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“Why would they even believe him in the first place?” He sounds completely perplexed by the nuances of the show that I almost laugh. This is a side of him I’ve never seen, and I really really like it.
“He gets the job done. Really, that’s all the chief cares about. Lassie on the other hand always doubts it.” He finishes off his baked ziti, then climbs to his feet and takes his empty container back to the kitchen. I keep my eyes on the TV and watch Shawn and Gus cause a scene at the spelling bee, even though I’m so damn tempted to watch Hunter’s ass as he walks away. Luckily the temptation doesn’t last since he’s back quickly. He sets down three containers and I look at him in confusion.
“Dessert.” It’s all he says before he picks up one of the cannoli’s and takes a large bite. His eyes train back onto the TV as I pick up my own sweet treat and begin eating it with small bites. By the time the episode is over, my cannoli is gone, and I can’t help but feel disappointed that I didn’t order multiple just like Hunter.
“Here.” I turn and he’s holding out one of the other two cannoli for me.
“Oh no, I don’t want to take your-”
“It’s for you.” He doesn’t say anything else, just keeps it held out for me. After a moment I realize that I probably look like an idiot, so I hurry and reach out for it. It feels as if everything around us stops when my fingers brush against his. His eyes snap to mine and though I’m sure only a second or two ticks by, it feels like a lifetime. The touch of his skin is warm and inviting and his deep green eyes heavily hold my stare. When he finally pulls his hand away, everything else falls back into focus but I’m left feeling dizzy and confused. I’ve never in my life had this reaction to a man. Especially not a man that I shouldn’t want. But I do want Hunter, so damn much.
“The cake is yours too.” My eyes widen and as much as I want to ask why, I don’t. The only word I can manage to get out is, “okay.”
I turn back to the TV, desperate for some sort of distraction. We get through two more episodes before the exhaustion of the day starts to get to me and it becomes more and more difficult to keep my eyes open.
Hunter grabs the remote off the coffee table and turns off the TV. “Go to bed.”
It’s not a question, or even a suggestion. It’s a demand. And I’ll be damned if I can ignore it. The strong, independent woman in me wants to be defiant and say no. But another part wants to obey. I don’t know why, but it’s like it just wants his approval. Instead of arguing I just nod my head and turn toward my room.
“Goodnight,” I say, but I’m only met with silence as Hunter cleans up our trash. I feel bad that he’s cleaning up after me, but something tells me that if I even tried to do it, he would turn me away. I get to my room and just as I’m closing my bedroom door behind me, I hear a softly muttered, “goodnight.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sebastian
“It’s been completely silent.”I’m sitting in the meeting room with Alec, Wyatt and Tanner going over everything that’s happened with Anya over the past few days. She didn’t have appointments outside of her office today, so once I dropped her off at work, I came back here to meet with them and give a better update. “Even her neighbor hasn’t been around since he saw us the other night.”
“Do we think he could be responsible for it?” Alec asks and I just shrug.
“I don’t know. He’s definitely into her, but the guy does have a girlfriend.” Before I even finish my sentence, Tanner spins his laptop around on the table so we can all see it. An official hospital employee photo of Anya’s neighbor is on the screen.
“Zach Carbon, pediatric surgeon. Never married, no kids. His parents Peter and Mary Carbon are both brain surgeons. They live in South Carolina along with his seventeen-year-old sister Carly.”
“Any red flags?” Wyatt asks.
“Depends on your definition of red flag. The guy is squeaky-fucking-clean, and that alone is a red flag to me. He was top of his class at Columbia, did his residency here, and stayed on-staff. Now he’s one of three heads of the pediatric department. His bosses and co-workers have nothing but good things to say about him.”
“Red-rucking-flag.” I can’t help but grunt, because I’ve met plenty of guys like him in my life. More often than not, they turn out to be total assholes in one way or another.
“Keep your eye on him,” Alec orders and I nod my head. The guy already rubbed me the wrong way, so knowing that he’s an entitled asshole doesn’t help. “He may not be the one stalking her, but if he’s shown any interest, I want us to be on alert.”
“Got it.”
“No other suspects?” Alec asks and Tanner shakes his head.
“As far as I can tell, besides the eighty-three-year-old lady that lives on the first floor, Anya doesn’t really socialize with her neighbors. It could be that whoever was doing it saw the cameras in the hallway and at her office now and decided it wasn’t worth it.”
Tanner sounds as convinced by his own words as the rest of us. It’s pretty damn unlikely that’s the case. It takes a lot more than a few cameras to deter a stalker.
“As nice as that would be,” Alec responds. “I highly fucking doubt it.”
“I’m running checks on all of her clients right now to see if anything sticks out.” My mind flips back to the day I ran into Anya at the cafe, and she was meeting a client. I didn’t get any vibes off the guy, but I still stayed across the street and watched them until he was gone.
“She has one client. He’s younger. I don’t know his name, but she had lunch with him a few weeks ago.” I can see the question in Alec’s eyes, but I don’t address it. Tanner types a few things into his computer before flipping it around.
“This guy?” I give him a sharp nod and decide I should probably give Alec some sort of explanation in order to keep his suspicions at bay. The last thing I need is my boss thinking thatI’mstalking his fucking sister.
“I was having lunch and she saw me, so she came over to say hi until he got there. I didn’t talk to him, and he seemed harmless enough, but I watched from across the street to make sure there was nothing to worry about.” He nods in understanding before turning back to Tanner. I can taste the fucking lie on my tongue, but I refuse to examine the truth too closely. I didn’t stay and watch because I was concerned, I stayed because I was fucking jealous.
