“Icare!It's my job. Don't you get it? I have to work with those girls—I don't want them to hate me or think I'msecretlytrying to bone you or something.”
Hunter smiled smugly. “You realize thathalfof those girls are boning my teammates on the regular, right?”
“That's great, but I don't care what they do, Hunter. All I know is thatI'munder the microscope right now, for some reason, and I don't like it. And I don't need any more attention drawn to myself, which is exactly what your stunt did.”
“Alright. Damn. I'm sorry, then. I didn't think it was a big deal.” He shrugged. “Look, if something happened to your job, for whatever reason, and you needed any money—”
“Hunter …” I clicked my tongue. “It's not about money. And Icouldn'ttake your money.”
I realized Hunter was driving towards myoldapartment. “Oh—shit! I'm sorry, Hunter, I didn't even tell you that I moved.”
“You moved? Already? After, what, just two weeks at the other place?”
I gulped, and answered quickly, “Yeah, I'm at Lincoln and 6thnow.”
“Okay, okay.” Hunter turned the wheel and whipped his car around. “Shorter drive, that's for sure.”
A silence came between us. I could tell he'd already figured it out. He was just calculating how he'd bring it up.
“So …” he began, a knowing smile already emerging. “Did your boyfriend move with you?”
“No, Hunter, he didn't.”
“Huh. No shit.”
“Yeah, no shit. We broke up and I found some college girls on Craigslist that needed a roommate.”
“Oh. Sorry to hear that.” He flashed me his cute smile. I hated that smile for being so …perfect. Weren't hockey players supposed to be missing teeth?
With a scoff, I forced myself to look away from him. “Yeah, right.”
“Okay, yeah, if I'm being honest? Your boyfriend sounded like a complete douche. Trust me. You could do better.”
“A complete douche,” I laughed. “I haven't told youanything about him.”
“Not true. You told me he was supposed to pick you up that one night, but he didn't. Isn't that enough?”
“I guess.”
“You also said he laughed in your face at the arena when I missed that shot. Now, I don't know this guy at all, but that sounds pretty immature.”
I conceded his analysis with a groan. “Yeah …”
“A guy like that doesn't deserve a beautiful girl like you.” His eyes darted from the road to catch mine. He wanted me to know he meant it.
My heart fluttered like a windsock catching a sudden breeze. I wished it hadn't, but ithad.I'd felt it plain as day, no matter how badly I didn't want to feel anything for anyone at this point in my life. Especially a hockey player who wasdestinedto get me into all sorts of trouble if I had a moment of weakness.
“So, yeah, I think you could do better.”
“Stop it,” I demanded meekly. “I told you not to flirt with me anymore.”
“I haven't even started,” he said, his gritty voice so low, it might as well have been a whisper.
Gulp.I dug my nails into his leather seats, trying to stay grounded. Still that beat bumped over his speaker, through my seat, and between my legs. The deep vibrations thrummed at me, numbed my nerves, opened me,pulsedthrough me …
Hunter turned onto my block and slowly pulled into my driveway. He flicked off his headlights and switched off the engine. And instead of thanking him for the ride and leaping out of the car, I sat. We both sat. In the quiet, dim light of his sports car. Like webothknew something else was supposed to happen now.
I could feel Hunter's gaze on me, but I was too timid to meet it. I was desperate to change course before one of us said something stupid, or did something we couldn't take back.
