“I’m not interested.”
Kate laughed at her ludicrous statement. “Of course you are, you’re nuts about him!”
“Am not.”
Kate’s smile grew wider. “Oh, honey, you can lie to yourself but not me.” Kate ran her finger up and down her coffee mug, her expression turning serious.
“I can’t talk about her, Adie. I won’t talk about her and Hunt’s relationship. Just like I wouldn’t talk to Hunt about your relationships.”
Adie had to appreciate Kate’s loyalty and her disinclination to gossip.
“Of course, you’d have to have a love life for me to talk about it,” Kate pointed out.
Adie stuck out her tongue at her friend. It was a childish gesture, but effective.
Kate’s grin slowly faded. “If you really want to know, ask Hunt.”
“Kate!” Adie wheedled, pride taking a beating from her curiosity. “Don’t leave me hanging, tell me about Grisella.”
“Griselda,” Kate corrected her, “and no, I won’t. Besides, you said there wasn’t anything happening between you and him so why do you care?”
Kate walked away, leaving her words hanging in the air. Adie resisted the impulse to wrestle her to the ground and beat the information out of her.
And Kate, damn her, was right. Adie had no intention of having any type of fling, Christmas or otherwise, with Hunter and she didn’t care that he had a girlfriend. Market research in Manhattan was this year’s distraction of choice and so far, it was doing a pretty crap job.
She had to up her game. Immediately.
Hunt missed his early morning meeting with Adie as he’d flown to Chicago at the ass crack of dawn to deal with a wage dispute at one of his distribution centers, but she’d been on his mind all day. He’d tried to work on the way to Chicago, but he kept checking his phone for an acknowledgment of the text he’d sent telling her he’d see her back at his office around six.
It was now six fifteen and fully dark as Hunt left his car and crossed the wet sidewalk to walk into the lobby of his building. Stepping into his private elevator, he tapped his foot irritably, wishing the damn thing would move faster.
If she wasn’t sitting in his office waiting for him, he’d be seriously annoyed. So annoyed, in fact, that he might have to track her down at Kate’s apartment. He needed to see her, dammit.
Need...
He didn’t like that word. He’d trained himself as a child not to need or rely on anyone, not his mom or any of his foster parents. In his twenties, divorce and death reinforced the idea that he could only ever rely on himself. No, hewantedto see Adie. There was a huge difference between the two emotions.
Hunt rarely kept his staff working beyond five and when he stepped onto his floor, he saw that all the office lights were turned down low. The place was deserted, and he doubted Adie would stay in a strange, empty office.
Hunt stepped into his dark office and tossed his briefcase in the direction of his leather couch. Instead of the familiarwhoomphe expected to hear, a low scream hit his ears, quickly followed by a curse. “Ow, ow, ow!”
Hunt’s fist hit the light switch and he immediately looked toward the couch. Adie half lay on the couch, her long-sleeved black dress hiked to show off a very lovely leg. His briefcase rested in her lap and she rubbed her shoulder and glared at him.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Adie demanded, her eyes round and wide.
Hunt quickly crossed the room to reach her. He sat down on the edge of the couch, his thigh pressed into her hip. “Because I didn’t expect you to be in my office, sitting on my sofa in the dark. Are you okay?”
Adie winced and prodded her shoulder with her fingertips. “I’m going to have a bruise.”
“Do you need some ice?” Hunt asked, trying to think of a way he could move the tight round neck of her dress to inspect her shoulder.
“No, it’s fine.”
Damn.
Hunt lifted his briefcase off her lap, placed it on the floor and noticed Adie’s heels were also on the floor, tipped on their side. His eyes flew over her—still gorgeous—but there was a head-sized indentation on the green throw pillow next to her. He looked at her, amused. “Were you asleep?”
Adie looked like he’d caught her rifling through his desk drawers. “I’ve been working long hours for weeks and weeks. Christmas is the busiest season for me. I was up at two this morning, dealing with a Japanese client who has bought a very rare, very expensive Samoyed puppy from a breeder in California.”