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He looked to my mother before standing. “Please excuse me for a minute, Bella.”
I heard Izzy say, “She probably wants to kiss him again,” right before the dining room broke out in laughter.
My hands went to my hips as Hunter shut the kitchen door behind him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He feigned innocence. “Having dinner. Getting to know your family.”
“You just told them we kiss sometimes!”
He leaned against the kitchen island and folded his arms across his chest. “We do.”
“First of all, it’s inappropriate. Izzy is not even sixteen yet. And it’s none of my family’s business. And secondly, it was only twice, and the first time I was drunk, so that doesn’t count.”
“It was five times, and I’m counting the time you were drunk. By the way, that time, you kissed me.”
“Five? It wasn’t five times. And I seriously doubt I initiated the kiss. You’re just making that up because you know I don’t remember it well.”
“Five times.” He held up a finger. “One—the night of the wedding.” A second finger came up. “After the wedding—the next morning against the hotel door.” A third finger came up. “At my house—started at the window, ended on the bed.” The fourth finger rose. “In the elevator, when I said goodnight to you like the gentleman I’m not.”
Okay, so maybe I had forgotten about the house. Damn. That was a good kiss. “Fine,” I snapped. “But that’s four and not five.”
The devilish look on Hunter’s face made my knees weak. He closed the gap between us faster than I could come to my senses.
“Kiss me,” he said gruffly.
He didn’t wait for a response before crushing his lips to mine. God, can this man kiss. It was slow, confident, and had the perfect amount of aggressiveness that made me want to claw at his skin.
When the kiss broke, Hunter leaned his forehead against mine. “That’s five, sweet pea.”
He must have sucked the brain out of my head along with my tongue, because I smiled back at him like an idiot instead of telling him to shove it up his ass. His damn, sexy ass, I might add.
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Me either. But get used to it. I took an assignment out here for a while.”
“How long are you in town?”
He looked into my eyes. “Two months. And don’t bother to try to hide anymore. Your mother gave me your number a week ago.”
***
Seven at one blow.
I remember reading the Brothers’ Grimm Fairy Tale where the giant is impressed because he thinks the tailor slayed seven men with one blow. The tailor had nothing on Hunter Delucia, who’d charmed seven Rossi women and one disgruntled teenager over one dinner. Okay, so maybe it was eight Rossis, including me, but who’s counting anyway?
After dinner, both of my sisters and my mother peered out the front windows to watch Hunter play basketball with Izzy in the driveway. I sat in a chair across the room, attempting to pretend I had no interest in looking.
“Jesus Christ, every time he does a jump shot, his shirt rides up. I hope he kicks Izzy’s ass,” Alegra said.
“I haven’t seen a V like that in…well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like that in person.” Nicola swooned.
Mom was Team Hunter all the way. “He’s a handsome man. But I invited him to dinner without even seeing him. So that should tell you something. He’s just as attractive inside as out.”
I rubbed my temples. “How long did you talk to him?”
“Long enough to know he’s had one serious girlfriend, his mother died when he was seventeen, he had one brother who died a few years ago, and his hobbies are scuba diving, surfing, and rock climbing.”
My jaw hung open. “He had a brother who died? Rock
