The Guardian

Llano opened her eyes to the unfamiliar of a heavy body resting partially on her side. Immediately she knew who it was. Hunter.

His earthy heavenly scent surrounded her, enveloping her in a cocoon of warmth.

This was new though.

Usually, by the time she woke up, Hunter would be long out of bed, already started with his day.

With a rush of hot feeling, the memory of last night slammed into her. Oh God. Oh God! OH DEAR GOD!

Hunter Daniels had kissed her. He'd kissed her, open mouthed and everything. Something thick and scorching unfurled in her stomach, a sharp tingle racing up her spine. The taste of him!

Over and over her brain replayed it on a loop. The feeling of his tongue as it had brushed against hers. Llano had to bite her lip to keep from moaning. That was kissing? That was what she'd missed out on all these years since she'd been eighteen and started crushing on Hunter.

Oh God.

She had to get him to do that again.

Suddenly the arms around her jerked, sliding her closer to Hunter's body. He rubbed his stubble cheek on her bare shoulder.

"Fuck, baby..." Hunter moaned sleepily.

A thrill shot up at her. Did he just say that to her? Hunter Daniels, love of her life had just said that to her.

"Morning Hunt," she grinned.

His body froze. For two breathless seconds everything stilled as if time had stopped, then Hunter yanked his arms away from her as if she burned him.

"Allano!" he rasped.

Llano gasped in pain. Allano? When had she become Allano to him? For as long as she'd known him, Hunter had never ever called her by her full name. He always called her his little bear or at the very least by her nickname. Only her mother called her Allano.

Then a hurtful realisation dawned on her.

He'd been asleep. He'd thought she was someone else...one of his beautiful girlfriends, most probably. How could she be so stupid?

That kiss that had meant so much to her meant nothing to him. He'd only done it to shut her up. Maybe he'd even done it because he felt sorry for the twenty three year old cripple who'd never been kissed before. Oh God.

"Jesus, you should have woken me!" Hunter growled, jumping out of bed as if her heart wasn't breaking. Llano said nothing.

She watched silently as he angrily stomped towards the bathroom, then at the last minute stopped, took a deep breath and turned back to her. He knelt by the bed and took her hand.

"I'm sorry about that, Llano." he said quietly. "It shouldn't have happened."

If tears weren't clogging her throat, she would ask which part he was talking about. Their kiss? That he'd mistakenly called her 'baby'?

But she couldn't speak. She only watched as he lightly squeezed her hand and walked away.

**********

Llano sat in front of the full length mirror, staring at herself. She'd been in the same position for the last ten minutes, trying to find fault.

The last two days had been terrible. Ever since the morning she'd woken up in Hunter's arms for the first time, he'd been avoiding her.

Sure, he was in the house like he always was, but it was different. He kept himself constantly busy. He found any excuse not to sit and just been alone with her like they'd done before.

It was tearing her up.

Having Hunt all to herself and then having none of him at all stung. It more than stung, it hurt.

So now she sat in front of the mirror, trying to figure out what he found so repulsive about her.

So far she had come up empty.

Llano wasn't conceited, but she knew she wasn't ugly.

She liked her oval shaped face. She liked her large brown eyes, her button nose and her slightly-too-wide lips. All together she thought they made for a pretty package. She even sometimes liked her unruly shoulder length curls. So it wasn't that she was ugly.

She definitely knew it couldn't be the dark chocolate colour of her skin either. Hunter had dated black girls before.

That only left her with one conclusion.

It was the wheelchair. That was the reason Hunter wasn't attracted to her.

And how could she blame him?

It had taken so many years for her to accept herself. She couldn't expect him to suddenly overlook that even though she had a nice upper body, her legs were spindly, weak and limp. He was used to beautiful, whole women after all.

"What are you doing?"

Llano almost screamed in shock.

She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed Hunter come up behind her. She stared at the image they made in the mirror.

He was tall and broad like a rugby player, his skin so many shades lighter that hers. She focused on his handsome face, his beautiful green eyes and hard set mouth. It wasn't the 'normal' image of perfection, but it was perfect to her nonetheless.

"Do you think I'm pretty, Hunter?" she blurted out.

His eyebrows slammed together in a frown. Llano pinched her numb leg in panic. Where the hell had that come from? She had never asked him anything like that before. Not even when she was younger.

What are you doing! She screamed at herself inside.

"Bear, you know I think you're beautiful."

He did? He did? She didn't know that!

Relief cursed through her in a rush. He thought she was beautiful. And if Hunter said it, she could believe it wholeheartedly. But of course, her loud mouth didn't stop talking.

"Do you think...guys would like me?" she asked hesitantly.

What are you doing!

Tension snapped into him like a rubber band. Llano could feel it. In the mirror, she could see he had that look that said he was counting in his head.

"What do you mean by that?" his voice was calm. Emotion-less.

She looked up at him curiously. That was a strange reaction.

"I mean like, to date?" she said.

"You want to date?"

"Well, yeah," she said.

"You want to date."

Llano said nothing because now she was confused. Hunter sounded like it had never occurred to him that she would ever want to date. For god's sake, she was twenty-three years old. Just because she couldn't get the man of her dreams didn't mean she shouldn't live her life.

Hunter sat heavily on the edge of her bed.

"What brought this on?" he whispered.

Llano shrugged.

She wasn't about to share that it was the realisation he'd never be interested in her. Yes, it had just come out of her mouth involuntarily, but she realised she'd been stewing on it for two days.

"Bear...I can't let you do that."

"What!" she screeched.

Hunter gave her a hard look. "You have no idea what guys are like out there." He sounded serious, to Llano's disbelief. "Guys - especially guys your age - they only want one thing bear, and I won't let you get hurt like that."

She was so angry she couldn't even speak!

Well wasn't this great! Hunter, her great protector - guardian of her heart! He didn't want her, but he wouldn't let anyone else want her either. Guys only want one thing? What a cliché.

He always did this, Llano realised. Everything in her life was only at his approval. Everything was Hunter's decision. He didn't like that her mother parked her in a home for the disabled, so he convinced her to check Llano out and entrust her to him. He didn't like that she'd tried to get out of bed by herself, so he slept in her room to make sure she didn't.

How had she never noticed that before?

"You date all the time," she screamed at him. "And you're not the boss of me!"

"You're my little bear," he said as if that explained everything. "I won't let you get hurt."

Llano clenched her teeth at his stubborn tone. She was not 'little'! She was twenty-three, damn him. And it was her life. He might have taken care of her all these years, but it was still her life to live.

"Hell, you barely know what sex is." Hunter continued calmly. "You'd be devoured in a second out there."

"I know what sex is." Llano snapped.

He shook his head, dark hair flying. "No. You don't."

Llano could never have imagined the words that came out her mouth next. The look on her guardian's face told her he couldn't either. Because in that moment of anger and frustration, Allano James screamed:

"Then teach me Hunt! Teach me what sex is!"