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The thought of his big hands touching my underwear is as thrilling as it is embarrassing, and I blush. I dress quickly, brush my hair out, and finally I open the door and step out. Immediately, I know I was right.
Hunter is cooking breakfast in the kitchen. There’s no cook, and no “help” that I can see. My stomach grumbles at the idea of breakfast. Specially, I’m craving blueberry pancakes, but I’m sure that whatever he’s making is going to be as amazing as that dinner.
He spots me and smiles, and he nods towards the kitchen table. I sit to find a steaming mug of coffee already waiting for me. Less than a minute later, Hunter walks over and sets a plate in front of me. My mouth hangs open as he sits across from me.
“Hope you like blueberries in your pancakes.”
I look up at him in disbelief. I stare at his gorgeous face, trying to see if I can tell if he really is a psychic. He looks back at me, and I blush. Quickly, I tuck into my breakfast.
After breakfast, Hunter disappears into his office for a long while for some business calls. But I find plenty to do in the enormous library full of books, and in his incredible garden. Eventually, he comes out and gives me another tour of the paradise outside.
I have a twinge of regret that this tour doesn’t end in him kissing me again. But, it’s still so nice to be out here with him. He shows me how he layers the soil over an under-layer on the roof of the building to optimize growth, and I marvel at his knowledge. Another rich guy with this garden would have simply written a check to make it happen. Hunter’s done it with his bare hands.
“I’m a country boy at heart,” he says when I ask how he learned all of this. “If I had it my way, I’d be in the woods up in the mountains. Just me and nature.”
I want to ask why a man with his means has anything at allnothis way. But his face seems to harden when he mentions the mountains and being away from the city. So, I don’t push it. But my curiosity stays.
Hunter’s planting some pepper plants in the garden area of his open space. I ask to help, and he seems to open up even more. He shows me how to dig the soil and how to leave space between the fledgling plants. I can tell he likes showing me these things, just like I’m thrilled that he’s showing me. But even though he looks happy, there’s a tightness to his smile.
There’s a tightens to all of him, actually. It’s as if he’s wearing a disguise, or like he’s not quite allowing himself to be himself. I want to ask him what’s wrong, or if it’s me. But whenever I work up the courage to, I lose it, and we move on to something else.
Morning turns to afternoon, and afternoon starts to creep into night. I’m readingTarzan, curled up in a chair outside, when Hunter stops in front of me. I look up and smile, and he grins at the book in my hands.
“One of my favorites,” he grunts.
“Really?”
“Really,” he smiles. He sighs. “Listen, Mia, I’m sorry, but I have to disappear for a few hours.”
“Oh, where are you going?” He frowns, and I worry my lip. “Sorry, that was super nosey.”
He smiles. “No, not at all. I’m not going anywhere, but I’ll be in my office for a few hours for a virtual board meeting. I’ll leave some dinner in the fridge for you.”
I grin. “I can fend for myself you know. I mean, thank you, but you don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do,” he growls. “Anyways, that’s where I’ll be, and I won’t really be very available. If you need anything, I’ve left Roger’s number on the counter inside.”
I smile warmly. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
He nods. His eyes linger on me for another minute, and his gaze sends an electric feeling across my skin. “I’ll see you later, then, Mia,” he growls. He turns, and then he’s gone. I go back to my book, but all of a sudden perhaps an hour later, I startle with a gasp.
I pull out my phone, and I jump out of my chair. Shit! It’s Wednesday, and I have a shift at Cafe Roma in like twenty minutes that I completely forgot about. I throw the book down and run to my room. I dress quickly in the jeans and black button up shirt that make up the loose barista uniform. I run to Hunter’s office door, but I freeze outside the room. My hand hovers over the doorknob, but I stop myself.
Wait, no. He’s on an important video call with his board, he said. I chew on my lip, think for a minute, and then retreat back to the kitchen area. I find a pen and notepad, and I leave him a quick note on the counter before I dart out the door.
I take the elevator down, slip out the front door of the building, and head to work. Cafe Roma is barely two blocks away. But I put in some headphones and turn up some music on my phone. It feels bizarre to be doing something “normal” like walking to work after being up there in the clouds in a paradise with Hunter. It’s been a day, but it feels like I’ve been away from the world lost up there with him for weeks, or even longer.
A smile spreads across my face, and I feel a spring in my step. I’m still aware that this entire situation is craziness, but I don’t care. I know even though he’s nice, and handsome, and rich, and has been nothing but kind to me, that I know nothing about Hunter. But somehow, something inside of me inherently knows he’s not a psycho or anything like that.
I whistle along to my music as I see Cafe Roma on the corner up ahead. The song in my ears crescendos, and my smiles grows. But then suddenly, hands grab me. Before I can scream, one clamps down roughly across my mouth. My pulse hammers, and my body twists in fear as I’m yanked into the shadows of an alley.
I scream into the hand covering my mouth. But a rough grunt and an arm tightening around my neck silence me in terror.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” a guy’s voice rasps in my ear. “Think you can just be a fucking cunt to me like that and there won’t be consequences?”
Fear sinks deep into me like a blade. The voice in my ear belongs to Brent. He spins me and shoves me against a brick wall. His hand stays across my mouth, but I scream into it anyways when he pulls out a knife.
“You little fucking tease,” he spits. “I don’t know who that fucker was that sucker punched me before, but I don’t see him now, do you?” he growls.
