by Chloe Walsh
My heart went wild at the sight of him.
I couldn’t make it stop.
It was hammering in my chest like I had run a marathon.
Excitement at him being here and the anticipation of what he wanted caused my body to tremble.
I wasn’t expecting this – him.
I didn’t know I could feel this way by simply having a man's eyes on me.
One look at Annabelle's face told me she was having the same problem.
Immediately, my hackles rose.
"What are you doing here?" my tone was curt, bordering on rude.
Hunter turned and looked at me. "Hey, friend." He winked and gave me one of those megawatt smiles. "Nice jammies."
I looked down at my pajamas in confusion for the briefest moment before turning beetroot red.
"I'm just a writer in my mid-twenties who spends her days in cat printed pajamas and eating my weight in Oreos."
"For the record, you look damn good for a woman who eats her weight in Oreos…"
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, my gaze landed on the rectangular shaped envelope in his hand.
The sight of the envelope and the thought of what it could potentially be, caused my heart to hammer wildly against my ribcage.
"What's that?" I asked, not daring to get my hopes up.
He didn’t remember.
He couldn’t have.
"What – this?" Hunter asked, still grinning, as he held the envelope out to me. "Is for you."
Blushing furiously, I stepped forward and took the envelope from his hand before quickly tearing it open.
An abnormal swell of emotion rushed through my body as I stared down at the card in my hands, only to end up laughing when I read the message printed inside.
I hope your birthday is as great as your ass.
"Yeah, I thought you'd enjoy that greeting," Hunter chuckled. "Took me fucking hours to find it."
"How did you remember it was today?" I managed to squeeze out, though my throat was so dry it felt like sandpaper. I was pretty sure I had only mentioned my birthday once to Hunter and that was sometime last year.
"Uh, maybe because you told me?" he shot back sarcastically. I watched him snatch a huge bouquet of flowers off the kitchen counter and thrust them towards me. "Happy birthday, HC."
"Wait – it's your birthday?" Annabelle squeaked in surprise as she took Ryder from Hunter and placed him on her hip. "Jordan never said."
Because Jordan never remembered, I thought to myself.
"It doesn’t matter," I replied, taking the flowers from him. "It's not a big birthday or anything. I'm only twenty-seven today." My face burned with heat as I walked over to the sink and placed the bouquet on the draining board. "Do we have a vase?"
"Under the sink." She frowned for a moment before adding, "Well, happy birthday, Hope."
"Thanks," I replied, retrieving the vase to place my flowers in. When I was done, I swung around to face Hunter. "You know, I can't believe you remembered." I smiled and, for the first time in what felt like forever, it was genuine.
He smiled widely back at me and I bit back a sigh. Someone really needed to frame that man's smile and hang it somewhere. It was fucking beautiful.
"You better go upstairs and get your ass dressed," he said then. "If I don’t deliver you to your parent's house by three, your father will have my balls."
"Oh god," I groaned, covering my face with my hands. "What do they have planned this year?"
"I'm not entirely sure. But I overheard something about pink balloons and party hats."
"Fuck."
My response made Hunter laugh and Annabelle say, "Go on upstairs and get ready for your party, Hope. I'll keep Lucky company."
Yeah, I bet she would.
I wanted to stay right here in the kitchen and not leave her alone with Hunter, or better still, take him upstairs with me.
Knowing I couldn’t do either, I nodded dejectedly and headed upstairs to get showered and dressed.
"Oh, I almost forgot," I heard Hunter say when I was halfway up the staircase. "Today's a big day for you, too, right?"
"Me?" Annabelle asked, tone laced with confusion.
"Yeah.," he replied "Today was supposed to be your fake wedding day, right?"
I could only imagine the expression on Annabelle's face in that moment. The gasp that tore from her throat was enough to know she was taken aback.
"Anyways, happy fake wedding day," he added in a carefree tone of voice.
I couldn’t hold in the snicker that escaped me as I hurried up the rest of the steps.
That man was the best friend ever!
When I came back downstairs twenty minutes later, it was with a head full of wet and tangled hair.
Call me crazy, but I didn’t want to waste a copious amount of precious time trying to wrangle my curls into submission – not at the expense of leaving Hunter alone with the blonde goddess that was my roommate.
To my immense relief, when I walked back into the kitchen, Hunter was alone at the table.
"Your roommate told me to let you know that she had to leave for the baby's doctor's appointment and to have a great birthday." He frowned before adding, "I think I hurt her feelings with the whole fake wedding comment."
I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "Nah." I wasn’t about to feel sorry for Annabelle over anything. "Serves her right for going along with that lie."
Hunter didn’t say anything to that.
His focus was entirely on me.
"Christ," he muttered gruffly as he got to his feet, eyes still locked on me. "Are you trying to cause a riot, HC?" he purred, giving my body a slow appraisal. "You look gorgeous."
My face flamed with embarrassment as I forced out a nervous chuckle. I looked down at the red wrap dress I had on and grimaced.
My boobs were spilling out of the low-cut fabric, but I felt comfortable in this dress. It had an awesome way of hiding my less than perfect assets while emphasizing my better ones.
"Well," I mused, "if my parents insist on taking a family photo, like they do every fricking year, then at least I'll look half way decent in this."
Lucky
"If my parents insist on taking a family photo, like they do every fricking year, then at least I'll look half way decent in this."
"Are you fucking with me?" I asked, scratching the back of my head in utter confusion.
The woman was batshit crazy. She was standing in front of me, trying to talk down her looks, when I'd never in my thirty-one years on this earth seen anything like her.
Seriously, was she messing with me right now?
"Fucking with you?" Hope squeaked out with a confused expression.
"Jesus," I muttered with a shake of my head.
How did she not see what I saw?
How did she not know she was the most beautiful fucking woman I had ever had to misfortune to lay eyes on?
I loved the color red on her.
When she was wearing red, she looked like a blazing fire, resembling exactly what she represented to my heart.
Because the woman set me on fire.
"You are the most beautiful woman I've seen in real life," I told her. Hope was gorgeous and she deserved to know it. No, scratch that; she deserved to feel it. "No exceptions."
My comment only caused her cheeks to grow even redder than before.
I didn’t get it.
If I was a woman and looked like Hope, I'd be naked and in front of a mirror all-day long.
"Anyways," she squeezed out, clearly uncomfortable. "We should get going."
I thought about pushing the subject, but decided against it.
Hope wasn’t the kind of woman who took compliments well.
I didn’t like that, either, but it was something that would take time changing.
And time was something I had plenty of.
Chapter Fifty-Two
HOPE
To my utter chagrin, when we got to my parent's house, I
realized Hunter had been right about the party hats and cake.
My entire family was there, Noah, Teagan, and Derek included, and I was showered with hugs, kisses and all the attention that came with having a birthday.
It was disgustingly embarrassing and I loved every minute of it.
It was a nice feeling. To be surrounded by my family and friends. Even Cam showed up for cake – minus his pregnant girlfriend, of course.
I decided to leave shortly after eight, but not before Dad and Derek had told their annual tale of how they delivered me on the side of the road in what Derek liked to reference as my father's Maternity Merc.
Watching my father playacting around with Derek was amusing to say the least.
Those two were like two sides of the same coin – completely inseparable.
It didn’t seem to matter what life threw at them; they stuck together.
Unrelated through blood, yet brothers of choice – of life.
An unbroken bond of forged brotherhood that seemed to be relentlessly resistant.
Watching them together made me think of Jordan.
And thinking of Jordan made me sad…
"Do you have plans for the rest of the evening?" Mom asked, trailing after me into the hallway.
"No," I admitted honestly as I shrugged on my jacket. I didn’t have any plans and I didn’t see any point in lying about it. My life was dull. Mom knew this. "I'll probably just order some takeout and read a book or something."
"Oh." Mom seemed nervous as she fingered one of her curls. "No plans with Jordan?"
I bit back the urge to cry at the mention of his name. "No," I said instead. "He's, uh, working a double shift at the hospital." Shrugging, I added, "He won't be home until the morning."
Mom frowned in concern. "He's working a double shift again?"
As always, I mentally cried. "Um, yeah. He works a lot."
"You two are okay though, right?" she asked, looking up at me with big, glassy, gray eyes. "You're doing okay?"
I knew what she was asking, and I knew the answer she needed to hear in order to sleep tonight. "Yeah, Mom," I lied, forcing a smile. "We're doing just fine." She wouldn’t sleep if she thought I was having problems, and she barely slept as it stood. She didn’t need to take on my demons. She had enough of her own. "We'll celebrate my birthday tomorrow," I added brightly. Another lie, but it seemed to appease her.
"That's good," she replied, smiling. "I love you both so much." Pressing a small hand to her chest, she added, "I just want you to be happy."
"I know, Mom," I managed to squeeze out, smiling so hard I thought my face might crack. "And we are happy."
She was quiet then, looking up at me like a lost puppy.
"Mom," I whispered. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine, honey," she soothed. "Just fine."
The fear in her gray eyes assured me she was anything but fine.
"What's wrong?" I came straight out and asked.
"Nothing," she assured me brightly – too brightly.
"I'm not stupid," I told her. "I can see something's bothering you." I was about to ask if it was my grandfather, but remembered I wasn’t supposed to know. "I'm here for you," I said instead. "Always."
"I know that," Mom whispered, pulling me into a tight hug. "Lord, I love you so much, Hope Sarah Carter."
"I love you, too, Mom," I whispered, squeezing her back.
"Are you leaving?" a familiar voice called out, breaking the moment I was having with my mother.
"Yeah," I replied, turning my attention to Hunter who had joined us in the hallway. "I called a cab about thirty minutes ago."
"Cancel it," he ordered, stepping aside for my mother who was rushing back to the kitchen – no doubt to break up the growing argument between Colt and Cam I could hear happening. "I'll take you back."
"You don’t have to do that," I mumbled. "It's a long drive."
I noticed how he never said home. It was always there, or back. He never once referred to Jordan's house as being my home.
"No," Hunter argued, reaching around me for his jacket. "I drove you here. I'll drive you back.”
I thought about arguing with him, but decided against it when I realized I wanted him to drive me home.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm always sure," he shot back with a smile.
My eyes trailed after him as he walked to the front door and slung it open.
"Besides," he added with an easy smile. "There's something I want to show you on the way."
"What?"
"I bought an apartment down on tenth and I want you to see it."
My mouth fell open in surprise. "You bought an apartment?" Racing after his retreating figure, I followed him outside. "But you live with Noah and Teagan."
"No…" he drawled as he opened the passenger door of his truck and gestured me in. "I stay with Noah and Teagan– when they need me." I climbed inside and Hunter closed the door behind me before walking around to the driver's side. "I live at my own place," he added, once seated in the driver's seat. "Buckle up."
"Hunter."
"Hope."
"You live with Noah and Teagan," I argued as I fastened my seatbelt, not taking my eyes off his face. "You've been living there for months!" What the hell was he talking about?
"I'm thirty-one, Hope," Hunter mused as he cranked the engine and pulled away from the sideway. "What makes you think I don’t have my own place?"
"Because you don’t!" I shot back, flustered.
He threw his head back and laughed at my response. "You're so fucking cute."
"Okay, okay," I conceded, throwing my hands up in resignation. "Show me your house."
"It's an apartment," he corrected with a wink. "And I will. But first, we need to go shopping."
"Shopping?" I gaped at him. "For what?"
"We’re going to buy a cake," he simply replied.
"A cake?" Christ, he was so weird. "Can I ask why?"
"Cakes are for celebrations," Hunter said this like he couldn’t understand why I had asked him the question.
"Yeah, okay. And we need a cake because?" Frowning, I folded my arms across my chest and added, "if you say we need cake because it's my birthday, then we don’t. I'm stuffed from the chocolate one Derek made earlier."
"No, we don’t need cake for your birthday. It's for something else."
"What?"
"It's a surprise," he teased.
"You're going to tell me, right?" I asked.
"I might." He shot back with a grin. "If you help me find a cake."
"Fine," I replied, trying to smother the goofy smile that was spreading across my face. "I'll help you find a cake."
By the time we got to the convenience store, it was late in the evening and all the fresh cakes were sold out, so we ended up buying the ingredients to make one at his place instead.
"You sure you know how to make a cake?" Hunter asked as we rode in the elevator of his building to the fourteenth floor.
The elevator doors jerked open and I followed him down the pristine hallway to 29B.
"Of course," I shot back dryly. "I was taught by the best."
"Who – your mom?" he asked as he twiddled his key in the door and pushed it open.
"Try Derek," I snorted, stepping inside, only to freeze on the spot as my eyes took in my surroundings. "Holy shit."
I was kind of stumped.
I was thoroughly stumped, actually.
"This place is…" Breaking into a stride, I hurried into the enormous open plan kitchen/living room and spun around in awe. "Amazing."
The floor to ceiling window on the opposite side of the room caught my attention and I rushed over to it. "Wow," I gushed, staring out onto the night lights of Boulder. "I think I can see my father's hotel from here."
"You can," Hunter agreed. "It's a decent view."
"Decent?" I shook my head. It was more than decent. It was epic.
Nosily and without permission, I wandered through his apartm
ent, opening every door and cupboard as I went.
This was a great apartment. Two bedrooms, and a balcony. A massive, fully fitted kitchen. Super cute walk in closet in the master bedroom and a bathtub to die for in the master ensuite.
God, Hunter was so neat.
There wasn’t a sock out of place. I'd heard about this from Teagan. She said that Noah was exactly the same.
Apparently, it had something to do with being caged for a half a decade.
Well, Hunter had been caged for twice that amount.
Thinking about that made my heart hurt.
Being here, in his apartment, alone with him, was about the last thing in the world I should have been doing, but like everything I did lately, I chose wrong.
I made a bad decision.
Selfishly, I went with the darkness inside of me – the part of me that craved his company more than my own sanity.
Chapter Fifty-Three
HOPE
I wasn’t even a drinker, I hardly ever touched a drop, but twice in the last month, I'd found myself consuming my annual quota.
And Hunter?
He didn’t judge me or make comments about my poor decision skills.
Quite the opposite; he seemed to enjoy watching me let my hair down.
I guess that's why I felt so comfortable around him.
He touched something deep inside of me, something or some part of me that no one else could reach. A part of me that I was beginning to learn was reserved entirely for him.
He had this way of making me laugh. Of making me feel like everything was going to be okay, when it so clearly wasn’t.
When we were together, I felt more like me and less like me all rolled into one.
My feelings were a contradiction and I was beginning to feel deeply conflicted.
I was drunk, too drunk to be alone with this man, but that didn’t stop me from accepting another drink from him. And it didn’t stop me from enjoying the way he made me feel.
Hunter's eyes were glassy, his smile loose and carefree, as he enthralled me in conversation. My body language mirrored his as we both blocked out the rest of the world and concentrated entirely on each other.
