Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(27)

“First hangover?” her boss asked, as he shifted to get more comfortable only to murmur, “Sorry,” when the move caused her head to spin and she was forced to grab hold of his large biceps with a whimper.

“And last,” she promised, earning an incredibly sexy chuckle as the man who never seemed to do anything more than glare continued to rub her back, something that would have normally made her uncomfortable but for some reason, most likely the fact that she was dying, she didn’t mind.

“How are you feeling?” Hunter asked, sounding completely relaxed.

“Wonderful,” she mumbled dryly, as she released her hold on his biceps so that she could curl up more comfortably in his arms.

“I’m guessing that you don’t drink much,” he said, waiting until she was done shifting so that he could continue rubbing her back.

“Not much,” she agreed even as she came to the decision that she was never going to drink again.

Granted, she’d never planned on drinking in the first place since she’d seen first-hand what it could do. But last night, she’d found herself saying yes when she normally would have said no, and it was all because of the man currently holding her. It was stupid, really stupid, but she hadn’t been able to make herself say the words that would have had him giving her that condescending look that she hated so much.

It was the look that her ex gave her when he found out that she didn’t drink, along with that patronizing tone that he used whenever he took it upon himself to explain why she didn’t drink whenever anyone asked that had her saying yes last night when she should have said no. The thought of him giving her that look had her doing something incredibly stupid. He was her boss and it honestly shouldn’t have mattered what he thought, but last night, it mattered, and she had no idea why.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Will it involve more alcohol?” Kylie asked, because she wasn’t sure that she could even be in the same room with alcohol without throwing up at this point.

“No.”

“Thank God,” she said, sighing with relief until he asked his question and she decided that perhaps she was feeling better after all.

There was a slight pause and then, “Did you know that you’d be released from the contract and paid in full if I violated the terms of my house arrest?”

“I figured that out a while ago,” Kylie mumbled around a yawn, tempted to close her eyes and-

“Then why didn’t you let them arrest me?” he asked, making her frown as she turned her head so that she could look at him as she asked, “Why would I do that?”

“Most people would,” Hunter murmured, as he reached up to push her hair out of her face.

“I would never do something like that,” she mumbled, as she lay her head back against his chest.

“No, you wouldn’t, would you?” he said with a soft smile and a sigh before following that up with, “Can I ask you something else?”

“Sure,” she said, shifting to get more comfortable.

“What happened last night?” he asked, absently tracing circles on her back.

“I drank too much?” she said, sounding hopeful.

There was a heavy sigh and then he was giving her shoulder a patronizing pat. “I think that’s an understatement,” he said, making her lips twitch despite the fact that she felt like crap. “But, that’s not what I was referring to.”

“The card game where I wiped the floor with you?” she asked innocently with the hopes of distracting him from the question that she didn’t know how to answer.

“You didn’t wipe the floor with me,” he bit out even as he gently rubbed her back.

“I really did though.”

“I let you win.”

“You have a tell,” Kylie said, deciding to take pity on him.

“Lies, Miss Stone, all lies,” he said with a long-suffering sigh that had her biting back a smile.

“You glare,” she said, deciding to take pity on him.

“I always glare,” Hunter pointed out, which made it impossible for her to hold back another smile.

“True,” she murmured in agreement, “but when you have a losing hand you glare at your cards.”

“I see,” Hunter said after a slight pause before asking, “And when I have a winning hand?”

“You look smug,” Kylie said, deciding not to point out that he also looked incredibly sexy when he did it since he was her boss and that was just inappropriate.

Then again, she wouldn’t be able to tell him that even if he wasn’t her boss. She wasn’t good with men, never had been, and probably never would be, which was more than fine with her, because-

“And you looked terrified when you came running into my office last night,” he said quietly, reminding her why she never let anyone get close.

---

“Thunderstorm,” the small woman in his arms said with a shrug and if he hadn’t been there to see the look of terror on her face last night, he probably would have believed her.

“Thunderstorms,” he murmured thoughtfully as he continued rubbing her back.

For a moment, he considered pushing her for more, but by now, he knew enough about the stubborn woman in his arms to know that pushing her wouldn’t help. She’d shut down and he didn’t want that. He wanted her to tell him all those things that she was keeping from him. But most of all, he wanted to know what had sent her running, scared out of her mind, into his office last night.