He shook his head. “Let’s get you inside.” With the hand holding the present pressed against her back, he swung around to me, gesturing for me to go forward.
Jameson backed away from the door to let me enter and pushed his glasses up with the back of his hand. He wiggled his bright red fingers at me. “I’d shake your hand, but I don’t want to permanently dye your skin. I’m still working out the kinks of working with fondant.”
I laughed. His hands looked like one of the unfortunate images I’d scrolled through on my self-diagnosis rabbit hole, but I doubted he had a raging case of poison ivy all over them. “No problem.”
Hunter closed the front door and set Teresa down, handing her the present. “For you.”
She eyed it with her arms crossed. “But you’re still staying, right?”
He smiled. “Of course.”
Her tiny head bobbed and she took it from his hands, placed it down on the couch and whirled back around.
“Cake time.” Teresa grabbed Hunter’s and Jameson’s hands and, using her full body weight, pulled them toward the kitchen. They smiled and let her drag them toward the door.
The kitchen door swung open, and another person jumped out of the way to let the steamroll of bodies past her.
Hunter called out over his shoulder, “Sabrina, you remember Zara, Leo’s fiancée?” Then the door swung closed behind him.
Zara and I stared at each other for a second, still a little in shock at the strength of the little girl, and turned to each other.
“Good to see you again, Sabrina.” The elevator ride conversation we’d had that one time the guys had all come to the apartment building had been short and she’d been on the way to pick her brother up from the airport, so we hadn’t had much time to chat. “Thank god there’s another woman here. Until Jameson and Teresa’s mom, Rachel, gets off work, we’re all we’ve got.”
The kitchen door opened again.
“What about me?” Teresa jumped up and down beside Zara.
She crouched down beside the little girl. “How could we forget the birthday girl? Which Marvel movie are you on?”
“Black Panther.” She curled her fingers like claws.
“Do you want us to watch with you?”
Teresa pursed her lips with her head swinging from me to Zara. “No, it’s okay. I’m sure you have grown-up things to talk about.” And that was all before she scampered up the stairs.
“Ah, to have that much boundless energy.” Her gaze swung from the stairs back to me and she sat on the couch. “How are things going rooming with Hunter?”
“They’re going…” Instead of elaborating, I just left it there. The only thing more confusing than where the hell my life was going was how I’d get through the next couple months living under the same roof as Hunter. Kill or kiss. It was more of a debate than I’d have expected, with his stupid, sexy smile.
“It must be going well if he brought you here.” A coy curiosity ran through her words, which she kept light, and her green eyes were primed to pump me for more info.
It was probably the shock of the century that he’d shown up with me. Hunter didn’t exactly strike me as a guy who did relationships with his whole get-the-hell-out-of-my-bedroom routine after sex. I was surprised he didn’t have an ejector seat or trapdoor installed in his room. It felt like something the building would probably install if he requested it.
“More like he tricked me into coming under the guise of a doctor’s visit.”
“He did?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s just say me and the treadmill won’t be on speaking terms for quite some time after the fall I took.” He was probably telling everyone it was why he brought me here in the first place, no sense in making a story up or being evasive. They seemed like a close-knit group.
I wished Cat were here. After leaving college I’d been mainly on my own until Seth. Maybe I was better on my own.
She sucked in her breath through her clenched teeth. “Sounds painful. That’s why I refuse to work out. You don’t want to invite injury like that into your life.” Her laugh was infectious.
“It was more embarrassing than anything when Hunter found me sprawled out on the floor, but also painful. I was woozy, so he was adamant I see a doctor.”
Her eyebrows scrunched down. “Is he going to have Jameson’s mom check you out? She’s a nurse.”
“I’m not sure. He said a doctor friend, but maybe I misheard him.” Had I missed the change of plans? He’d definitely said doctor. I was scratch-my-head confused at this point.
We sat on the couch and chatted a bit longer, trying to ignore the crashing and cursing coming from the kitchen.
Leaning forward, I stared at the kitchen door. “Should we go in there?”
“No, absolutely not. We can provide drink reinforcements in a little bit, but we’re under strict orders from Teresa not to help.” She shifted closer and whispered, “We’d be choked by testosterone in minutes or they’d try to foist the cake-making off on us, and I for one would prefer not to be picking icing out of my hair for the next week.”
“A week?”
“I swear, Leo was sweating icing for a month after the last time.”
I envisioned Hunter and I repeating our bathtub session after an inordinate amount of time spent licking icing off his skin. Flutters built in my stomach and between my thighs. “Must’ve made for some tasty fooling around.” My eyes widened, and I slapped my hands over my mouth.
I jumped at her laugh. She peered over at me with tears shining in her eyes and clutching her stomach.
We both dissolved into laughter, which was heightened by the thudding and banging coming from the other room.
After a few deep breaths, I collapsed back onto the couch. Turns out I got an ab workout today after all. My stomach muscles ached from the laughing fit.
I hadn’t realized how nice it was to have someone else to talk to. Someone who was easy to relax around. Someone who wasn’t nine time zones away.
Zara leaned back. “Having you here adds even more fun to watching five grown men attempt to make a cake like they’re building a homemade rocket. At least you’ll be here next year, so I won’t have to suffer alone.”
That froze the last of my laughter in my chest, and I shook my head. “Hunter and I aren’t a thing. I’m not just saying that to be coy. And we won’t even be roommates after December. I have a new promotional campaign I’m shooting that pays out at the end of December. Then I’ll finally have enough saved to find a place of my own.” I turned back to her. “What do you do?”
“A boring job.” From the way her eyes lit up, I could tell she found it anything but. “I’m an interior designer for the Waverly Hotels Group.”
My heartbeat skipped. A fellow designer. “Shut the front door! Are you serious?”
Zara laughed and looked at me like she wasn’t quite sure if I was making fun of her or not. “Yes. Are you a big fan of interior design? Or Waverly Hotels?”
“Both.” I held one hand to my chest. “Sorry, I’m having a fangirl moment. I’m a textile designer.”
Her head cocked to the side. “Hunter said you were into product photography.”