Hunter arched brow. "Do you mean ‘know’ in the biblical sense?"
"Well yes, but also more than that. I went on a cruise a few years ago and met her there. She was amazing and I realized I'd fallen in love with her, but we'd made a deal that it would just be a shipboard thing, so we didn’t exchange any information to get in touch with each other once the cruise was over. I always regretted that. And then I got to dad's house and there she was."
"So, what's the problem?"
"The minute I saw her, it was like I was full on head over heels again. But she keeps pushing me away. And before you tell me that that is her answer, she's not pushing me away when she's in bed with me."
Hunter nodded. "Natalie and I were like that in the beginning. It was fucking frustrating, and I was the one doing the pushing away.”
"The thing is when she finished working with dad, there was no reason for me to see her. So, I decided to pretend that I had a knee injury, and tried to hire her as my physical therapist."
Hunter gaped. "You do have a bad, don't you? I'm surprised because it doesn't seem like you dated anyone seriously in a long time. Now that you’ve found someone that you want to be with, the fact that she's not equally as interested in you, I have to wonder whether something is wrong with her. Let's face it Carter, you’re about as perfect a guy there is."
"Well, she would beg to differ, considering I lied to her."
"I tell you that Cupid is a hell of a beast, isn’t he? You meet the person that you're destined to be with, but he doesn't make it easy. And you have to endure it, because after meeting that person, there's no one else that will do."
I nodded. "That's about how it feels.”
"You know Nat and I didn't even get along in the beginning, so it's amazing that we came to this place. But once I recognized what I was feeling, the idea that I wouldn’t be able to be with her was like a fucking anvil on my heart."
He definitely understood how I was feeling, but fortunately for him he came out the other side with his happily ever after.
"It's kind of crazy and a whole lot terrifying how much I feel like she's the one you know?" I said.
Hunter nodded. "I absolutely know."
"But maybe the woman I met on the cruise isn’t the same Jess I’ve met again now. In many respects is the same, in others, she’s very different. I can't help feeling like she's hiding something."
"Noah did a background check on her and there was nothing wonky although I'm not sure how deep he went. Maybe you can ask him to take a deeper dive on her. See if she has any skeletons."
I shook my head. "Noah likes her, and he thinks I'm being unfair to her."
Hunter frowned. "Noah likes her? I thought he was just joking with her."
I waved a hand. "He says not like that. Like as a person, a friend." I let out a breath and stood going to my bar deciding I wanted a stiff drink. "It could be that she's not even single. She's living with some guy named Reggi
e so maybe when she was sleeping with me, she was cheating on him."
"Well if that's the case, then she's definitely no good for you."
That was true, but it didn't change how I felt about her.
"It's all the more reason for you to come down to Cesare’s tonight. I need to check on it and I could use a drinking buddy. Plus, the chef has mussels on the menu tonight. We can eat well and either talk about how to fix this thing with Jess or figure out a way for you to move on."
Growing up, the brother that I usually would go to with cerebral problems had been Ryan, because he was always serious and even keeled. Hunter had been the brother to go to if I needed someone to be threatened or beaten up.
I suppose now that we were all adults, and Hunter was married with a happier temperament, perhaps, he was the one that might best help me figure out what to do about Jess.
"I'll be there."
He stood and clapped his hands together. "Excellent. I’ll reserve us the private space so no one will bother us. And of course, there's a nice view of the dance floor, if you decide to take your mind off of Jess through another woman. I'm sure they'll be plenty to choose from."
I rolled my eyes. At one point, finding women on Cesare’s dance floor had been Hunter's solution to his female problems. I’d rather have a drink.
Hunter made his way to the door and then he stopped and turned to look at me. "Dad likes having you around, so don't be going making plans to go on some sort of Tibetan trek or something, which I know is what you're thinking about as a solution to this problem."
I was surprised that he knew that. Hunter had always seemed the most self-centered of my brothers, but I guess he was more insightful than I’d thought.