Sex, Not Love(37)

Hunter’s eyes flicked to me and then to Damon. His jaw was set rigid. “Ex-wife. And you can let your friend know, Natalia is being taken care of just fine.”

Damon’s face heated. But Hunter was younger, bigger, stronger, and his tone left no room for negotiation. Pissed, he turned his attention to me. “Don’t waste my time if you’re going to have someone do the work yourself.”

The door slammed shut a minute later. Hunter ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry about that.”

“Sorry? I seriously doubt that jerk will be sniffing around anymore. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Guy’s a dirtbag.”

“He certainly is. I think if I’d met Damon the same day I met Garrett, I might have thought twice about my ex-husband’s character before the truth smacked me in the head a few years later. You can tell a lot about a person by meeting their best friend.”

Hunter nodded. “I agree.” He caught my eyes. “For the record, I think Anna’s pretty damn great.”

God, this man could melt ice with those eyes. “Derek’s pretty awesome, too.”

***

Even though I’d told him I would call a plumber to fix my leaky seal, Hunter insisted it wasn’t a big deal and he could fix it easily. So while he ran out to get what he needed, I cleaned everything out from underneath the sink and decided to bake him brownies. They were already out of the oven and halfway cooled by the time he returned—even though the store I’d told him about was only up the block.

He had two bags when he entered. “Smells good in here.”

“I made you brownies. You’ve spent time helping Izzy and bought me dinner on your birthday and lunch today. You’re going to repair my sink. Not to mention that you drove me around California and let me stay at your house. It’s the least I could do.”

“It’s not necessary.” He reached to the plate, grabbed a brownie, and stuffed it in his mouth. “But if you’re in a giving mood, I can think of a few other ways you could repay me.”

Before I could respond, he shook his head. “Wow. I really can’t seem to stop my mouth, even when I try. I hope you were being honest when you said I’m not like that Damon asshole.”

“You’re nothing like that dirtbag,” I assured him. “I’m glad you’re back to your normal, perverted self. That half hour you practiced self control was awful.”

Hunter unbuttoned his shirt and winked. “I knew you liked my dirty mouth.”

Wearing just a white T-shirt, he got ready for the sink repair. He dumped the contents of one of the bags on the counter and opened a bunch of plumbing parts individually wrapped in plastic bags before setting them on the floor where he’d be working. As soon as he laid down and stuck his head in the cabinet, Izzy’s cat appeared from nowhere and ran across the room—jumping on and over Hunter during his random chase of air. The sudden pounce on his abs made Hunter jolt upright, and he whacked his head on the cabinet as he sat up. “What the hell was that?”

I walked over and picked up the crazy feline. “Sorry. Are you okay? That was Izzy’s cat. He doesn’t come out often. He’s shy.”

Hunter rubbed his head, then raised his eyes to the cat in my hand. His eyes widened. “Does he…have one eye?”

I petted the top of its head. “Yeah. He was a stray that Izzy used to feed when she lived with her mom. Must’ve gotten into a fight and lost it at one point. He doesn’t have a tail either.”

“That’s one ugly cat.”

“Hey, be nice. Catpernicus has feelings, too.”

Hunter arched a brow. “Catpernicus?”

“Izzy’s into astronomy. We call him Cat for short. He likes to sleep in the closet. Poor thing digs himself under the discarded teenage clothing heap in her room. I think he probably had it rough on the streets.”

I dug my nails into the top of Catpernicus’s head, and he pushed up and licked the inside of my wrist while starting to purr.

Hunter grumbled, “Lucky pussy,” and went back under the sink.

Fifteen minutes later, my sink was fixed.

“I really can’t thank you enough.”

“No problem.” Hunter washed his hands and grabbed the other bag, which I now noticed was still full.

“Did you buy extra parts in case you needed them?”

“Nope. Got a flat-head screwdriver?”

“Sure.” I went to the junk drawer and pulled one out as Hunter emptied the contents of the other bag. Inside was a Baldwin lock and key set.

“Changing the lock on your front door while I’m at it, so that asshole can’t help himself inside while you’re in the shower one day.”

I’d never thought of that. But now that he’d said it, I was glad he was doing it, because I wouldn’t sleep tonight with that idea planted in my head.

“Wow. Yeah. Thank you. That’s great.”

***

“I should get going.” Hunter polished off the beer I’d given him after he’d finished fixing my sink and changing my door lock. Since Izzy had texted that she was going over to her friend’s after the boys’ basketball game, I didn’t have anything I needed to do for the rest of the afternoon or evening.

“Do you want to stay and watch a movie or something? I could make you a late dinner since we ate a late lunch?”