Mister Tonight

by Kendall Ryan

  “Do we know anyone who lives here?” I gazed out the window, having a major case of déjà vu.

  Rebecca shook her head. “Not that I know of. The GPS says we’re really close.”

  She eased into a spot at the curb. As we climbed from the car, I looked around again, bothered that I couldn’t figure out when I’d been here before. We walked down the block and turned the corner, and then I saw it.

  “It’s not that house right there, is it?” I asked, a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.

  “Yeah, it is.” Rebecca glanced at the address on her GPS. “Why?”

  My chest constricted, and my stomach dropped to my knees. I was having trouble breathing. Of course, this was just my luck. I wanted to turn and run, but my legs kept moving forward, my mind too stunned to do anything but follow Rebecca.

  “Kate? What’s wrong?” She gave me a strange look as we stopped in front of the house.

  “Look, maybe we should just leave—” But before I could even finish my sentence, the front door opened.

  It was Hunter.

  Rebecca’s mouth dropped open, and my heart stopped. I thought I might pass out.

  This place, the apartment I’d put a deposit on, belonged to Hunter. The man I had incredible birthday sex with—well, sort of, right until his daughter walked in on us—was the landlord, and I was silently freaking out.

  The three of us stood gaping at each other for what felt like an eternity, Rebecca looking from me to Hunter and back again. Thankfully, she regained her composure quickly.

  “Hi,” she said, extending a hand to Hunter. “I’m Rebecca. I’m just here to help Kate with the apartment.”

  Even as they shook hands, I could feel him watching me but refused to meet his eyes. How was this happening? I was way too hungover to deal with this. The property management company had only referred to him as the owner; I hadn’t thought to ask for a name. So much for the good karma I’d thought I had.

  “I’m Hunter,” he told Rebecca, releasing her hand.

  I took the opportunity to look him over. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. His features looked even sharper in the sunlight, his jawline highlighted by his heart-melting smile. He had a sexy five o’clock shadow, and his dark hair was messy, like he’d pushed his hands through it.

  But it was his eyes that got me. Deep and mocha-colored, and so incredibly expressive. If he’d been bothered by the events of the night before, he was great at hiding it. In fact, he looked like he’d just walked out of a photo shoot.

  I tried not to think about how I looked in my laundry-day black leggings and bulky sweatshirt. I’d been too hungover to shower, so I probably still smelled like alcohol. Thank God I’d thought to swipe on some mascara before I left the house.

  “So,” he said, turning back to look at me, his mouth tilted in the slightest smile. “Did you want to see the apartment?”

  Still speechless, I could only stare at him. Were we just going to pretend this wasn’t a totally insane coincidence?

  The worst part was that despite being absolutely mortified, I found my heart was doing a little happy dance just being around him. It couldn’t forget what had happened before I was forced to flee his house in shame, the part where I’d been having the most mind-blowing sex of my life.

  A memory flashed through my mind of his hands around my waist, pulling me against him, then his fingers gently pushing into my hair as he brought my mouth to his.

  I sucked in a breath. For God’s sake. I gave my head a little shake, forcing myself to return to the moment. I still hadn’t answered Hunter’s question, but luckily Rebecca had it more together than I did.

  “Of course we want to see the apartment. It seems great,” she said, smiling like a beauty pageant contestant. “Lead the way.”

  As he walked ahead of us, Rebecca gave me a look and mouthed get it together. I knew I was being totally awkward, but could she blame me? I was in a state of shock.

  He led us over to the garage and unlocked a side door.

  “This will be your private entrance,” he said, heading up the stairs. “It’s totally separate from the house, so you won’t have to worry about us bothering you.”

  He smiled at me and I flashed an uncertain smile back, still not sold. The entrance might be separate, but we’d be living only a few yards away from each other, which meant seeing each other on a daily basis.

  When we got to the top of the stairs, I almost forgot how much I didn’t want to be there. The apartment was beautiful. It was small but well laid out and incredibly clean. There were dark wood floors, and huge windows that drenched the space in sunlight. A fully equipped kitchen had a little nook in front of the bay window that would be a perfect spot for my desk.

  “I renovated the space myself,” he said, running his hand along the kitchen’s granite countertop.

  “Really?” Rebecca asked. “That’s amazing. Do you work in construction?”

  “No.” He shrugged. “I’m just good with my hands, I guess.”

  I could have told her that. Hunter could do a lot more with those hands than install wood floors.

  Even though I wanted to hate it and rush out, my brain cataloged all the unique details—the crystal knobs on the cabinets, the built-in shelves in the living room. He’d really taken the time to make the apartment one of a kind. I walked over to the window and let out a little gasp of excitement when I saw a small pond in the backyard. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I really wanted to live here. Fuck.

  “I’ll let you two look around,” he said, excusing himself.

  I couldn’t look at him yet, so I mumbled something and nodded. How could I live here if I couldn’t even look at my landlord, let alone have a conversation?

  Once he was safely down the stairs, I grabbed Rebecca’s arm. “Get me out of here,” I begged.

  “Come on, you know this is an amazing apartment,” she said, pulling her arm away. “I wish I could live here. Look at that pond; it’s adorable. And the kitchen is perfect for you to cook in. Have you seen this little wine cabinet he put in?” She walked over to it, motioning for me to follow.

  I nodded, not budging. “I know. It’s beautiful and perfect. But can we also talk about how his daughter saw my naked body bouncing on top of her very naked dad last night?”

  “Okay, yes,” Rebecca said seriously, nodding. “That’s an issue. But memories fade. And you’re never going to find another place this nice that’s this affordable.”

  I didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. If I wanted to live here, I’d need to forget everything that had happened between Hunter and me.

  “Okay, I’ll think about it.” I sighed, then looked around again, already mentally planning how I’d arrange my furniture. “It’s going to be really hard to pass up.”

  “Just talk to Hunter about it,” Rebecca said as we headed down the stairs. “Maybe his daughter didn’t even remember last night.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. I seriously doubted the little girl would forget something so traumatic, especially after seeing the way she’d reacted. She probably didn’t like the idea of some new woman in the picture, taking her dad away from her. And I got that, but it didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. The last thing I needed was to get into some kind of turf war with a kid.

  Hunter was waiting for us when we stepped back outside.

  “I’ll meet you at the car,” Rebecca said quickly, waving good-bye to Hunter and heading back down the sidewalk.

  Once Hunter and I were alone, I finally met his gaze, my heart frantically beating out of my chest. God, he was sexy. There was something about his eyes that made it impossible to look away. I swallowed, unable to shake the weird mix of embarrassment and desire.

  Jesus, Kate. I mentally slapped myself. Keep your pants on.

  “So,” I said, breaking the awkward silence.

  “Last night was . . .”

  “Yeah.” I smiled awkwardly.

  There wa
s a beat of silence, and then we both started laughing.

  “Listen, we’re both adults,” he said, holding up his hands. “If you like the place, it’s yours. We can forget last night ever happened.”

  “I really love it,” I admitted. “You did an amazing job on the renovations.”

  “Thank you. Look, I need a renter and you need an apartment. There’s no reason this has to be weird,” he said, smiling.

  I hesitated. “Does your daughter hate me?”

  He pushed his hands through his hair and laughed, but I could tell the humor in the situation was forced. I was sure there was nothing funny about him having to explain what had happened last night when he put her back to bed.

  “No, she doesn’t hate you. She’s just not used to seeing women around.”

  I had a hard time believing Hunter had any trouble getting women into his bed. But in the interest of not being homeless, I decided to believe him.

  “All right.” I grinned, extending my hand. “Let’s do it.”

  When he took my hand in his, my stomach flipped. A zing of electricity passed between us, almost like our bodies were remembering what we’d been doing not even twelve hours before.

  I knew I wasn’t only agreeing to move in because it was a perfect apartment; there was something about Hunter that made it impossible to say no to him.

  I let go of his hand and followed him inside to fill out the paperwork, hoping I hadn’t just made a huge mistake.

  Chapter Four

  Hunter

  A few days after Kate confirmed that she wanted the apartment, I was sitting in the living room with Maddie, reading the paper while she worked on assembling the latest Lego set I’d bought her. As a civil engineer, I felt it was important to buy my daughter just as many building projects as I did baby dolls.

  I glanced over at Maddie and couldn’t help but smile at the scrunched-up, determined look on her face. She was quite the problem-solver, my little girl, and I loved to challenge her mind with different educational toys and games. And teaching her that just because some boy called her pretty didn’t mean she had to share her cupcake, and lots of other important life lessons. Although the conversation the other night was one I’d have preferred wait for another twenty years.

  “How’s it coming, sweetie?” I asked, setting the paper down in my lap.

  “Good,” she chirped without looking up, jamming one blue Lego on top of another with a flourish. Glancing from the structure in front of her to the pile of Legos to her right, she carefully picked out a red piece and continued her slow process of deciding where to put it.

  I chuckled and was about to resume reading the complaints about our city’s bus stops when I heard a low rumble and a loud screeching sound in front of the house. Placing the paper on our coffee table, I stood and walked over to the window to see what was going on.

  A midsized moving van was parking at the curb outside our house. And sure enough, once the van was fully parked, Kate stepped out of the driver’s side door, turning to make sure she’d parked far enough over.

  Gotta love a woman who likes to do it herself.

  My heart rate kicked up at the sight of her, causing me to quickly look away and shake my head. I wasn’t normally the kind of man who got aroused just by staring at women on the street. But seeing Kate again, after the things we’d shared on her birthday . . . well, let’s just say I had a hard time keeping my thoughts clean.

  Raking my fingers roughly through my hair, I turned to get Maddie’s attention. “It looks like our new neighbor is here with all her things. Should we go out to meet her and help her carry some stuff?”

  “Our new neighbor is a girl?” Maddie asked, her voice high and excited.

  “Yes, our new neighbor is a very nice lady. I think you’ll like her a lot,” I said calmly.

  And I pray to God you won’t recognize her in broad daylight.

  Maddie dropped the Legos she was holding onto the floor, gleefully running to the closet to put her shoes on.

  As I walked over to the doorway and slipped into some sneakers, I started to panic over the slim chance that Maddie would recognize Kate and what her reaction would be. What were the chances that Maddie even saw Kate’s face? Maddie hadn’t talked about the incident in a couple of days, and part of me hoped there was a good chance that she’d put it out of her mind for good. Or at least until she was older and in therapy.

  We walked out the front door to find Kate opening the back of the van, revealing stacks and stacks of cardboard boxes lined up in front of a precarious pile of furniture. At first glance, it looked like a lot of stuff for one person, but what did I know? I was sure if Maddie and I were to move anytime soon, we’d need a van at least twice the size of Kate’s.

  By the time Maddie and I got to the curb, Kate had already begun her attempt to lift the boxes out of the van, standing up on tiptoe to reach the highest box. Her fingers just barely brushed the bottom, and no matter how far she stretched her arms, it was clear that she just wasn’t able to reach the box.

  I stood there watching for a second longer than I should have, amused by her struggle and finding it endearing, when Kate happened to turn and see us standing there watching her.

  Shit. Now I look like an asshole. “Hey, neighbor, need a hand?”

  I walked over to help her, easily lifting the box off the stack and stepping back out of her way. A wave of annoyance washed over Kate’s face, and even though I’d only known her a few days, I was pretty sure there was a lot of determination and independence to her.

  “How long were you just going to stand there and watch me struggle?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips and cocking her head to the side.

  I knew we’d discussed being adults and forgetting about the other night, but damn if she wasn’t sexy, even when she was a little mad.

  “Well, I didn’t want to question your capabilities and what sort of contortions you could twist your body into to reach that box.” I smirked, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Kate smiled and ran her fingers through her hair, and my mind flashed back to the way she pulled her dress over her body, her breasts bouncing softly with the motion.

  Jesus, Hunter, focus.

  “What is she doing here? Did she forget her underpants?”

  Maddie’s voice snapped me out of my trance, bringing me right back down to reality. Fuck.

  I gave Kate an apologetic look and turned to shake my head at Maddie. “No, sweetie, she didn’t forget anything. This is Kate. She’s our new neighbor. She’s going to live in the apartment above the garage.”

  Maddie furrowed her brow, crossing her arms with a humph. “But she was hurting you, Daddy.”

  I could tell by the look on her face she was close to a breakdown, and I knew I had to do something—and fast. A four-year-old having a meltdown on your first day moving into a new apartment? Didn’t exactly bode well for a new tenant.

  “Remember, we talked about this. Daddy and Kate were having a special adult snuggle-time. It’s just not for kids, that’s why Kate had to leave.”

  Having to re-explain all that in front of Kate was embarrassing. I quickly glanced over to give her another apologetic look. Thankfully, even though she looked just as mortified as I did, she smiled weakly at me before turning to talk to Maddie.

  “Your daddy’s right. It’s something you’ll learn about when you’re older,” Kate said calmly, leaning down and nodding her head.

  Maddie made a sour face at both of us, shaking her head with another humph. “But I wanna know now,” she whined.

  It was time to pull out the big guns.

  “Right now isn’t the time to talk about special adult snuggles. Right now, we need a big girl to help us move some of Kate’s stuff into her apartment. If you can’t be a big girl, then I guess you’ll just have to go inside and sit by yourself,” I said in my calmest voice.

  Maddie’s face fell, and she then quickly perked back up. “Nope, I’m a big girl. I can help!” Wi
th a determined look on her face, she marched over to the back of the van and stuck her arms out to carry something.

  Crisis averted. For the moment.

  The three of us spent the next half hour walking boxes from the van up to Kate’s apartment, being sure to give Maddie the lightest objects that would still make her feel involved.

  Kate didn’t have that much stuff after all—it just looked like a lot piled into the back of the van. But once it was all sitting in the living room of the apartment I’d spent the past couple years remodeling and making just right? I liked the idea of someone filling the space with life. There were potted plants drinking of the sun in the front windows, and kitchen gadgets on the counters.

  Once everything was unloaded from the van, I set Maddie up in her room with a book for her forty-five minutes of quiet time. She’d started outgrowing naps a few months ago, but I’d found that giving her some downtime, especially after an eventful day, kept her from having meltdowns in the late afternoon.

  I sat on the edge of Maddie’s bed and smoothed her hair over her ear. “I’ll be right back, okay, Mads? I just need to go give Kate the keys to her apartment.” And do my best not to think about her naked.

  Maddie furrowed her brow. “Are you going to have another special adult snuggle-time?”

  I sighed. You can’t get anything past this kid. “No, sweetie. We won’t do that again. I’m just going to talk to her. I’ll be right back.”

  I placed a kiss on Maddie’s forehead and left her room before she could ask any more questions about that damn adult snuggle-time. I had a feeling that impulsive turn of phrase was going to haunt me until she graduated from college.

  Grabbing the keys to Kate’s apartment from a bowl in the kitchen, I quickly checked my reflection in the hallway mirror before walking over. We might not ever get busy again, but I couldn’t deny my attraction to Kate. I smoothed the messy hair I’d yet to style today and walked through the door, ready to finally talk to my new neighbor without my daughter’s eagle-eyed observation.