Manaconda (Hammered #1)(46)

Which I, of course, was standing next to.

Because this was my life.

Hunter tried to grab the brindle but she shot under the table, her nails scrabbling over the marble floor, mule-kicking the back support. Glasses tinkled across the floor, the plastic bottoms scattering like monster truck tires at a derby. The table slid forward and I became the center piece for a chocolate fountain.

There was bedlam, laughter, and a few screams as the dogs careened through the crowd.

A pair of strong arms lifted me off the floor. Chocolate dripped from my ears, down my neck, and over the front of my dress. It slithered through the holes in the lace until I was slick as a pig at a fair.

“I got ya.” Hunter jostled me tighter to his chest.

“Oh my God, are you all right?” Corey asked.

Of course she was perfect. Her ivory column of a dress spotless. I was going to be finding chocolate with Q-tips for a week. I pushed at Hunter’s chest. “I—your suit. Oh, God.”

“Don’t worry about that.” He pushed a lock of dripping hair out of my face. “Anything broken?”

“Just my love of chocolate and my pride.”

Corey laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you.”

“Oh, I would be.” My voice was way too high.

Hunter carried me over to the head table and set me gently into a chair.

“Miss. Oh, my goodness. I don’t even know what to say.” A waitress came over with a roll of paper towels and an apron.

“Little late for that,” I said with a laugh. I felt the hysteria building. I tried to tamp it down, but it effervesced like the champagne display scattered over the floor.

She tried to dab me with the paper towels but there was no way to blot this level of chocolate.

“Just put me out back and hose me down. It’d be easier.” I hiccuped out a laugh.

Hunter’s lips twitched. “Let me get you home.”

“I called for a car.” I brushed my nose with the back of my hand. Even that was streaked with chocolate.

“I’m not sure the service would let you in.”

“I tip well, dammit.” There were so many people surrounding me. I felt the hiccups coming faster.

Hunter tucked my hair out of my face. “Okay, everyone. Let’s just give her a second, all right? Back up. Just look at me, sweetheart.”

I hated to ask, but embarrassment at this level negated pride. My eyes burned. “Can you just get me out of here?”

He handed me my purse and scooped me up again. “Let’s get out of here.”





21





Hunter





She covered her eyes as we got to the doorway. Luckily I was pretty sure she didn’t notice the cameras that had been working over time during the accident, but there was no denying them outside.

I tucked her closer to my chest. “Just a few more minutes. The valet went to get my car.”

She nodded and sniffled.

I wasn’t sure what to do with a helpless Kenny. Not what I was used to in the least. She kept rubbing at her nose and wouldn’t look up. God help me if she was actually crying.

A waiter sprinted out to the lobby with a table cloth. “This might help get her home.”

“Perfect. Thanks, man.”

The lanky kid nodded. “Sure thing.”

I rushed through the turnstile front door when I heard my Mustang.

“How do you even fit in there?” she said with a watery laugh.

“For a ’71 Mustang, I bend.”

“I’ll get chocolate everywhere.”

I set her down, opened the door, then snapped out the table cloth. “See?” I settled it over the leather seat. “Perfect. Now, get in Kenny.”

She looked up at me. “So, I’m Kenny again?”

I sighed. “You’re always going to be Kenny. Now, get in the car before you harden like a chocolate bunny.”

“There’s chocolate in places I don’t even want to think about.”

“Then let’s get you home and cleaned up.”

She nodded and ducked her head to sit on the bucket seat. She twisted to get her legs in. Even streaked in chocolate they were amazing.

Before I could shut the door, she looked up at me. “What about Corey?”

“She’ll find her way home.”

“Isn’t she your date?”

Corey was amazing, and I was pretty sure she was trying to get me to fix her up with Patrick, but Kenny didn’t need to know that. “She understands. We came in separate cars, too.”

“Oh.”

“Can I close the door now?”

She dropped her hands on her lap. “Yes.”

“All aboard the chocolate express,” I said and closed the door.

When I came around she was scrunched down in the seat. “But your seatbelt on, Kenny.”

“Chocolate.” As if that meant anything.

“Seatbelt.”

She sighed and reached over her shoulder. She tucked the tablecloth around her shoulders.

I sighed and reached over to snap it into place. “That’s what a detailing place is for.”

I pulled out into traffic, then down Willshire Boulevard. “Where am I headed?”