Bury the Hatchet

Chapter Nineteen - Bury the Hatchet

TALLIE

Life with Hunter took a sharp and decided turn after that, much as we'd known it would. Whatever our relationship was morphing into, we weren't just roommates putting on a show for the media anymore. Kissing and touching each other no longer had to stop the second we were in private. A whole new world was open to us now, but I still wasn't sure how that was going to work itself out. I doubted he had a true sense of where our relationship was heading, either.

Did he think what we'd shared was meant to be for one night only? It was a hell of a single night, if that was where he stood on the matter. I'd lost count of how many times he'd brought me to ecstasy. Throughout the night, we had dozed for a while and then had sex for a while before dozing some more. We'd been wrapped up in each other all night long, unable to untangle our limbs for more than brief spurts. If he got it in his head that he wanted to end the physical side of our relationship and go back to how things had been before, I was going to have a hard time coming to grips with it.

When we got up in the morning, he showered and got ready for practice while I fixed him some breakfast. Fruit and oatmeal—not something I could screw up and not something that would require much use of my hand, which was a heck of a lot more sensitive now than it had been last night. Adrenaline? Or maybe sex endorphins. Either way, I needed more of it today, please and thanks. The whole time I worked on putting together Hunter's breakfast, I worried about what last night would mean for us in the long run. Was he starting to feel for me the way I felt for him? Should I dare to ask?

He came into the kitchen and fixed a cup of coffee before kissing me on the cheek. He smelled good enough to eat, the scent of the coffee combining with the scent that was purely him, and I fought to keep my composure.

Then he sat down on one of the chairs across the bar and settled in to eat. "Forgot to tell you last night, with everything going on. We've got our first preseason game tonight, if you want to come."

My heart fluttered to life. "Really?" This would be the first time he'd included me in anything to do with his professional life, and it sounded as if it was voluntary on his part.

"Yeah. I'll take you in early and introduce you to Dana Zellinger. She can help you get settled."

"I'd like that." I'd like it more than I could ever hope to explain. There was a sense of nervous excitement bubbling up within me.

He took a bite of his banana, chewing it with pensive eyes on me. "And there's an Ice Breaker event on Thursday afternoon. First time the team is getting out with the public, letting them see who we are. They want me to bring you, so I hope you're not busy."

I deflated slightly at that. For one thing, pointing out that the team wanted me to be present meant Hunter wasn't on board with it, or at the very least, it hadn't been his idea. For another, I'd been planning to spend time with Kade at Horizons every afternoon, even though I knew neither Hunter nor Kade was particularly keen on the idea. If I went to the Ice Breaker, I wouldn't be able to go on Thursday. Still, it wouldn't hurt for me to skip the one visit. Besides, that would be a great opportunity for me and Hunter to be seen together by those who mattered, other than just dinners out and things of that nature, which was probably why the team had suggested he bring me.

I skimmed my fingers over the smooth granite countertop, tracing the lines I found while I screwed up my courage. "Do you want me to be there?"

He set the banana on a plate, covering my hand with his and stopping me from my continual nervous outlining of the patterns in the stone.

I flashed my eyes up to meet his. Green. Heated. Piercing. He could melt me with nothing more than a look.

"I think after last night, you should realize I like being with you," he said.