Chapter 22
Natalia
I was a jittery, nervous wreck.
Somehow I’d managed to keep busy this week and hadn’t wasted much time dwelling on my upcoming date, or rather upcoming weekend, with Hunter, until now. It was two in the afternoon on Friday, and I’d already finished all of my appointments and written up all of my case notes. Hoping to relax and unwind, I’d drawn a bath and tossed in a sweet pea bath bomb I’d picked up on the way home yesterday.
Like the rest of my apartment, the bathroom was small, so it steamed up just from filling the tub with hot water. Since Izzy wasn’t home, I left the door open to let out some of the steam and shed my clothes before settling into the hot water. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and inhaled the amazing scent of my grandmother’s garden. Totally what I needed.
My phone buzzed from the sink, interrupting my peace, and my eyes fluttered open. Finding a penetrating eye staring at me from the corner of the tub, I jumped from the water, sloshed half the bath all over the floor, and nearly slipped on the wet tile.
The cat.
The damn cat.
You’d think the presence of only one eye would have given me a clue.
Catpernicus had strolled in through the open door and perched himself up on the edge of the tub, nearly scaring the life out of me. With the way he continued to eye me (no pun intended), I grabbed the towel from the rack to cover myself.
Seriously? I was on edge today.
I took a few deep breaths and went to grab my phone, the buzzing of which had been the catalyst to my near disaster, and suddenly realized my cell was no longer on the sink. Dread settled into my stomach, but I looked around everywhere, leaving what I feared most for last.
Not on the floor.
Didn’t fall into the sink.
No miraculous leap into the nearby garbage can.
My eyes dropped to the tub.
Shit.
There sat my phone—on the bottom of the half-full bath.
In my frenzied scramble to get out, I’d grabbed the sink and must’ve knocked it into the water. I scooped it up, but of course, it was too late. The phone was dead, and I couldn’t imagine there would be a resurrection.
Though I was aggravated with myself, there was really nothing I could do about it at the moment, so I patted my phone dry and attempted to settle back into the tub. Finding it impossible to relax, I decided to finish my grooming. I shaved every piece of hair from my legs and armpits, and then scrutinized the Brazilian wax job I’d had done yesterday to make sure it looked just right. Catpernicus sat dutifully on the edge of the tub, licking and cleaning his paws. I’d arranged for my neighbor, Mrs. Whitman, who also had a cat, to take him for the weekend. I wondered if perhaps Catpernicus was getting ready for his own date.
Packing my bag was a challenge of its own. I picked out my laciest lingerie, but wasn’t sure what, if anything, I’d be wearing beyond that. Which resulted in overpacking—something to lounge around in, something to go out, jeans and a T-shirt…what if it rained? I imagined the look on Hunter’s face if I showed up with rain gear and two suitcases. The poor man would probably have a heart attack, thinking I was moving in.
Butterflies took up residence in my belly for the rest of the afternoon. We’d texted a few times this week and decided that rather than him picking me up, I’d go to his place right after dropping off Izzy. Hunter lived pretty close to Garrett’s mother’s house. I’d be taking Izzy straight from practice, and I didn’t want her to see the suitcase, so I stashed it in the trunk. I needed to be careful with the example I set, especially now that she was almost sixteen and interested in boys. Teenagers listen to your actions, not what you tell them is right or wrong.
On my way to pick up Izzy, I stopped by Verizon and got a new, ridiculously overpriced iPhone. They weren’t able to save anything from my old phone, so I had no numbers or contacts, and I’d basically be starting from scratch. I didn’t even know the first digit of Hunter’s telephone number.
It was probably best that Izzy had transformed back to a disgruntled teenager and was in a mood when I picked her up from practice. My emotions were already all over the place, and I wasn’t sure it would be wise to discuss boys or her dad. When we pulled up at her grandmother’s house, I double parked.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I dropped my phone in the bathtub. I don’t even know your number.” I dug my new cell from my jacket pocket. “Can you program it in?”
She took it and typed as she spoke. “When did you take a bath?”
“This afternoon.”
“But you showered this morning. You were in there when I woke up.”
“Umm…I was stressed so I tried a new bath bomb.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I lied. “Just some work things were bothering me.”
I walked Izzy to the door, spoke to her grandmother for a minute, and then forced a hug and a kiss. “I’ll call you tomorrow to check in.”
“Are you doing anything this weekend?” she asked.
I smiled, happy to not have to lie. “I plan on spending the weekend in bed.”
***
Was it possible to feel your heart bouncing against your ribcage? I wasn’t sure, but that’s what it felt like was going on. Either that or I had a massive case of indigestion. I parked my car in a garage on the same block as Hunter’s place, and everything hit me when I handed the keys to the valet. He asked me what time I would be picking it up.
I swallowed. “Not until Sunday.”
I was really doing this.
Butterflies swarmed in my belly, stronger and stronger with each step I took toward Hunter’s building. I took a deep breath as the doorman greeted me.
“You must be Ms. Rossi?”
It wasn’t the same doorman who had been working the night I’d visited. “Yes. How did you know that?”
He smiled warmly and took off his hat. “Mr. Delucia called earlier and said you would be arriving about now. He was unable to reach you and wanted me to let you know his flight was delayed, and he’ll arrive home about nine.”
“Oh.” Disappointment settled in. I’d taken all afternoon to psych myself up for arrival, and another hour would surely fray the last of my nerves.
The doorman reached into his pocket. “He asked that I get the key from the super so you could let yourself in and wait. Would you like me to take you up?”
“Oh. No. I can do it myself.” I took the keys and felt the need to explain myself for some unknown reason. “I dropped my phone in water. That’s why he couldn’t reach me.”
During the elevator ride up, I dug my new phone out of my pocket again. I hadn’t checked it since the store activated it, other than to have Izzy enter her number. Sure enough, I had a new message from Hunter that had arrived in the last few minutes.
Hunter: Just landed at JFK. My messages aren’t showing as delivered. Hope all is okay.
I saved his number to my contacts and typed back.
Nat: I broke my phone and just picked up a new one an hour ago. Lost all my contacts.
Hunter: Flight was delayed. Going to be about another hour before I get there. Sorry. Benny the doorman should have a key for you to let yourself in.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open as I typed.
Nat: On the elevator with key in hand as I type this.
Hunter: Nice. I was starting to worry you were blowing me off.
His apartment was a few doors down from the elevator, so I let myself in before responding again.
Nat: I still have an hour to reconsider. Anything can happen…
Hunter: How about you spend that hour getting undressed and thinking about all the things I’m going to do to you when I get home.
Now that was tempting. I bit my bottom lip and played with him a little.
Nat: You’re not even going to feed me first?
The dots started to jump around, then stopped, then started again.
Hunter: I’d give you the visual of what I just imagined feeding you, but we need to stop texting or I’m not going to be able to walk off this plane in a few minutes without embarrassing myself.
Oh my. He didn’t have to describe it, my own image was just as vivid. Another text came in before I could respond.
Hunter: See you soon.
Sigh. I left my suitcase at the front door and walked to the balcony. I pulled the cord to open the privacy blinds that covered the glass doors and appreciated the spectacular view. It was odd to be inside Hunter’s apartment by myself. After a bit of city gazing, I decided to look around a little. And by look, I mean snoop.
It wasn’t his home, so the place was pretty bare of personal belongings. Yet that didn’t stop me from checking out his medicine cabinet. An extra box of toothpaste, large bottle of mouthwash, unopened vitamins, two untouched deodorants—pretty much just the basics. Although I suppose if he had medicines, they’d likely have traveled with him, so I wasn’t really learning anything. In the bedroom, there was a fair amount of clothes in the closet, and the chest of drawers had the usual assortment of socks and underwear. Looking around the room, there wasn’t much else to look at—other than the nightstand.
The one on the far side of the room was empty. I was just about to call my little snooping session a bust when I stopped at the other nightstand. Slipping it open with my pointer finger, I hit pay dirt. Inside was a bag, sitting on top of some papers. I took note of how the bag had been placed inside and then lifted it to check out the contents. Inside was the largest box of condoms I’d ever seen, a bottle of lubricant that could be heated, and…bath bombs. I swooned seeing that Hunter had picked up the same scent as I had soaked with earlier today—sweet pea. It also made me happy that the only condoms in the apartment seemed to be an unopened box that he’d purchased with me in mind.
Before replacing the bag, I fingered through the papers, being careful not to disrupt them too much. Inside was a short-term lease agreement for the company-owned apartment, a rental car agreement, and a piece of mail addressed to Hunter. As I started to place the bag back where I’d taken it from, I happened to notice the postmark on the envelope—which had been mailed almost ten years ago. Scanning the return address, I recognized the name—Jayce Delucia—Hunter’s brother. I knew he’d died years ago. My hand rubbed at a spot on my chest, feeling emotional that Hunter carried around an old letter from his dead brother. He wasn’t just a handsome guy blessed with natural charm—he was a man of many layers. And unlike most men, the more I looked beneath the surface, the more I liked what I saw.
I was a snooper, but I wasn’t a total asshole, so I put the letter from his brother back and arranged the drawer the way it had been before sliding it shut. I had no idea what to do with myself after that. Hunter wouldn’t be here for another forty-five minutes, at least, so I decided to call Anna. It would be fun to play guess where I am.
“My nipples are killing me,” she said as she answered, rather than hello.
Nothing surprised me with her. “Well, okay then. That’s where this conversation is going. I was going to take it in a different direction, but I can work with this. How’s your asshole doing?”
She groaned. “Seriously, why can’t men be the ones to produce milk? I mean, we do everything. I carried this little pipsqueak for ten months, popped her out of my tiny little vagina, and now my tits are killing me because all she does is suck on them all day.” I heard a sweet little yelp in the background when she finished her rant.
“Is that my niece?”
“It is.” Her voice softened. “She sucks like a Hoover.”
“Aww. I miss you guys. Tell me what she’s up to these days. Is she walking? Talking?” I joked.
“Not quite. But she’s got pooping and sucking down pretty good.”
I laughed and settled into Hunter’s couch. It was so good to hear her voice, like wrapping myself in an old blanket from childhood. “How are you feeling?”
“Aside from the cracked nipples, I actually feel really good. I’ve been walking the baby in the stroller a lot, and with breastfeeding burning up all my calories, my body is starting to shrink toward its normal shape.”
“Wow. That’s great.”
“What’s going on with you?”
“Eh.” I feigned no big deal. “I’m just sitting at Hunter’s place, waiting for him to come home so we can screw like rabbits.”
A shriek so loud came through the phone that I had to pull it away from my ear. Needless to say, we did a lot of catching up over the next half hour. Though Anna had been initially leery of me and Hunter getting together, she was genuinely excited. Maybe too excited. She had me moving out to the west coast, marrying her husband’s best friend so the four of us could be inseparable, and pushing a baby carriage next to her. The reality was, Hunter and I were only going to be fuck buddies.
I attempted to set her expectations straight, although the hope I heard in her voice told me that wasn’t going to be an easy task.
“Why don’t you meet him at the door naked?” Anna said.
I laughed. “He’s been traveling all day. He’s probably starving.”
“My point exactly.” My little niece began to mewl in the background. We’d been talking on the phone for a long time. “Damn. She’s wet. I need to change her. Can you call me back in a few minutes?”
“Hunter should be home soon. How about if I call you tomorrow.”
“Oh my God. Call me right after it’s over.”
I chuckled. “Sure. I’ll call you while he’s taking off the condom.”
“Okay!”
I wasn’t quite sure if she knew I was joking or not. “I’ll call you tomorrow, crazy lady.”
After I said goodbye, I went to the bathroom to freshen up. While I was in there, for a half a second I gave serious consideration to what Anna had suggested. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Hunter would be thrilled if I answered the door buck-ass naked. But I was still on edge and needed the passion to build between us before I could let go that much.
As I was brushing my teeth with my finger, I heard the front door quietly open and close. Oh my God. He’s home. I was half giddy, fully nervous, and buzzing with a sudden surge of adrenaline. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths and then looked in the mirror before heading out to see the man responsible for my heart hammering a million miles a minute.
Only, when I walked out, it wasn’t Hunter standing in the living room. It was a woman. Just as I emerged from the bathroom, she dropped her coat to the floor.
And I froze in place, standing there staring at her beautiful, naked body.