You're The One (Very Irresistible Bachelors 1)

“How was your day?” I asked.

“The usual. Except I keep thinking about a certain someone. I think my colleagues are starting to notice.”

“That can’t be good.”

“I disagree. I’d rather be with her on a beach, lying on lounge chairs, letting her talk me into scuba diving or some other god-awful activity.”

I was melting. Honestly, I was. I vividly remembered that day, how much fun we’d had. How much we’d bickered.

“You keep giving me shit for that, but you liked it.”

“Maybe. If I say yes, will it earn me points?”

I grinned. “Maybe.”

I now had a suspicion about where he was going with this.

***

Every day, he called at the same time, five o’clock. At four thirty, the butterflies in my stomach started spreading their wings. At four forty-five, my palms were sweating, my pulse sped up. Starting with four fifty-seven, I just couldn’t take my eyes off the screen of my phone.

“Hello, beautiful.”

That greeting was just what my lovesick heart needed. We spoke about our day, and then invariably one of us would bring up a memory.

“I got the call from the workers yesterday. All the pipe work is finished,” he said.

“So you’re at the house now?”

“No. I don’t want to go there without you.”

“Hunter... that’s silly. It’s your house.”

“It’s our house. I miss making you hot chocolate, bringing it to you in that nook.”

“I miss the nook,” I said.

“The nook? Not me, the nook?”

“You too,” I admitted. I’d missed him since the second he left. I missed him so much, it felt as if I’d left a part of myself at the house. I had no idea what else to say. As if knowing I needed to change topics, he asked about my plans for the practice.

We spoke for longer than an hour, right until I heard a light knock at the front door.

“Wait, there’s someone at the door.”

“I know.”

I stopped walking. “Is... are you here?”

“No, but it sounds as if you wish I were.”

“How do you know there’s someone at the door?”

“Open up and you’ll see.”

Hunter had sent dinner for Tess and me. She wasn’t home yet, though. It wasn’t just any dinner, but sushi from my favorite restaurant.

I ate at the kitchen counter, straight from the take-out box.