Chapter Five
It took Hunter a good ten seconds to react to Jade stomping out of his office.
What the hell had just happened?
He was still trying to process the fact that his redheaded dream girl was the woman he’d just quit on…with a callous email, no less. She was right. It had been a pretty shitty thing to do.
But damn. He couldn’t stop picturing the woman naked.
Remembering what she’d looked like last night as she came with him inside her.
If that made him an even bigger asshole, he could live with that.
This surprising turn of events was either the best…or possibly the worst…thing that had ever happened to him.
Too soon to tell.
Time to go find out.
He stampeded out the door of his building and spotted her marching toward a BMW. Of course she drove a BMW. It just figured his dream girl would be from the city and apparently had money.
Still, he couldn’t take his eyes off her gorgeous red hair as he approached her. “Jade, wait.”
When she jerked around, she pierced him with a glare that only she could have made look sexy. Fuck. He was hard already. He shifted around on his feet in an effort to hide his reaction from her, knowing his aroused state wouldn’t exactly win him any points.
“Unless you’re about to tell me you’re taking the job, you can kiss my ass,” she bit out.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Didn’t get enough of that last night, huh?”
Good line, asshole.
Because that wouldn’t make her want to claw his eyes out.
He switched gears before she could say anything. “What I’m curious about is why you stopped in Harperville last night instead of driving all the way through.” He put a hint of challenge in his voice. “It wasn’t that late when you got to the hotel.”
She avoided eye contact.
Interesting.
She lifted her shoulder. “I was tired. Just felt like having a drink. My moving truck didn’t get here until this morning, anyway. Not that it’s any of your business.”
He took a small step toward her, and she held her ground. He swallowed a smile. The woman had fire, no doubt.
“I don’t think that’s why,” he said.
Her shoulders straightened, but a shadow of vulnerability flitted through her eyes.
So he pushed. “Were you having doubts about moving here?” he asked. “Maybe a little scared?”
“No,” she said defensively. A strong gust of wind blew a lock of her hair across her face. She pushed it behind an ear. “But there’s nothing wrong with being a little nervous. Moving to a new place by yourself is a big step. I just needed a breather.”
He stopped advancing on her, satisfied and a little surprised that he’d gotten the truth. Then again, he supposed there wasn’t much point in them feigning any kind of pretense.
They had seen each other naked, after all.
“Is that why you bailed this morning?” he asked. “Because you were too nervous to face me?”
Those amazing green eyes shot daggers in his direction.
He smiled. Yes, he did just bring that up.
“No,” she said through gritted teeth. “But what was there to say? Thanks for the sex? Catch you on the flip side?”
He tried to ignore how those words affected him. Physically. “For starters. Then you could have followed it up with, ‘You were so amazing last night,’” he said in a dramatic, high-pitched tone. “‘I’ll never forget you as long as I live. Take me again right here so I can remember exactly how you feel inside me.’”
“Is that supposed to sound like me?”
He released a soft groan. “Trust me, baby. Your sex voice is much hotter than that. I just wish I could have heard it again before you left that hotel room.”
She rolled her eyes. “Guess you’ll have to settle for the memories.” Her eyes widened, filling with panic, and she rushed to add, “Actually, don’t think about me at all. In any way. And don’t call me baby.”
He chuckled. “Everyone calls everyone baby. It’s a Southern thing.” He ignored her sigh. “For what it’s worth, this is a great town. I think you’ll like it here.”
She let out a mirthless laugh. “Yeah. If everyone here is as friendly as you, I doubt I’ll ever get bored.”
His grin faded, and he felt his expression harden. He ground his teeth together as he imagined any of the male pricks in town hitting on her, trying to get into her pants. Because he absolutely knew they would. How could they not? She was a vision of perfection.
But hell, he didn’t even want to consider her doing anything with them like what she had done with him last night.
Because if that happened, he would go apeshit.
Abruptly, he took a mental step back. Where the hell was this coming from?
He’d had sex with her…a few times. But that didn’t make her his. Plus, he wasn’t interested in a relationship, or even a casual involvement, with anyone.
Regardless, he still found himself saying, “I would use caution making new friends if I were you.”
Her brow furrowed. “What is that supposed to mean? You just said Shell Grove is a great place.”
He pursed his lips. “Just that new people in this town garner a lot of attention. Some folks will be curious, and some of them will only be after gossip. So just…”—don’t screw anyone but me—“remember that.”
She huffed. “You throw one hell of a welcome party, I’ll give you that.”
He laughed and lowered his voice. “I thought I did a pretty good job of making you feel welcome last night,” he said pointedly. “We can have an after-party tonight, if you’d like.”
God. He loved that he could make her blush.
She swallowed, clearly trying to hide her reaction to his words. “Can we not talk about last night? Like, ever again?”
“That might be a little hard for me, Red,” he replied. “But I’ll work on it.”
“For the last time, it’s Jade.”
“My apologies,” he said. “Jade.” He slid his gaze over her bright red hair that was piled on top of her head, then down to her stunning green eyes. Yeah, she did remind him of a rare and beautiful gem. Something unique that should be treasured for eternity. “It suits you.”
Her eyes lowered to his mouth as he slowly licked his lips. Then she averted them to the ground and kicked at the cracked asphalt beneath her feet.
“Yeah, well. Hunter is a lot better than Bob, too.”
He let out a part grunt, part cough. The way she’d kept moaning his fake name last night…oh, Bob…had been more than torturous.
He wanted a do-over, with her whispering his real name as he got her off with his tongue.
He cleared his throat. “I’d like to think so. Anyway. Are we going to be able to move past me having to pull out of your job? Or are you going to bite my head off every time I see you from now on?”
Her lips thinned at that. “Well, I’ll try to be on my best behavior—”
“Oh, I hope not.”
A muscle in her jaw ticked. “But this conversation isn’t over. I need that work done.”
Once again, regret slammed into him. “I’ll do whatever I can to help,” he said softly. “I just wish I could do more.”
Looking impatient, she turned for her car but stopped to glance back at him uncertainly. “Just do me a favor and don’t tell anyone about last night, okay?”
He hadn’t planned to. But it stung, nonetheless. Sure, he wanted to tell the whole damn town about what they did, but that was more so all the single men would know to keep their distance from her. “Why? Ashamed of me?”
“Of course not. I just…” She paused. “I need to start things off here on the right foot. I don’t want to deal with any awkwardness. If everyone found out that the first thing the new girl did when she got into town was crawl into bed with the first guy she saw, things could get…weird.”
For some reason, that annoyed him even more.
“First of all, don’t belittle what we did last night,” he growled. “Second of all, I would never gossip about our time together. Despite what you think of me, I’m not a total asshole.”
She didn’t respond for several moments. They just stood there, watching each other in silence.
“I should go,” she finally said, but she didn’t move.
He slowly nodded. “Right. By the way, I thought you were a baker.”
Last night in the bar, he’d actually fantasized about her being covered in icing and cake mix, and so many other delicious treats…which he would then lick off her naked body.
“Yes, I was a baker. I never said I owned a bakery, though.”
“I guess that’s true.”
He stepped forward and brought their faces closer together. He watched in fascination as her eyes glazed over. He was so tempted to close the scant distance between their mouths and remind her how good it was between them. Instead, he reached over her shoulder and opened her car door.
“Well, I bet your desserts taste as sweet as you do,” he whispered in her ear.
She froze.
He pulled back in satisfaction. “I’ll see you soon, Jade.”
He tossed her a meaningful wink before turning away and ambling through the front door of his office.
Yeah. Jade Hollingsworth was going to be a problem.
But a fun problem.
He hoped.