“I’m over,” as she picked up her glass, took another sip and resumed coughing until he had enough and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and handed it to her. As she took a sip, he said, “Same question.”
“The locks didn’t work.”
“That’s it?”
Nodding, she said, “It was enough.”
“You could have added more locks,” he pointed out as he dealt the next hand.
“I did,” she said, checking her card and whatever she saw had her shoulders slumping in defeat.
“Then what was the problem?” Hunter asked, noting the warm blush painting her cheeks and the fact that she wasn’t arguing the one question rule any longer.
“They weren’t enough to keep anyone out,” Kylie said with a shrug, as she gestured for another card while he sat there trying to tell himself that the idea of her stuck in a vulnerable situation like that didn’t bother him.
It infuriated him.
“Why didn’t you move?” he asked, giving her another card when she gestured for one.
“Let myself get talked into signing a lease,” Kylie said with another shrug as she looked at her cards.
Nodding, Hunter asked, “Got in over your head?”
“Story of my life,” Kylie said with a sigh as he dealt himself another card.
“Twenty,” he said, gesturing for her to take another drink as he reached for her cards only to go still when she said, “Twenty-one.”
Chapter 14
“So, what did you do once you left the Marines?” Kylie asked, somehow managing not to smile when the large man sitting across from her continued to glare.
“Private security,” Hunter bit out, shifting that glare from her down to his losing hand before he picked up his glass and finished off his drink.
“Private security,” Kylie mumbled thoughtfully as he stood up and made himself another drink. “How did you go from that to this?”
“That’s two questions,” he pointed out with a glare as she took a sip of water.
“I’ll wait until you lose again,” she said innocently, which had him mumbling something under his breath as he walked back to the table, picked up the deck of cards and dealt the next hand with a glare that said it all.
When he lost that hand, he narrowed his eyes on her, took another sip and bit out, “I’m good at what I do.”
“I see,” she said, nodding before pointing out with a smile, “But, that wasn’t my question,” because she simply couldn’t help herself.
When he released what sounded suspiciously like a growl, she decided that perhaps it was time to move on and asked, “So, how did you end up on house arrest?”
“I fucked up,” Hunter said, dealing out the next hand.
“What happened?” she asked, checking her card.
“An asshole took a swing at me and I swung back,” he said with a shrug as though it was no big deal, but something told her there was more to the story.
“I see,” Kylie said, gesturing for another card and-
“Damn it!” her boss, who she’d like to point out was a sore loser, snapped when he lost the next hand.
“Oh, did I win again?” Kylie asked, blinking innocently and taking a great deal of pleasure in his glare as Hunter picked up his glass and took a sip.
“Just ask your damn question,” Hunter bit out.
“I’m running out of questions,” Kylie said with a shrug that had his eyes narrowing on her and his fingers drumming against the table.
“I’m sure you can think of something,” he drawled, and although she really could think of a few questions that she’d like to ask, mostly relating to those sexually explicit emails that she read every morning, they weren’t exactly workplace appropriate.
She should also probably let him win, but since that would only end badly for her, she decided that it was probably for the best if she continued to take advantage of the fact that he kept giving his hand away. Instead, she picked up her water and took a sip, hoping to buy herself a little more time as she tried to think of a harmless question to help kill time until he grew bored of losing and-
“Why don’t we play a different game?” he suggested, and before she could answer, he’d shuffled the deck and placed it in the middle of the table. “High card wins.”
He cut the deck in half and held up a card, “King of hearts,” and just like that, she knew that things were about to take a turn for the worse.
*-*-*-*
“Was I ever married?” Kylie asked because that’s what she did whenever he asked