Page 77 of The Mating Game
My brow furrows. “Hunter?”
“I tried to get him to come down from his mountain,” Jarred says. “Gave me some bullshit about being busy.”
I press my lips together briefly. “He told me the same thing.”
“At least he’s talking to you,” Cat laughs. “Pulling conversation out of him is like pulling teeth sometimes.”
I consider all the quiet teasing and the dry jokes over the last few days—not to mention everythingelsewe’ve done—and I don’t know if I can fully agree with that. “I don’t know,” I say nonchalantly. “He talks occasionally.” I give a noncommittal shrug. “He’s been helping me a lot since I got here.”
In a lot of ways, I think.
Cat and Jarred share a look of incredulity, turning back to me with matching expressions of disbelief. “Hunter?” Jarred’s voice holds actual surprise. “Hunter Barrett? Mountain man–looking dude? Smiles, like, never?”
I’m laughing at Jarred’s description, finding it not much different from my own first impression of Hunter. “I mean, he can be kind of quiet sometimes, but once you get him talking, he’s really—”
“Are we talking about me?”
My words die on my tongue, my heart doing this Pavlovian thing where it picks up a few dozen beats all at once. Jarred’s face splits into a grin as he slides out of the booth to embrace the newcomer in a hug, and it takes me several more seconds to peek up and confirm what I already know.
That Hunter has taken me up on my invitation after all.
“Hunter? What are you doing here?”
Hunter pulls away from Jarred’s hug to look at me. “I was invited, remember?”
“I thought you said you were busy,” I accuse, still mostly just surprised to see him here.
He slides into the booth next to me, his big body now flush against my side in the small booth as he eyes me with that quiet expression that never tells me anything he’s thinking. His scent washes over me, calming me and yet lighting me up all at once, and I have to resist the urge to lean into it as he settles.
“Took less time than I thought it would,” he says easily. He flashes me a grin. “Found my oil lamp.”
Jarred looks ecstatic that he’s here, leaning in with his palms flat on the table to get our attention. “We already ordered. What are you drinking? I’ll go tell the bar.”
“Beer is fine,” Hunter tells him. “Whatever you’re having.”
Jarred snaps his fingers, then points at Hunter with enthusiasm, still looking gleeful. I laugh as he walks away, regarding Cat. “Someone’s excited.”
“Well,” Cat says pointedly with a sly grin. “Someoneonly sees uson holidays.” Her eyes find mine as she makes a face, hitching her thumb in Hunter’s direction. “This is basically like seeing a unicorn or Bigfoot or something.”
Hunter makes an indignant sound. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Oh, really?” Cat laughs. “I’ll buy your drinks for the entire night if you can tell me when we last hung out that wasn’t a holiday.”
I turn my head to watch Hunter’s lips purse in thought as he frowns at the table for a good number of moments before Cat begins to cackle.
“Yeah,” she says with amusement. “Like I said.”
“Whatever,” Hunter mumbles. “I’m here now.”
I don’t miss the way Cat eyes me with that same sly grin. “I wonder why that is.”
“Just decided a drink sounded good,” Hunter says casually.
“Yeah, yeah,” Cat quips. “Well. Whatever. I’m glad you’re here. Now you can suffer Jarred’s fantasy football updates and leave me to have an actual interesting conversation with Tess.”
Jarred approaches the table at that exact moment, sliding back into his spot. “What are we talking about?”
Cat’s smile is innocent now. “Oh, nothing.”
