Chapter 37

I woke up in a bed I didn’t recognise and it took my brain a moment to remember what had happened the day before. When I did, I tried to process everything. I was in Hunter's apartment, and what an apartment it was. My place could comfortably fit in his kitchen and living room. It itched in me to try out his kitchen, it had looked to be state of the art and unused. Then I reminded myself that good houseguests didn’t take command of their host’s kitchen. That train of thought got me thinking of Hunter. I had made a fool of myself by acting like he was going to hurt me yesterday. I knew he wasn’t like that. But my adrenaline had been pumping and muscle memory set in before I could stop it. But he had handled it like a champ. Like he always did when I exposed him to one of my damaged parts. I sighed and got out of bed. Truth be told, I could have spent the day nestled down in it. It was the comfiest bed I have ever had the pleasure to sleep in. But I needed to face reality. After I had washed up and put on some clothes, I headed out of the room. From the landing outside the bedroom door I had a view out over the kitchen and living room. Hunter was in the kitchen, cooking something. He had always worn suits or tailored shirts around me and I allowed myself a moment to take him in as he moved around wearing jeans and a t-shirt. How come he looked even sexier? It wasn’t fair. I started my way down the stairs and he spotted me and followed my descent.

“Good morning. Did you sleep okay?” he asked.

“Good morning. I did, thank you. The bed was amazing. How about you? I didn’t keep you awake with my snoring I hope?” I answered. I realised I had no memory of going to bed the night before. The last thing I remembered was watching TV with Hunter. Had I fallen asleep? But surely he would have let me sleep on the couch if I did? He couldn’t have…? I felt myself blush at the thought of Hunter carrying me to bed.

“No snoring,” he told me and I was happy he had turned around to flip the pancake he was making. “Hungry?” I have made pancakes,” he said.

“That sounds nice. I can set the table,” I offered. Then I looked around and noticed the absence of a table. Hunter must have seen me look around. He smiled at me.

“No kitchen table, I’m afraid. There is one in the dining room that I never use as it feels too fancy. If you want we can eat there, or we can sit at the counter, like I do when I don’t eat on the couch,” he explained.

“The counter it is,” I decided and started pulling out what we needed after asking where everything was. To my amusement, Hunter seemed to not know about half of the thing I asked for.

“I’m guessing you have figured out how often I use this kitchen,” he finally said. I laughed.

“I’m guessing it doesn’t happen too often,” I replied.

“No. Most of the time I get caught up in work and then when I realise I’m hungry, I just order something or go out to eat.”

“And on your days off?” I asked.

“I don’t really have those. I usually work most days. When the company was new, we had to. Security needs to be in place all days of the year, all hours of the day. Now, I don’t have to work as much. But it’s become a habit and I don’t really know what to do when I don’t work. Fuck, I sound so boring,” he told me.

“Let’s call it passionate instead,” I said as I went to collect one of the plates he had stacked with pancakes.

“Not that one!” he told me. I stopped in my tracks.

“Why not?”

“So, well it’s been a while since I made pancakes and that might be the pile of rejected ones,” he confessed.

“Rejected ones?”

“Yeah, you know. The ones that are a little burnt or a little raw or whatever.”

“It’s a pretty big pile of rejection,” I said with a laugh.

“I needed to warm up,” he told me with a smile.

“Fine, I can wait for the accepted ones.” I sat down and waited while I watched Hunter flip pancakes. He finally put a plate with a stack in front of me and took a stack for himself. I could see that his stack had oddly shaped ones, while mine was almost picture perfect. “Thank you. It looks and smells mouth-watering,” I told him and started to cut into my stack.

“Whoa, whoa. What are you doing? You are forgetting the best parts,” he told me and put a plate of butter and the maple syrup next to me. I eyed them and my brain played the recording of Simon telling me how fat I was and how disgusting it was that I didn’t lose weight. I knew I shouldn’t care, but it was hard to ignore.

“I-I’ll just have the pancakes, thanks,” I told Hunter. He frowned.

“Sweetness, no one eats plain pancakes, especially not mine that are made from a box and not expertly in any way,” he said.

“It’s fine, Hunter. It really is. They look amazing.”

“Okay. Do you not like maple syrup?” he asked.

“Oh no, I do,” I said.

“Good.” He took the bottle and poured a good amount on top of my pancakes and then on his. “Butter?” he asked as he speared a cube with the knife.

“Yes, please,” I told him with a sigh.

“Good girl. I know someone has told you negative things about yourself. And things like that are hard to get out of your mind. But you are beautiful and amazing and you deserve to eat my halfway decent pancakes with maple syrup and butter,” he said. He then got started on his own breakfast and I followed his lead. Despite my slight guilt, the pancakes tasted fantastic. “What do you want me to do with our reservations tonight? I understand that you don’t feel like going out after yesterday,” Hunter asked me. I had almost forgotten about our date. My first thought was that I didn’t want to cancel. I had been looking forward to seeing where the date took us. But would it be strange going on a date when we lived under the same roof? Would Hunter be expecting us to end up in bed?

“I would still like to go,” I told him. He gave me a big smile.

“I’m happy to hear you say that. I have been looking forward to it,” he said.

“So have I.”

“Do you want us to go by your place so you can have a look around and make sure you’re okay with the door? Maybe pick up some more things to bring here?” he asked.

“How long are you planning on me staying?” I asked. I remembered him telling me I would stay until he knew it was safe for me to be at home. But I wanted to see if he had an idea of how long that would take.

“I don’t know. I’m sorry that I can’t give you a better answer. It all depends on what my men find when we look into why someone was at your place last night. But at least a week or two,” he told me. I nodded.

“Then I would like to go home and get a couple of things,” I said.

“We’ll go after we are done. And while we are out we might as well go grocery shopping. I ordered some basic things, but I think we will need more,” he told me.

“That’s a good idea. We can take a look at what you have and make a list,” I agreed.

“That brings me to my next question.” By the tone of his voice I could guess it was a serious one. “Regarding the investigation into why those men and Amber tried to force their way inside your apartment. Do you want to be part of the meeting where my men go through what they have found? Or do you want me to tell you a summarised version?” It was a good question. What did I want? If I did attend the meeting I would get all the information, even information I may not want. It would be nicer to have Hunter as a filter, only telling me what he thought I needed to know. I trusted him enough to not be worried he would keep things from me I needed to know.

“Will you be at the meetings even if I decide to be there?” I asked.

“Of course.” I nodded.

“I think I want to join in the meetings, if it is okay? I think I need to see the truth, the whole truth. I have been blind to it and it has put me in danger,” I said.

“Then that is what we will do. If it makes you feel better about it; I think you are making the right choice and I think you can handle it,” Hunter told me.

“Thank you. It does make me feel better,” I admitted. I put things in the dishwasher as Hunter cleared the table. Together we went through what food he had and made a list of things we wanted. I offered to pay as I knew he wouldn’t have bought any of it if it weren’t for me. Hunter just huffed and told me he would have spent the double on take out. On the way to my apartment we stopped by Hunter’s office. My new keys and a key card for Hunter’s place waited on his desk and he gave both to me.