She gave him a curious look. “Really? Mr. Filthy Stinking Rich with his very private life is going to let me in?”
His lips quirked at that, and his smile softened. “Just for you, baby. Whatever you want.”
Mal returned his smile and headed toward the great room, feeling unsteady again. Because she was fairly certain that what she really wanted wasn’t his life story or his hopes and dreams for the future. She would even pass on this house, as perfect and jealousy-inciting as it was.
What she really wanted was him.
And that was a particularly terrifying thought.
ChapterThirteen
“I can’t believe you made Aunt Cady snort at dinner. You’re supposed to be Mr. Doesn’t Like Anyone, and suddenly, you’re the life of the party?”
Hunter gave her a look as he stirred their mugs of hot chocolate in her kitchen. “Are you upset or surprised, Mal?”
She drummed her fingers on the counter. “Surprised, I guess…” she mused slowly. “You’ve made a point to not be particularly social so far.”
He made a small sound of amusement and picked up the mugs, nodding his head for her to exit the kitchen before him. “True, but that’s just because most of the people here annoy me. Your family is great, Tom’s family I know already, and if you haven’t noticed, I make Mrs. Yardley laugh all the time.”
Mal frowned as she flopped down on the couch and reached for her cocoa. “I hadn’t noticed. She laughs?”
Hunter frowned and sat down next to her, flinging his arm on the back of the couch around her. “Yeah, she does. She’s a great lady, Mal. You’d like her.”
Mal made a face. “If you say so. I like Tom well enough. His sisters are distant, but okay. His brothers…” She made an indecisive hand gesture.
Hunter chuckled and sipped his drink. “I would love to take you to one of my family reunions. You could analyze the lot of us and have a field day.”
“Stop that,” she muttered, leaning into him. “I’m just not a people person. Particularly rich people.”
“Snob.”
Mal shifted uneasily against him and could feel his quiet laughter.
“Sorry, sweetheart, you’re just going to have to get used to it,” he said with a sigh, pulling her closer. “With your talent, you’re going to be spending a lot of time around people, maybe even rich people. Be as antisocial as you want in your private life, but you’ll have to at least pretend to be a people person sometimes.”
“Selectively social,” she corrected with a sip of her cocoa.
Hunter snorted and took a drink from his own. “Right. Sorry, I forgot.”
Mal looked up at him for a moment. “There is one question I forgot to ask you earlier.”
He looked back at her in surprise. “Really? I remember feeling rather interrogated before you finally nodded off.”
She elbowed him hard, and he grunted a laugh. “Seriously, though,” she said, sitting up. “Where do you actually live? I know you probably have condos or houses in a lot of different places, but where is home?”
He made a face in thought. “Right now, Atlanta.”
“Really?” she said, unable to hold back her own surprise.
“And what is wrong with Atlanta?” he asked defensively with a raised brow.
“Nothing,” she assured him quickly, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “I just figured you’d be somewhere a little more… I don’t know, famous?”
Hunter laughed, leaning his head back against the couch. “I’m not famous, babe. Atlanta is a great city, and we’ve done very well there. Headquarters can stay there as far as I am concerned, but they really don’t need me. I’m considering moving over to a smaller branch to try to build up more.”
“Where would you go?” she asked, truly curious.
He shrugged. “Chicago, Dallas, Columbia… My mom wants me to come to Baltimore sometime in the near future, so that’s always an option. Audrey suggests Seattle all the time, since that’s where she is. Or I could visit the overseas branches. London is always a good idea, right?”