Margaret raised one eyebrow. “Ah, so he’s Hunter now, is he?”
“Don’t be coy, Margaret. I figured out who he is, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I want to make sure you honor his contract.”
As she expected, Margaret got a defiant look in her eyes. “Our contract stated that he only got the bonus if he revealed the snoop—“
“Which he did.”
“No, Andie came clean herself,” Margaret said. But Jenna could see the mischievous twinkle in the other woman’s eye. This was why they hadn’t gotten along back in the day. Even way back then Jenna had loved to argue, a trait that Margaret shared. It was clear as day that Margaret was being difficult just to be difficult.
“Margaret,” she said slowly, threateningly. “You know what I’m getting at. Hunter deserves everything you promised him. He’s earned it.”
Margaret studied her in silence for a moment and Jenna did her best not to fidget beneath her stare. “Interesting,” Margaret finally said under her breath.
“What?”
Margaret shook her head and her typically catty smile turned soft, almost…maternal. “I hope you haven’t gotten too attached, my dear. You do know that Hunter is leaving us soon, don’t you?”
Jenna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Of course. No one would expect him to stay here undercover once he’d finished his job. Besides, I’m going back to my real job next week.”
Margaret was shaking her head before she stopped talking. “That’s not what I meant. I meant, he’s moving to Chicago. Just as soon as he gets paid, or at least that’s what he told me.”
Jenna’s expression didn’t change and her tone didn’t falter. “Of course. And that’s why he needs this money so badly. You know Andie would never have come clean if Hunter hadn’t found her first.”
Margaret reached for her scarf and purse. “Fine. My goodness, you’ve become quite the ethical one these days, haven’t you? Tell him he can pick up the check on Monday.”
But Jenna was no longer listening. Margaret had turned her back and was walking away. Just a little longer. She just had to keep it together for another second or two.
As soon as the elevator doors closed behind Margaret, Jenna let out the breath she’d been holding and a sob escaped as well.
Chapter Twelve
Mackenzie was sitting on Jenna’s kitchen counter, her legs swinging as she watched Jenna unpack their delivery food and set it out on plates. Here at Jenna’s they used real plates and silverware, Jenna’s only nod to propriety.
“Are you seriously not going to talk to me about whatever is going on between you and the huntsman?”
Jenna let out a huff. “Stop calling him that. And no. I’m not talking about it.” She also wasn’t thinking about it. Or obsessing over it. Nope. Her brain was officially a Hunter-free zone.
Her heart, on the other hand, had a tendency to plummet into her stomach whenever she was decidedly not thinking about him. She jabbed at the noodles that clung to the side of the container to get it out. The pain in her chest was killing her.
“It might help if you talk about it. Clearly you have feelings—”
Jenna’s response was a growl that sounded like it came from a feral animal and not a well-respected divorce attorney from the Upper West Side. “I don’t care about him. Now let it go.”
“Okay,” Mackenzie drawled. “Then how about you tell me more about this new sister of mine?”
Jenna looked up with a sigh. “She’s not your sister, she’s mine.”
“Which basically makes her my half-sister, too.”
Jenna let out a choked laugh despite herself. “Okay, fine. That makes her your former step-half-sister. Satisfied?”
“Excessively.” Mackenzie swung her legs as she watched Jenna far too closely.
Ugh. She was not in the mood to be psychoanalyzed. She’d wanted company, that was why she’d invited her over in the first place, but only for distraction. Mackenzie hadn’t gotten the message. She was irritatingly fixated on figuring out what was bothering her.
Nothing! Nothing at all. The man she might maybe possibly sort of kinda be falling for was leaving town. Without telling her. No big whoop.
She steeled herself for another round of questions—one frustrating part of having an investigative reporter as a best friend? She never eased up on the questioning. Mack was a one-woman interrogation committee.
She was saved by the buzzer. Handing the containers over to Mackenzie to finish dishing out, she headed to her front door. She should have guessed who it would be but she was still surprised to find Hunter standing on her doorstep, looking ridiculously hot in that rumpled sort of way. His hair stuck out straight in some spots like he’d been running his hands through it too often and he sported a five o’clock shadow.
The ache in her chest turned to a screaming pain at the sight of him. Breathing became unbearably difficult.
“Where did you disappear to?” he asked in lieu of hello.
She shrugged, adopting a calm expression that completely belied the explosion of emotions going on beneath the surface. Joy at seeing him, which was quickly shoved aside as she remembered that she hated this man. Hated him. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he affected her and she wouldn’t let him see that her heart had been torn in two.
She may have been idiotic enough to trust him, but she didn’t have to make it worse by letting him know just how stupid she’d been. Pride was all she had left right now and she planned on keeping a tight hold on it.
“Were you looking for me?” There, her voice was perfectly even.
His eyes narrowed on her and she noted his flared nostrils with a flash of satisfaction. So he was getting annoyed, was he?
Good.
“I called and texted a million times yesterday.” His tone was far from even. “I even came by your apartment a few times. What happened to you?”
She could see concern warring with anger in his eyes. It was probably petty to find such satisfaction in irritating this man, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. He’d hurt her more than she would ever willingly admit, the least she deserved was some satisfaction, no matter how petty.
“Nothing happened to me.” She feigned confusion. “I must have turned my phone off.”
She watched him rub a hand over his face, noting the dark shadows beneath his eyes. Nope, she would not feel guilty. It was the least he deserved.
“I was worried about you,” he said. The truth of his statement was clearly written across his face. Well, whoopdee-doo. Give the man a prize. He worried.
But that hadn’t stopped him from toying with her. Making her think that they had something special, that they had a future. He’d done the unthinkable—the unforgivable. He’d made her care.
With that thought in mind, she let her expression harden. Her smile froze. “You shouldn’t have. Really.”
His brows drew together in concern. “Jenna, what’s going on? Did something happen between you and your father yesterday? Is this about Andrea?”
She sighed as she started closing the door, a not-so-subtle hint that he wasn’t welcome. “That mystery is solved, Hunter. Andie admitted to everything and Margaret has your check ready and waiting, I’m sure. There’s no need for us to work together anymore.”
He stared at her for a few minutes but reached a hand out to keep the door from shutting any further. “What are you doing?”
She kept her gaze cold as ice even as her heart threatened to tear itself out of her chest. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Sure you do. Yesterday when I left you—you were different. We were…”
“We were what?” Some of the anger had seeped into her voice. Well, at least it wasn’t pain. She could accept his confusion, even his anger. But if she saw pity…
“We were getting somewhere,” he said softly. His eyes met hers and she willed him out of her head. Stop trying to read me. Stop trying to get beneath the surface. To think, just y
esterday she’d been convinced that he knew her. That he saw the real Jenna.
“Getting where, exactly?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Now that was the voice that struck fear into the heart of her adversaries.
His eyes narrowed further. “What’s going on with you? What am I missing here?”
Anger welled up so forcefully it took all of her will power to keep from lashing out. We have all the time in the world, he’d said.
The lying jerk. She should have known. She had known. Her whole life had taught her that romantic love didn’t last. Men left. People cheated. These were facts she knew to be true. Yet for some unknown reason she’d let this guy get under her skin and past her defenses.
Never again.
He made a move to step inside her doorway and her hand flew up to keep the door from opening any wider and allowing him in.
“Let’s talk about this.” It was the closest she’d ever come to hearing this man plead.
No, no, no. She hardened her heart against the urge to relent. The masochistic desire to hear his excuses and maybe even find some hope—that had to be squashed at all costs for the sake of self-preservation.
“There’s nothing to talk about. We worked together, we slept together, we’re parting ways.” She forced a shrug. “Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”
“A big deal?” He shook his head, his brow furrowed with confusion. “What am I missing? What happened between yesterday morning and today?”
The desperation in his voice was almost convincing. Almost. She’d been such a sucker. Fine, he wanted to play dirty? Make her feel guilty for calling it off before he did? Two could play at that game. Bring on the hurt.
“What changed…” She allowed disdain to drip from her voice. “Hmmm, let’s see. Maybe I woke up the other morning and realized that I was in an apartment that is one step above a slum.”
His eyes widened but he didn’t respond. He looked stunned.
He hadn’t seen anything yet.
“Or maybe I realized that I was lying next to a washed-up cop who couldn’t keep his wife satisfied.”
His jaw dropped open but he still didn’t speak. A new kind of pain lanced through her, making her throat close up and the back of her eyes sting from holding back tears. But she would not give in to the urge to cry. Not in front of this man and certainly not because of this man.
He didn’t deserve it—he’d lied to her from the start. And not just about his identity. He’d made her think that he was different. That what was between them was special.
She forced herself to meet his gaze one last time. “Thanks for the fun time this week.” She gave him her best ice queen smile. “And have a nice life.”
With that, she slammed the door shut in his face. The moment it shut, she lost the ability to breathe normally. She sucked air into her lungs but it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough oxygen in the air. She was drowning. Dying.
Her breathing came faster and more shallow as her limbs began to tremble. What was happening to her?
“Oh my.” Mackenzie’s voice behind her in the hallway only made it worse.
She stared at her former stepsister with wide, panicky eyes. “What’s happening to me?”
Mack came over and drew her in for a hug so tight it finally stopped the shaking and somehow made breathing a little easier. “Oh sweetie. You’re in love.”
Mack’s voice was so uncharacteristically gentle, she almost laughed. She might have if she wasn’t afraid that laughing would lead to sobbing.
“You’re kidding, right? Did you hear what happened just now?”
“Mmm.” Mackenzie still held her tight. “Pretty brutal words for someone you don’t care about.”
She gripped Mackenzie tight. Right now, she seemed to be the only stable thing in the world. “I thought I did,” she admitted. “Care, I mean. I’d thought that maybe I…oh, I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” Mack’s voice dropped the gentle tone and sounded far more like her typical bossy self. “You thought maybe you loved him. Admit it.”
Jenna pulled back to scowl at her stepsister. Feeling her heart break was one thing but saying it out loud? Too humiliating to bear. She was supposed to be smart. Logical. Rational. She wasn’t supposed to fall in love. It wasn’t part of her plan and even if she’d toyed with the idea of having a relationship every once in a while, it wouldn’t be with someone like him.
He saw too much. He threw her off her game. He’d made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. “I hate him.” The tiny hiccup of a sob that escaped took some of the power out of the words but it still felt good to say them. Even if Mack was looking at her in obvious disbelief.
“You hate him, huh? Well, I guess that’s as close as you’ll get to admitting you love him tonight.”
Jenna opened her mouth to protest but Mack was already walking away, heading back toward the kitchen. “Come on, sis. We’ll eat some pork dumplings, drink too much wine, and eventually I’ll get the truth out of you.”
Jenna followed in silence. Food sounded horrible but wine… wine she could do. As for telling the truth? Even if she had thought that what she’d felt might possibly be love—there was no way she’d admit to it.
Hunter was still in a daze the next morning. He’d alternated between extreme anger and aching pain all night as Jenna’s words played on a loop. No amount of whiskey had diluted their effect…the drinks only added to his Monday morning misery.
He was half hoping that Jenna would be at Knight & Knight that morning, though he had no idea what he would say to her if she was. There was no sign of her in the office she’d been using last week.
Probably for the best. Good riddance. She’d shown her true colors yesterday and proved beyond a doubt that he was an epically terrible judge of character when it came to love. Fine. So be it. He’d go back to his original plan and start fresh in Chicago and forget this past week ever happened.
Yeah, right. The tightness in his chest mocked him. Or maybe that was his gut talking. How many years had he bragged about his keen instincts? He couldn’t count how many times he’d gone with his gut. Well, look where that had gotten him this time.
Clearly he’d lost his killer instincts because he’d been so sure he knew the real Jenna. He’d been so cocky, reveling in the fact that he was one of the rare few who saw the genuine, kind, incredible woman she hid so well behind that ironclad façade.
What an idiot. Turned out that what he saw was what he got when it came to Jenna. It wasn’t a façade, after all. Maybe he’d been projecting… Trying to see something in her that he wanted to be there.
Even now after everything she’d said yesterday, he found himself wanting to rationalize her actions. His stupid, traitorous gut was shouting at him to trust in her. There had to be some explanation.
He firmly shut down that voice. It would be a long time before he trusted those instincts when it came to women. What was that saying? Fool me once….
“Hunter, what a surprise.” Margaret’s voice brought him back to the present. She was coming down the hall from the opposite direction and gestured for him to follow her into her office.
When they entered, he was surprised to find Donald sitting in a chair by the window, looking at home in Margaret’s office. He glanced up when they entered. “Ah, Mr. McCaffrey. Margaret has told me all about you. Thank you for your services. Without your digging, we might never have learned the truth about our daughter.”
Our…daughter? “You mean Jenna? What about her?”
Donald and Margaret exchanged a look. “No, I meant Andrea.” Jenna’s father proceeded to give him a short recap of the meeting from which he’d been dismissed.
“I would have thought Jenna told you about her newfound sister,” Margaret added. “From what I hear, you two have been getting quite close this week.”
From what she heard…what exactly had she heard? Before he could ask, Jenna’s father continued.
“Don’t tel
l me you’re here to plead for Jenna’s payment like she did for you. That would be a bit too O. Henry for my tastes.” He gave Hunter a smile that looked slightly unnatural on such a stern face as Hunter tried to make sense of what he’d just said. “Besides, Margaret and I already agreed that you and Jenna have both earned your wages. Having our daughter in our lives is worth two payments.”
“Jenna pleaded for me?” That was the only think he could say in response. But really, why on earth would she go to bat for him when she was so ready to cut him out of her life?
Margaret rolled her eyes. “She was worried that you wouldn’t get your bonus because Andrea came forward before you brought her little escapades to light.”
Little escapades. That’s what they were? But he couldn’t think about that now. His mind was too busy racing through all the reasons Jenna might confront her ex-stepmother on his behalf if she truly didn’t care.
He couldn’t think of a single reason. What would she have to gain from him getting his paycheck? Unless she did care, after all….
Hope flared up inside him, temporarily banishing the pain. Easy, tiger. He still didn’t have the full story. And just because she’d wanted to ensure he got paid, that didn’t erase all the hurtful things she’d said yesterday.
Margaret went to her desk and started pushing papers aside. “I have your check here somewhere. Frankly, I’m surprised to see you this morning.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise but the look was lost on her as she continued digging through stacks of papers. “Why’s that?”
“I thought you’d be halfway to Chicago by now. Last time we talked you sounded like you couldn’t wait to get out of town to start your new life.” She fished the check out from under a sheaf of papers and held it up in triumph. “There it is!”
A new suspicion had him standing there frozen, temporarily unable to cross the short distance that kept him from his check. Finally, he found the words he was looking for. “Did you tell Jenna that?”
Margaret blinked at him. “Tell her what, dear?”
He struggled to keep the impatience out of his voice. “Did you tell her that I planned to leave town?”
Winning Snow White Page 14
