Page 63 of Hooked
I gave him a stern look to let him know I was serious about that. And Hunter's smile melted away, leaving a look of worry in its place.
“What's the matter?” I asked.
“I wanna ask you something.”
“Um, okay, go ahead.”
“Would you quit your job? So we wouldn't have to run around and do this in secret?”
“Hunter … I can't quit yet. I have rent and bills to pay. Ineedto be independent, Hunter. I don't want to rely on a guy to get by. Ijustcamefrom a situation like that, where Todd paid for everything and tried to control me, and I hated it. I felt trapped the entire time.”
“I know. You want to work. You're driven. And believe me, I respect that about you. I just want you to find something else, like I said. I'll help you out with any bills until you get something new, I mean it.”
“Hunter,” I croaked—I wasn't sure what to say.
Was Icrazy? Of course the answer was yes! Especially now that I actuallywasfucking Hunter … Madison would sniff out my guilt in a minute. But …
“I need to think it over, Hunter.” I climbed off the bed and headed for the bathroom. “I think what I really need is a shower.”
Hunter seemed hurt, but he tried not to let it show. “Oh. Okay. Yeah, good idea.”
***
When I came back from the shower, Hunter was still lying in bed.
“Well …?” he asked as I stepped into my panties and pulled them up my leg.
“Hey Hunter,” I teased, striking a sexy pose in my panties. “Take another pic. For when you're on the road.”
“Nice.” Hunter smiled and snapped a picture. “So … does that mean …?”
“It means I want to see where this goes. I can't quit my job just yet. I'm not ruling it out—because if wedoget serious, Madisonwillbe up my ass for real. But I need more time. This all happened so fast. I just want to make sure before I make any major life changes, okay?”
Hunter solemnly nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense.”
I frowned. “You seem hurt.”
“No … it's just—ha.” He shook his head as if he were angry at himself. He stamped a fist into the mattress. “I guess I'm used to getting what I want as soon as I want it. Bad habit.”
I crawled across the bed and kissed him softly. “You're the one who said doing it in secret would only make it hotter. Remember?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
While I finished getting dressed, Hunter took a turn in the shower. We had a quiet breakfast at the hotel—conversation didn't seem to flow quite as easily anymore.
“Is everything okay?” I asked him.
“Yeah, yeah,” he stammered. “Sorry. My mind's elsewhere. I always get like this on game days.”
But I wondered if that was the truth, or just an excuse. I wondered if I might have murdered ourmagicso quickly and easily. Was Hunter now not interested in me because I told him I wanted to wait?
Part of me wanted to throw up my arms and plead with him—fine, Hunter, I'll quit my job! Can we please just go back to being all over each other? Because I really, really want to see where this goes…
But another part of me knew that if Hunter had gotten sick of methateasily, he never really liked me in the first place. He just liked theideaof me. Because who was I, anyway? I was the girl who actually resisted him in the beginning, which was apparently not what he was used to. And now he wanted that girl toquit her jobto prove how much she'd fallen for him.
And he was the millionaire athlete who was accustomed to getting his way. Just like he'd said.
After breakfast, Hunter drove me back to my apartment. He kissed me goodbye. “See you at the game, Honor.”
