Born to Fight (Can't Resist You Book 1) Page 5

  “That’s better. I think you’re finally learning, my love.” His hands fisted around her clothing as he began to yank at them and tear them off. “Smart girl.”

  She vomited all over herself and began to cry harder. It didn’t even make him slow down.

  ***

  “Rain?”

  Hunter waited ten seconds, and then rapped on the door again. He called her name again, and then again, and then once more, each time becoming less of a question and more frantic.

  He pulled back from the door for a moment and composed himself. He was a trained killer for goodness sake and yet he was acting like a lost child. Hunter slowly leaned into the door, listening intently to what was going on on the other side.

  He could hear steps. They were quick-paced and grew louder, then lower, louder, then lower. Rain was pacing. He could also hear her breathing, short and forceful breaths. He felt himself growing increasingly more worried.

  “Rain, listen. I’m going to open the door if you don’t answer me. Okay? I am going to come in.”

  He waited another ten seconds before breaking the knob off of the door and pushing inside.

  She stared up at him, eyes wide and dilated, skin as pale as first snow, but she had a smile on her face, and her breathing was normal, regular. She still wore her baggy shirt and panties, something that threatened to pull Hunter’s mind away from where it needed to be.

  “Thanks for breaking my door,” Rain chuckled.

  “Are you okay?” Hunter was too smart to think this wasn’t all an act. He could see through Rain’s walls.

  “I’m fine. How are you?” Her voice was high and bubbly, and her smile, while wide, never reached her eyes.

  “Talk to me, Rain. What happened out there?” He moved towards her, slowly, until they were only a foot apart. She stood firmly in place.

  “I just got a little queasy. Really, I’m okay,” she said. She’s still keeping secrets. He wouldn’t push her. She would open up to him, in her own time.

  “Did the thought of me wanting to take you on a date make you that uneasy?” he joked.

  Rain laughed. “You don’t like me romantically,” she sighed, gently shaking her head and looking towards the floor, smile permanently etched into her face. “I’m the only girl around. Slim pickings,” she shrugged and laughed.

  “Hey,” he started, placing a hand on her cheek and angling her face up towards his. “If I was the only man on an Earth that wasn’t shot to hell like ours and had my pick of a million women, I’d still want to go on a date with you.”

  “Normal women, maybe. But what about beautiful women? Beautiful women who haven’t been broken and battered by this world we live in?” Her brows raised.

  “I’m staring at the most beautiful woman in the world right now, and she is definitely not broken.” Rain’s eyes widened, her smile finally softening. “She doesn’t seem to like me very much, though,” Hunter smirked.

  Rain let out a rushed breath. “She might like you more than you think.”

  As Rain ever so slightly angled her body towards his, a move that would’ve been invisible to a lesser trained eye, He immediately felt his cock pulse to attention. He shoved down the heated thoughts that quickly began playing through his mind.

  Hunter couldn’t resist, and placed a hand on Rain’s exposed hip. She leaned into it and smiled up at him. The softness of her skin sent a pulse down his core, and Hunter fell into fantasies of taking her right there where she stood.

  “I should get started on dinner. You relax, okay?” he finally said.

  Rain stared up at him, her brows falling and her lip ever so slightly pouting out. “Okay.”

  He began to walk out of the room, but Rain called to him just before he made it through the frame.

  “Thank you for making sure I was okay. I appreciate it,” she smiled softly.

  “Anytime, sweetheart. I’m always here for you,” he smiled back at her.

  As Hunter exited the room, he began scolding himself. What are you doing? he wondered. You have a job, a team to get back to, a community of people depending on you. He needed to heal, to rest, but he was almost back to his old self now, and there was no reason for him to be here anymore.

  Hunter was fooling himself into thinking he could have such an easy escape, an easy way out of the mess of a world they lived in. His fantasies of a life with Rain were a fairytale, and as hot and welcoming as they seemed to him, they weren’t real. There was no future in this world.

  Once Hunter was positive he was fully healed, he would return to HQ. Perhaps, if he was convincing enough, he’d get Rain to come with him.

  For the next week or so, he’d enjoy his time with Rain as much as he could. But it was time to step back into reality. Hunter had a job to do.

  ***

  Rain stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was long and wavy and wild, as it always had been and likely always would be. Her eyes were wide and green, accentuated by long lashes that so many women had commented on when she was a child.

  She looked towards the door, released the air she’d been holding in her lungs, and placed her hand on the doorknob. Outside, Hunter would be waiting for her. She smiled, and then quickly composed herself before pulling the door open.

  When she stepped into the kitchen-living area, she was greeted by a set table and a beautifully cooked meal of venison from a buck Hunter had got them a few days earlier using a bow and arrow he’d whittled from wood and stone, plus vegetables from their little farm.

  And then there was Hunter. He wore his same clothes, but he’d shaved, again, and pushed his hair back out of his face. Rain caught herself staring at that ruggedly handsome face of his, but she simply couldn’t look away. And then he smiled at her… and she melted.

  “M’lady,” Hunter smiled, motioning towards the table as an invitation for her to sit.

  She complied.

  Hunter strolled around the table, sitting across from her as Rain got comfortable in her seat. Both of them, having been surviving on soup and bread for so long, began digging into the food, gluttonously inhaling it as if they had been starved.

  Halfway through their plates, they began chatting, joking, laughing about their ravenous appetites. Rain felt like a mess, but Hunter’s carefree attitude had her laughing about it all, had her feeling completely weightless. Rain’s heart felt warm from the food and the laughter.

  Hunter’s smile had a way of melting her into a puddle. When he’d walked into the room earlier, broken her door to get in, she thought she’d feel more fear. He was a man, after all, a dangerous one with many secrets.

  But Rain didn’t feel scared. She felt safe. She felt want. She felt home.

  As much as she’d tried to stop caring, Rain had to find out more. There was too much to Hunter that she didn’t understand, and she needed to understand if she was ever going to fully trust him.

  “You mentioned following in your father’s footsteps,” she began as Hunter cleaned his plate of the last bit of venison. “Tell me about him.”

  She looked to Hunter and waited, watching the carefully controlled emotions subtly dance through his eyes.

  “Why?” he finally asked.

  “I want to know more about you. About who you are.”

  He squinted his eyes at her as his lips curved into a smile. “My dad was an incredible man. My mom was amazing, too.”

  Rain smiled and leaned towards him. “Tell me about them,” she urged.

  “What about them?”

  Um. He was playing with her, being difficult on purpose. She just knew it.

  “How did they meet?”

  Hunter chuckled. “They were both born before the Fall, but they didn’t meet until after. I never quite got the full story, but I know they had me about a year after.”

  “And your childhood?”

  He flashed his teeth at her, then sighed. “My father began training me at age seven.”

  Rain furrowed her eyebrows. “Training you for wh
at?”

  “War.”

  A chill when down her back. “War?” she repeated the word back to him.

  “My father saw the Fall, saw what happened to the people who were around before all this.” He motioned around the room with his hands. “Before the Fall, my father was a soldier. Something called a SEAL. He was the best of the best, and he trained me from age seven to take on the UNR and protect my own. My people.”

  Rain swallowed hard. A hundred questions raced through her mind. “What kind of training?”

  “Combat training. Hunting. Stalking. Killing. He trained me to fight and die if necessary. He trained me to be strong. He told me horror stories about the Fall and about all the people suffering. He told me I was their only hope.” His smile faded and his eyes glazed over a bit, his mind clearly journeying to a different place.

  Rain switched gears a bit to try to bring him back. “Did your mother take part in the training?”

  Hunter shook his head and laughed, his eyes meeting Rain’s as he mentally came back to her. “She had her own bit of training. My mother liked to read to me a lot. She always wanted me to be the brainy type like she was,” he paused and flexed his arm, “but I seem to have taken after my dad’s brawn.”

  Rain giggled. “You don’t like books?”

  “I just can’t seem to enjoy them. I had this book I was reading back at home, but obviously, I haven’t been there in quite some time…” his voice faded off again. Then he shut his eyes and snapped his attention back towards Rain. “My mom would’ve been happy to see me reading.”

  Would’ve been. “What happened to them?”

  Hunter’s jaw clenched, his upper lips almost curling up into a snarl before he gathered himself once more. “They’re gone, now.”

  Rain reached across the small table and took his hand. His eyes looked so pained when they met hers.

  “I am so sorry Hunter,” she said to him, rubbing her thumb in circles against his hand. “I wish I could’ve known them.”

  Hunter smiled softly and gave her hand a squeeze. “They would’ve loved you.”

  Butterflies fluttered around in Rain’s stomach.

  “What about you? What were your parents like?”

  Her eyes widened. Fear coiled in her gut like a snake ready to attack. This wasn’t a conversation she could have. “I never knew them,” she lied. “Sickness.”

  Hunter pulled her hand towards him, pressing a kiss to her fingers. His lips set her skin on fire. “I’m sorry, Rain.”

  He meant it. It was so clear that he meant it.

  And yet she was still lying to him.

  He began pulling away from her as the guilt ate away at her conscious. “Hunter,” she called out.

  He paused and looked at her, waiting. Her mouth refused to work, incapable of forming words and unsure of what words to form even if it could cooperate. He leaned forward, brushing his hand on her cheek, his eyes locked on hers.

  Suddenly, the guilt began to dull, a new emotion taking over as Hunter’s eyes fell to her lips. Her heart began to beat wildly as he moved over the table and leaned closer to her. His eyes went back to hers, and she was lost in them.

  She found herself arching towards him as her eyes fell shut and she waited for his lips to meet hers.

  Chapter Five

  IT TOOK EVERYTHING HUNTER had to pull away from her right then. The way she looked at him, with such concern and kindness, it overwhelmed him. And then the want that he saw in her eyes…

  Hunter paced away from her, moved into the other room and brushed his hand over his chin. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. He began to turn so he could face her as he apologized. “I shouldn’t have-”

  Rain’s lips were on his, her body pressed against him. For a moment, he froze, and then, his body took over. Hunter’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her even closer as his lips crushed down on hers.

  She tasted even better than he’d imagined.

  His cock pushed to the front of his jeans, and he had no doubt that she felt his arousal shoving against her. Her arms lifted around his neck, hands knotted into his hair. A growl escaped Hunter’s throat as he lifted her into his arms.

  When Rain wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her sex into him, he damn near lost it. In a second’s time, he was holding Rain against a wall, pressing himself into her as he desperately ached to remove the thin layers of clothing that stood between them.

  He kissed her greedily, hungrily, like a starving man. A moan escaped her mouth, sending a pulse of need down his entire body.

  He pulled back and stared at her. Her pink lips, her wide shimmering eyes, her messy hair. He sat there for a moment and took in her beauty, the sounds of their heavy breathing filling the room.

  And then he took her mouth again and all but lost himself to her.

  Rain was perfection. She tasted like honey, smelled like lavender, felt like Heaven on Earth.

  You have a mission. You need to get back to your people.

  She flicked her tongue against his, opening her mouth to him and inviting him in. He squeezed her ass, ached to take her right there, to make her his.

  There are no happy endings in this world. You know that.

  Maybe Rain could be his second chance. Hunter never had any options, he was trained from childhood to be a soldier. But what was he even fighting for? Did he even want to fight?

  This is bigger than you. The choice has been made.

  Damn, but whose choice was it? Hunter certainly hadn’t chosen it. He never thought he had a choice, never thought there was anything else out there for him.

  Rain’s nails dug into his shoulder blade, and the small bite of pain drove him mad. He kissed her even harder.

  Hunter never had a choice, and maybe he never would, but if he could choose? He’d choose her.

  Every. Damn. Time.

  He’d choose Rain.

  Remember what happened to them? Love isn’t real. You need to fight.

  A chill ran down his spine, but he desperately tried to push the thoughts away and continue kissing Rain. He could get lost in her, he knew it.

  They deserve a better son, one who wouldn’t throw away everything they worked so hard for over some fantasy.

  Hunter jolted away from her, breaking the kiss and lowering Rain to the ground. Then he stepped away to put distance between them.

  Her breath came heavy, her chest rising and falling as she worked to regain her footing. Her hand lifted and reached for her hair, probably feeling for the mess Hunter had made of it. She was beautiful. So freaking beautiful.

  “I’m sorry,” he finished his earlier statement. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Hunter watched her face, waiting for a sign. Waiting for agreement. Waiting for protest. Waiting for something.

  Nothing came.

  Hunter nodded. “I’m going to go get some air.”

  She moved towards him, then stopped as he lifted an eyebrow.

  “It’s still raining,” she finally spoke.

  He felt a wave of disappointment at her response, but shoved it down. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. “Even better,” he answered before ascending the ladder.

  ***

  “Hey, listen man, maybe we can go out hunting again with your dad, sometime.” Sawyer said. Hunter rolled his eyes.

  “Why do you want to be around my dad so much?”

  Sawyer chuckled. “We weren’t with him today.”

  “Yeah, because it’s date night. God forbid they go a few days without alone time.” Hunter pretended to gag.

  Sawyer just laughed again. “Dude, your parents are great. Your dad is the freaking man.”

  Yeah, try living with him, Hunter thought to himself.

  He opened his mouth to make another remark, but a scream pierced the air, silencing him and Sawyer immediately. They looked to each other, and they knew. They began running.

  The woman screamed again, and Hunter recognized the voice. />
  “Please, please don’t hurt him anymore,” she begged. “Don’t-” a loud bang cut her off.

  Hunter pushed himself harder, peering out through the brush to see her there on the ground.

  “Mom…” Hunter muttered. “Mo-” Sawyer’s hand slapped over his mouth, yanking him back.

  “Shhh,” Sawyer hushed him, holding him down.

  Hunter struggled, fought with everything he had, and he was just about to break free when he saw his father, thrown down in front of his mom. He was covered in blood, his left eye swollen shut and at least two visible bullet wounds on his torso. Hunter froze.

  “Tell us where the others are.” The man speaking was a UNR officer, his black and red suit branded with a gold emblem to indicate his authority over the others there. Hunter swallowed.

  “I have a boy. A son. He’s only sixteen years old, now, but he’s a great boy. Motivated. Driven. Stubborn as a mule.” His father laughed. “His name is Hunter Kane.”

  The officer punched him, hard, square in the jaw. “Why the fuck do I care? Tell me where the others are.”

  His dad smiled as he slowly lifted his head to the officer. “Well, I’ll tell you why you should care. You should care because my son Hunter is going to hunt you. He’s going to hunt you, he’s going to find you, and he’s going to gut you.” He smiled even wider. Blood stained his teeth. “And then, after he’s done with you, he’s going to tear down your entire fucking regime.”

  Hunter jerked forward when the officer struck again, but Sawyer held him back.

  “If you won’t talk, then we have no use for you,” muttered the officer. “Men.” He nodded to his men and turned around, walking away as Hunter’s parents were lifted to their knees.

  No! Hunter screamed internally. He railed against Sawyer, but the dread that overtook him had made him weak, and he’d never been quite as strong as his friend. He couldn’t escape his hold.

  “We need to run,” Sawyer whispered. “You don’t want to see this, we need to get out of here.”