by Molly O'Hare
And the more Abbie thought about it, the more she liked the idea.
Her clients loved her. Abbie had always made it her mission to sell them on why they should choose her to help represent what they need rather than signing on with WCM just to sign on because of the name.
Abbie was a master at selling potential clients the journey they would go on together. It’s how she moved up in the company so fast. And that was exactly what Abbie would do on her own.
Away from Hunter James.
As she rounded the corner, she froze dead in her tracks the moment Hunter came into view. He sat there with his jacket hangin on a nearby chair and his sleeves rolled up a few inches. He was looking over his paperwork spread out across the conference table.
He was gorgeous.
Actually, gorgeous was an understatement.
Her stupid heart did that flip thing. She placed her right hand onto her chest trying to calm herself.
On your lunch break call your doctor dumb-dumb. This isn’t healthy.
Then Hunter, sensing she was there, looked up and smiled.
Holy freaking hell! She almost fell backwards. How was it possible for someone to walk around that good looking? Wasn’t there some cosmic law against it?
Abbie took another deep breath and squared her shoulders. You’ve got this, Abs. You can survive anything. You’ve got your plan. Stick to it.
She walked through the door with her head held high. “Morning.”
Hunter beamed at her. “Mornin’, Abbie. How did you sleep?”
She cocked her eyebrow at him. “As good as I ever sleep with a naked cat trying to suffocate me to steal my warmth.”
Hunter tilted his head to the side. “Naked pussies keep me up at night too.”
“Pig.”
“Starting the venom early, I see.”
“With you, always.” Abbie walked over to the table. “What are you working on?”
Hunter looked at her. “My lunch order. What do you think?”
Before she knew it, Abbie broke out into a smile. A genuine smile that soon matched Hunter’s as they said at the same time. “Lunch order.”
They both laughed as Abbie pulled out her laptop. “What’s on the menu?”
Hunter tossed her one of the papers he’d been looking at. “How do you feel about Italian?”
Abbie looked down at her shirt.
“Are you asking your boobs?”
“No. I was checking to see what color blouse I had on.”
“Are you sure, cause it kinda looked like you were asking your tits? Better yet, do they respond to anybody? Let me ask them?” Hunter walked around the table and stood right in front of her.
That’s when Abbie’s heart skipped again. And to her horror, she felt her nipples peak. Apparently, they respond to you. Abbie scoffed at herself. Bad body. Bad boobs. Remember what we talked about last night body? None of this shit today.
Hunter leaned towards her chest. “Are you okay if we order Italian for lunch?”
Abbie took a step back while pushing at his chest. “Do not talk to my ta-tas, dick-wad.”
“Why not?”
“First, that’s weird as hell. And second, I wasn’t asking my chest. I was really checking to see what color shirt I had on.”
Hunter looked her up and down. “What does the color of your shirt have anything to do with it?”
“You won’t get it.” Abbie let out a dramatic sigh.
“Try me.” Hunter crossed his arms over his chest.
“Fine.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “But if you by any chance make a smartass remark, I will tackle you to the ground.”
That stupid smirk appeared on his face. “I’ll try my best. Although, that doesn’t sound like a punishment to me.”
“Pig.” Abbie laughed. Somehow even in the weirdest most bizarre situations with Hunter, she found herself feeling this weird ease. “I needed to make sure I was wearing a darker color. Nine times out of ten I drop something on my shirt during lunch. Okay, anytime I eat. My boobs sit there like they have a target right in the middle and food always nails its mark. If I’m having Italian the probability goes up to twelve out of ten times.”
“I don’t think you understand statistics.”
“I don’t think you understand having huge boobs and expensive shirts that cost an arm and a leg to get dry cleaned.”
Hunter nodded. “You’re right, I don’t understand having boobs but I do know how to excite them.”
“Pig.”
“You say that a lot.”
Abbie shrugged. “Call ‘em as I see ‘em.”
Hunter reached out and flipped the bottom of her blouse. “Does dark purple meet your unneeded approval for Italian?”
Abbie looked down at her top again. She knew at this point it was beyond a shadow of a doubt she was going to spill something on it. Was this top worth the hassle of dry-cleaning?
“Jeez, women are complicated.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s settled we’re having Italian. I’ll buy you a new top if I have to. Now, let’s get started.”
“Bossy.”
Hunter looked her in the face as something weird passed over him. “If that’s what you like, I have no problem ordering you around.”
Heat flashed through her.
Stop it. Stop it, stupid body! I mean it!
“Pig.”
“I’m starting to think pig means something different to you.” He tapped his finger to his chin. “Actually, the more I think about it the more I can only come to the conclusion it means sexy in your world.” Hunter winked. “Now when you call me pig, I know you really mean sexy.”
“Ass-wipe.”
Hunter turned giving Abbie his backside. “I do have an extraordinary ass, don’t I? It’s all the hours at the gym.”
“Blah.” Abbie shuttered in disgust. “You said an icky word.”
Hunter cocked his brow toward her.
“Gym. Eww. There is nothing good at the gym.”
“I beg to differ. “
“You would.” She rolled her eyes. “I bet you wake up at two in the morning and spend three hours there every day. No, thank you. I’d rather sleep. Or eat, or get a root canal.”
Hunter looked her up and down. “Are there other ways you like to work out your body?”
The tension in the room thickened.
“Like killing your plants?” Hunter threw his head back in laughter and just like that the tension was gone.
“Asshole.”
“There you go thinking about my ass again.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking about kicking it.”
“This is gonna be fun.” Hunter smirked as he pulled out the seat in front of Abbie. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Eight
The knock on the conference door had Abbie nearly jumping out of her skin. “What the hell?” She looked behind her.
Since settling into the project, Hunter and Abbie and gone over everything she had done so far. At first, she was still resistant to work with Hunter, but after the first hour, she let it go and put her head down.
Sadly, no matter how bad it hurt to admit, Hunter did have some good ideas. She now saw why he was an Account Executive. Her respect for him went up. Just a little bit, though, no need to get crazy here.
Hunter was still an asshole.
“Food’s here,” Hunter announced as he grabbed the bag from the carrier and brought it over to the table.
“When did you order?” Her brows shot to the ceiling. “Better yet, what did you order? I’m one hundred percent positive I was never asked what I wanted for lunch.”
Hunter’s face broke into the stupid smirk she hated. “You were the one that said you liked to be ordered around. I was just giving in to your hellish demands.”
“Hellish demands? Are you insane?” She held up her hand. “Wait, don’t answer that. You’re completely insane if you think the conversation from earlier resulted in me liking to be ordered around. You need to have your
head examined.” Abbie stood before reaching into the white paper bag to see what Hunter had ordered.
“That’s exactly the way I heard it. It’s not my fault you don’t communicate well.” He smirked at her again.
That same fucking smirk she wanted to rip off his face. After letting out a small huff of annoyance, Abbie pulled out the first box as a wave of garlic hit her. She peeked inside.
Garlic knots.
Her mouth started to salivate. She freaking loved garlic knots.
Abbie placed it next to her and moved to see what else he’d gotten. Box after box she began to pull out.
Eggplant Parmesan.
Penne Alla Vodka.
Lasagna.
Spaghetti with meatballs… Yuck.
First, Abbie hated ground beef and secondly, if you are going to go to an Italian place get something with more pizzazz. She put the lid back on the box and pushed it toward the other side of the table. “Blahh.”
“With that look of disgust on your face, I take it you aren’t a fan of the simple stuff in life?” Hunter chuckled reaching for the discarded box.
“Meatballs are gross.”
“Not my meatballs.”
Abbie shot her eyes to him. “Pig.”
“Sexy.”
Abbie faked a gag. “I’m gonna vomit.” She shuddered before opening up the last box. “Calamari! My favorite.” Without a second thought, Abbie popped two rings in her mouth.
She didn’t even try to suppress the moan that escaped her lips. God, Calamari is so good. Thank you, Universe, for making these little dudes and then deep-frying them. Another moan left her lips as she danced from side to side in pure joy.
However, when Abbie opened her eyes, Hunter was staring at her with a pained look on his face. “What?”
Ignoring her question, Hunter pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
He didn’t look up from his device as he answered. “Placing an order for five more plates of Calamari.”
Abbie rolled her eyes as she laughed. “Make sure they add extra marinara.”
Hunter froze as his eyes went to her.
“What? I’m not going to deny myself food I love to eat.”
Hunter’s brows pulled together causing the corner of Abbie’s mouth to turn up. She sent him a wink as she popped another one into her mouth. “I know you aren’t ordering it.”
His brow rose. “How do you know?”
Abbie tapped her finger to the side of her head. “Intuition.”
“More like witchcraft. You say the word and I’ll order you a truckload.” Hunter slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I like a woman that knows what she wants.”
“Right now, I want to eat. I hadn’t realized the time. I can’t believe I lasted this long not trying to kill you.”
“I have to admit I’m disappointed you went a whole four hours and not even once attempted to tackle me. You’ve lost your edge.”
Abbie ignored him as she placed her hand back in the carrier searching for the silverware. Then she pulled out a plastic bag. Thinking that’s where the forks were, she opened it.
“Fuck you.” She turned her evil glare to Hunter who was now doubled over in laughter.
“Your face,” he said as he tried to control himself.
Abbie pulled out a piece of cloth. “Did you really get me a bib?”
In between his gasps for air, he choked out in hysterics, “You were so concerned about your shirt.”
“Idiot.”
Whatever. As she looked down at the bib, she fought her smile. “Boobs.” Abbie looked back at Hunter. “How did you find one that said boobs?”
His eyes danced with mischief as he answered. “You’d be surprised at some of the weird sayings they put on baby shit these days. I was shocked.”
“And when did you have the time to peruse the baby aisle.”
“When you were going over the online campaign for the tenth time.”
Abbie rolled her eyes, throwing her hair into a bun on top of her head and placed the bib around her neck.
When she looked back at Hunter, she couldn’t help but smile at his shocked face. “Didn’t think I’d wear it did you?”
“To be honest, no.”
Abbie winked before she motioned to her shirt. “Gotta protect the goods.” She pointed to the bib. “Just like the thing says.”
Hunter sat back in his chair as he watched in amazement while Abbie wore that stupid bib and ate her lunch. She was constantly surprising him.
It was like no matter what he did to get a leg up on her, she’d do something just as insane to throw him back down a notch.
Which was also a testament for just how damn good of a worker she was. As he went over the proposal she’d already done, he was more and more blown away. Abbie Collins was a master at what she did.
“Stop staring at me,” she said as she wiped marinara sauce off her chin. “Hey, look.” She pointed at the bib. “This came in handy.”
Hunter looked at where she pointed and sure enough, there was a glob of sauce right in the middle.
“Why don’t they market these to adults?” Abbie pulled off the bib. “They should.”
“Put together a marketing plan for it. You can be the spokesperson.” Hunter laughed.
Abbie squared her shoulders as she lifted her chin at him. “Maybe, I will.”
With a shake of his head, Hunter pushed away his spaghetti and meatballs. “Where are we?”
Abbie moved her food to the other end of the table grabbing the last ring of Calamari tossing it into her mouth.
When she moaned the sound went straight to Hunter’s lower half.
Fuck, she needed to stop doing that.
She might have had the urge to tackle him when he got under her skin. Well, he wanted to tackle her too.
Instantly, images of Abbie spread out on the conference table in front of him clouded his mind. He’d gladly feast on her, and he was positive he’d moan the exact same way she did when she placed a piece of Calamari in her mouth when her taste finally touched his tongue.
“Are you constipated? You’re making weird noises.” Hunter’s eyes shot open to see Abbie giving him a strange look.
“Are you gassy? It was probably the meatballs.” She pointed to the box “Meatballs are disgusting.”
“What do you have against meatballs?”
“I’m not a fan of ground beef.”
He cocked a brow. Abbie was strange, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Doing his best to push aside the images of her spread-eagle out in front of him, he grabbed his computer and tuned it toward her. “All right, we have one week to get this proposal done. Bill told me when I came into the office this morning, Jefferson will be back Tuesday.”
Abbie’s brows knitted together. “He didn’t tell me that.”
Hunter shrugged, winking at her. “I said I’d let you know.”
Abbie sent him a dirty look before she let out a dramatic sigh. “Let’s just forget everything and work. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can part ways. “
Part ways? Over his dead body. Hadn’t she figured out she was the only reason he was even here?
It would be a cold day in hell before they parted ways again.
He just needed her to realize that.
And he would stop at nothing until she did.
Chapter Nine
It’d been an intense few days working alongside Hunter, and as Abbie walked into her living room with a piping hot cup of tea in her hands she headed directly to her couch.
She planned on plopping down on that thing and never getting back up.
She’d been looking forward to today. It was going to be her Saturday to do nothing. Her day away from Hunter.
And she needed it. Being so close to him had drained everything inside of her.
Settling into her spot, she looked over to see Rupert curled up on the side of the couch in his black turtleneck lined with gold trim. It
occurred to her, he had the right idea.
Abbie stretched out her legs causing Rupert to meow in annoyance. “Hush your face.”
Rupert huffed in disapproval before turning away from her.
“No skin off my nose,” she said as she grabbed the remote and surfed the channels for morning cartoons.
Abbie glanced over at the pile of paperwork she had on the coffee table. When she arrived home last night, she went over what they’d done to see if she’d missed anything.
She took a long sip of her tea cursing Hunter.
It didn't matter.
Thinking about him right now was pointless. This was her day - Hunter free. And she was going to enjoy every last second of it.
Then as if the Universe wanted to mock her, there was a knock on the door.
Abbie groaned as she pushed herself up. “It better be one of those neighborhood kids selling cookies. That’s the only person I’m opening this door for.” She placed her mug on the coffee table before slowly gathering her strength. Still only half awake she walked over to the door and opened it.
“Morning, sunshine.” Hunter pushed past her.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
He turned toward her. “I like the way you greet me.” Abbie watched as he looked her up and down. “Nice outfit.”
That’s when Abbie’s eyes fully shot open completely alert. She looked down at herself. You’ve got to be kidding me? She was in her t-shirt nightgown that went to just below her butt, no bra. Hell, she wasn’t even wearing panties. But that wasn’t the issue, nor was it that her hair was an absolute mess.
It was what her nightgown said.
“Don’t you wish you had a hairless pussy just like me,” Hunter read her shirt out loud looking at the hairless cat smack dab in the middle of it. “Do you have a hairless pussy, Abbie?” Hunter asked with a strain in his voice.
Thank you, Universe, you once again have made me want to climb up there and strangle you. Abbie closed her eyes. Just a few more days Abbie that’s all you have left.
She opened her eyes. “Yep. He’s right over there.” Abbie pointed to Rupert. “Please excuse me while I go change. I didn't think you’d be an inconsiderate asshole and show up at my doorstep unannounced. Silly me, I should have known that was your M.O.”