Authors: Violet Walker
Cecilia’s honey brown eyes widened when she realized Rory wasn’t being coy. She had no idea.
Interesting
. “His first program, the one that made him a millionaire and helped him launch the company, it was called Aurora.”
She gasped and covered her mouth while her mind swirled with a million thoughts.
What does it mean, if it meant anything?
“I didn’t know. I mean, I’d have no way of knowing since I didn’t even know who HB was until he walked into the receiving room the other day. I haven’t seen Hunter since high school.” She could think of nothing but the fact that he’d named his first, most important program after her. But why did he leave her without a word? “It probably wasn’t me anyway. Hunter knows a lot of stuff, Aurora is probably a name for something else.” She brushed off the idea because she didn’t want it to be true. By the look on Cecilia’s, face the news was just as unwelcome.
Cecilia’s heart broke even further when she realized she’d been trying to compete with teenage memories, probably a first love. She never stood a chance, even if Hunter had given her a shot. She exhaled deeply in an effort to get her emotions under control. “Well, now you know. Just be good to him.”
Rory had the feeling Cecilia kind of hated her. “I don’t know what you think is going on, but I’m here to decorate this place and nothing more.” She held up the heavy books to indicate she needed a place to set them down.
Cecilia nodded and led her to a sprawling table in the dining room and then left without another word.
Rory tried to ignore the words Cecilia said to her and the harsh tone they were spoken in. Why would Hunter name a program after her when he’d skipped town rather than deal with her after their one and only night spent together? It didn’t make sense, but as she set out her books and mock-ups, she realized it didn’t need to. She wasn’t interested in rehashing the past, where things went wrong or hearing apologies a decade too late. None of that changed anything, so talking about it would only make her relive the second worst hurt of her life.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“You can afford much more than that,
Mr. Brandt.
” She couldn’t let him get to her, not again. So she had to be the one to keep it professional.
If Hunter was shocked by her formal greeting, he didn’t show it. “It’s like that, is it?”
She shrugged. “It would keep us on the right track, I think. Don’t you?”
“I do not.” He frowned and crossed his arms, but she wasn’t intimidated.
“Why did you name your first program Aurora?”
He smiled. “How did you find out?”
“Cecilia. She’s in love with you, by the way.”
“Jealous?”
“Hardly,” she scoffed. I’m just telling you because judging by her reaction to me, you’re clueless.”
His smile was smug but he let the lie go. “It was a variation on the sleep program I worked on that year. Do you remember?” She nodded and tried to forget the memories that fought for prominence. “Well I made some tweaks to it and the Department of Defense was interested, so I made some more tweaks and sold it to the U.S. government.”
She smiled again, unable to fight the image of the giant Swatch watch that flashed before her eyes. He had insisted she only needed seven and a half hours of sleep when she told him required ten. So, he’d given her the big ugly yellow watch, which she wore just to please him. Only, no matter what she did, the clock woke her up exactly seven and a half hours later. “That watch was ugly and totally screwed with my teenage desire to sleep as much as humanly possible.”
He smiled wistfully. “Yeah, well, it is now calibrated to allow soldiers in combat zones to get short bursts of deep, restorative sleep that will leave them refreshed and energized when they returned to watch.” He took a few steps closer, “So your research back then is now helping save the lives of our brave men and and in uniform.”
Shit
. How should she respond to that? She didn’t want to say or feel anything but she couldn’t only control one of those. “Congratulations, then.” She shifted to put the table between them. “Let’s get started, shall we?” Rory was finally able to relax when they started talking about plans for the house. They went over the rest of the week first. “I’ll talk to my contractors today about how soon they can get started. Most of their work has died down this time of year, so I may be able to get them started before the week is out.”
“That eager to get rid of me?” He gave her a teasing smile that she ignored.
“In the meantime, I plan to start shopping soon. do you want me to send you items for your approval or will you trust that I’ll follow through on your choices?”
“Of course I trust you, Rory, always have. But I would also like to go with you.”
Her green eyes grew large, but she quickly hid the surprise she felt. “I’ll let you know when I plan to go.” With a polite nod, she was gone.
Chapter Three
H
unter appreciated the size of his house, even if it was too big for just one person. He liked that in his dungeon he didn’t hear Ramona humming while she cooked and cleaned, didn’t hear Cecilia on the phone when she worked from his house and he couldn’t hear silly things like doorbells and repairmen. But now that Rory’s contractors had descended on his home, it was too loud to get any work done. The only reason he was able to stifle his irritation was that they respected his privacy and he could see everything taking shape.
He stood outside as he waited for Rory to show up. Today they would start their ridiculous shopping spree, which she insisted had to be done in person. He groaned at the thought. He hated shopping and much preferred online shopping because it was efficient and there were no hovering salespeople. But she told him to be ready and to bring his credit card and he had.
She walked to him looking more gorgeous than ever in tight black jeans, a fuzzy hot pink sweater and a leather jacket that gave her an edge. Her honey blonde hair floated on the breeze and his fingers itched to reach out and touch it, touch her. “Ready?” She wore sunglasses that hid her glowing green eyes. Hunter hated sunglasses.
He nodded and followed her to the car. “So Rory, tell me how you’ve been.” They’d been driving in silence for about ten minutes when he finally spoke.
“Fine.”
Okay.
“So tell me, how did you become an interior decorator? I thought for sure you’d become an eco-warrior or biologist.” She’d always loved animals and plants--Rory had forced recycling on the high school and pretty much browbeat the neighbors into it as well.
“I didn’t have the passion for it that I should, so I found something else.” She shrugged and kept her eyes trained on the road.
“What happened to your passion for it?”
“I guess it disappeared.”
He could hear the unspoken words,
just like you
, lingering in the air. “That’s too bad.”
“I do alright.”
The car came to a stop and he looked around. “That was fast.”
“You need a master bed and four guest beds,” she said without preamble. “Do you want queens or kings?”
He lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. I never have guests so whatever you think is best.”
Her eyebrows bent in confusion. “What about your parents? Or did you leave them too?”
Hunter grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Does this mean you’re ready to listen, because it’s all related?”
She shook her head and pulled out of his grasp. “I think we should do two queens and two kings in the guest rooms and you probably want a king.” Her head was bent over a notebook and Hunter realized she was headed for danger. He reached her just in time to wrap an arm around her waist and stop her fall.
“Easy there,” he murmured in her ear. A big smile crossed his face at the hitch in her breath.
“Thanks,” she said breathlessly, but she recovered quickly. “We also need bedding, two for each room. You may not entertain yet, but you probably will.”
Hunter let her pick up all the bedding and run with the color schemes of each room. He was just happy to be with her, to watch her in action. “I like this,” he told her when they stopped in front of a royal blue chair with an ottoman. “I could use this for late night work, in my room.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “So you want to go with blues for your room?”
“I never realized so much thought went into decorating a house. My last house I just bought what I wanted when I needed it without thought to color schemes or anything else.”
“So why did you hire a decorator this time?”
“You know why.” Before she could answer, his stomach growled. “That’s our cue. Let’s check out and feed my belly.”
~
“Oh, I’m so stuffed I couldn’t possibly eat another bite.” Rory patted her stomach and leaned back in the booth of the greasy spoon diner Hunter had insisted on. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this place.”
He popped a sweet potato fry in his mouth. “Oh come on, this is delicious! Where else can you get a triple thick shake made with real chocolate and organic milk?”
“I wouldn’t know, Hunter. I’m a woman and we actually need to watch what we eat.” Rory shook her head. Sometime between picking out bedding and landing in the vinyl booths, she’d relaxed and begun to laugh with Hunter.
His gaze was heated as it raked over her, making her body overheat. “I think you look fucking amazing, Rory.”
She tried to hide the flush in her face and chest. “Sure, Hunter.” She knew his words were just friendly flirtation and she refused to let them affect her. “We should get out of here if we want to get the kitchen settled today.”
He nodded and threw a few large bills on the table before he turned to Myrna, their waitress. “Myrna, sweetheart, if you ever get tired of being on your feet all day, I’ll make you my bride.”
The middle-aged waitress blushed her appreciation of his kind words and came over to pinch his cheeks. “I’d take you up on that if we weren’t both spoken for,” she slid a pointed gaze at Rory.
“Oh no, he’s not mine.”
He whispered something in Myrna’s ear and she laughed. “Get her, young man.” She laughed and waved them off.
“What was that about?” Her curiosity got the better of her.
“That’s between me and Myrna.” Hunter stuck out his tongue at her and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t pull away and couldn’t explain why.
“Thanks for lunch, Hunter.” Why were things so easy yet so complicated with him? She was at ease around him even when she hummed with desire, but her mind always strayed to the hurt he’d inflicted on her young heart, the irreparable crack that had been in her heart since that day.
“I’ll feed you anytime, Aurora.”
She shivered at the sound of her full name on his lips.
Damn him for being so irresistible.
But resist him she would, and she turned to him to tell him as much.
Before she could, Hunter’s mouth was on hers, his tongue swiped across her lips to taste her. One hand cupped her face and the other grabbed her waist and pulled her into his hard muscles and she gasped into his mouth. Hunter felt as good, no
better
than she remembered. His intensity was as strong as ever, but his technique had improved. He knew how to build up a kiss, make it as hot as possible until she was tempted to beg for more. For all of him. Rory didn’t beg, she wouldn’t, but she lost herself in the kiss, teasing and tasting his tongue before pulling it into her mouth and sucking on it. His hands tightened at her hips before curling around to palm her ass. “Hunter,” she moaned into him, hips moving against his.
“Fuck, Rory!” He panted and tried to catch his breath. “You-” he started but couldn’t continue.
It took Rory a second to realize the kiss had stopped and when she did, she was horrified. “I’m sorry, Hunter, that shouldn’t have happened.”
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “You’ll never forgive me, will you?”
“It’s not about forgiveness, Hunter, it’s about trust.”
“Right,” he said tersely and grabbed her hand, threading their fingers together.
“What are you…where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” his strides were purposeful as he pulled her along, around the diner and through a small park until they came to a small pond. “Sit.” He pointed to the bench, his silver eyes a dark story grey.
“Don’t bark orders at me like I’m some kind of-”
“Sit your ass down, Rory. You’re going to listen and it’s happening now.”
She plopped down defiantly and he lowered himself beside her, straddling the bench to face her. “You don’t owe me an explanation for anything and don’t think that kiss changes anything.”
“My dad isn’t my dad.”
That stopped her flow of words and confusion spread over her. “What? Of course he is.”
Hunter shook his head. “He isn’t. Remember? I never could figure out why he hated me so much? He was never satisfied, I couldn’t do anything right.” He ran his fingers through his hair again, proof that this was a difficult topic for him. She nodded and he went on. “Well the reason was fairly simple and I couldn’t believe it took me so long to figure it out.” He laughed bitterly and turned those sad grey eyes on her. “That night, Rory, you have to know it was the best damn night of my life. You made me feel so loved and wanted. It felt like someone cared about me and you were that someone. I floated all the way home where my little bubble of happiness popped.”
Rory put a hand on his forearm and quickly removed it. “Hunter, you don’t have to tell me. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he growled. “I want you to know. Hell, I
need
you to know.” He grabbed her hand and rubbed his cheek against it. “I came home and Dad was going through my stuff, pissed off because there were computer parts all over my room. He started to stomp on them, saying how I should act like a boy and not a pussy. I pushed him to make him stop and he punched me,” he pointed to his left eye, “right here.”
She gasped. “Oh, Hunter.”
He smiled at the concern he still heard in her voice. “If you remember, I’d grown quite a few inches that year and I punched him back. He fell to the ground and told me to get out. I packed my bags while Mom cried and begged him not to throw me out. I heard him tell her,
“I should’ve made you get rid of that bastard when I figured out he wasn’t mine.”
She bawled and he told her this was all her fault for not keeping her legs closed.” He turned to look out into the distance. “After that I knew I couldn’t stay because he would always hate me. So, I grabbed the cash I had stashed in my room and I left. I stayed the night in the high school parking lot so I could close out my bank account, which I did, and I left town.”
Rory couldn’t fight the impulse to reach out to Hunter, to offer him some kindness. It was more than any kid should have to deal with, no matter how smart he was. “I’m sorry, Hunter,” she whispered to him and swiped away a stream of tears.
Hunter wiped her jaw with the pad of his thumb. “No, Rory, I’m sorry. So damned sorry. I loved you more than anything and I stopped by your house, but I was so hurt and ashamed and I didn’t want you to see me like that. I thought I was doing the right thing by just leaving, but God, I cried for weeks after I left Loving. I missed you so damn much, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. I knew you’d leave with me and I couldn’t let you waste your life for me.”
She cried hard at his words because he was right. “I would’ve come with you, Hunter, all you had to do was tell me what was happening.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want you to leave school and your family because of me. You’d already lost so much.” He gave her a sad smile. “I never meant not to contact you again, Rory, I swear. But every time I thought about you, I hurt so bad, I couldn’t stand the idea of learning you’d fallen in love with someone else. I just couldn’t.”
She nodded, looking deep into his eyes, past the hurt and betrayal. “I understand.”
“You do?”
She nodded with a sad smile. “I do. You were young and struggling to survive. You had to think of yourself first." Rory sighed, wishing she didn’t know any of this, but also glad she did. “Thank you for sharing with me, Hunter, I appreciate it. And I do forgive you, I really do.”
“But…?”
She gave him smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “But it doesn’t change anything other than I don’t hate you now. You have to understand that you leaving, it…you know, never mind.” She stood and wiped her eyes. “We should go if you want to do the kitchen today, or I can just go tomorrow on my own.” She looked down at him expectantly.
“That’s it?”
“For now, Hunter, it has to be.”