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“I can handle my sister, finding out what Piotr’s up to is more important.”
“Ok. I’ll call you when I have something.”
After I pocketed my phone, I stood there, staring down at the lone gaming controller in the center of her coffee table. There were at least four at the club, not that I’d ever touched one, and that one controller spoke volumes.
For shits and giggles, I turned on her TV to see the last thing she watched. Fuck me. She was an animal show watching loner whose pussy wrapped around my cock beautifully.
Now I was more determined than ever to figure out what was going on with Brandy and make the one who hurt her pay.
When it came to coffee, I had the nose of a bloodhound. Just not for the drivel my sister had tried to slide across the bar top this morning while I sat there picking at a muffin. That stuff wasn’t even worthy of keeping a trucker awake. No, I was talking about being able to spot premier roasted goodness from a mile away. The kind of coffee that had a fancy Italian name and came with whipped cream.
My nostrils flared, instantly alerted to the sweet, nutty aroma wafting in the air. As I swiveled in my chair, Stella came into the lobby of the shop with two cups in her hand.
“My hero.” I made a gimme motion with my outstretched hands. “I don’t even care whether you give me the americano or the macchiato.”
She stopped just short of me, teasing me with the goodness in her hands to examine each cup. One brow lifted in question when she realized neither one was marked on the side. Technically, I could have craned my neck and read the initials on the top of the lids, but I hadn’t needed to. My nose knew which was which.
“I’m tempted to fuck with you right now for looking like a crackhead, but I’d be afraid of you shanking me with the letter opener on your desk over a cup of coffee.”
Her honey eyes sparkled, her dimple a deep groove in her cheek as she handed over the americano. Setting it on the desk, I peeled back the lid and blew on it. No way was I waiting for it to cool down. I needed my fix, and I needed it now.
The first drop hit my tongue, and it was heaven in a Styrofoam cup. A warm, sweet symphony of creamy caramel that made my taste buds stand up and take notice. Folger’s wasn’t lying when they said it was the best part of waking up. There was only one thing I could think of that was better to wake up to than coffee, and my cheeks heated at the memory.
“You gonna fuck that coffee or drink it?” A dribble of coffee escaped my lips at her comment, and she chuckled, watching as I used a finger to wipe off my chin. “That blush of yours is freaking adorable.”
“Thank you. I think?”
As soon as the last part left my mouth, I regretted it. Stella was one of the few people I felt comfortable around. She’d just caught me off guard. Nobody teased me quite the way Stella did. Maybe that was why it was my favorite thing about her.
“Forget I said that. I don’t know why I’m being weird today.”
She flopped down in the chair across from me, her feet propped up on my desk as she took a sip of her coffee. Today her blond hair was twisted into a messy bun on the top of her head, a bandanna keeping any loose strands in place. There was a spot of grease on the fitted white T-shirt she wore underneath her gray coveralls that made my lip curve up in the corner.
“Eh, no biggie.” She gave me a lopsided grin and her eyes did that sparkling thing that meant she was about to make me blush. “I’ve heard good dick will make you do some weird shit.”
A snort bubbled out of me, and I looked down at my coffee, not really sure what to say. I’d intended to keep whatever this was with Hunter to myself, but I realized that this might be my only chance to talk about him. Hunter was not only my anomaly, but he also part of a federal investigation.
Something about being the only one to know I’d felt tingles rippling up my spine like you read about in romance books made it seem less real. Like whenever I walked away from here it would all be erased. As painful as it was to think about how it would all end, it was even more gut wrenching to have to pretend that none of it had ever happened. That it meant nothing, when in reality, it was everything.
“I…”
“Oh. My. God. I was just messing with you. Never in a million years did I actually think you’d fuck Hunter. But you totally did, didn’t you?”
Her pale pink lips parted, her cup suspended in the air just below them. She watched me with wide eyes and words caught in my throat, which was completely stupid because it was actually one of the few things I didn’t have to lie about.
“Yes.” The word rushed out like a breath of air from my lips and instantly it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
“You weren’t even going to tell me either. A fine slap in the face that is after I argued with Tweak earlier this morning on your behalf. He said he’d heard you scream Hunter’s name, and I told him he should be more worried about Hunter bleeding out because he was missing his dick. That it wasn’t like that.”
Heat suffused my cheeks even though I knew someone might have heard me. Whenever I saw the guys now, I’d no doubt turn a delightful shade of red before booking it for the door. What I didn’t understand was why Stella thought he’d be missing an appendage. An appendage I’d once feared and now wondered how I was going to live without it.
“What made you think that?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m not an idiot. The day you came here, I saw the look on your face when you said you’d help around the club. Why do you think I suggested you work down here?”
Damn. She’d seen what my sister never had. The crack in my façade. A downright dangerous prospect, considering the situation. Still, I admired her for sticking her neck out for a perfect stranger.
“Then Hunter had to erase my good deed by insisting you stay in his room.” She looked down at her coffee like it held the answers to all life’s greatest mysteries. “It wasn’t until after Valentina stepped in and I saw how you reacted to him I knew you’d be all right.”
