“I do not.” I totally do.

Intrigued, Hunter walked to the bed. “What does she smell like?”

“Baby,” I said.

Hunter squinted at me, then leaned forward and inhaled a giant whiff of Caroline.

Derek was amused. “God, I hope my kid decided to try out her diaper a minute ago.”

The nurse who had wheeled the baby in came back and interrupted our sniff fest. “Are we ready to see how Caroline does latching on?”

Anna nodded. She looked nervous. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“The first few times can be a little frustrating, so why don’t I go grab you a support pillow and some breast pads while you say goodbye to your friends. They can go to the waiting room, and I’ll come get them when you’re done, if you want.”

“No. That’s okay,” Anna said. “They need to go home and get some rest. They’ve been here all night. Why don’t you guys go sleep and come back tonight if you feel up to it.”

I really was exhausted. And I was certain Anna needed sleep more than I did. “Okay.”

“I’ll give you my keys,” Derek said.

I’d completely forgotten that my plan had been to stay with Anna and Derek after the shower. It would be weird to stay there without Anna home. Plus, they needed their privacy now that they’d have a newborn at home for the first time.

“That’s okay. I’m going to check into a hotel.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Stay at our house. Derek will be here most of the time until I come home anyway.”

Hunter piped in. “I’ll make sure she has a place to stay.”

“Are you sure?” Anna questioned.

“Positive. We’ll all get some rest and come back later to visit.”

Anna yawned. “Okay.”

“Bye, beautiful baby girl.” I caressed Caroline’s cheek one last time and stole one more sniff.

***

“Do you know of a place nearby where I can stay?”

“Sure do.”

I leaned back into the leather seat of Hunter’s pickup and closed my eyes. “I haven’t stayed up this long since college. My body actually aches from lack of sleep. I feel old.”

“We’ll get you some sleep, and you’ll feel as good as you look in no time.”

I mumbled something about him being a charmer and told myself that closing my eyes for three minutes wouldn’t hurt. The next thing I knew, I was being lifted out of Hunter’s truck. I blinked my eyes into focus. “Where are we?”

“My house.”

“You were supposed to take me to a hotel.”

“No. You asked if I knew a place nearby, and I said yes. I do. My place.” He used a foot to swing the truck’s door shut.

“I’m not staying with you.”

“It’s six o’clock in the morning. Check in at hotels is the middle of the afternoon. Even if I found a place with a vacancy—which in this area is not as easy as it sounds—you’d have to wait to check in or pay for last night when you didn’t sleep there.”

He had a point. But still… “I can’t stay here.”

“I have a guest room. You can crash in there for a few hours. I’ll take you to a hotel this afternoon, if that’s what you want. But I have plenty of room, and you’re welcome to stay.”

A part of me wanted to argue. But the man had been shuttling me around since he’d picked me up from the airport, and he had to be as exhausted as I was.

“Okay. But no funny business.”

Hunter grinned. “Never.”

Chapter 9

Natalia

A warm stream of light shining directly into my eyes woke me up. Disoriented, I had no idea where I was or what day it was. I sat up in the comfy bed and looked around the familiar room until the morning came back to me. Hunter’s house. I’d left my phone in my purse, which was still in the kitchen—I think—and there was no sign of a clock in the guestroom. So after a quick trip to the ensuite bathroom, I headed out to quietly retrieve my cell, hoping not to wake Hunter if he was still sleeping.

Only…Hunter was definitely not sleeping.

I froze as I turned the corner from the bedroom hallway to the open kitchen and living room. He stood with his back to me at the stove, cooking what smelled like bacon—shirtless, while dancing to Billy Joel.

As far as wake-ups go, this view was up there. Hunter wore gray sweatpants that hung low on his narrow waist, and the muscles in his back rallied together to form a V that led up to broad shoulders. There was no doubt the man worked out—a lot. I stood in silence, taking in the way his hips swayed to the music and remembering how good his rhythm was when we’d danced together at Anna’s wedding. Damn.

“Hope you’re not a vegetarian. I don’t make tofu anything, especially not bacon.” I jumped at the sound of his husky voice. He’d never turned around to see me, and still hadn’t when he spoke.

My heart raced in my chest. “You scared the crap out of me.”

He finally turned around. “Me? I didn’t sneak up on you while you were frying hot bacon to ogle your ass.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I wasn’t ogling your ass.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“I wasn’t ogling your ass.”

Hunter turned back around to the stove, reached up to the cabinet on the right to grab a dish, and then used tongs to pick the bacon from the frying pan.

“The more we deny the truth, the more power it has over us.” He set the plate on the table before returning his attention to me with a cheeky grin. “On second thought, keep denying it. It’ll just make you focus on it more.”

“You’re really a big ass, you know that?”

Hunter held a hand to his ear. “What’s that? You really dig my ass?”

“Are you always this obnoxious in the morning? No wonder you live alone.”

“It hasn’t been morning for hours. It’s almost three o’clock. Come. Sit and eat. Your eggs will be done in a minute.”

“Three o’clock?” I walked to the table forgetting about his ass comment. “I slept the entire day away.”

“You needed it.”

He poured a mug of coffee and held it up to me. “Cream and sugar?”

“Yes, please. I can’t believe how long I slept. What time did you wake up?”

“Around eleven.”

Hunter brought me coffee. “Thank you.” As he handed it to me, my eyes did an involuntary sweep of his chest. It would have been fast and harmless, had the jackass not watched me do it. God, the man didn’t miss a beat. He quirked a brow and smirked.

“Shut up. Go put some clothes on if you don’t want me to look.”

“I never said I didn’t want you to look.”

“What are you, a peacock? Walking around fanning your tail feathers, trying to attract a female?”

“That’s not a bad idea. Let me show you my tail.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Let’s start over. Good morning, Hunter.”

His smile was genuine. He nodded. “Good morning, Natalia.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“I did. You?”

“I can’t remember the last time I was out that cold. That bed is really comfortable.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Just an FYI, the one in the master bedroom is the same model if you’d like to try it out next.”

I shook my head. “You just can’t help yourself, can you? It always comes back to sex.”

He chuckled and went to the stove to get the eggs. “I spoke to Derek a little while ago. He said Anna and the baby are doing great, and they’ll probably go home tomorrow morning.”

“Wow. So fast. I think I’d want a few days at the hospital for people to take care of me before I went home.”

“Derek will take good care of her.”

“You’re right. I forget she has an amazing husband.” I scoffed. “I forget they exist sometimes.”

“Derek told me you were divorced. That was about all I could get out of him.”

“Derek is a gentleman. He goes by the say nothing if you don’t have anything nice to say rule, so I’m sure he had nothing extra to say about Garrett.”

“You mentioned something about prison this morning. What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’ll give you the short version. Married after six months of dating. Lived the American dream in a penthouse with a gorgeous, wealthy man. He was arrested three years later for securities fraud, and I saw none of it coming. I was blindsided in every way. He left me with more than my annual salary in debt that he’d racked up in my name and as the sole caregiver of his then-thirteen-year-old daughter who hated me. I’m still working to get both under control two years later.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah.” I was anxious to change the subject. “Do you know what time visiting hours are?”

“3:30 to 5:30 and 6:30 to 8:30. But Derek said to try to come up for the afternoon hours because he has some big surprise dinner being delivered from Anna’s favorite restaurant at 6:30.”

“He’s so sweet. I guess we should get going soon then. I was hoping to check into a hotel and shower before we went back to visit, but I don’t think we’ll have time.”

“You’re welcome to shower here. And stay as long as you want. I have an early flight out tomorrow morning for work up north anyway, so you’d have the place to yourself after tonight.”

“That’s very nice of you. Maybe I’ll take you up on the shower if you really don’t mind. And then I can find a hotel after we visit the hospital.”

“After dinner, you mean?”