“I wish you loved me,” Jesse said quietly. “I know you care about me but…”
Hunter couldn’t stand to hear the doubt in her voice. He kissed her with a desperate hunger. He thought back feverishly over the past almost two months. He had shown her every way he could that he loved her but the only time he had said the words had been when she was unconscious.
“Oh, my Jesse,” Hunter breathed out as he pulled back to look down at her. “Don’t you know that I love you with everything inside me? You are my Amate.” He tenderly cupped her face between his huge palms. “I am Hunter. I belong to Jesse as she belongs to me. Forever will I tie my life to hers. I will care for, protect and give my seed only to her. She is my Amate. She is my life. You are my life, Jesse. I thought you knew that.”
Jesse shook her head. “I need the words too, I guess. Oh Hunter, I love you so much.”
“Forever, my Jesse. Forever, my Amate,” Hunter said, kissing her deeply.
“What were you saying you were wanting to do before the girls got home?” Jesse whispered in a husky voice as she wound her hands around his neck.
“I believe it started with ravishing,” he chuckled as his hands began sliding up under her tunic. “Followed by loving every inch of your body.”
“I think I like this courting,” Jesse replied before she groaned as he began ravishing her. “Oh yes, I definitely love this part of it.”
..*
Jesse grinned at Hunter who was watching every move she made later that night as she set the table for dinner. Jordan and Taylor were talking about their day. She set the fresh bread that the girls had picked up from the market bakery down and sat down.
“Thank God!” Taylor muttered. “I was wondering if you were ever going to sit down.”
“Why?” Jesse laughed as she scooped some stew into her bowl.
Taylor rolled her eyes as she broke some of the bread up into her bowl. “If I had to watch Hunter look at your ass and growl one more time I swear I’d see if Jordan wanted to give you guys some more privacy!”
“Taylor!” Jesse said shocked, glancing back and forth between her sisters and Hunter. “He was not… we… I…”
“It’s okay, Jesse,” Jordan said quietly. “We know you guys are like newlyweds. We’ve been trying to stay out of your hair and give you guys some time alone.”
Jesse set her spoon down and reached over to touch Jordan’s hand. She glanced at Hunter in concern. She didn’t want her sisters to ever think they were in the way.
“Jordan, neither you nor Taylor will ever be in our hair. This is your home. If I offend you because of the way I… stare at your sister, I apologize,” Hunter said quietly.
“Oh, you don’t offend us,” Taylor replied. “Jordan and I are cool with it. I’m just glad we aren’t on the same level as you at night. It was bad enough when we were on the Star Raider.”
“What do you mean when we were on the… You could hear us?” Jesse asked turning a bright red.
“It wasn’t very often,” Jordan interrupted. “I mean, it was but we just turned up the sound on the videos we were watching.”
“Oh lord,” Jesse said, burying her face in her hands. “This is so embarrassing.”
Jordan and Taylor laughed and shook their heads. “It really isn’t that bad. I mean, well, we’re cool, right Taylor?” Jordan finished awkwardly.
“Yeah, zip my lips. No more comments on the sounds, like growls and roars or shouts and screams or anything else,” Taylor agreed. “Boy, this stew is really good, Jesse.”
Hunter’s low laugh grew louder and louder until everyone at the table was laughing. He watched as Jesse and her sisters wiped tears from the corner of their eyes from laughing so hard. They teased him about the different types of growls and purrs he made and he teased them about their girly screams when he caught them coming out of the bathroom in the mornings with their hair sticking up everywhere and cream on their faces.
Warmth flooded him as he listened to the girls talk about some of the different products they had discovered in town and wanted to show Jesse. They talked about their day at Charma’s daughter’s house. This is what having a family was about. It was about the embarrassing moments and the laughter and the sharing. It was about not being alone anymore.
Chapter 20
They had been on Rathon for a month and life was beginning to settle down. Saber and Dagger had gone off on another mission. Hunter had received permission to stay behind for an additional few weeks to make sure that Jesse and her sisters were settled. He had three more months to complete his service before he could stay full time with them. Jesse understood that but it did not make it any easier to push back the unease and fear.