Chapter 14
A LITTLE OVER a week later, Allie flopped into her office chair with a moan. It felt as though she’d been running around nonstop, and her sensible heels had become torture devices. Kicking them off under her desk, she cracked her toes and flexed the arches, wincing at her sore muscles.
Every inch of her hurt, and while some of it was from being on her feet to oversee the hospital updates, most of it was due to stress.
For the last week, she’d been out with Hunter three more times. They’d gone to a movie, and grabbed dinner twice. He was the perfect gentleman and she liked him a lot.
But she just couldn’t stop obsessing about the things Dex had said to her. Or that kiss, which she’d replayed again and again. It was so quick she’d hardly had time to realize what was happening, so why couldn’t she forget it?
Not that she’d seen much of Dex since then. Either he remembered everything and had been avoiding her, or he had just been feeling lazy these days. He didn’t start work on the cabin until she was gone, and he was never there when she arrived home. Still, he’d gotten the railing up on the front porch and there had been no more raccoons terrorizing her kitchen. She had to give it to him; every time she came home, the cabin looked better than when she’d left.
“How’s my favorite hospital administrator?”
At the sound of Hunter’s voice, Allie smiled warmly. She couldn’t help it. She genuinely liked him.
“Fine. A little tired and my feet are killing me.”
Hunter sat down in the other office chair and scooted around until he was next to her. He picked up one of her feet and held it in his lap.
And then, with the pad of his thumb, he pressed into the arch of her foot and started rubbing away all the aches.
Allie melted into her chair, whimpering with every squeeze, every press of his hands.
“Does that hurt?”
“In the best way possible,” she said huskily.
For several more moments he continued massaging her feet, and then, suddenly, he was pulling her toward him so her legs straddled him on either side of his chair. Her eyes flew open as her simple black pencil skirt rode up her thighs. His arm wrapped around her waist and he dipped his head toward her lips.
“Someone could come in,” she protested.
“I locked the door.”
Such a bold move was surprising from Hunter, and as he gave her a hard, passionate kiss, Allie had to admit that it did stir something inside her. But was it really him or his assertiveness that was affecting her?
Allowing herself to sink into the kiss, to lose herself in it, she waited … and waited for more.
But besides that momentary flutter, this kiss was the same as all the others they’d shared. A sweet, pleasant kiss. It didn’t make her body hum with need or cause her toes to curl.
Damn it. Don’t be discouraged. There is something here. It might not be an over-the-top, runaway passion, but it will grow.
Allie had never had anything that was real before, nothing that would last. She just needed to be patient.
Allie pulled away and gave Hunter a reassuring smile. “We shouldn’t do this here.”
“Fine, I’ll be a good boy, but what do you think about you and me grabbing a beer after work?”
“I would love to, but I have to get home and relieve Penny. She has to work at the Grizzly tonight.”
Hunter stood up, running his hands from her waist down the sides of her thighs as he released her.
“Another time, then,” he said, shooting her a wink before he unlocked her office door and slipped out.
Allie got home to find Dex up on the roof, hammering.
“Hey,” she called.
He’d barely glanced up when she pulled in the driveway, and his indifference was starting to grate on her. How could he say all of those things and then ignore her? He hadn’t even thanked her for bringing him home when he was too drunk to do it himself.
Looking around for something to throw, she decided upon a pinecone. The goal was to toss it up onto the roof next to him to get his attention.
Instead, she’d hit him in the ass, and with more impact than she knew she had the ability to generate.
Dex jumped and looked at her over his shoulder with a glare. “What the hell?”
“Don’t you have a job or something?”
“I told you I took some time off to fix all the things on the cabin. Is that why you tried to knock me off the roof?”
“Oh, please, it hardly touched you.”
With a shake of his head, Dex turned back to his hammering. Heat crawled along Allie’s skin, pricks of anger tightening her muscles as she worked herself into a full-on rage.
What an ass. He couldn’t spare two seconds to acknowledge she’d done him a solid the other night?
Screw that.
Picking up another pinecone, this time she threw it with the full intention of hitting him on purpose.
Of course it whizzed over his head instead.
Figures.
“What the hell?” He spun around on his knees. “What’s your problem?”
“You are, you selfish jerk!”
Before he could say anything to that, she stormed into the cabin and let out a shriek.
Penny glanced up from the textbook she was reading with Kermit sitting in her lap. “Rough day?”
Dex had no idea what had gotten into Allie, especially since she’d spent more than a week ignoring him. He couldn’t really blame her. After the things he’d said to her and then that kiss …
He was actually surprised she hadn’t slapped him outright.
He’d been drunk, admittedly, and he hadn’t been able to stop railing on himself for being an inconsiderate dick, especially to Hunter. There was no reason for him to be so hung up on this one woman, so he’d made it his mission to do the right thing and stay away from her.
But now, the crazy lady was throwing things at him while he was on her freaking roof.
That shit would not stand.
An hour later, once Penny left, Dex climbed down the ladder and opened the door to the cabin without knocking.
Allie shut the fridge and turned on him, her brown eyes blazing. “I thought we agreed you would stop barging in here without knocking?”
“Actually, you said that. I chose to ignore you.”
“Well, that’s a big change.”
“I want to know what your problem is.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Dex. Maybe it’s the fact that I left my date early to drive your drunk ass home and I didn’t even get a ‘thank you.’”
“You want me to thank you, I’ll th—”
“And, you not only spouted off a bunch of total bullshit that messed with my head, but then you kissed me.”
Dex felt his face fall. “You’re right. I was drinking, but that is no excuse to disrespect you while you were just trying to help me. I acted like an asshole. I’m sorry.”
Allie seemed surprised by his admission, if her excessive blinking was any indication. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. So, are we good? Or are you going to continue to throw things at me like a twelve-year-old?”
Allie blushed. He secretly loved the way she looked when she was flushed, even if it wasn’t for the reason he wanted her to be.
I just apologized for being a dick. I need to stop imagining Allie Fairchild flushed and moaning in the middle of my bed.