MY HEART HAMMERED AS his words hung in the air between us. My palms pricked with beads of unnerved arousal as I cast my eyes up the lean ridge of his muscled forearm and on to carved biceps that bulged and met the sharp line of defined shoulders. A beautiful straight nose and high cheekbones accented his already beautiful face, but his eyes….
“Erin?” He interrupted me from my thoughts on…him. “I said the job would only work if you were unattached.” He leaned in closer, his eyebrow lifting, eyes intense on my own. “Are you available for anything I need, Erin?” His fingertips grazed my knuckles and had moisture flooding between my legs. My heart thundered and my eyes fell closed as I clenched my hand into a fist.
I swallowed and breathed the shaky words, “I can be available whenever you need me.”
His eyes held mine for endlessly long beats and a bevy of words clogged my throat, but instead I stayed silent, wondering just what exactly his needs may be.
“Perfect.” His smile widened into a full blown, heart-stopping grin with flashing white teeth and smoothly curved lips. I would sit at his feet forever if he continued to smile that smile. “Can you start this afternoon?”
“What?” I coughed and lurched forward, my elbows on the edge of the desk.
“I’ll run you through the basics of what I expect and then we can get started.” He stood and was already on his way out the door. “Erin!” His beautiful lilt carried down the hallway as I crept on soft steps around the corner.
“This is…” I paused, stupefied, tears nearly pricking my eyelids as I scanned the photography.
“Every photo evokes the same thing…” Hunter commented, his hand lightly brushing against mine, the energy on a constant loop through his system that I wanted to catch like a firefly in a jar and harness for my own. Possess it, nurture it, love it.
“Love,” I said softly. Everything about his photos evoked love.
“Exactly,” he breathed next to me, eyes flashing with something that pulled at my very heartstrings. The air rippled with kinetic energy, something I couldn’t place, something I’d never quite sensed before.
I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and was about to say something intelligent, flirty, I wasn’t sure, but a series of beeps beat me to it.
“Shit.” Hunter shoved a hand in the pocket of his jeans and fished out a phone, glancing at the number on the screen before looking up. “I’ve got to take this. Give me a minute.” He pressed the phone to his ear and was out the door in long strides before I could reply.
“Sure.” I stumbled, feeling thrown into something that was way over my head, but loving the challenge of it, of him.
If I hadn’t been consumed with the photos and the love and the job and Hunter, maybe I would have realized that the phone he’d answered was a cheap burner. And if I’d noticed that, maybe it would have occurred to me that there was only ever one reason for someone to carry an extra disposable phone — a secret.
But I was consumed by the energy that radiated from him and in awe of the art he created from and about passion. I sucked a bottom lip between my teeth as my eyes perused the photos before my bladder took that moment to plead for relief. I headed back down the hallway we’d come from, searching for a bathroom.
Not wanting to be nosy, but also not knowing how long he would be on the phone, I tried one door and found a large pantry off of the kitchen. Frowning, I tried the door next to his now closed office and found it locked. I sighed, realizing I’d have to wait for the formal tour.
“Looking for something?” That same deep voice that had caught my stumble in the street yesterday pressed against my back as his hand latched on mine over the doorknob.
“No, I—”
“Don’t ever go through my shit, Erin. That’s rule number one. Don’t open doors that don’t belong to you.” His body pressed against mine and his thick voice echoed in my ear, raising the hairs on my neck. “You may not like what you find,” he purred and my stomach twisted with anxiety and something else. Sex. I fucking wanted him. I wanted him right here, against this door, in his hallway, no matter how much he fit the type I tried to avoid but seemed inexorably drawn to.
“Hear me?” His hand tightened around my wrist in warning.
“Y—yes.” I choked on the word.
“Good.” He turned me in his arms, one hand climbing up my arm and curling around the nape of my neck. “I think this could work, Erin. You just have to obey the rules.” His words throbbed through my bloodstream.
Fuck. He was so intense. So brutally beautiful, all rough edges and hard muscle.
“Some shit just came up I’ve got to take care of, but we’ll talk later this week about what exactly I need from you.” I stood rooted to my spot, eyes wide, speechless. “I’ll call you a car.” His hand kneaded my neck before he pressed a hard kiss to my temple. “And Erin?” He pulled away with a cocky smile. “Pack your bags.”
