I nervously laid down next to Hunter and he slipped his arm under the pillow to support my head, his other wrapping tightly around my waist after he covered us with the blanket. He turned the movie on and I cuddled further into him, running a hand down his arm to lace our fingers together.

"I like this," I whispered.

"Me too. I got worried it was too far but…"

"We can cuddle. We're going on dates and stuff. I think that's part of it. I like having you close."

The movie started and Hunter's entire attention shifted from that to rubbing my arm with his fingers, pressing his lips to the back of my head. I closed my eyes slowly and focused on his warmth, the smell of the buttered rum coming from him, the gentle way his calloused hands caressed my skin.

"Are you asleep?" He whispered softly in my ear, a cascade of goosebumps flooding the side of my neck.

"No. Just relaxed."

"Good. I'm glad I can relax ya like this. You're always so tense."

"I know. I don't mean to be. I still panic as if I'm going to have to leave."

"Don't. I don't want ya to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere. It's leftover paranoia. That's all. Can I roll over?"

"Ya won't be able to see the movie."

"Haven't been watching it. Plus, the weight of my left leg is killing my thigh."

"Oh shit. Roll then."

Rolling over to face him, I pressed my forehead to his chest, wrapping my arm around his side. He copied me, his chin on the top of my head as he pulled me closer.

We lay in our gentle embrace for a long time, Hunter softly rubbing my lower back and my eyes closed once again, feeling safe for the first time since I was a child.

"What do we need to get done tomorrow?" I whispered.

"I'll show ya what to do for the chickens and I have to take the cows out. Other than that, we have most of the day free."

"Okay. Can we have a picnic then? When I'm done with the chickens, I'll make us a nice late lunch."

"Mmm. I love that idea," he kissed my forehead softly, "I'm so fuckin' happy you're feelin' better. I've been so worried."

"I'm good now. Almost entirely healed. Just have to remember the compression bandage if I'm gonna be on my feet."

"I'll remind ya," he yawned softly and I looked up to find that Hunter had closed his eyes.

"Falling asleep on me?" I laughed softly.

"You're so relaxin' for me. Warm. I can't help it."

"Time to end date night me thinks."

"I don’t wanna let you go," he pouted, squeezing me tightly.

"We can't sleep like this dork and I need to put a heating pad on my leg. You'll see me first thing in the morning."

"I hate that you're bein' realistic instead of acceptin' that I wanna hold ya."

"I like the way you hold me. It feels fantastic. But we can cuddle every night."

"Hm… fine," he ran his hand up my back until he cradled my cheek and pressed another soft kiss to my forehead, lingering longer than he normally did, “take Bear with ya though. I don’t want you gettin’ lonely.”

“I don’t think he’ll let me sleep alone,” I laughed softly, “he’s constantly on my bed.”

Slowly, I unwrapped myself from Hunter, immediately missing his warmth, and I sighed softly before laying back down.

“Gray?”

“I’m sleeping here.”

“Ya have to take care of your leg silly,” he laughed, “don’t make me be the responsible one.”

“Hunter,” I whined softly.

“Grayson,” he mocked me and rubbed the nape of my neck gently, “I’m just lookin’ out for ya. I was bein’ selfish, but ya have to take care of yourself. Get the heatin’ pad out of your bathroom, take Bear and go lay down in bed. I’ll see ya in a few hours.”

“Bleh. You’re mean.”

“You’re bein’ a grump. Do I need to carry you to bed?”

“Yes.”

“Really?” he looked down at me surprised.

“Yes.”

“Fine,” he snorted and climbed over the back of the couch instead of over me. Coming around, he wrapped me in the blanket and picked me up, carrying me down the hallway, Bear right on his heels, “I do this every night.”

“I noticed,” I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I don’t mind,” he set me on my bed carefully and went into my bathroom, returning with the heating pad. He plugged it in and set it on the bed next to me, “I’m gonna head to bed now. Not appropriate of me to watch ya take your pants off. Goodnight,” he pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek, “thank you for goin’ on a date with me.”

“I’d go on a date with you every night,” I laughed softly, rubbing his arm, “thank you. It was one of the best nights of my life. Sleep well okay?”

“You too,” he ran his fingers through my hair before leaving, looking at me over his shoulder a few times, the same gentle smile gracing his features as he closed my bedroom door.

Bear jumped up on the foot of my bed as I pulled my pants down and unwrapped the compression bandage. A small whimper escaped me as the pressure lessened, but there was no more pain. After fixing my pillows, I propped myself up and carefully laid the heating pad on my thigh.

I was flipping through channels when my phone went off on the nightstand. Grabbing it, I snorted when I realized it was Hunter texting me from his bedroom.

-H: I’m bored now.

-G: Go to bed.

-H: But I miss you.

-G: We spent all day together silly. But I miss you too.

-H: What are you doing?

-G: Heating pad. Trying to watch something on TV. I can’t sleep if I’ve had alcohol.

-H: Can I come in your room?

-G: NO. I’m not wearing pants. Plus you get weird about being in here for more than a few minutes.

-H: True. Fine.

-G: Hunter… are you pouting?

-H: No.

-H: Yes.

-G: You’ll see me in 6 hours. Seriously, go to bed.

-H: Fine. You looked really nice tonight.

-G: So did you. We can cuddle tomorrow when the work is done. Sleep well.

-H: Dream of me.

-G: I usually do.

Smiling, I set my phone back down and cuddled my pillow. Hunter was far more romantic than I had expected, his normal nervousness gone if he wasn’t looking me in the eyes, and it was sweet to get these texts from him, even if we were one wall apart from each other.

The heating pad turned off and I set it on the nightstand, slowly closing my eyes, a gentle smile on my face as I thought over the day that I had with Hunter.

My alarm started to go off and I groaned, grabbing my phone to shut it off. Bear huffed softly next to me and I reached down to pat him. He gently licked my hand and jumped off the bed stretching and I slowly got up, grabbing my compression bandage and wrapping it tightly around my leg. Once I was in the clothes I needed to work the farm, I made my way to the living room where I found Hunter in the same spot he was every morning.

"Good morning," I called softly, walking over to wrap my arms around his waist from behind as he made breakfast.

"How'd ya sleep?" Hunter laughed gently.

"Better than I have in a while. You helped me relax before I went to bed."

"I'm glad."

"Hey? Are you okay?"

"Not really. Bad dreams. That's all. I didn't sleep well. I'll be fine."

"You can talk to me ya know?"

“I know,” he nodded, turning the stove off and spinning around to kiss my forehead, “just had a bad memory. Findin’ you again. Covered in blood but I hadn’t made it in time to save ya. It scared me. So I’ve been up for 2 hours now.”

“You should have woken me up,” I gently rubbed his jawline, “I’m happy to miss out on sleep if it brings you comfort.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Are ya hungry?”

“Not particularly but I’ll eat. I need the energy.”

I helped Hunter carry our breakfast to the table and we ate in peaceful silence, Hunter occasionally reaching over to squeeze my hand.

"Hunter?" I whispered and he looked over at me, "Are you checking to make sure I'm actually here with you?"

"A little," he blushed, looking down at his plate.

Laughing softly, I climbed from my seat and slowly went over, putting myself between Hunter and the table. He looked at me confused before gasping softly when I straddled him, my arms around his neck.

"Grayson? What is… what are you…" Hunter swallowed thickly, his hands gripping the table.

"Proving that I'm here," I whispered, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm healthy now. Almost everything is good. So stop worrying. I won't suddenly disappear on you."

“I… have no idea what to do with my hands,” he whispered.

“You can put them on my back. My legs. It’s okay. I just wanted to hold you for a second and this is kind of the only way that I can. You’re so tall,” laughing, I laid my head on his shoulder, my arms moving to wrap around his chest.

I could feel Hunter hesitantly place his hands on my sides before he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, pulling me closer.

“Gray?” Hunter whispered again.

“Yes.”

“You’re really here…”

“Mhm.”

“You’re not goin’ to leave?”

“Well I don’t plan to,” I wrapped my fingers into the bottom of his hair, twirling the strands slowly, “but you never know what can happen.”

“I won’t ever ask ya to leave.”

“I know. You remind me all the time.”

We sat in silence for a little while, Hunter softly rubbing my back as he hummed gently before I let out a quiet hum of annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” he laughed.

“We have to get to work.”

“I know. You’re good at distractin’ me. But I promise to take ya on that picnic as soon as the work is done.”

“Alright,” leaning up, I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, smiling at how red his face grew, “you really have to learn to not be so nervous.”

“I can’t promise that,” clearing his throat, Hunter lifted me off of him gently and took my hand, pulling me out of the back door, the dogs bouncing around behind us.

I finished gathering eggs, changing out the food and water for the chickens after letting them out of their coop, and smiled, watching as they pecked the ground around me. One of the smaller hens came up to me and I sat down, curiosity peaking at the way she looked at me. Slowly, she climbed into my lap, making small chirps and I laid my hand on her back.

“Oh, I see Peep found you,” Hunter called, walking over to the coop as he wiped his hands on his pants.

“Peep?”

“Mhm. She’s the smallest hen I got. She makes peeping noises instead of full-on clucks. It’s cute. So I named her Peep. She likes to cuddle but uh… she’s laid eggs on me before so…”

“Ew!” I laughed, “Don’t you dare, Peep,” I stared down at the hen and she tilted her head to the side before gently pecking my chest, “fair enough.”

“Are ya done?”

“Well other than being held hostage by a tiny adorable hen, yes. Are you?”

“Nah I still gotta put the cows out. I just saw ya sit and wanted to make sure ya didn’t need help up.”

“Hunter,” I sighed.

“You’re fine. I know I know,” he bent down and kissed my forehead, “alright I’ll get back to work.”

I watched as he ran back to the barn and grabbed Ridge, heading out toward the cow pasture.

He’s so sweet.

Gently putting Peep onto the ground, I hopped up and headed back into the house, taking a quick shower before changing into more appropriate clothing for a picnic. As soon as I was back in the kitchen, I started to make food I knew that Hunter would enjoy. He was surprisingly more interested in vegetables with a lot of herbs over meats or pasta so I made vegetable sandwiches with goat cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, shredded carrots, and cucumber. Once those were done, I dug through the fridge and got everything I needed to make a fresh tomato and corn pasta salad. Finally, I made a watermelon lemonade and placed everything into a cloth tote bag I found under the sink.

That should be good.

Plenty of food to give him energy for the rest of the day.

“It smells good in here,” Hunter called from the backdoor, “let me change and we’ll go out.”

“Where are we even going? You have more work today don’t you?”

“Maybe a little,” he nodded, heading down the hallway, “but I can pay attention to ya for a few hours,” winking, he went into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Fanning my cheeks, I slipped my shoes on and took a seat on the couch, Bear running over to lay his head in my lap. I started to pet him absentmindedly when Hunter came back and gently poked the tip of my nose.

“Hi,” I giggled, “ready to go?”

“Absolutely.”

Hunter led me from the house hand in hand and we slowly followed a path to the right of the farm, passing the horse stables and along the fence line, trees on either side of us. We rarely said anything, both of us simply enjoying each other's presence as I watched small birds and squirrels bounce around the trees.

We reached a clearing a bit later and Hunter laid a blanket out that he had in his backpack. We set everything up before settling into our lunch, Hunter smiling when he took the first bite of his sandwich.

“Ya noticed?” he whispered.

“That you fill every meal with veggies but only eat the smallest amount of meat if any? Yeah,” I laughed softly.

“I eat enough meat to keep my size, but… I don’t know. It’s always tasted weird.”

“I don’t judge. I’m pretty sure you’re so big because of the work you do.”

“Probably,” he laughed, “but my parents get me fresh meat from the butcher and I always take whatever they get. That’s where all our meat comes from. I never buy it from the store.”

“Smart,” smiling, I finished my food before shifting to lay my head in his lap.

Hunter swallowed thickly before cleaning his hands and gently rubbing my cheek with his thumb. He slowly twisted his hand into my hair and I closed my eyes, relaxing fully.

“That feels nice,” I whispered, rubbing his leg with my fingers.

“I’m… I’m glad,” he bent down and kissed my cheek softly, lingering for a moment, “Gray?” he muttered against my skin.

“Hm?” turning my head, I gasped softly when he pressed his lips to mine, his hand in my hair trembling.

His lips are soft.

Oh wow…

“H… Hunter?” I whispered as he pulled away.

“Sorry,” he whispered back, not meeting my gaze.

Rolling carefully onto my stomach I got onto my knees and cradled his face, kissing him again, just as soft and gentle as he had kissed me. Hunter once again gasped before pushing me gently onto my back, his lips never leaving mine as he settled on top of me, using his arms to hold himself up so as to not crush me under his weight. I carefully wrapped my arms around his neck, smiling and he pulled back, studying me slowly before kissing me again, a bit harder than before, his nerves still present in the way his arms shook and I rubbed his biceps gently, doing my best to calm him.

“I… I couldn’t resist I…” he whispered when he finally stopped kissing me.

“I didn’t push you away,” I smiled, “it’s okay. You can kiss me whenever you want.”

“But that goes… that’s a lot farther than I wanted to take things until…”

“Hunter,” I laughed softly, “oh you’re so hopelessly old-fashioned and I adore it about you. I’m sure you know how the world works outside of the farm. People have intimate encounters just for fun. Kiss strangers because they can. All of that. But we aren’t strangers. We’re dating. You’re supposed to want to kiss me. It means you’re attracted to me.”

“And you’ve never… I mean… I know you haven’t dated anyone but…”

“That was my first kiss,” I softly touched his bottom lip, “I know it was yours.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “we’re a little old to be havin’ our first kisses.”

“We’re in our twenties. Not old. Now kiss me again.”

“Always.”

He's so sweet.

I adore you, Hunter.