respect for her had doubled. Without a word, he’d climbed onto his treadmill and started it while she did the same, periodically reaching over to pick her up when her feet gave out as he wondered what he was going to do with her.
“Now, did you need me to contact an escort service as well?”
Beside strangle her that is.
“I don’t need an escort service,” Hunter bit out, narrowing his eyes on the devious little thing that was clearly enjoying herself and truth be told, so was he, probably more than he had in years.
“No, no, of course not,” she murmured, making his lips twitch as she scribbled something on that list he’d created simply because he’d wanted to see what she would do.
“And this personal lubricant, should I look for oil-based? Flavored? Is warming a deciding factor?” Kylie asked, as she continued making notes.
“Surprise me,” he drawled, leaning back in his chair as he watched her.
“Well, if that’s everything then I should probably head to the store before they run out of edible glitter,” Kylie said with that determined look in her eye that told him that this bullshit list of his hadn’t fazed her in the slightest.
“Get back to work, brat,” Hunter said, as he reached over and snatched the list out of her hand.
“Of course, Mr. O’Mallery,” Kylie said with a nod and a triumphant glimmer in her eye that had him giving this round to her as she stood up, gathering her things, and left his office to finish today’s list of bullshit.
He’d get her next time, Hunter decided, as he shifted his attention to the emails that she’d flagged for him, wishing that he could call it a night, only to dismiss the idea because he could only take so much television before he lost his fucking mind. Before he’d been sentenced to house arrest, and he really wished that he’d kept walking that night instead of letting some drunk asshole take a swing at him, he’d never watched television, never had time for it. But now, that’s all that he seemed to do. He needed to find something else to do before he lost his fucking mind.
Then again, he thought as a chime alerted him to the fact that the email that he’d been waiting for was finally here, maybe he already had.
*-*-*-*
She was dying, Kylie realized later that night with a small groan as she lay there, waiting for the hot water to do what five ice packs, four Advil, and a heating pad hadn’t been able to accomplish. Everything hurt from the top of her head all the way down to the tips of her toes and she had no idea how to make it stop. The only thing that she knew was that she was expected to do it all over again tomorrow.
Oh, God…
She couldn’t do it.
She just couldn’t.
But even knowing that it was most likely going to be physically impossible to move, she knew that she didn’t have a choice. She was going to have to do whatever it took to drag her ass down the hallway and back onto that treadmill because she refused to give up. Not now. So, for that alone, she would suck it up, get her ass back on that treadmill and handle everything Hunter threw at her with a smile.
No matter how much it hurt she could do this, she told herself with a firm nod, hoping the positive affirmation would help, but unfortunately, it only reminded her that she was only a few hours away from having to jump back on that treadmill. She really didn’t want to get back on that treadmill or do another pushup, Kylie thought as she reluctantly forced herself to sit up so that she could drain the tub and call it a night. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed hold of the side of the tub and pulled herself up, biting back a gasp of pain as every muscle in her body screamed in agony.
It took a few minutes, but she eventually managed to get a towel wrapped around herself. Once that was done, she headed for the bathroom door, wondering as she went if she should get another ice pack only to immediately dismiss the idea since it meant stairs, something that she really wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to manage at the moment.
Telling herself that she’d be fine in the morning, she headed for her bureau and grabbed a tee shirt and