Chapter 9 #2
The afternoon blurred in the lazy way summer days were supposed to.
The guys swam, ordered food, argued about their college hockey days, and debated whether golf counted as a sport.
Nate left first, claiming he had plans. Luca followed.
Dax stayed longer, fell asleep for twenty minutes, then woke up with a towel mark on his face and announced he was going to find tacos.
Eventually, the rooftop got quiet. I pulled out one earbud and looked around.
It was just me and Hunter. He was stretched out on a lounge chair a few chairs away, sunglasses on, one arm bent behind his head.
His skin was still damp, his body relaxed in a way I rarely saw.
Without the arena, the gym, the elevator, or my parents between us, he looked younger.
Then he sat up. I quickly looked away like I hadn’t been staring.
He stood and walked toward me. I kept my eyes on my book even though the words were upside down because I had been holding it wrong.
“Interesting read?” he asked.
I looked down.
I flipped the book around. “Riveting.”
His mouth twitched. “You haven’t eaten all day.”
I lowered my sunglasses and looked at him. “Hello to you too.”
“I ate yogurt and granola for breakfast.” I sat up, pulling the towel around me.
“Eating one meal a day isn’t enough,” he said.
“Are you policing what I eat?” I countered.
“You called out my shoulder. Fair is fair.” He shrugged.
“That was medical,” I explained.
“This is nutritional,” he countered.
It felt like we were flirting, but I couldn’t tell. He laughed under his breath and sat on the edge of the chair beside mine. Not too close. Not far enough.
“Why aren’t you with Cole and Holland?” he asked.
“They took Jaden to Six Flags,” I replied.
“I know,” he said. “They invited me. So you bailed on them?”
“I was unconscious. That doesn’t count as bailing. My dad basically banned me from getting out of bed. Said I was on the road to burning myself out,” I explained.
“Smart man. He and I both know about burnout. It isn’t fun,” Hunter said, throwing me off. “You look tired.”
“Everyone keeps saying that. Very flattering,” I chuckled.
“You look beautiful,” he said, then blinked and swallowed as his eyes swept quickly over every inch of my exposed skin. I felt a trail of heat, but his gaze on me didn’t last before he locked it down. I watched the heat in his pupils dissipate like water thrown onto a flame.
I blinked. My stomach flipped.
“Well,” I said after a second. “That was better.”
He huffed out a laugh, but his ears had gone slightly red. I hated how much I liked that.
“You still need to eat,” he said.
“So bossy,” I said in my flirtiest tone. It felt like he was trying to ask me to a meal but couldn’t get the words out.
“I’m making dinner,” he blurted.
I frowned. “For who?”
“For you,” he said, like a statement rather than a question.
That made me pause. “What?”
“I’ll make you dinner,” he said, like that was a normal thing to offer a woman he had almost dry-humped with his eyes in an elevator two nights ago. “Friendly dinner.”
“Friendly?” My voice went too high-pitched. Shit. I needed to get a grip.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Friendly dinner in your condo?” I clarified, because if being in a closed elevator with him made me forget my name, what would being in his own very private condo do to me? To him?
His mouth twitched. “You say that like I invited you to an underground fight club.” Then he cleared his throat. “I owe you.”
“For what?” I asked, truly perplexed.
“The shoulder.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “You made the right call. I was annoyed, but you were right.”
I tried not to smile too much. “That must have hurt to say.”
“Deeply.”
“Do you need a minute?” I joked.
“I’ll survive,” he said dryly.
I studied him, trying to decide if this was smart. It wasn’t. Obviously. But my parents were gone for the day. Jaden was gone. Isla was at camp. We lived in the same building. Hunter was offering dinner like it was a peace treaty and not something that made my pulse jump.
“Okay,” I said.
His brows lifted. “Okay?”
“Yes. Friendly dinner.”
“Good.”
We both sat there for a second, and somehow the word friendly had never sounded less believable.
We gathered our things and headed toward the elevator.
I put my cover-up back on, which did absolutely nothing to make me feel less exposed because my skin was still warm from the sun and Hunter was walking beside me shirtless with a towel slung over his shoulder.
The elevator doors opened. We stepped in. The doors closed.
I looked at the ceiling. “This elevator is becoming a problem.”
Hunter let out a rough laugh. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
The elevator started moving down. He stood on the opposite side, which was probably smart.
The problem was that the space didn’t help.
Not when I could see the drops of water still clinging to his chest. Not when his hair was damp and messy.
Not when every inch of his tanned skin looked irresistible.
He leaned back against the wall and looked at me. “I watched you in that bikini all day.”
My breath caught.
“You were driving me crazy,” he added.
My pulse kicked hard. “Hunter.”
“I know.” His jaw flexed. “I know.”
My mouth went dry. “I don’t think us being alone in your condo is a good idea unless you’re planning to relieve me.”
He moved fast. One second, he was against the opposite wall. The next he was in front of me, one hand braced beside my head, his body caging mine without touching me. My breath left me.
His chest rose and fell. “You’re making it very hard for me to resist you.”
I looked up at him, heart pounding. “That’s the point.”
His eyes darkened. For one second, I thought he was going to kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me so badly I almost reached for him.
“Me taking you is trouble,” he said.
“Maybe.” I wasn’t thinking straight, not with the pulse between my legs and my overheated body needing him to touch me everywhere.
“No maybe.” His voice was rough. “It is. I can’t mess up our lives because we don’t want to keep our hands off each other.”
The words hit harder than they should have. He was right. I hated that.
“This is attraction, Catherine,” he said. “That’s it.”
I froze. That’s it. The air in the elevator changed.
Or maybe I did. Heat drained out of me so fast it left embarrassment behind.
Not because I wanted him less. I didn’t.
But because he had just reduced everything I felt to biology and bad timing, and maybe for him that was all it was.
For me, it wasn’t. I slipped out from under his arm before he could stop me.
He stepped back immediately, like he realized too late that he had said the wrong thing.
“Catherine—”
“It isn’t for me,” I confessed, feeling pathetic.
His face changed. I held the towel against my chest, suddenly wishing I had worn something more than a bikini and a cover-up for this conversation. “It’s not just attraction for me,” I repeated.
He didn’t speak.
“I’ve watched you with your daughter,” I said, my voice quieter now. “I’ve seen what a good man you are. How dedicated you are. How much you love her.”
His face fell. Like I had hit him somewhere soft.
“I know this is complicated,” I continued. “I know my dad is your coach. I know my mom is your friend. I’m working with the team. I know every reason this is a bad idea. But don’t tell me it’s just attraction like I haven’t known you for years.”
The elevator kept moving. Neither of us looked at the numbers.
Hunter closed his eyes for a second. “I’m a stupid idiot.”
That surprised me enough that I almost laughed. He opened his eyes, and the look on his face made my chest ache.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I swallowed. “Okay.”
“No, I mean it.” He dragged a hand over his wet hair, making it messier. “That was a shitty thing to say.”
“It felt shitty.”
“I know.” He exhaled hard. “I was trying to scare both of us back into being smart.”
The elevator slowed, then stopped on his floor. The doors opened. Neither of us moved.
Hunter held the door with one hand before it could close again. “Come here.”
I stayed where I was. “Why?”
“So I can say this without an elevator making me feel like I’m on a timer.”
I hesitated.
Then I stepped out onto his floor. The hallway was quiet. The kind of quiet that made every breath feel loud. Hunter let the elevator doors close behind us and turned to me.
“You’re more to me too,” he said.
My chest tightened.
“I’m messed up,” he continued, voice low. “I don’t let people get close. I haven’t for a long time. It’s easier that way. Cleaner. Safer for Isla. Safer for me.”
I stood very still.
“But something about you…” He shook his head, like he was mad at himself. “I don’t know. You make me feel like I can trust you, and I haven’t felt that in years.”
My throat burned.
“And it scares the shit out of me,” he continued.
The honesty in his voice did something worse than attraction. It made me want to step into him and stay there.