“I drive two hours through hellish traffic to this lovely neighborhood of fine working-class people, two of whom are peering at us through their mini-blinds. And you two are here auditioning for a porn film. On. The. Street.” His voice was deep and penetrating, but I heard the amusement in it. Hunter did not. He croaked, clearing his throat and overstretching his shirt to cover himself, though he was perfectly decent.
Jerking on the door handle, I opened the passenger door but glanced over at Hunter. “This will be continued, yeah?” Not waiting for an answer, I walked around the car to give Theo a quick embrace. Then did the same for Izzy who’d come up behind us.
“Sorry we’re early. Don’t pay attention to Theo. Traffic was light.” She smelled sweet as lilacs as her arms came around my neck.
Hunter climbed from the driver’s seat to face Izzy, his blush endearing enough that I wanted to kiss him again. Izzy hugged him and then smirked at me. “Are you taking advantage of my friend?”
“Iz,” Hunter protested.
I slid an arm around Hunter’s waist. “As much as I can.”
Archie mewled at us from the tiny front yard.
“Oh. Archie. Did you fly all this way?” Izzy asked, even though he was in his cat form.
Marjorie Hunter came out of her house, reprimanding Hunter for disappearing without notice, even as she gave him an enormous hug. She greeted Izzy as an old friend and politely welcomed Theo.
I stood a bit to the side as everyone milled about the tiny yard. “Mistress Hunter, I apologize for our leaving, but I wished to contribute to our meal, and Hunter knew of this bakery.” I rushed to retrieve the loaves from the back seat.
Marjorie peered up at me, her eyes serious and warm. “No apologies necessary, young man. Though I’ve already gotten a text from Mrs. Warren across the street.” She winked. “And it’s Marjorie. Or even Mama Hunter if you wish. You have more family here than you think.” She kissed my cheek and turned away, brushing her eyes with the back of her hand. “Come along, my baked ziti will be getting cold.”
It was lovely, sitting around the table, eating pasta, listening to Theo and Izzy make pleasant conversation with Hunter’s mum—Marjorie, I reminded myself. I wasn’t sure I could call her Mama Hunter or if that would be acceptable to her son, soMarjoriewould have to do.
Theo was at his most charming, regaling tales of his past position as a political consultant, and Marjorie told her own stories, a lot of them about Hunter as a child, much to his chagrin.
The night grew dark around us, and at a break in the conversation, Marjorie excused herself and said good night.
When it was just the four of us, Theo turned to me. “So work has already started on the hotel. The first of the permits came through, and some of theotherswere anxious to get started.”
“What?” Hunter asked.
“Bloody hell, I didn’t tell you.” I tensed up. I’d genuinely forgotten.
“You didn’t tell him you bought the hotel?” Theo’s eyebrows did thatunbelievablearch thing they did when I’d cocked things up.
I scrambled to explain. “We’ve been busy.”
Theo snorted. “Yeah. I got how busy you were earlier.”
Hunter’s eyes were on mine. “No. He didn’t tell me. Andthisis the sort of thing that you tell someone you want to doeverythingwith.” He’d lost his relaxed tone from before.
“Are you angry with me?”
I turned my palm up on the table between us. After a moment, he took my hand. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. About the hotel. I wasn’t keeping it from you, I wasn’t. I thought we should getussorted first. And then everything happened.”
“I’m not mad.” He smiled but released my hand as he gathered plates on the table.
“Eskridge needed cash and fast. So I used the money Theo set me up with.”
“And you’re okay with this?” Hunter asked Theo.
Theo shrugged. “The money was his to do whatever with. This will take a lot of work, but Regge’s never been afraid of hard work.”
“Wow.” Hunter shook his head somewhat disbelieving.
I rushed on. “I want to run it. It’s a bugger of an undertaking, and I know nothing about how to run a hotel.” I swallowed hard, my mouth dry. “I will need lots of help. If you’re game to, that is.”
