Chapter Nine
I lay in Hunter’s bed, my eyes wide open. I’d been staring at the ceiling for the better part of an hour, and I couldn’t take any more.
“Hunter,” I said in a hushed voice. “Are you asleep?”
His voice sounded from the darkness. “No.”
Rolling over, I reached out to move the screen separating the bed from the rest of the apartment. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“You’ve already thanked me like eleven times,” he replied, chuckling.
“It’s called good manners.”
“I’ll be sure to take notes.”
“In your case, it wouldn’t hurt.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not the most personable man in the entire world.”
“Personable my ass. You let me buy you a drink within five minutes of us meeting.”
“I’m not one to turn down free alcohol.”
“Right. Because you were so eager to have a drink with Gary or Garrett or whatever the fuck his name was.”
I huffed loudly. “Don’t act like you don’t remember his name! Besides, we both know you were jealous that he was talking to me and you weren’t.” I knew Hunter was giving me a hard time, but I couldn’t resist the urge to antagonize him back. Picking up my pillow, I hurled it where I hoped his face would be.
“Oomph.” The sound of his muffled breath and voice informed me the pillow hit its target. “What was that for?”
“You deserved it.”
“Okay, that’s fair.”
“Duh.”
“For the record, I was seconds away from asking to buy you a drink when that douchebag approached you. I was headed in your direction, and then when I saw him tap your shoulder, I stopped.”
“You could’ve interrupted.”
“I’m not that much of an asshole.”
“You got me there,” I teased.
“Glad I’m still your favorite form of amusement.”
“Always so full of yourself.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being confident.”
I shook my head, smiling. “Is that what they call it? Confidence?”
“It’s part of being a lawyer.”
“No,” I disagreed. “You’d be confident no matter what kind of job you had.”
“Did you just pay me a compliment?”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Yeah, sparingly.”
I sat up and faced him, though all I could see were shadows. “You mean to tell me you won’t take that?”
“Don’t worry, Vi. I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“I thought so.”
I grinned again, incapable of remembering the last time I’d felt this light. The hardest thing to accept once I got away from my father was that every man wasn’t out to hurt me. When you’ve been abused and violated, letting someone touch such an intimate part of you is terrifying enough to chill your blood. But I’d lived in the cage my family built for far too long, and I didn’t want to stay locked up forever. I longed to experience every lovely thing this world has to offer, and learning to trust and to depend on others was a huge part of that. Nadine was the first person I really let in. Then came Rhonda. Now, Hunter wasn’t only my boss, but he was also my friend. Sure, our professional relationship didn’t begin under the best circumstances, but ever since he interrupted Bartlett from feeling me up in the employee kitchen, all his actions indicated he wanted nothing more than to protect me. The black cloud still hovering around me was shrinking by the day. Meeting Nadine may have saved my life, but there were pieces of my soul she couldn’t heal.
Eventually, I was able to share my body with another man. He was kind and patient with me. His touch helped eliminate some of the scars that had been inflicted during my childhood. I let down my guard and allowed myself to trust him. But the one thing I couldn’t share was my secret. People look at you differently once they know. The contempt lacing Jasmine’s eyes when she walked in on our father crawling into my bed was something I’d never forget. Her anger wasn’t for him, the man who stole my innocence; it was for me. She couldn’t blame a man she’d spent her entire life admiring. By that time, we’d already lost our mother, and Jasmine didn’t want our father to be ripped away too. So, she pretended like it never happened. And Sutton only cared about his next fix. Even if he had wanted to help me, he would’ve been too high to do anything.
For a long time, I blamed myself. That’s the strange thing about being violated. Your mind thinks of all the things you could’ve done to prevent such a horrific thing from being done to you. If I hadn’t looked so much like my mother, then he wouldn’t have wanted me. Or if I’d gotten out of that house sooner, none of it would’ve happened. Many years passed before I stopped holding myself responsible for my father’s actions. I was thirteen. I was still a child. I had no mother, no one to depend on to protect me, and I didn’t ask to be molested.
Sometimes, I still felt dirty. Before I moved to Boston, redemption seemed unobtainable. My mind allowed me to cope with the hand I’d been dealt, but it never allowed me to forget. A piece of me was missing, and I needed to be whole again. Sharing my secret was necessary, but I doubted there was a man who could learn about my past and still look at me with love in his eyes. Of the three people who were aware of the fucked-up relationship my father and I had, none of them ever looked at me the same way. Nadine tried. God knows she did, but the pain I carried was a stain marring my soul. And no matter how hard I tried, the stain never faded.
“Violet?” Hunter’s voice cut through the silence, thrusting the dark thoughts from my mind. “Are you still awake?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night.”
“If you need anything, I’ll be right here.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“Hunter?”
“What is it?”
“Can you toss me back the pillow?” I asked.
I heard him chuckle slightly. “Sure thing.”
“Thanks.” The pillow landed on the bed next to my feet. I picked it up and placed it underneath my head. Sucking in a deep breath, I exhaled slowly as my eyes closed. The pillow smelled just like Hunter. Comfort washed over me as each of my muscles relaxed. It was funny how his presence and that word, comfort, were quickly becoming synonymous with one another.
I sat in my office chair and sighed. Today had been ridiculously busy. Several clients decided to stop by and see Hunter, which meant I had to reorganize his schedule at least three different times. The influx kept both of us working through our lunch breaks, and when four o’clock finally rolled around, I decided to sift through the pile of memos Rhonda had placed on my desk earlier that day.
“Can you do me a favor?” Hunter’s voice sounded from right next to me. I glanced up to see him sitting on the edge of my desk.
“Sure thing. What do you need me to do?”
“If another client stops by wanting to meet with me, just flip them off and show them back to the elevator.”
I laughed. “You got it, boss.”
“See, I know I can always depend on you.” He adjusted the collar of his shirt, and I quickly caught myself ogling him. If the whole lawyer thing didn’t work out, he could always move to New York and model for Hugo Boss. Damn, the man knew how to wear a suit.
I swallowed and did a quick reset of my brain. “Oh, I almost forgot. Rhonda dropped this off for you.” I handed off the memo to him and watched as he scanned the entire document.
“Did she say anything?”
“Nope, why? Is something wrong?”
“Beakman wants to look over the contract I wrote for the Littman account.”
“That’s the big one he assigned to you last week, right?”
“Yeah.”
“When is he wanting to look over it?”
“Tomorrow.”
“You worked on it some yesterday.”
“I actually finished it.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“I’m nervous. This is a big opportunity for me, and I can’t fuck it up.”
“You’re not going to fuck it up.”
“I don’t exactly have the best track record.”
“That doesn’t apply with your work. Office rumor is that you’ve won a lot of cases, and when I say a lot, I mean a shit-ton.”
His lips barely tugged upward as he leaned toward me. “Is shit-ton even a word?”
“You like to focus on the important things, don’t you?”
“It’s one of my finer qualities.”
“Personally, I’m not sold on that theory. I think you have a much better smile.”
Hunter’s grin widened as he bent forward, right next to my face. “Really? Do tell.”
“I thought I already did.”
“Maybe I want to hear more.”
I rolled my eyes and touched his arm. “All teasing aside, you can handle this client, and you can write one hell of a contract. I believe in you.”
“You do?” he asked.
“Completely.”
“Just the man I wanted to see!”
The sound of another voice brought the moment we shared to an abrupt halt. Hunter’s head turned to glance at our boss. Mr. Beakman’s attention narrowed in on our informal body language, and Hunter stood suddenly to distance himself from me.
“What can I do for you, sir?” he inquired.
“Nothing at all. I just came to check on things down here. Are both of you settling in well?” Mr. Beakman questioned.
“We got everything worked out, and I think we have a pretty good system.”
“Yeah, we make a really good team,” I agreed.
“With you running the show, how could it not?” Mr. Beakman asked, directing his question to me.
“Thank you,” I replied graciously. “Rhonda trained me well.”
Mr. Beakman winked at me. “That she did.”
“We all know who really runs things around here,” Hunter added.
Mr. Beakman’s laughter filled the air around us. “Violet, I see you’ve been filling him in on how things operate at this firm,” he said.
“Just trying to do my job.”
“Excellent. I simply wanted to drop by and make sure everything is set for our meeting on the Littman account tomorrow.”
“Everything is all set,” Hunter assured him.
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! Well, I won’t keep the two of you any longer. I’m sure both of you have work to do.”
“Thank you, sir. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow,” Hunter replied.
Mr. Beakman smiled at Hunter and offered up a slight wave to me before heading for the elevators. Once he was out of sight, I stood.
“You really need to stop flirting with me while we’re at work,” I said in a teasing tone. As I hoped, my comment caught Hunter off guard. He stumbled over a few words as he followed behind me.
“I’m not flirting with you.”
“Aren’t you though?” I carried a few different folders over to the filing cabinet.
“I’m just—”
“Just what?” I filed the manila folders and turned to face him, not realizing how close he was standing to me. Tilting my head back, I glanced upward and into his eyes. “And don’t you dare say being friendly.”
“Okay,” he answered. “I was just being friendly.”
I smacked his chest lightly. “Oh! You would.”
“But it’s true.”
I smacked his chest again, but this time, his hand moved to lock mine in place. “Is it?”
“Maybe.”
“Not so sure, are you?” I asked.
“You say that like you aren’t.”
“I’m sure of a lot of things.”
“So, does that mean you want me to be friendly with you?”
The tips of my fingers toyed with the seam of his shirt. At the moment, we were playing with fire. We both knew it. Yet, Hunter I and seemed incapable of staying away, even with our jobs hanging in the balance. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re standing in your office.” My brain advised me to proceed with caution, but my body was ready to give in to his.
His fingers slowly tapped along the curve of my spine. That simple touch set off a chain reaction. Every muscle in my body tensed and arced toward him. It was as if his hands belonged on me, tempting and teasing with every touch. Breath entered my lungs in a sharp gasp as I played with the buttons on his shirt.
“Oh, I have noticed. You’re wearing one of those tight skirts you seem to favor so much.”
“My skirts aren’t that tight,” I defended.
“I wasn’t complaining.”
“You know, you’re—”
“Violet?”
The sound of someone calling out my name restored our sanity. Hunter and I parted from one another so fast, it nearly made my head spin. Grabbing a folder, I sprinted toward my desk like I was in the Boston Marathon.
“Sorry, I was searching for this case file. It got misplaced,” I said, sitting down. Joel stood at the edge of my desk, blatantly staring at me. “What can I do for you today, Joel?”
“You look really pretty today,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you.” I returned his smile and waited for him to continue speaking. However, an awkward silence elapsed as he continued staring at me instead. “So, did you need something?”
“Sorry,” he replied, snapping back to reality. “I wanted to drop this off.” He handed me a piece of mail that had my name on it. “I think they got a new person in the mail room because this is the third letter I’ve gotten this week that isn’t addressed to me.”
“Either that or the envelopes got stuck together,” I added.
“Yeah.”
“Well, thanks for dropping it off.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” he replied. His attention shifted from my face to the doorway behind me. “Hunter.”
“Joel,” Hunter said, returning the cool tone Joel had used.
The mutual dislike the two men shared was so pronounced that you could cut it with a knife.
“I better get going. Enjoy your letter, Violet.”
“Thanks again for bringing it all the way down here.”
“Anytime.”
Hunter and I watched him practically stomp down the hallway.
“He seemed kind of pissed,” I stated.
“He’s probably mad I interrupted your chat.”
“Whatever.”
“I can’t stand that guy.”
“And why is that exactly, boss?”
“Because he invents different excuses to walk down here and stare at you, Vi.”
“Hmm. It sounds like you’re a little jealous.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t get jealous. It isn’t in my DNA.”
“You’re such a liar! Come look me in my eyes and tell me you’re not jealous,” I ordered.
Hunter bent down in front of me until his captivating seafoam irises were level with mine. “I’m not jealous.” We stared at one another as if we were engaged in some kind of stalemate. “Happy now?” he questioned with a smug smile.
“Hardly.”
“I can stand here all day.” His hands grasped the arms of my chair.
“Ditto.”
“Technically speaking, you’re sitting.”
“Always like to feel superior, don’t you?”
“You say that like you aren’t the one who always is superior.”
“Just say you get jealous and we can end this little game,” I taunted.
“Never.”
“Say it.”
“Not if my life depended on it,” he shot back.
“Now that’s a bit dramatic.”
“I’m just speaking the truth.”
“You realize I’m giving you a hard time,” I breathed.
>
“I do. And maybe I want to give you a hard time.”
I knew Hunter was only joking, but hearing him say those words made my heart flutter like the wings on a damn butterfly. “Careful, I might like that.”
He inhaled sharply and closed his eyes. “You shouldn’t say things like that to me.”
“You’re the one who said you wanted to give me a hard time.”
“I know what I said,” he replied.
“So, what’s the problem?”
His gaze dropped to focus on my lips. “You’re putting thoughts in my head that don’t belong there.”
“We both know those thoughts were already there.”
He broke into a wide grin, moving so his face hovered right in front of mine. For a brief second, I stared at his lips. Hunter was going to kiss me here, in the office, and I was going to let him. With each inch he gained, time came to a screeching halt. In one more breath, his mouth would meet mine.
But the kiss we were supposed to share never happened. Instead, he shifted to the side as his mouth lingered against my cheek. The elation simmering in my veins evaporated. It felt as if I were falling off a cliff to nowhere.
“I’m going to stay behind and get some things prepared for tomorrow,” he announced. “Here is the key to my place. I’ll see you there later.”
“Okay.” I accepted the key he gave me and powered off my computer. Gathering my purse and phone, I slid the handbag over my left arm. “Bye,” I called out.
“Bye.”
Part of me thought about hightailing it to my apartment, but the last time I mentioned staying at my place, Hunter nearly had a conniption. It would take at least another week for the security system and new locks to be installed, so it appeared that I was out of options. Besides, unnerving sexual tension had practically become a staple in my life.
I might as well get used to it.
Chapter Ten
Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with me? I almost kissed Violet at our place of employment, next to her desk, where anyone could stumble upon us. And then I tried to salvage the entire situation by pecking her on the cheek like some prepubescent school boy. What the actual fuck? Unlocking the door to my apartment, I shut it behind me and sighed.
Burning Violet Page 10