Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(39)

“Good,” Hunter said absently, as he watched her walk away.

“What do you want to do about her parents?” Ryan asked, as he gestured to one of the bellhops to grab their bags.

“Destroy them,” Hunter drawled, as he plucked the keycards out of Ryan’s hand and headed for the elevators.

---

“I wanted to thank you for your help with everything.”

“You’re welcome,” Kylie said with what she hoped didn’t look like a forced smile as she quickly made her way to the back corner, making sure to place her suitcase in front of her to buy herself a little space.

Easily returning her smile, Tim pressed the button for the tenth floor before joining her against the back wall to make room for an elderly couple. As soon as they were settled, Hunter stepped into the elevator and—

Immediately ignored her.

Biting back a disappointed sigh, she reminded herself that she knew that this might happen. Hunter had been on house arrest for the past eight months and she’d been the only one there, so it made sense that they’d become friends. Now that he’d been allowed to leave the house, he-

“We wanted to thank you for all the work you put in to help us, so we had a gift basket sent to your room,” Tim said, drawing her attention.

“You got me another gift basket?” she asked, blinking up at the man smiling down at her.

“We wanted to do something special for you.”

“I love gift baskets,” Kylie said with a reverent sigh, because there was honestly nothing better than receiving a gift basket.

Nothing.

She loved everything about them from the baskets that they came in, to the large ribbon that tied it all together. Not that she would admit this or anything, but on the rare occasions that she actually decided to acknowledge her birthday, she would send herself a gift basket. Nothing too expensive. It was usually just a fruit basket, but God, did she love them.

“We need to be back down here in an hour,” Ryan said, as he joined them in the elevator, pausing to press the button for the eighteenth floor.

“Fine,” Hunter said, sounding bored while he stood there watching as the elevator doors finally slid closed.

“I was actually hoping that I could take you out to dinner tonight to thank you and maybe go over everything for tomorrow,” Tim said, making her frown as she pulled her keycard out of her pocket.

“Dinner?” Kylie asked, as she stood there, trying to remember the last time a man asked her out to dinner.

“If you’re not busy,” Tim said, looking hopeful.

She opened her mouth to answer only to have Hunter do it for her.

“She’s busy,” he said, still not bothering to look at her.

“Oh,” Tim mumbled, looking disappointed as she tried to figure out what Hunter was talking about. He’d given her the day off since there was nothing else to do until tomorrow morning. Everything was done and ready to go. His men had already set up the challenge, their displays, the tables were set up, the swag that she’d ordered was ready to go, the monitors were put up and the videos that they were going to display were ready to play.

There was nothing for her to do until tomorrow when the convention unlocked the doors and let them back in so that she could finish setting up. She’d figured that she’d take it easy tonight, maybe check out the huge atrium displayed in the middle of the hotel, check out the baby alligators and walk around the lagoon, hit the hotel gift store because she was a sucker for souvenirs, and call it an early night since she needed to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to face several thousand people who were most likely going to make it impossible for her to sleep for the next few weeks.

“Maybe we could meet for breakfast in the morning?” Tim said, looking hopeful as he grabbed his bag just as the elevator came to a stop on their floor and the elderly couple stepped off.

“That sounds fi-,” she started to say only to frown when she felt the keycard plucked from her hand.

“She’s busy,” Hunter repeated, as he slapped her keycard in Ryan’s hands.

Frowning, Ryan glanced down at the keycard only to end up cursing when Hunter shoved him out of the elevator before gesturing with a nod for Tim to get out.

“Oh, come on!” Ryan snapped, stumbling back as Tim shot her a smile and murmured, “Goodnight, Kylie,” before leaving her on the elevator with the man that was seriously confusing her.

“Why did you just do that?” Kylie asked, blinking at the closed elevator doors.

“Why did I do what, Miss Buttermilk?” Hunter asked absently, as he pulled out his phone and checked something.

“That,” Kylie said, gesturing wildly towards the closed elevator doors.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hunter said, slipping his cellphone back in his pocket before reaching down and taking her bag for her as the elevator came to a stop on his floor.

“Umm, what exactly are you doing?” she asked, blinking as she watched him walk off the elevator with her bag.

“Carrying your bag to our suite, Miss Snape,” Hunter said, leaving her with no other choice but to follow him.

“What are you talking about?” Kylie asked when she caught up with him.

“You’re staying with me so that I can keep an eye on you,” Hunter said, as he walked to the door at the end of the hallway and slid his keycard in the card slot.