“What does that mean?” Bailey finally asked. She smoothed a hand down her skirt and Hunter noticed that her hand stopped dangerously close to her pussy.
He chuckled. He bet that little kitty cat was soaking wet right about now.
“It means that you are going to leave at exactly five o’clock and head over to my place. And then we’re going to have a long overdue conversation.”
She gulped. “What if someone sees us leaving together? Won’t we get in trouble? I thought employees weren’t supposed to date.”
“I don’t give a damn if someone does see us. What are they going to do, fire me? They’d lose their minds without me here cleaning up their messes inside of a day.”
It wasn’t arrogance that reassured Hunter that his job was ironclad. His immediate manager was lazy as hell and none of the other associates had the rapport with the clients that he did. So anyone who had a problem with what he did in his private time could kiss his ass.
“If you’re worried about getting in trouble, don’t be. We’re friends, right? Friends can give their friends a ride home. Besides, I have an offsite at 3, so I’ll meet you there.”
Bailey nodded. “And after we talk, then you’ll take me home.”
Hell no, he wasn’t taking her home. Hunter knew exactly what would happen if he did that. She’d be inside and ignoring his calls again and nothing would be resolved. He needed to get Bailey somewhere they could hash things out, and then they could get down to the good stuff. Such as exactly what she had on under that skirt.
“No, that’s not what’s going to happen, baby girl.”
He reached out and caressed her cheek, unable to stop himself from touching her. Bailey closed her eyes at his touch and made a sound that reminded him of a kitten purring, which definitely didn’t help the blue balls situation.
If he was going to get through an entire day of work while thinking about Bailey naked then he needed something to tide himself over. Before she could see it coming, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers. When he pulled back, she was gazing at him with needy eyes.
Hunter blew out a breath. He took a step back to keep himself from grabbing her. It was easier to breathe without her warm, vanilla scent wrapped around him.
“You’re coming over, we’re going to talk properly, and then we’re going to see if you need that spanking or not.”
Then he walked away while he still could. This was going to be one long fucking day.
Seventeen
No way was Bailey going along with this.
This was Hunter.
Her best friend, Hunter.
Hot Hunter.
No. She wasn't going. She couldn't. And besides, when had Hunter turned into this totally hot alpha guy? No way, no how was she into any of that dominance and being tied up stuff. But, what he’d just said…it was a total turn on.
She inadvertently squeezed her thighs together, trying to quell the throbbing between her legs. Because right about now, she was desperate enough to let him do whatever he wanted to her.
All weekend, she'd been thinking about what had happened. She hadn’t been drunk enough to completely forget. How could she? She’d lost her mind and thrown herself at him.
And true to form, Hunter had been a gentleman. Sort of.
Every time she remembered how he’d spanked her in the shower, her clit lit up like a pinball machine. Kind of like now.
She plastered her hands on her cheeks and tried not to think about it. This was insane. How was this Hunter? What happened to nice guy, affable, Hunter? He was sweet, considerate, someone she could really talk to. And he gave her excellent advice. They were friends. Oh yeah? Do you come on to all your friends like that?
Okay, there might have been that teeny tiny lapse in judgment. She'd been super vulnerable, more than a little drunk, and suddenly realized her bestie was hot. That wasn't her fault. And with her mind reeling from what she'd seen, and unfortunately heard, she’d been looking for comfort in all the wrong places. So she couldn't really be blamed for suddenly noticing Hunter was hot and then throwing herself at him.
Okay, she could be.
What was she going to do? If she went to dinner at his place, likely she’d need a large glass of wine to fortify herself. And then what would happen? Would they hang out as usual? Would he pick her up, slam her against the wall and drag orgasm after orgasm out of her? God she hoped so.
No. No, she did not hope so. What was wrong with her?
She wasn't looking for a relationship. Okay, it would be nice to have someone to care about her. But she wasn’t looking for something at work. And certainly not with her best friend. Because if things went sideways, then who would she talk to? And since when did Hunter want her?
She flushed. Okay, if she was being honest, she'd seen his interest back in the early days. But because she'd been so shut down to any of that, he’d stopped sending the signals and they'd settled into their friendship.
If she did this, they would be crossing a line they couldn't come back from. But, what if he was still Hunter? What if they stayed friends but just added amazing sex? And she had no doubt sex with Hunter would be amazing.
There was no way she could do a friends-with-benefits arrangement with him. Friends with benefits quickly turned from good, great, awesome benefits to bad benefits. Things went wrong. And she wasn’t going to risk that. He was too important to her.
Okay, yeah, her decision was made. As much as she might want him, as much use as she’d been giving her battery-operated boyfriend, she wasn't going to go there.
So what if he suggested he might spank her or that she might like it? So what if his hands gripping her hips tight had been the hottest thing she'd felt in years? None of that mattered. Because she was not going to fuck Hunter.
Besides, given that streak of dominance, she wasn’t down for any of that. No man told her what to do. Never mind that she sort of liked it.
Just as she was grabbing her bag to head to the gym before going home, her work phone rang. Mr. Dent. Crap. She knew how this was going to go. Instead of getting a workout and going home with takeout to watch reruns of Sex and the City, she was going to be here. Working. With Mister Pervy.
"Yes, Mr. Dent?"
"Bailey, I'm reviewing the marketing campaign we just turned in, and none of this is going to work. I need you to stay late. Make a couple of orders from the place around the corner for takeout, but do not exceed fifty dollars."
What the hell? She wasn’t even assigned to the Higgins client. And fifty dollars was not going to cover takeout for more than three people if all the interns were working. But he knew that. He was just a cheap ass.
"Okay, sir. How many of us will be staying?" She waited with bated breath, dreading the answer.
"All the interns. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation."
She exhaled a long sigh, then said, "Sure thing." After she hung up with him. She dragged out her cell phone and started a text to Hunter.
Bailey: Sorry not going to make it. Have to work. Dentface is on a rampage. Rain check?
She had absolutely zero intention of getting a rain check. But, he didn't need to know that.
Hunter stared at the text for several seconds.
She may have to work, but he knew her well. She’d had no intention of ever coming tonight.
He smirked at his own joke. Well, if she wasn’t coming, she wasn't going to give him the brush off via text. She was going to tell him to his face. He wasn’t letting her run.
Not after what happened Friday. He knew she wanted him. And he wanted her too. So bad his balls were a permanent shade of indigo. But he wanted more than sex. He wanted all of Bailey. This wasn't going to be a casual-sex situation. They could make this thing work. He just had to make sure she saw it too.
Sitting back and being Mr. Nice Hunter had gotten him nowhere. He’d spent a lot of time tamping down his desires, what he really wanted, to make someone else more comfortable. Well, he was done
with that. He wanted Bailey. So he was going to go get her.
He grabbed a box of her favorite chocolate truffles that he’d been saving for tonight. If he knew Dent, he might not feed the team he had working. Or if he did, he’d make a point to order less food than was enough for the people there.
At least these would tide her over until he brought her home and could feed her properly.
In minutes, he was out of his apartment and hailing a cab. He lived downtown, so it made no sense to pull out his car when the office was just on the other side of downtown. He could've walked, but he wanted to be quick just in case she did leave the office and try to head home instead.
When he reached the office, he was surprised to find it still hopping and busy with interns working on finishing touches for the Reverence Airlines campaign.
The strange thing was that the interns that were here were lower-level interns, the kind that could make copies and fetch coffee. Bailey might still be an intern, but after working here for nearly a year, she was acting as a junior associate on a lot of campaigns. And this wasn't even one of hers. Why the hell had Dent had her stay for this? Having her fetch coffee was shit an assistant could do.
Besides, while Dent was technically the person she reported to, the structure was cross-functional. All the projects she worked on were in his department. So why was she staying to help with this stuff?
Because Dent has the hots for her. That made Hunter shudder. He still had the video from the other night. He didn't think Bailey even knew she'd recorded the whole thing. The real question was what the hell was he going to do with it? Right now, he was holding on to it just in case they needed it later.
Okay, first things first. He texted his boss, Stephen, with a quick request to have Bailey help him out with something. And then he marched into Dent's office. This should be fun.
“Hey, Mr. Dent."
Dent frowned. "Hunter? I didn't know you were working late."
"Yeah. Had a little trouble with the Wendell campaign. Actually, can I grab Bailey? She's done most of the original work on it, since she’s been working with our team."
Dent frowned. "But I need her here."
And here was the crux of it. Hunter didn't want to have to do this. But he would to get what he wanted.
"Well, you have lots of interns. Bailey's actually done work for my client. So do you really need her to collate, or can another intern handle that?"
Dent's face went red. Hunter had him by the balls. He didn't need Bailey tonight. Bailey didn't even work on this particular project. So having her here was bullshit and they both knew it.
After a few moments, Dent said, "Fine. But I want to talk to Stephen about her time. She is my direct hire."
Hunter smiled. "Oh, I totally get it. The thing is, we have cross-functional teams for a reason, right?"
Let him chew on that for a minute. Bailey wasn’t here to be his personal assistant.
"Fine. Use her."
As if the asshole had any right to her. "Thanks." Hunter was sure to keep his voice chipper. After all, he was taking the woman of his dreams to dinner. Like she deserved.
When he found her, she was hunched over her desk, reviewing two different stacks. "Come on, I’ve sprung you."
She blinked up at him as if unsure she was really seeing him. "Hunter?"
"Yep, in the flesh. Now get your stuff before Dent changes his mind."
She frowned. "What did you do?"
"Nothing. I merely reminded him that you don't actually do any work for this campaign. So him having you stay is ridiculous. And, I got Stephen to give me an out. I said I needed you on my project."
"Hunter. You can’t do that."
He nodded. "But I can. If I need an intern, I can ask for one. And I asked for you. So I can, and I did. Now get your stuff, unless you want to stay here all night collating for a client you don’t work with, checking for duplicate pages." He put up his hands. "Hey, I thought I was rescuing you, but maybe you're happier here."
After that, she didn't hesitate. She grabbed her bag and then signaled one of the other interns to come and take the stacks from her. And then she was scurrying out behind him.
"Thank you. I thought I was going to go blind in there."
"What are friends for? Now, let's have dinner."
The elevator door dinged open and Hunter stepped in. Bailey hesitated as she followed. "Listen, Hunter, I appreciate the rescue. You have no idea how much. But I don't think dinner at your place is a really good idea."
"Look, I know Dent. He doesn’t order enough food and you're probably starving.” He pulled out the truffles and gave them to her. “These will tide you over until we get to my place."
She licked her lips as she stared at the truffles. "Who says we’re going to your place?"
"I do. We have a date, remember?"
She flushed. "Hunter. You didn't ask me for a date. You told me we were having one. I don't like being told what to do."
He leaned over, crowding her a little. She took an automatic step back, but she didn't have very far to go and she hit the wall of the elevator. He kept his voice low when he asked, "Are you sure you don't like it?"
Her breath came out in choppy pants. "Hunter, I just—" her gaze suddenly focused on his mouth and her tongue peeked out to lick her lips.
Hunter barely bit back a groan. Did she have any idea how sexy she was? "Yes, Bailey?"
"Hunter, this—"
He leaned in closer, dipping his head down as if he was going to kiss her. Shit, who was he fooling? He almost did. He forgot that this was all about the tease. Making her want him.
His lips hovered just over hers. "Just tell me you don't want this."
He pulled back a little; she was panting hard now. As he watched the erratic rise and fall of her breasts, his hands itched to palm them.
"I—" she swallowed hard. Then tried again. "Hunter, I can't think when I'm around you."
“Good. Now you know how I’ve been feeling since you showed up here.” When the elevator dinged open, he took her hand. "Come on. You need to eat and we need to talk."
She hesitated for a moment but then nodded. "Yeah. I guess we do need to talk."
Right now, he needed to do a lot more with her than talk, but they would start with that. And bonus, she was holding his hand, clasping it tightly like he was her lifeline. He loved the feeling. Without hesitation, he hailed a cab.
She was his. She just didn't know it yet.
Eighteen
As soon as they arrived at Hunter’s apartment, Bailey parked herself on the couch. She’d been to his place plenty of times before but it had never seemed this small.
Hunter, however, seemed to have no issues and she watched as he moved around the living room, turning on lights. He’d hung his coat on the hook by the door and rolled his sleeves up. Even the sight of his bare forearms was hot.
What was that about?
She shrugged out of her coat and tossed it over the back of the couch. Usually when she came over, they just hung out, ate pizza and bitched about work. It was so weird to be here now that he’d seen her naked. Bailey cringed. Worse, he’d seen her naked and barfing, and had to physically peel her off him. Fantastic.
“Is Chinese okay?” Hunter’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Bailey nodded frantically. “Yeah, uh huh. Sure, whatever you want.”
He looked at her strangely before pulling his phone out of his pocket. While he called their usual order in, Bailey had to give herself a stern lecture about acting normal.
Just be cool. This is no different than the million other times you’ve hung out. Yes, you embarrassed yourself the other day, but Hunter is a nice guy. He’s not going to rub your face in it.
She felt a little better after that thought. Hunter was a nice guy. There was a reason she liked him so much and secretly fantasized about him, after all. He was not only whip smart but he had a great sense of humor, and he just… got her. He would never want to hurt
her feelings or embarrass her. She let out a long breath.
Hunter put his phone in his pocket and sat on the couch next to her. They were both quiet for a few minutes and then he turned to her.
“So, we need to talk about what happened the other night.”
Bailey groaned. Okay, scratch that. Hunter is an asshole.
“No, we don’t. I’m totally on board with pretending that never happened.”
He leaned closer, crowding her until she couldn’t ignore his warm sugar and sandalwood scent. “I’m not okay with that. Damn it, Bailey. You can’t just get naked and grab my dick and then act like nothing happened.”
Hearing his version of events somehow made it all worse. Mortification flowed over Bailey like lava. She covered her eyes with her hands. Maybe if she didn’t have to see him, she could pretend this conversation was happening to someone else.
“I told you I was sorry about that.”
Bailey wasn’t much of a drinker usually and this was a perfect example why. She didn’t like being out of control and she sure as hell didn’t like making a fool of herself. An image of her rubbing her bare breasts against Hunter in the shower flashed through her mind and she groaned as a new wave of shame returned.
“I’m never drinking vodka again!”
Hunter chuckled. “I’ll believe that when I see it. And I don’t want you to be sorry.”
Bailey peeked between her fingers. “You don’t?”
“Hell, no.” He sent her a look that was hot enough to instantly incinerate her panties.
Bailey clenched her thighs together. Hunter had never looked at her like that before. Was he thinking about what she looked like naked right now? Was he as hot as she was, remembering what they’d almost done?
Then she realized that despite them being just friends, Hunter was still a guy. He probably figured if she was looking to get laid, why not? Why else would he suddenly be looking at her like a lollipop he wanted to taste? He just wanted to hit it and quit it and she’d made it seem like she was open to that.
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