Page 8 of Naked

My heart fluttered and my lady parts performed a pole dance. Then I told my lady parts to get real. Hunter just wanted to hang out like we used to. “I’m off for summer break.”

“Oh I know. I’m well aware of your schedule Tilley.”

That information confused me as much as it thrilled me. I’d never traveled to one of his games before. That was something girlfriends and wives did. Besides, my job had been here at the office.

For some reason I couldn’t fathom, he stepped closer to me and took my hand in his. “I want you to travel with me. I want to repeat what we did on our last night together. I want to prove to you that it wasn’t a mistake.”

And then he took my face in his hands and...kissed me.The moment his lips touched mine the whole world faded away. I stopped thinking. No math, no rules, no doubts. Just Hunter’s lips on mine, making me feel like I could fly.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against his body. It reignited the fire he’d stoked in me six months earlier. I worked so hard to bank it, but now I let it roar back to life. Honestly I couldn’t have stopped it if I had to. My reaction to him was automatic. I seemed to have no control over it.

“That wasn’t a pity kiss and it wasn’t a mistake. Please never say those words ever again.” His lips kept dancing over mine.

I held on to his shirt because I couldn’t tell the difference between up and down any longer.

“Nod if you understand me.”

I nodded. And kissed him.

“Good.” He smiled against my lips. “You’ll come back with me?”

I nodded again.

He sighed. “I missed you.”There was a tone in his voice. A reverberation that fascinated me. It was musical and emotional at the same time. I wanted to decode it. Partly because I strongly suspected there was a mathematical component to it that made itfeelgood, but also because I’d never heard it before.

“I have missed you as well.”

* * *

Adam kepta watchful eye on me during the meeting. I didn’t blame him. After acting like a scared cat for days I was now floating on air. Confused air, but air nonetheless. I couldn’t remember ever smiling so much, and it had everything to do with having kissed Hunter multiple times without regret.

After our kisses we returned to the breakfast restaurant and I introduced Hunter to Adam and Elizabeth, properly this time. We shared a meal like we used to—laughing and sharing inside jokes. Then Adam announced it was time for us to leave. Hunter promised to meet me at the offices at three o’clock.

Other than switching two columns of numbers, the smiling was the biggest difference in me.

“So Hunter?” Adam asked during our lunch break. We sat on the open porch of an artisan sandwich restaurant near the water. “Seems a pretty big deal to leave your team mid-road trip just to say hi to a friend…”

He let the technically unasked question hang in the air. I debated what I wanted to say. Vector Racing was set up to mimic a family. We were all very close and therefore our personal lives tended to be more a part of our work environment than I was used to. Since we all spent so much time together it made sense.

I decided that while Adam was my boss, he was also safe to speak with. “I was one of the youngest staff members in the front office. Everyone was nice and lovely, of course, but not exactly in the same social space, you know? I went out for dinner by myself one night and a few guys from the team were hanging out, throwing darts and playing pool. Did you know pool is just geometry and physics? Anyone with basic knowledge of either can be a good pool player. I’m excellent at both pool and darts.”

Adam smiled warmly. “I find that unsurprising and also have noted that I will never play you at either.”

I took this as praise and returned his smile. “That is probably for the best. I’m very good at both, and very bad at playing for fun.” Hunter was the only one who could cajole me out of my competitiveness.

“And Hunter fits into this how?”

“Ah yes. He was among the players that night. He noticed me, remembered me from the front office, and came over to introduce himself. I noted that the group he was with were all approximately my age and decided to invite myself over to play. After I beat them all they invited me to join them for movie night the next day. I believe it was a challenge, however this backfired as I am a huge fan of ridiculous comedy. The more ridiculous the better.”

Outlandish comedies playing juxtaposition to reality made so much sense to me. In fact, it helped me understand normal people more than anything else.

“And so a friendship was born?” Adam guessed.

“Yes. We all became friends, Hunter and I in particular. We became best friends. Until…” I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I’d fallen for my friend. I felt like such a bad friend.

But apparently, maybe, Hunter had fallen for me as well? I still couldn’t process this reality.

Adam set down his napkin and finished his beer. “Can I tell you something? Not as your boss but as your friend?”

---