Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(24)

“A little,” Kylie said, licking her lips nervously as she shifted in her chair before she reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the kitchen door.

“Blackjack?” he asked, grabbing a couple of glasses and setting them on the kitchen counter near the stove.

When she reluctantly nodded, he grabbed his flashlight and opened the freezer. He filled the glasses with the rest of the ice, grabbed a couple of Cokes from the fridge, and a bottle of rum from one of the cabinets, well aware of the small woman watching his every move. Once he was done, he placed one of the glasses in front of her. He placed the flashlight in the middle of the table and switched it to the lantern setting so that they could see what they were doing. Once he sat down, he picked up the deck of cards and turned his attention to his own personal mystery.

“Umm, I’m not much of a drinker,” Kylie said, shifting nervously in her chair again as she shot the kitchen door another look of longing.

“You’ll be fine,” Hunter promised, as he shuffled the deck.

“I’ve never had Coke and rum before,” she said, shooting her glass a nervous look.

“I’m not drinking alone tonight, Miss Swan.”

She opened her mouth to argue only to shut it with a reluctant nod and that defiant look in her eye that intrigued him. Everything about her intrigued him, from the way that she glared at him whenever he messed with her files to the way that her eyes lit up whenever it was cheat day and she could eat whatever her little heart desired, to the way that she came to his rescue today. But it was the way that she came running into his office, diving onto the couch where’d she’d curled up, mumbling to herself and looking absolutely terrified that had him sitting here, deciding that it was time to get some answers.

“Winner gets to ask a question, any question, and the loser has to answer it honestly,” Hunter said, leveling a hard look on her as he dealt the first hand before adding, “and the loser takes a drink. Any questions?”

Shaking her head, she checked the bottom card and after a slight hesitation, Kylie said, “Stay.”

Nodding, he flipped the bottom card over. “Blackjack,” Hunter said, gesturing for her to take a sip.

For a moment, she simply sat there, worrying her bottom lip as she stared down at her glass while he waited for her to refuse, only to take him by surprise when she picked up the glass, closed her eyes, took a small sip, and-

“Oh, God!” Kylie choked out between violent coughs as she was forced to grab onto the table as her face turned an interesting shade of red while he sat there, questioning this plan only to remind himself that this was probably his best option to get answers out of her.

“Why did you take this job?” he asked, dealing out the next hand.

“It was local and gave me a chance to move out of my apartment,” Kylie managed to say as the coughing slowly subsided.

“What was wrong with your apartment?” Hunter asked, checking his cards.

“I haven’t lost this hand yet,” Kylie said, drawing his attention back to her as she checked her card.

“My apologies. I withdraw the question,” Hunter said, gesturing to her hand.

“Hit me,” she said, meeting his gaze head-on as he tossed a ten of hearts to her.

With a sigh, she mumbled, “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.