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“Can I help you?” One of the young employees walks up to the take-out counter, ready to take our order.
“Yes please. Can I please get the dinner portion of the shrimp tortellini, an extra order of breadsticks and a cannoli?”
She writes down my order before looking at Hunter. “And you?” I don’t miss the way her eyes roam over Hunter's body with real interest. I don’t like the bout of jealousy that hits because I’ve always prided myself on not being that kind of girl. Even when Jared cheated on me, I really don’t think jealousy was something I felt. I was just pissed. Besides, it’s not like I have any sort of hold over Hunter. He’s not mine, so I have zero right to even care about who checks him out. I’m so far stuck in my own thoughts that I completely miss what he orders for dinner.
“And can I get three cannoli and a slice of the chocolate cake?” I almost want to pout at the fact that I didn’t notice they had the chocolate cake today. I’m tempted to chime in and order myself a piece too, but I’m already going to look like enough of a pig when I eat the entire extra order of breadsticks I got.
The girl gives us our total, but before I even have a chance to reach into my bag, Hunter pulls out his wallet and pays. “You didn’t have to do that.” I say quietly once the girl leaves to go give our order to the kitchen. Hunter just lifts a single shoulder like it’s no big deal. I’m sure people look at me from the outside and see the way my brother has helped me and takes care of me, and think that that’s just who I am, but I’m not. I prefer taking care of and providing for myself. But I’m also not an idiot. Alec has the means to help me in a way that makes my life easier and allows me to really make a difference in the world, so I’m going to take it. That doesn’t mean that I’m the type of person to take hand-outs from everyone who offers. Of course, Hunter technically didn’t even offer, he justdid.
I try to distract myself from thinking too much about how this almost feels like a date by mentally going over my cases in my head. I don’t usually overload myself, but I like to stay busy. So, between my pro bono work and paid work, I almost always have something to do. I’d like to think that Lars will be smart and convince his client to take the deal I offered, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he still has it in his head that he’ll be able to bully me into giving in. This is the first time I’ve gone against Lars, but not the first time I’ve gone against his firm. They don’t have a single female lead associate, they’re a realgood ol’ boys club.Every single time I’ve faced them since I’ve moved to North Carolina, they believe they’ll be able to intimidate and bully me, but it never works. They’ve yet to beat me.
“Ready?” Hunter’s gruff voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I only now notice that he’s holding a bag full of our takeout containers. I didn’t even notice it being brought out.
“Oh, yeah. Let’s go.”
His brows drop a little bit. “You okay?”
I just nod and plaster on a bright smile. “Definitely! Let’s go, I’m starving!”
The walk to my apartment is quick and silent. Every time I open my mouth to try and say something, I hurry and shut it because I have no idea what to say. Hunter isn’t like the people I usually surround myself with. I highly doubt he’d be interested in talking about cases and different law studies I’ve read about recently. But every time I’m around him, my mind goes blank and I have no idea what else to talk about.
“Anya?” My head snaps to the entrance of my building, and Zach waiting with a bright smile. It must take him a moment to spot Hunter, but when he does, his smile immediately drops. I can understand that reaction considering Hunter can be pretty intimidating. Especially to a timid guy like Zach.
“Hey Zach, are you just getting in?”
“Um, yeah, a few minutes ago.” His gaze flicks to Hunter, then quickly back to me. “I just changed really fast and now I’m going to pick up Chastity.”
“Chastity?” Hunter’s voice has both mine and Zach’s gazes snapping to him.
“Um, yeah.” Zach says cautiously. “My girlfriend.” I’ve met Zach’s girlfriend a few times. She seems nice enough, but for some reason she doesn’t like me. They seem to spend most of their time at her place, so I don’t run into her often. Which is nice.
“Well, have fun!” He bobs his head twice before mumbling,you too, and walking away. Hunter watches him for a moment, but then turns back to me and gestures for us to go inside.
“How well do you know him?” Hunter asks once we’re inside my apartment.
“Know who?”
“Zach.” It’s hard to tell for sure, but it almost sounds as if he growls his name, like just saying it makes him angry. I try not to read too much into that, but for some reason it causes a weird giddy feeling inside of me.
“Oh, well, since I moved in here a few months ago. He’s a nice guy.” Hunter gives me a sharp nod before turning away. I hear him mumble something to himself, but I can’t quite make it out.
He starts pulling out our to-go containers and placing them on the counter.
“Do you want to eat at the table or in the living room? We can watch some TV?” I rarely use my kitchen table since most nights it’s just me, so I generally eat on the couch while binge watching something or returning emails. Usually at the same time.
“TV is good.”
“Oh.” I don’t know why I’m so surprised by his answer. Probably because I didn’t think it was something he would want to do with me. I figured he'd want to sit and eat in silence, then go right to bed. I highly doubt hanging out with me is high on his list of things to do for fun. “Okay, yeah. Let’s watch a movie.” He looks at me for a moment, like he’s confused by my reaction. He should be. I’m the one who suggested it, yet I’m acting like an idiot over the fact that he said yes. I grab my container and the bread and walk over to the coffee table to set it down.
“Do you have a preference on TV shows or movies?”
“Whatever you want.” My mind immediately goes to me asking for something else, that isnota movie. But I’m smart enough not to say it out loud. This crush I have on Hunter is ridiculous. A guy like him probably goes for women who can put more than a couple of sentences together in his presence. I shake my dirty thoughts away and grab the remote. I settle on the floor at the coffee table and flip through my different streaming services. After a minute I settle on one of my favorite shows to rewatch, Psych.
We eat in silence as we watch Shawn and Gus repeatedly make fools of themselves, but still somehow manage to come out on top.
“They never figure out he’s not a psychic?” Hunter’s sitting on the floor, but to the side of the coffee table with his legs stretched out and crossed over each other, and his back is against the arm of the couch. It’s unnerving how natural he looks in my small space.
“Well, some people suspect it throughout the series, but no one is ever able to prove it. I mean, how could they?” I lift my shoulder and dip my breadstick in some of my alfredo sauce before taking a bite.
