I finished off the coffee in my cup and adjusted the front of my dress to reveal a healthy amount of cleavage. Then I took my napkin from the table and discreetly dropped it on the floor. Picking up my fork, I scooped up a small piece of cheesecake and accidentally dropped it onto my cleavage.

Hunter watched the entire show with interest.

Leaning in, I wrapped my hand around Adam’s bicep. “Do you have a napkin? They must’ve taken mine when they cleared dinner, and I seem to have made a mess.”

Being a gentleman, Adam excused himself from his conversation and turned to give me his attention. His eyes dropped to the cheesecake, and I knew instantly that I’d won. Triumph roared from my smile as I allowed the techie to help me clean off. Hunter’s scowl felt like a victory.

To be honest, during dinner I’d decided I wasn’t sleeping with Adam anyway—I needed some sort of physical chemistry with a man, even for a one-night stand. But I enjoyed screwing with Hunter anyway.

“I’m a butterfingers when I’m tired,” I said to Adam. “I’m still on New York time. I think I’m going to head back to the hotel.”

“I’ll join you,” he promptly replied. Cassie who?

Hunter didn’t give up easily—I’d give him that much.

He stood. “I have a car here. I can give you two a ride. Are you ready to go, Cass? The four of us are all at the Carlisle, I’m assuming?”

I flashed Mr. Persistent my pearly whites and hooked my arm through Adam’s. “I have my rental car here, so Adam and I are good. Thank you so much for the offer, though, Tanner.”

“Hunter.”

“Right.” I smiled.

***

The hotel was only a mile up the road. As we entered, I spotted a few familiar faces—friends of the groom—in the lobby bar. The party seemed to have moved from the rehearsal dinner to the hotel. As we passed, one of the guys I recognized yelled for Adam to join them for a drink.

He looked to me before answering. “What do you say? You up for a nightcap?”

“I’m actually wiped out—time difference and all. But you go. Have fun.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. I’ll be sleeping before my head hits the pillow.”

Adam gave me a quick hug goodnight, and I headed to the elevator alone.

I really was exhausted. Anna and Derek had reserved the top floor of suites for guests traveling in from out of town, and I’d forgotten that I needed to insert my room key into the little slot on the elevator panel to gain access to the floor. After pushing the button a few times, I finally realized and dug into my purse to find the swipe card. I was preoccupied with the search until I heard that voice.

“Natalia.”

My head flew up to find Hunter standing in front of me with a shit-eating grin.

“You…”

“Me,” he said.

I looked around his wide, imposing frame. “Where’s your partner?”

He winked. “Left her at the bar with yours, so the two of them can get to know each other.”

“Won’t you be lonely, then?” I said with sarcasm.

“I might. But I can think of a way to fix that.”

“Going to take matters into your own hands, huh?”

I finally located my room key in my messy purse. Hunter chuckled and took it from my hand to slip into the slot. Of course we were on the same floor since we were part of the same wedding. When the doors slid closed, the elevator suddenly seemed very small. It didn’t help that Hunter hadn’t bothered to turn around when we started to move. He faced me, standing very close. My body definitely took note of the proximity.

“Don’t you have any elevator etiquette?” I asked. “Turn around and stare at the numbers like a normal person.”

“Why would I waste my time looking at that when the view is so much nicer facing this direction?”

“I’m not sleeping with you, you know.”

“Why not? You were gonna sleep with Adam.”

“That’s different.”

“How so?”

“I’ve met Adam before. He’s a nice guy.”

“I’m a nice guy.”

“I don’t know you.”

Hunter slipped his hands into his pockets. “Hunter Delucia, age twenty-nine, single, never been married, no kids. Went to Berkeley for undergraduate and grad school. Degree in architectural engineering. Grew up next door to Derek, been friends since we were in the carriage. He’ll vouch for me as a decent guy. Own a home in Idyllwild, about an hour from the happy couple, with no mortgage. I also built it myself and have lots of trees on my property—that should get me extra points, by the way. Last doctor’s appointment was a month ago—clean as a whistle. And, most importantly…” He took a step closer to me; our bodies were practically touching. “I think you’re extremely sexy. There’s some insane chemistry here, and I think we should explore it.”

I swallowed. Luckily, the elevator dinged, and the doors slid open on the top floor. Needing some air that didn’t smell like Hunter Delucia, I sidestepped around the tree of a man and exited. He followed right behind me. When I abruptly stopped, realizing I was going the wrong way, he walked right into me. His hands caught me, fingers pressing into my hips to stop me from falling forward.

“Wooo. You okay?”

“What the hell? You almost knocked me over.”

“You stopped short.”

“If you weren’t up my ass, you wouldn’t have walked into me.”

We were still standing in the middle of the hall, and he still had a firm grip on my hips…and it felt really good. God, it had been a long time for me. More than two years.

Those fingers squeezed a little harder, and his head dipped to whisper next to my ear. “You smell incredible.”

A fire burned under his touch. I shut my eyes. Hmmm…. He and Derek have been friends since they were little. He can’t be that bad of a guy. Maybe—

Thankfully, the other elevator saved me from doing something stupid. A few of Derek’s friends stepped off and didn’t seem to notice what was going on between Hunter and me.

“Hey, Delucia!” An arm wrapped around his shoulder. “Shots in our room.”

I shook some sense back into my head and used the opportunity to escape, practically running down the hall toward my room. Of course, my room had to be the last one at the end. Hunter yelled my name as I fumbled to get the key in the door. I ignored him and rushed inside. Leaning against the closed door, I let out a breath of relief.

What the hell am I doing? Get a grip, Nat. Literally running away from a man instead of just declining his offer or telling him to screw off? But something about this man made me feel restless and nervous—like I needed to run the other direction.

A soft knock at the door I was still leaning against made me jump.

“Natalia.”

Why the hell did he have to call me that? “I’m sleeping.”

I heard him chuckle. “Just wanted to tell you, my room is right next door. Even the hotel thinks we should sleep together.”

I shook my head, but smiled. “Goodnight, Hunter.”

“’Night, Natalia. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

Chapter 2

Natalia

A team of people worked on the bride-to-be. Jack Johnson crooned about making waves, and the enormous bridal suite smelled of lilac—Anna’s favorite scent in the world. Every time I walked through the flower district in New York in the spring, I expected to see her around the corner.

Seeing me come in, she held a champagne flute up in her reflection in the mirror. “I’m getting fucking married.”

Normally, anything to do with marriage brought out my bitter and pessimistic side, but I tamped down my feelings on the subject for Anna’s sake. I took the flute from her hand and smiled back. “You’re getting fucking married.”

The stylist busy with her hair grinned and shook his head.

“We’re classy, what can I say?” I offered.

In two hours, my best friend would be walking down the aisle to marry a rich, nice looking, young techie, who worshipped the ground she walked on. It was a far cry from what my sham of a marriage had been.

“I saw Hunter follow you out the door last night,” Anna said. “Poor Cassie could barely keep up with how close he was to your tail.”

I needed my own mimosa for a discussion about that man. I finished Anna’s drink and went to the pitcher on the bar to refill hers and grab my own glass. “Do you remember when we were seventeen and I had that crush on Mr. Westbrook, the English substitute?”

“How could I forget? He was twenty-three and gorgeous.”

“Hunter’s…well, I’m not sure what to make of him, to be honest. He’s lewd, forward, persistent…sexy as hell.”

“Gorgeous, financially sound, confident, sexy as hell,” Anna added.

I sighed. “Yeah. All those. But there’s something about him…something I can’t put my finger on, that makes him feel as forbidden as Mr. Westbrook did in high school.”

Anna’s eyes flared at my reflection in the mirror. “Really?”

“What the hell are you smiling at, weirdo?”

“He feels forbidden because he gave you butterflies.”

“He did not,” I lied.

I wasn’t even sure why I was lying about it. Besides, the butterflies he gave me weren’t the usual kind that fluttered in your stomach—these flew a little farther south.

“Did too.”

“No, he didn’t.”