Hunt searched for her and eventually found her standing in the corner opposite him. She wasn’t hard to spot, in a room of women mostly wearing neutral shades, her wide-legged green pants and matching wraparound top were the exact color of a Christmas tree. The brilliant green highlighted her creamy, flawless complexion and dark, ruffled hair. He normally liked long hair on a woman, but Adie’s short hair suited her pixie face.
God, she was gorgeous.
And he wasn’t the only one who noticed...
Thirty minutes ago, she’d been deep in conversation with Maxwell Green, a newly retired basketball legend. Before that he’d caught her laughing at whatever Blake, soccer’s hottest player this season, had been telling her. Now she was leaning against the far wall, and his brand ambassador’s hand—the man whose salary he paid to promote Sheridan Sports—was flat on the wall above her head as he loomed over her...
But Adie wasn’t objecting. If anything, she was enjoying Liam Pearson’s attention far too much. Yeah, not happening.
Hunt didn’t bother excusing himself from the group, he just pushed his way through the crowd and within minutes stood behind Pearson, his arms crossed. Adie was the first to notice him and, instead of moving away from Pearson, she just raised her eyebrows. “Something I can help you with, Hunter?”
Hunter rocked on his heels and gritted his teeth as Pearson took his time lifting his hand off the wall and creating distance between him and Adie.
“Boss,” Pearson murmured.
Hunt saw irritation flicker through the man’s eyes at being interrupted and he narrowed his eyes at Pearson. In ten seconds, hopefully less, Pearson would realize that Adie wasn’t another of his many conquests, that she wasn’t someone who’d be another notch on his extremely scarred bedpost.
Hunt held his eyes.
Ten seconds passed, then fifteen and Hunt saw Adie eyes jumping between his face and Pearson’s and after twenty seconds—Pearson liked to push boundaries—the man lifted his hands in defeat. Turning to Adie, he sent her a regretful smile. “It’s been lovely talking to you, Adie.”
Adie tossed a puzzled look at his back and when her eyes met Hunt’s, she scowled. “What just happened?”
If she didn’t know, then he wasn’t going to elucidate.
“Hunter?”
Oh, okay, then. Hunt jammed his hands into the pockets of his soft black pants. “He was chatting you up and was about to ask you out on a date.”
“That much I understood,” Adie retorted.
There! That! Her going out on a date was not going to happen.
When he told her so, fury—hot and wild—sparked in her eyes. “And why would you think, for one bloody minute, that’s your decision to make?” Adie demanded, her voice cold.
Because dates lead to intimacy and the only person he could imagine getting naked with Adie washim. Yeah, call him a Neanderthal or overbearing or ruthless, but he was the only man who’d kiss that wide mouth, explore the dip of her waist, slide his fingers between her feminine folds.
Adie slapped her arms across her chest and tapped her foot in annoyance. “Waiting for an explanation of your high-handedness, Sheridan. I might be working for you, but your authority over me does not extend to who I date!”
Hunt realized their argument was garnering attention. Looking around, he noticed a dark passageway to the right of them, clearly marked Staff Only. Judging by the lack of light, it wasn’t being used, but it would be a perfect place to get his point across.
Conscious of his strength, he gently gripped Adie’s narrow wrist and tugged her down the passageway, stopping when the hallway turned and they were out of sight of the party. Hunt placed his hand under Adie’s elbows and easily lifted her off her feet, turning so his back shielded her from anyone who might amble down the hallway. Lowering her to her feet, he watched as she pushed her back into the wall, her eyes dark and mysterious in the low light spilling in from the music hall.
Adie, because she was as feisty as hell, lifted her chin. “Still waiting for an apology, Sheridan. Or an explanation as to why we are here.”
Hunt slapped his hands on the wall on either side of her head, his eyes bouncing from her eyes to her red mouth. “You’re not going to get an apology. And you know damn well why we are here.”
In the small space he’d left between them, Adie gestured to the hallway. “I’m in the dark, literally and metaphorically.”
He’d seen the flash of awareness in her eyes, noticed that her gaze kept dropping to his mouth.
“Stop being coy, Adie. You know I want to kiss you, I’ve been wanting to kiss you all damn day. And I’m sure you want to kiss me back.”
He expected a sarcastic retort, a denial, for her to play hard to get, but Adie’s hand moved up his arm, onto his shoulder to curl around the back of his neck. She further surprised him by reaching up onto her tiptoes and placing her lips against his, sighing as their mouths connected.
Hunt dropped his head and pushed his hand between the wall and her slim back, pulling her into him so that her breasts pushed into his chest, her stomach into his hard-as-hell erection.
He wanted her with a desperation that bordered on irrationality.