Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(26)

“Why did you marry him?”

“I’m still trying to figure that one out,” Kylie admitted with an adorable frown as she placed the cards back on the table and cut the deck, revealing a five of hearts.

“Did you ever love him?” Hunter asked, cutting the deck to reveal a two of diamonds.

“Why do you care?” she asked, looking genuinely curious as he sat there, asking himself the same damn question.

He opened his mouth to tell her that he didn’t, but as he looked at her, he realized that he cared a hell of a lot more than he should.

“I have no fucking clue,” Hunter admitted, as his gaze shifted to those beautiful plump lips of hers and he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he pushed the table out of the way, leaned down and-

“So, I think I should go to bed now!” Kylie said somewhat hysterically, making him frown as she jumped to her feet, stumbled, and promptly fell to the floor with a pained grunt and a grumbled, “Oh, God, the floor is moving.”

---

“Am I dying?” the little drunk asked from the bathroom as he stood there, still trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with him.

“You’re not dying,” Hunter said, sighing heavily as he came to the conclusion that he’d lost his fucking mind, because that was the only explanation that he could come up with for even thinking about kissing her.

“Oh, my God, I’m dying?” Kylie demanded dramatically because apparently, she was a dramatic little thing when she was drunk.

“You’re not dying,” Hunter promised her, again.

“Oh, God, I’ve contracted the alcohol poisoning!” Kylie cried, making his lips twitch despite the fact that he felt like the biggest asshole on the planet.

“You don’t have alcohol poisoning,” he promised her even as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face, trying to figure out how he’d fucked this up so badly.

“I do…” sniffle, “I really do.”

Somehow resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he headed back to the bathroom to find the little drunk lying halfway inside the large shower stall, hugging a bottle of shampoo against her chest, and making him really fucking thankful that the power had come back on since it would make this easier.

“I’m going to die a virgin,” she mumbled pathetically, as he reached down and plucked the bottle of shampoo out of her hands.

“You’re not a virgin,” Hunter told her, which resulted in another sniffle.

“Bad sex shouldn’t count,” Kylie said with a forlorn sigh, as she reached for the bottle of conditioner.

“No, it shouldn’t,” Hunter agreed, as he plucked the bottle from her small hands and placed it out of her reach.

“I can’t believe this is how it ends,” Kylie said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Dying a virgin on the bathroom floor.”

“You’re not dying,” he once again reminded her before adding, “You barely managed to finish off half your drink before you tripped over your own two feet,” which only went to prove that she was too damn good for someone like him. Well, that and her family had clearly lied about her being an alcoholic, which didn’t really surprise him.

“But, I’m still a virgin?” she asked, sounding really fucking hopeful. “Because I don’t think it should count if you can’t feel it.”

Shaking his head with a groan, because she was killing him here, he said, “Sure.”

Nodding as she closed her eyes, she took a shuddering breath and said, “Then I’m ready to go.”

“How about if we just get you into bed, hmm?” Hunter asked, picking up the small bundle and carried her towards her room.

“But I like it here!”

“You’ll like it even more in your own bed,” he promised her even as he had to wonder how he was going to make this up to her.

“But…what if I drown?”

“You can swim.”

Sniffle. “I really can’t.”

“You’re not going to drown in your bed.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Fine,” he said, sighing heavily as he moved to lay her down in her bed only to curse and head back to the bathroom when she slapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled ominously, “It’s begun,” making him realize that it was going to be a very long fucking night.





Chapter 15

“I’m dying,” Kylie said, finally coming to terms with her impending demise because it was time.

There was a heavy sigh beneath her and then, “You’re not dying.”

“Tell that to my head,” Kylie mumbled against the firm chest that she had her face pressed against while the man who was most likely going to fire her as soon as she was able to stand up without dying continued to absently rub her back.

For a moment, a very brief moment, she considered making another attempt to climb out of this tub and put some much-needed space between them, but since that hadn’t ended well the last time, she decided that it was probably for the best if she just stayed where she was for now. Later, much later, when her head was no longer pounding, and her stomach wasn’t threatening to lurch every time she breathed, she would freak out about the fact that she was curled up in her boss’s arms. But for now, she was going to stay where she was, praying that she somehow survived this.