whilst thinking about my question. I wasn't sure he was going to tell me but then he started talking.

"Brother, Alexander, but we call him Zander. He's in the US at the moment. My mother, well she is sunning herself somewhere with fuck knows who." He stopped for a moment and I was just about to prompt him when he looked down shuffling his food around his plate. "Lost my Dad, just over six months ago."

I knew this information from his file but hearing it from him, the emotion in his voice had me reacting without thinking and I reached out, touching his free hand with mine, brushing my thumb over his smooth skin. "I'm sorry Hunter, I didn't mean to pry."

He looked up and I swore his hand became hotter under mine. And his eyes darkened further, in fact, he looked a little flushed, as if surprised that I'd touched him.

"Don't be, that's life I guess, or death in this case. We can't stop it or change it." He kept looking at me intently, and I looked away first, swallowing.

"What about you? Family I mean?" he asked. I looked up, and his gaze was open, curious and unflinching.

I moved my hand back and picked up my fork. He left his hand there. "Lost both parents when I was a child."

His fork clattered on the table. "Fuck," he said.

I shook my head "Don't be, please... there was a fire." Heaven knows why I told him.

His tongue poked out and licked his bottom lip. "Jesus Christ Sage. That's... well I can't imagine, I'm sorry."

I smiled, shrugging. "It was a long time ago. I honestly can't remember what happened. I don't remember them at all, my memory from age five and before is gone. My grandfather said it was the trauma. But sometimes I think I dream of them but then I know it's not real, as there's always a baby in the dream."

"Fuck, that's awful Sage." He rubbed his forehead. "I mean my family weren't close, but at least they were there... alive for me and my brother."

I felt bad for making him feel bad. "Please, I never told you to make you feel bad. I'm not even sure why I told you. I've never told anyone." I'm not lying. I put a small mouthful of meatballs in my mouth, but I could still feel him watching me before I continued.

"And I was lucky I had my grandfather and my uncle—my mum's brother and his daughter, Pearl. My cousin. She lives with me. So if truth be told, I'm lucky, I feel blessed."

"Thank you, Sage," he said out of nowhere.

"What for?"

"For sharing that. You said you've told no one, so it makes me feel kinda special, yeah?"

I watched his eyebrows lift, and his dark eyes lit up with glee. I felt another shiver. And his cocky grin bloomed into a full-blown smile.

Mon Dieu.

We finished eating and strangely enough, the conversation flowed, not an ounce of awkwardness. Which wasn't good, as I now fought against my better judgment, to not like him.

No, no, no—this wasn't good at all.