Big & Beautiful 12: Stocky & Sumptuous

Tuesday after lunch, I was sitting at my desk when Hunter walked in. He headed straight for me, his eyes locked on mine from the second he stepped inside.

“I told you I’m not giving up. I’m taking you out this weekend. I’m not the man you think I am.”

I shook my head. “It wouldn’t matter. I have plans this weekend.”

He smirked. “Plans I can work with. You didn’t say no.”

He turned and walked away, leaving me speechless. I wanted to chase him down and say no, but when he paused at the hallway and grinned at me, I knew it was only a matter of time before I gave in to him.

My earbuds went back in while he was meeting with Drew. I had no idea what Drew was working on, which kind of bothered me. I really wanted to know what the project was. I didn’t know why. Drew and Xander worked on a lot of projects that I wasn’t intimately involved with. I would keep track of how things were going and make sure they were on schedule and budget, but the details were frequently left to them.

The fact that Hunter’s project bothered me, bothered me.

I went to get a cup of coffee and was filing papers, the most boring part of my job, when Hunter came back into the front.

“So, when are you free? You can’t have plans for the entire weekend.”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the side of my desk. Stacks of paper were scattered everywhere. He shifted his weight and one of the stacks fluttered to the floor.

“Shit. Sorry about that,” he said, crouching to pick up the papers. I bent at the same time, our knees brushing and eyes colliding. He held my gaze and handed me the papers he collected. We both stood, and he stepped closer.

My phone rang and startled me away from him. I answered it and made notes about the call, hoping Hunter would be gone when I turned back around.

No such luck.

I carried the file to the cabinet behind me and slid it into place. When I went back to my desk, I couldn’t stop the sudden desire for Hunter to lay me out on the messy desk and show me just how wrong I was about him.

His eyes followed me, back and forth, until half the paper was gone. I grabbed a new stack, and he stepped in front of me. Hunter pressed me against the edge of my desk, towering over me. His gaze flickered to the surface, almost as though he was thinking the same thing I was.

Wipe it clean.

Those dark blue eyes swept back to mine again and pinned me in place. He didn’t need the arms caging me in to hold me there. He leaned in closer, enough that I could feel his breath on my face before he spoke.

“I’m going to kiss you, Vicki.”

He paused just long enough to let me argue, but I couldn’t. No words could squeeze past the air struggling to fill my lungs. Then his lips touched mine, and nothing else mattered.

The file I held fell to the floor with a splat. I wish I could say I resisted him. That I fought. That I didn’t bend like an overcooked noodle. But none of it would be true. From that first brush of his lips, I was in trouble. Serious trouble.

His lips pressed to mine, holding me in place where he wanted me. His chest rose, brushing against my peaked nipples. I moaned softly, and he took complete advantage of it. His tongue traced the edge of my upper lip, dipping inside just enough to glide over my sensitive gums. He sucked my lip into his mouth and I couldn’t have resisted if I wanted to.

But, damn him, I didn’t want to.

He kissed me like he had no idea kissing another person could be so good. Like I was his first and last and only. His tongue slid over mine as his hands moved closer together until they landed on my hips. He pressed his body to mine, giving me a feel for exactly what was going through his head.

I’ll give you a clue… not much because all his blood was much, much lower.

He lifted my hips just enough to deposit me on the edge of my desk, then pressed between my thighs. I should have pushed him away, but it had been far too long since a man made me feel the way he did. In that moment, he wasn’t a workaholic. He wasn’t the wrong guy for me. He wasn’t someone I barely knew. He was just Hunter, and holy shit was he just what I wanted.

I was so lost in his kiss that I almost didn’t hear Drew before he caught us. I pushed Hunter away just before my boss rounded the corner. I slid off the edge of my desk while Drew was still studying the papers in his hand, praying he didn’t realize what he almost walked in on.

“Hey Vicki— Oh, hey, Hunter. I forgot you needed to talk to Vicki.”

He glanced back at me. “It’s fine. I can wait a minute if you need her.”

Drew handed over the stack of papers. “I was just going to ask her to add these to the file we have for your reno. I won’t keep you.”

Drew was gone, with a wink, in a few seconds. I was left alone with Hunter again. Except I knew how hard it was to resist him.

“Well, normally I don’t kiss a woman on our first date. Since we’ve already passed that barrier, I think it’s time I take you out.”

I wanted to. I hated myself for it, but I wanted to. But I looked at him again and knew I couldn’t do it. I wanted a family. Someone who was all mine. A husband would be great, but I wanted a child more than I wanted a husband. Maybe that made me a little crazy, or a lot, but I wasn’t going to date all the wrong men and miss out on the right one. I knew Hunter was wrong, so saying no to him wasn’t as hard as my body made me believe it would be.

“It’s not a good idea,” I said, avoiding his eyes. “We’re not right for each other?”

“See, you keep saying that, but the way you kiss me says something very different.”

I shook my head. “I know what I want out of my life, Hunter. I’m sorry.”

I finally glanced up and saw him glaring at me. “You’re wrong about me, Vicki. But I don’t know what I can say or do to prove you wrong. I’m going to keep trying, but I won’t wait forever.”

I nodded, knowing it was going to get harder and harder to resist him. He headed for the door, giving me a chance to catch my breath.

I sighed and picked up the papers that had fallen to the floor when he lifted me onto my desk. My heart raced again and my thighs tingled, reminding me how wet my panties were. I fanned myself with the papers and smiled. At least Hunter was good for a few fantasies. Damn.

The door opened again, shocking me. I turned with a grin to welcome our unexpected visitor and found Hunter. He was walking toward me with a purpose, his eyes boring into mine. My breath caught in my throat. I wanted to tell him I’d changed my mind. That I wanted to go out with him. That I was wrong.

When he stopped on the opposite side of my desk, I finally realized he was supporting a tiny, furry thing.

“Is this yours?”

He held up the fuzzy silver fluffball for me to take a closer peek. Yellow eyes peered up at me and the cottonball meowed.

“It’s a cat.”

Hunter nodded. “That’s the only animal I know of that meows, yes.”

“Where did you find it?”

“In the parking lot. It was hiding under my SUV. I heard it cry when I was about to get in.”

I reached for the tiny cat, and Hunter handed it over. It snuggled against me and nuzzled its head into my palm so I would pet it. Its fur was dirty, but it was more small than sickly.

“It’s too cute.”

“Is it yours?”

I shook my head and enjoyed the feel of the kitten. It had to be a kitten. “I wonder where it came from.”

“Could it be Drew’s? Or Xander’s? Isn’t that the other guy?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but neither of them have cats like this. Xander has a gray cat, but Zada is bigger and a little darker.”

Hunter sighed. “Shit.” He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “Travis is going to kill me.”

“Who’s Travis and why is he going to kill you?”

Hunter reached for the cat. “Travis is a friend. The one who’s currently letting me stay with him. And he’s going to kill me because he hates cats.”

He tucked the cat under his arm and scratched its chin. He turned toward the door and I finally realized what he was saying. “You’re keeping the cat?”

Hunter shrugged. “I can’t take it to a shelter where it’ll be euthanized. Travis will be pissed, but once Drew finishes my new place, I’ll be moving.”

His words sunk in and I shook my head. He was keeping the cat. He wasn’t willing to abandon it. Did it get any sweeter than that?

“I’ll go out with you,” I blurted when he reached the door.

Hunter froze. He turned slowly, a grin easing onto his lips. “You’ll go out with me? Because I’m keeping the cat?”

I shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s hard to ignore certain qualities that I’m just now seeing.”

He raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Well, I’m not one to question when a beautiful woman wants to go out with me. Friday night?”

I nodded then stopped. “Um, I can’t Friday night.” I had another date. That I didn’t want to go on.

“Saturday night?”

I shook my head again. Another date. With another guy who was probably too safe. A guy who did nothing to get me interested.

“Lunch?” he asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

I nodded. “Yes, lunch. Saturday. Sorry.”

He shrugged and grinned. “I’m just happy you finally said yes.”

He winked at me and was gone before I could think of anything else to say. And for the first time, I was looking forward to one of my dates.

* * *

I poured myself a glass of wine and carried it to the couch. Thursday was usually Peyton’s earlier night, but I hadn’t heard from her. I was starving, so I fixed dinner and was just settling in when the door opened.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Peyton grumbled.

“How was your day?”

She shrugged. It was pretty normal for Peyton to be quiet when she got home. I hated that she was so overworked and stressed, but she insisted she loved her job.

I ate my dinner while Peyton got changed. When she joined me on the couch, with her own bowl and glass of wine, she looked much more relaxed.

“You doing okay?” I asked, knowing she wouldn’t give me much. Peyton was older by almost four years, but most of the time I felt like I was her big sister. I loved her, but she would get distracted by what she was doing so frequently that she almost ended up in the hospital during college. She scared the hell out of me so I always made enough dinner to ensure she at least ate one meal a day.

“Rough day,” she finally said.

We sat silently together. When Peyton finally sighed, I knew she was feeling a little better. She set her bowl on the table and leaned back with her wine. We both sipped as we watched the end of the Hallmark movie on TV. Peyton rested her head on my shoulder, her dishwater blonde hair falling into her face. She brushed it back and sighed again. Two sighs meant she wanted to talk.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

Peyton sat up and shrugged. “It’s hard when a patient never gets good news. I have one right now who wants a baby so badly that she is making herself sick. You know I don’t deal well with that.”

I wanted to ask her if she was talking about Addi, but I couldn’t. I knew she couldn’t tell me, so I kept my mouth shut and just nodded.

“These couples are so in love and it kills me to not be able to find a reason they can’t have their own kids naturally. I had to bring up adoption to one couple today and they broke down. The wife always loses it, but the husband cried today. I had to leave the appointment in a rush because it’s not good for them to see me crying.”

“I’m sorry, Pey. You know you’re doing amazing work.”

She nodded and swiped at her cheeks. “I know. For the ones I can help, at least. It’s the ones I can’t help that get to me.”

I shrugged. “I think that’s expected. You always told me that there are sometimes no reasons a person can’t have kids. You need to remember that, too.”

She smiled at me and rested her head on my shoulder again. “Thanks, sis.”

I put my head on top of hers and closed my eyes. A few minutes later, I heard her soft snores and smiled. She was passed out.

I finished watching the movie and eased out from beneath my sister. She slumped over on the couch, and I rolled my eyes. I went through the house, turning off lights, picking up from dinner, and double-checking that the door was locked. After I changed, I went to wake Peyton up. She grumbled but finally got up and went to bed. With her tucked in, I went to my own room and couldn’t help but wonder if I was getting into the same thing with Hunter. I wasn’t sure if I could handle taking care of two adults.

But I also wasn’t sure if I could stay away from him.