by Vi Keeland
Of course, unlike me, he looked just as good this morning as he had last night. I took a moment to appreciate that. His coppery brown hair was disheveled, but somehow even sexier than it had been slicked back last night. Thick, dark lashes framed closed, almond-shaped eyes—eyes that I recalled were a startling light blue.
His gentle snoring continued at a consistent pace, so I took a deep breath and stepped closer. I needed to see what was under the sheet. His chest was bare, but was he wearing pants under there?
One more step.
I stopped again to stare at his face before making my final move. He was still out cold. Or, so I thought…
Reaching out, I picked up the edge of the sheet and lifted ever so gently. Then I leaned forward to peer underneath.
Holy shit.
He was wearing boxer briefs.
But…he had a morning erection. A huge bulge protruded from his tight underwear. There’s no way that thing had been inside of me. I’d have to be at least a little sore.
Feeling relieved (with an odd sense of regret and longing after seeing that behemoth of an appendage), I set the sheet back down and turned to walk away. A large hand gripped my wrist.
“You’d remember it, sweetheart. Trust me.” Hunter’s gravelly voice carried a hint of amusement.
“I…I was looking for something.”
One eyebrow perked. “Oh yeah? What were you looking for?”
“My shoe.”
His lip twitched. “What color is it?”
I scrambled to remember what shoes I’d even brought on this trip. “Black with a silver bar across the front.”
Hunter’s eyes dropped to my feet. Fuck.
He looked back up at me. “Found it for you.”
I trained my eyes down at my shoes to avoid his intense stare. “Oh. Silly me. I overslept, and I’m out of sorts. I need to run or I’m going to miss my flight.” I went to pull away, but his grip on my wrist tightened.
“You’re not going anywhere before you do two things.”
“Two things?”
“Leave your number and kiss me goodbye.”
“I…I…you haven’t brushed your teeth.”
Hunter chuckled. It felt like he could see through all of my bullshit. Reaching over to the nightstand, he grabbed his phone and held it out to me before getting up. “Toothpaste in the bathroom still?”
“The little one the hotel sets out.”
“I’ll brush. You type.”
While he was in the bathroom, I mulled over not typing anything into his phone. There was no way I was keeping in touch with a man living three-thousand miles away. A guy like him was the last thing I needed. But then I thought better of just telling him I’d put my number in. He seemed to have figured me out pretty quick. So instead, I typed my name and number, only I changed the last two digits.
And it was a good thing I did, because when Hunter returned from his bathroom trip, the first thing he did was check that I’d entered something. Luckily, he didn’t attempt to call me. Satisfied, he tossed his phone on the bed and nodded.
“Thank you. Now kiss me.”
I could see he wasn’t going to let me leave without this. So, sacrificing to make my plane, I pushed up on my toes and delivered a quick peck to his lips.
Mmm.... Nice and soft.
(And minty fresh.)
“Well…it was nice to meet you.” I turned to dart out the door, but Hunter grabbed my wrist yet again.
“I said kiss me.”
“I did!”
“Kiss me the way you kissed me last night.”
Before I could even attempt to let that sink in, Hunter yanked me against him. One of his large hands cupped the back of my neck, and he squeezed firmly to direct my head where he wanted it. Then, his lips crashed down on mine.
The shock of feeling his mouth against mine quickly dissipated as he licked my lips, encouraging me to open for him. His tongue dipped inside, and he groaned as he tilted my head and deepened the kiss. The vibration of the sound traveled between us and sent a hum through my body. Soft and gentle went out the window after that. He grabbed a fistful of my ass, and I lifted my body up onto his, wrapping my legs around his waist. As he backed us to the wall, a sense of familiarity overcame me. I couldn’t remember the specifics of our previous kiss, but I now knew deep inside what it had felt like.
My cell dropped from my hand so my fingers could tangle in his hair. Yanking on the soft strands, I couldn’t get enough. A moan from deep inside my chest moved through our connected mouths. Hunter pushed harder, his thick erection pressing into the center of my open legs. He rocked as he kissed me, causing a friction through two layers of clothing that was leading me to a place I didn’t think it was possible to go fully dressed.
It felt like he wanted to swallow me whole, and in that moment, I would have let him. My breasts were crushed to his chest, and a heartbeat raged out of control—only I wasn’t sure if it was my own or his. Jesus, where does a man learn to kiss like this?
I was breathless and stunned when our kiss broke. Hunter sucked on my bottom lip, tugging it before releasing my mouth.
His voice was strained. “Change your flight. We’re not done here.”
I swallowed, trying to gain some composure. “I can’t.” My voice was barely a whisper. It was all I could muster.
“Can’t or don’t want to?”
“Can’t. Izzy comes home today.”
Hunter pulled his head back, giving me some room to breathe, some room to speak. “Izzy?”
“My stepdaughter who hates my guts.”
Chapter 4
Hunter
12 years ago
Damn. I’m going to the wrong school.
It was the hottest day I could remember. The car radio said it was already a hundred and four out, but it was the unusual humidity in Los Angeles that made it unbearable. Since I was a few hours early to meet my brother and didn’t know my way around his campus, I took a seat on a brick staircase across from a fountain in a wide-open field, hoping to catch a breeze. That breeze didn’t show, but something a fuck of a lot better did. The most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen walked up to the circular fountain a hundred feet away, slipped off her shoes, stepped up on the ledge, and jumped into the thing. She dove under and came up for air, pushing her soaked blond hair off her face.
People passing by glanced over at her, but she didn’t seem to notice or care one bit. She floated on her back in what was probably only two feet of water. The smile on her face was contagious, and I found myself mesmerized watching her. It had been almost a month since my mother died, and feeling that happy and free seemed like a lifetime ago.
After a few minutes, the girl sat up and looked in my direction. “Are you gonna join me, or are you just gonna watch from over there like a creeper?”
I looked around to make sure she was talking to me. No one else was in the vicinity. So I got up and walked over to the fountain.
“Is this some sort of a sorority-initiation thing?”
She smiled. “Will it make you feel better if I say yes? Because you were looking at me like I was a weirdo from back there.”
“I wasn’t looking at you like you were a weirdo.”
“It looked that way to me.”
I kicked off my shoes and climbed into the fountain. “I was looking at you wondering if you always smile this way or if cooling off just really made you happy.”
She tilted her head to the side, studying me. “What’s not to be happy about? We’re alive, aren’t we?”
The cool water felt damn good. We floated around in silence for a while, smiling each time one of us caught the other looking.
“I’m Summer,” she said.
“Hunter.”
“Do you like the heat?”
“Not like this.”
“What’s your favorite season, Hunter?”
I smirked. “Summer.”
She paddled over to the edge of the fountain and leaned her elbows
on the brick, watching the never-ending spray of water in the center. I followed suit, positioning myself next to her and trying not to stare down at her nipples protruding through her wet T-shirt. It wasn’t an easy task.
Summer turned to look at me. “Do you go to school here?”
“No. My brother does. Came for the weekend for a visit. How about you? You go to school here or just come to cool off in the fountain?”
Her smile was as blinding as the sun. “I go here. Art major.”
She pushed off the ledge and swam to the other side of the fountain. I watched, intrigued by the randomness of her actions. Once she settled again, she cupped both sides of her mouth to yell to me, even though the fountain wasn’t that big. “Truth or dare?”
This girl was bizarre. And gorgeous. Who knew bizarrely gorgeous could be such a damn sexy combination.
“Truth,” I yelled back.
Her face scrunched in the cutest fucking way while she tapped her finger to her chin. When she figured out what she was going to ask, her face lit up so bright the only thing missing was a bubble over her head with a light bulb. I chuckled to myself.
“What’s the one thing you’re most afraid of?” she yelled.
The normal answer would have been death, considering I’d recently lost my mother. Or maybe I should’ve given a generic answer like spiders, or heights. But instead, I did what always got me into trouble—answering with unfiltered honesty.
“You breaking my heart.”
Chapter 5
Natalia
My cell phone rang as I was about to descend the stairs to catch a train back downtown. Seeing it was Anna, I backed up to the sidewalk so I wouldn’t lose service. I wasn’t in a hurry to get back home.
“Hey, Mrs. Weiner.”
She sighed. “Will you ever be able to say my new last name without cracking up?”
“I wouldn’t count on it. I still can’t believe you gave up Anna B. Goodwin to become Anna B. a Weiner.”
“I’m ignoring your curmudgeonly commentary because I’m in wedded bliss.”
“Curmudgeonly commentary? Your new husband’s vernacular is rubbing off on you.”
She laughed. “I’m on the way to the airport for our flight to Aruba, but wanted to run something by you.”
“What’s up?”
“Hunter is bugging my husband for your phone number. He says you gave it to him, but must have entered it wrong. Did you enter it wrong?”
“Nope. I entered the right number…to reach Eden.”
“Eden? Don’t tell me you’re still giving out phone-sex numbers at twenty-eight years old.”
“Of course not.”
“Then who is Eden?”
“She’s an escort who happens to have a very similar number to mine.”
Anna sighed. “So I take it you don’t want Hunter to have your phone number?”
“He’s a playboy who lives three-thousand miles away. What’s the point?”
“I guess. Although he’s actually a great guy. I thought you guys had a lot of chemistry.”
“Playing with chemistry leads to explosions.”
“Fine. Derek won’t give him your number—even though he’s been bugging him for days.” She exhaled. “How’s Izzy doing? Did she enjoy her week with her grandmother?”
“She said she’s never going back. I hate to admit it, but it made me feel a little better that she despises her, too.”
“You two needed this break.”
My stepdaughter, Isabella, has been living with me for two years now. Well, technically, I guess you could say she’s lived with me for three, since Garrett and I had full custody after his ex-wife died. Izzy lost her mother to cancer in seventh grade. Then, mid-eighth grade—October 31st, to be exact—she lost a second parent. Only this time, it wasn’t to illness. In the middle of the Halloween party we were hosting, my husband was arrested for running a Ponzi scheme at his prestigious investment firm. He was wearing a pirate costume at the time—irony at its finest.
“Yeah, we needed the break. She’s been somewhat civil to me since I got home. But that’ll change. Sunday is visiting day. Her crankiness usually ratchets up for a week after visiting Garrett. And this month, I wrote him a letter asking him to tell her she was getting pulled from private school after this year because I can’t afford it anymore. So she should be especially unhappy.”
Our monthly pilgrimages upstate were always difficult. Since New York state didn’t allow unaccompanied minors to visit inmates, I had to see my ex-husband every month, just so his daughter who hates me could visit with her dear old dad.
“You’re going to heaven for taking her to visit him once a month.”
“I hope not. It’ll be lonely without you there.”
She laughed. “I gotta run. We’re pulling up to the terminal.”
“Have a great trip! Don’t get pregnant. I’m not ready to be an aunt yet.”
“Says the woman who has custody of a fifteen year old.”
“Umm…you just made my point.”
“Love you. I’ll call you when I’m back.”
“Love you, too, Anna B. a Weiner.”
***
“Mrs. Lockwood?” the prison guard manning the desk called without looking up from his clipboard.
“You ready?” I turned to Izzy.
She pulled her earbuds from her ears and went to throw her stuff in a locker. While I always left any banned items in the car, Izzy couldn’t be without her earbuds for the short wait to see her father. God forbid I try to strike up a conversation with her. She kept the things in her ears twenty-four-seven, like most kids her age.
I walked to the sergeant at the desk. It was a guy I’d never seen before. “I’m Natalia Rossi, visiting for Garrett Lockwood. You called for Mrs. Lockwood, but my name is Rossi now.”
He flipped through some papers in his clipboard. “List of approved visitors says Natalia Lockwood, wife. Are you not her?”
“Yes. Well, no. I was when I first started visiting. But we’re divorced now, and I go by Natalia Rossi—like the license I showed you and the name I signed in with.”
“You should tell the inmate to update the list of names.”
I did, every time I came. But the asshole refused to write my name without his last name.
“Isn’t there a form I can fill out myself?”
“Only the inmate can request visitor approval.”
Great. Whatever.
“I would have kept Lockwood anyway,” Izzy said from behind me. I hadn’t realized she’d finished up with the locker. “It’s a better last name than Rossi.”
I bit my tongue to keep from responding that even Weiner would be a better last name than that of a lying thief. Izzy and I were led to a room where a few other visitors waited, and eventually they brought us all to the family visiting room. Garrett was already seated at a table. He stood when he saw us and flashed the dazzling smile that had swindled hundreds of investors out of millions and me out of my pants and dignity.
His eyes were trained on me as we walked, even though his daughter was practically running to greet him. She wrapped her arms around him for the brief embrace allowed at the beginning and end of a visit. In that moment, the vulnerable girl she really was shined through. Izzy did her best to act tough, with an I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-anything attitude, but inside, a big part of her was still a little girl who’d lost her mother and her father. She idolized Garrett, even with all that he’d done.
After she released him, he attempted to physically greet me. I took a step back out of his reach and nodded. “Hello, Garrett.”
He frowned. “Hello, Nat. You look beautiful.”
“I’m going to grab a drink. Do you want something, Izzy?”
She didn’t even turn around to respond. “No.”
The rules required a minor to be accompanied by a guardian. It didn’t require me to sit at the same table as my ex-husband. I was here for his daughter, whether she appreciated what it took
for me to come each month or not. I walked to the vending machine and bought a bottle of water before taking a seat at a small, vacant table on the other side of the room.
During the hour, I glanced over at Garrett and Izzy a few times to check on her. I hated that once my eyes lingered on his face for a minute. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. Even after two years in prison, sallowed skin, and dark circles under his eyes, he was still an incredibly beautiful man. But I’d learned the hard way that a beautiful face is nothing when you have an ugly heart.
When the guard called the end of visiting hours, I walked back to Izzy. I could have waited at the door, but I never wanted her to have to walk away alone.
Garrett used every hello and goodbye as an opportunity to manipulate me. “Can I have a word alone with Nat, Izzy? We need to talk about some finances.”
I waited until his daughter was out of earshot. “Did you tell her?”
“The timing wasn’t right.”
My eyes widened. “You get one hour a month. You don’t have the luxury of timing.”
His eyes dropped to my collarbone. “Remember when we were on our honeymoon and you—”
I interrupted him. “We’re not walking down memory lane. Come back to reality. You’re about to walk back to your eight-by-eight. You need to tell your daughter that you drained her tuition fund. I can’t afford twenty-five thousand dollars for her private school next year.”
“I’m working on something.”
I scowled. “From prison? Don’t make me tell her. She hates me enough as it is. You need to own up to this.”
He reached out for me. I put my hand up. “Don’t. You couldn’t do this one thing for me.”
“I miss you, Nat.” Did he even fucking hear me?
I threw my hands up in the air. “This is pointless.”
Then I turned around and walked my stepdaughter out of the state prison, vowing never to come back...like I did every damn time.
Chapter 6
Natalia
