it would be enough. She’d cut all ties to the rest of her family, worked her ass off to build her resume and safeguard her reputation, only to have it all fall apart when-
“I know,” Hunter said, making her frown.
“Know what?”
“That they lied.”
“How?”
“My men are very thorough, Miss Malone. Your family has a very long and disturbing history of accusing people of shit. It didn’t take long to find out that they’ve accused each other, their siblings, parents, best friends, co-workers, neighbors, doctors, dentists, landscapers, bankers, insurance agents, anyone and everyone they’ve ever come in contact with of something, tried to get them arrested, or threatened to sue them. I also know that you didn’t deserve any of this.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled quietly.
“There’s nothing to talk about, Miss Montgomery. They’re full of shit and I could give a flying fuck about what they say,” he promised her as he placed the lantern on the nightstand while she slowly exhaled, tempted to believe him, and God, did she want to believe him.
“Are you going to let me quit?” Kylie asked even as her gaze automatically shot towards her bedroom door to make sure that it was closed.
“Not a chance in hell,” Hunter said, as he laid down and closed his eyes.
“Umm, what are you doing?” she couldn’t help but wonder.
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Testing to see if I’m really a homicidal maniac,” she said, blinking down at him.
“I think they forgot to mention that one to my men,” he said around a yawn.
“I’m sure it will be mentioned after this,” she promised, nodding solemnly even as her gaze once again went to her closed bedroom door and she found herself moving closer to the man that-
Kylie barely managed to get out a startled gasp when she suddenly found herself picked up and placed on the other side of the bed so that Hunter was between her and the door.
“I prefer the left side of the bed,” he explained, as he rolled over onto his stomach and closed his eyes.
“That’s the right side,” she pointed out as her gaze shifted between the large man lying next to her and her closed bedroom door and back again before she found herself saying the hell with it. She placed her iPad on the nightstand before she laid down and curled up on her side, deciding to take advantage of him being here and try to get some sleep.
“Does it really matter?” Hunter asked, as she felt him shift on the bed.
“Not if you let me quit,” she said, sounding hopeful as she felt the covers move seconds before she felt his large body curl up behind her as his arm slid around her and pulled her closer.
“You’re not quitting,” Hunter mumbled sleepily as she waited for the panic to hit, only to feel herself relax against his large warm body, and the panic that had been threatening to break her in two since this morning slowly disappeared.
“You know that I’m still mad at you, right?” Kylie asked, because she didn’t want to give him the wrong impression or anything.
“I figured that out with the silent treatment,” he said dryly.
“Good, because I’m still not talking to you,” she said, even as she snuggled back against him.
“And you’re doing an excellent job of it.”
“I know.”
“I thought you weren’t talking to me?”
“I’m not.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” she said, simply because it felt wrong to let him have the last word.
*-*-*-*
“She’s playing you,” Ryan said with a pitying shake of his head as they sat by the pool.
“You think so?” Hunter asked absently, as he grabbed one of the beers that Kylie picked up for him this morning from the ice bucket by his chair and handed it to Ryan.
“It’s definitely a possibility,” Ryan said, sighing heavily as he popped the top off his beer, took a sip and immediately spit it out. “Oh, God! What the hell is wrong with this beer?”
“It’s about six months past its expiration date,” Hunter said, chuckling as he picked up his beer and took a sip.
“Then why are you drinking it?” Ryan asked with a look of disgust as he dumped his bottle out onto the lawn.
“Because it seems to make her happy,” he said, shrugging it off.
“Is she trying to kill you?”
“Probably,” Hunter murmured, unable to help but smile because she was fucking adorable when she was pissed.
She’d given up on giving him the silent treatment mostly because she wasn’t very good at it and had