Page 9 of Bargain with the Bachelor
“I… need to… I need a mirror. Please go, Hunter. I’m sorry. Please understand.”
Grabbing my purse, I fled into the bathroom where I spent the next several minutes standing with my eyes closed and both hands clenching the sides of the sink as I attempted—unsuccessfully—to erase the mental image of Hunter Bestia rumpled and aroused.
I took a deep breath and released it then dug around in my small evening bag for the compact and lipstick I always kept inside.
“You’re going to forget about this,” I told my reflection in the mirror. “Just forget everything you saw—and felt—tonight. It didn’t happen.”
When I re-emerged, Hunter was gone.
Conflicting emotions battled inside me—relief I wouldn’t be forced to explain this mess to Harry and also a strange sense of… loss.
There wasn’t time to consider it further because Harry came through the bedroom door from the hallway, already loosening his tie and top button.
Seeing me, he stopped short, his eyes going wide. He looked stunned.
“Kristal?”
Oh no. He can tell.I thought I’d done a pretty good job of makeup and hair recovery, but obviously not.
My belly plunged to my feet like an elevator car with a failed lift mechanism. I gripped my hands in front of my belly button, wringing them together.
“Hi Harry. I—”
“What areyoudoing here?” He didn’t sound angry like I’d expected. He sounded… confused.
And now I was confused.
“What do you mean? You sent me a text.” At his continued look of bafflement, I prompted, “Hide and Seek?’
He froze. Blinked once. Looked around.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, I did.” Motioning for me to come with him, he said, “I thought about it, and maybe it’s not such a good idea…”
A woman’s tipsy sing-song voice rang out from the hallway. “Ready or not… here I come.”
Harry’s head dropped back onto his shoulders, and his arms went slack at his sides. A second later, a beautiful blonde stepped into the room wearing a naughty smile. She looked vaguely familiar.
Going directly to Harry and putting both hands on his chest, she said, “I was too excited to wait for your text. How long have you been here?”
The woman did a double-take when she spotted me near the bathroom door, her glance bouncing from Harry to me, back to Harry.
“What’s going on? Harry? What’sshedoing here?” the young woman asked. “I don’tdothreesomes.”
And that was when it hit me.
The text hadn’t been meant for me.
Biting his lip and sipping a tight breath, Harry turned to me with aDon’t hate megrimace.
“Um, Kristal… we need to talk.”
He turned to the blonde, whose identity had finally popped into my shock-numbed mind—she was the daughter of one of my dad’s law partners. The girl was several years younger than me, barely out of college.
“Laurelynn, would you mind giving us a few minutes, honey?” His voice was gentle and low. “I’ll be right down. Promise—this’ll be quick.”
Harry gave her a little pat on the behind, and she left, glancing back over her shoulder at me suspiciously before disappearing into the dim hallway.
“Why don’t we sit?” Harry gestured toward a pair of chairs in one corner of the room.
