"He's hot." She giggles into my back. "Do you think he was interested in me?"
I'm more than mildly annoyed that she's actually talking about how hot she thinks Coral's older brother is right when I'm trying desperately to forget the last few hours ever happened.
"He put his number in my phone in the taxi." I motion to the desk where I dropped my phone when we got back to the room less than an hour ago. "Call him and ask him yourself."
I turn over to watch her spring from the bed and scoop up my phone. Her expression instantly shifts as she slides her thumb across the screen. "There are fourteen missed calls."
"From Hunter?" I ask, not because I don't already know the answer but because I want to stall this conversation while I absorb the idea of talking to him again. I set my phone to silent in the taxi after we left the restaurant when he called the first time.
"Twelve from him." Her eyes don't leave the phone. "Two from your dad."
As much as I know I should call my dad to see what he wants, I can't do it. He'll hear the pain in my voice and as soon as I say Hunter's name everything else will pour out. I'm ashamed that I slept with someone who is engaged to another woman. My parents would be distraught if they ever found out.
"I'll call my dad in the morning." I turn back over to close my eyes. "I have to sleep. I can't think anymore."
***
"Clive is waiting downstairs in the lobby for you," Alexa says as I emerge from the washroom, my hair still wrapped in a towel. I must have spent the past forty-five minutes in the shower. The warm water was only a gentle reprieve from the realities that I have to face, beginning today.
"He's what?" I feel instant panic tear through me.
"He's downstairs." She swings her legs over the side of her bed. I marvel at how great she looks even when she first wakes up.
"Why?" I quickly towel dry my hair before I start searching through my purse for a hairbrush. "How do you know this?"
"I texted him as you when you fell asleep." The words tumble out of her so quickly that I'm not sure I heard her.
"You texted him pretending to be me?" I stop and turn to look right at her. "Tell me that's a joke."
"I did it so I could tell him how great I was." She shrugs her shoulders.
"So you pretended to be me to get him to want you and now I have to go meet him?" I tap the brush in the air as I try to make sense of the words. "I don't want to meet him. You go."
"No can do." She brushes past me. "He wants to talk about Coral. You have to go."
"I don't want to talk about her." I feel a pit forming in my stomach. "Why would you do this to me?" I shoot the words out. I can't believe she's put me in this position all because she wants to get laid.
"He misses her a lot." She reaches for my phone and shoves it into my hand. "Read his texts. He needs this."
I glare at her before dropping my gaze to my phone. I rifle through the countless text messages that Alexa exchanged with him. My heart drops as I read his responses. It's obvious he's in pain and misses his little sister.
"I'll go." I walk back into the washroom to blow dry my hair.
"You're an angel." She winks at me as she surveys the room service menu.
"I hate you." I call back before slamming the door behind me.
Chapter 3
"You looked really overwhelmed last night." Clive stands as I approach the small table he's sitting at. He's dressed in a three-piece suit and he looks as stunning today as he did last night.
"I was." I smile awkwardly as I sit down before he does the same.
I watch as his eyes drop to my chest. I'm wearing a sweater that completely covers the scar. I can't display it anymore. It feels so private. I feel so vulnerable and betrayed.
"Zander didn't bring you there as a surprise, did he?" He cocks an eyebrow as he waits expectantly for me to answer.
I pull in a heavy breath at the sound of his name. Zander. How am I going to get used to that? He's Hunter to me. "No," I offer in response.