immediately dismiss the idea since it would mean bringing up the fact that she’d slept in his arms last night, which was something that she was fully prepared to pretend never happened.
No, it was definitely for the best if she sat here, making a list of all the things that she was pretending didn’t happen last night as she waited for Hunter to finish so that she could-
“Is the Bay Corp file in your pile?”
“It’s not there?” Kylie asked, frowning down at the large pile between them before shifting her attention to the pile stacked next to her and searched for it only to come up empty.
“It’s probably on the desk,” she said, getting up to go look as Hunter absently murmured, “Probably,” as he continued working his way through the rest of the files.
Relieved to have something to do, she walked over to the desk. After a quick search of the files she had stacked on top, she turned her attention to searching the desk drawers even as she couldn’t help but wonder about the man sitting across the room and had to admit that she had no idea what to make of him now. While any other boss would have fired her for last night, he hadn’t. He’d also taken care of her, held her until she could get out of the tub without getting sick even though it hadn’t ended well for him, made sure that she was okay, let her curl up on the couch to work, kept her company and-
“Shit!” he snapped when she found the thick stack of folders with her name written across the top in the bottom drawer and felt her stomach drop when she saw what was written on the face-sheet.
Everything.
“You had me investigated,” Kylie said hollowly, as she stood there, staring down at the thick folder as she realized what last night had been.
An interrogation.
“Yes,” he said, as she flipped open the cover and was forced to grab hold of the desk when her legs threatened to give out.
“Why?” she whispered hollowly, feeling sick to her stomach as she stood there, staring down at everything that she’d thought she’d left behind.
“I wanted to know who was working for me.”
“I thought we were supposed to be honest,” she said, throwing last night’s rules back in his face as she looked up to find him watching her with an expression that she couldn’t quite read.
“You’re right,” Hunter said, nodding in agreement because this went beyond a simple background check.
“Then why did you do this?” Kylie asked, shifting her attention back down to the proof that she was never going to be able to get a second chance.
“Because I wanted to know just how badly you’d planned on fucking me over.”
*-*-*-*
“Okay,” Kylie said, slowly nodding as she stared down at the interview notes that his men had typed up from their interview with her parents, as Hunter stood there, waiting for her to cry or-
“What are you doing?” he asked, frowning when she suddenly pushed away from the desk and walked away, leaving him with no other choice but to follow her.
“Finishing our game,” Kylie said flatly as she headed towards the kitchen.
“I believe it’s my turn to deal, right?” she asked, grabbing the bottle of rum he’d left on the counter last night before grabbing a fresh bottle of Coke from the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet.
“Fine,” he said, watching the muscle in her jaw pulse as she sat down and picked up the deck of cards they’d left on the table last night and began shuffling.
“Twenty,” Hunter said, winning the first hand.
With a nod, Kylie picked up the rum, poured a healthy amount into a glass, followed by some Coke before she picked up her glass, took a large sip and bit back a wince as she asked, “What do you want to know?”
“When did you start drinking?” he asked, thinking back to the comment her parents had made about constantly finding her passed out drunk, surrounded by empty bottles she’d stolen and couldn’t help but wonder why they’d said that when it was obvious that Kylie had never taken a drink before last night.
Shrugging, she said, “Last night.”
“I thought we were being honest,” he said, throwing her words back in her face, because if she was willing to play this game, then so was he.
“Oh, did you want to know the first time that I took a sip of alcohol?” she asked, blinking up at him.
When he nodded,