AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You keep ice packs in your office? Are you prone to injury?”
“Bum knee. I have to ice it after I run.”
I smile. I doubt he has a ‘bum’ anything.
“Where do you run?” I ask. The city is intimidating enough to navigate getting to work, I have yet to attempt running here on my own.
“I’ve got a Central Park loop I do three times a week.” He rubs a hand across his jaw, still studying me. “Do you run?”
“I did in Vegas. I haven’t quite gotten into a routine here yet.”
“I could send you some of my routes if you’d like.”
“That’d be great.” I absently massage the ice pack in my hand, finally remembering I wanted to thank him for the flowers. “Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“I’m glad you liked them.” Hunter lifts his gaze back to mine. “I’m sorry about Vegas. The mix up with the cash on the nightstand…and leaving without saying goodbye.”
“It’s fine. I think we both know what Vegas was.”
“And what was that, Sophie?” Hunter’s eyes drop to my lips before returning to my eyes.
“A fun night. Blowing off steam.” I smile, trying desperately to not let his closeness affect me.
“You’re right. It was a fun night.” The corner of his mouth pulls up in a smirk before he leans in closer to whisper, “Would you be curious to know that I’ve thought about that night every day since?”
The low rumble of his voice and the warmth of his breath against my ear makes my heart rate spike. When he pulls back, for a fraction of a second our lips are millimeters away and I think he’s going to kiss me. His eyes drop to my mouth, and my eyes instinctively close.
“Mr. Cartwright?” A woman’s voice cuts through the silence. My eyes fly open and Hunter takes a step back. There’s no one there, so it must have come from the speaker on his desk phone.
Hunter walks over to his desk to press a button and speak to her. I take a large gulp of air. Air that I was deprived of being so close to him.
“The Carmine Group is here.”
“Thank you, Jeannie. I’ll be out in five.” Hunter releases the button and glances back to me. “I’ve got a meeting.”
I nod in understanding and start moving toward his office door.
“Sophie, wait.” He studies me for a beat before continuing. “The circumstances that we find ourselves in, you planning my sister’s wedding and me being your brother’s boss, make it necessary for us to not see each other in that capacity again.”
His lips turn down at the corners. He looks so serious, like he’s delivering a eulogy. Our one-night stand is to be buried and never resurrected. While my body is mourning the loss of his wicked tongue, running my fingers through that gorgeous head of hair, and feeling him thrust inside me, I know he’s right. I didn’t move here to pursue a guy, I’m here for my career.Andsleeping with Hunter now knowing he’s Griffin’s boss is bad news.
“You’re right.” I nod and adjust my purse on my shoulder.
For a quick second, his eyes narrow and I think I see his normally unshaken confidence slip, like he’s confused that I’m agreeing with him.
Trust me, every cell in my body is revolting against being a mature adult about this. But that’s the point. I can’t think about myself here. This is Griffin’s boss. The boss at Griffin’s new job for his new career that he’s put on hold while he raised me and put me through school. And while you could argue it shouldn’t be a big deal, I worry that if Griffin found out I was involved with Hunter, it wouldn’t be Griffin, the employee, that had words for Hunter, it would be big brother Griffin. The last thing I need is for Griffin to get into it with his boss over me.
He clears his throat and nods. “I am.”
It’s a statement, but somewhere in there, I swear I hear a question.
Hunter opens a desk drawer to pull out a card. He takes two steps to close the space between us and extends the card to me.
“My number. If you ever need anything.”
“Thanks.”
I reach out to take it and our fingers briefly touch. In that fleeting touch, the electrical current that passes between us is enough to light my panties on fire.
