It wasn’t until the end, when both men were staring at each other with hard eyes, that Hunter dropped the bomb. “I’ll be paying cash.”
A greedy sparkle lit up the manager’s eyes. “Yes, sir. I’ll see what I can do.”
In the end, Hunter got nearly what he wanted, the salespeople weren’t completely moping, and I was terrified I would crash this new and shiny automobile in the first month.
“What do you want to do now?” I asked as we left the dealership.
“Go home, order in, and make love to you.”
I smiled like an idiot. “Sounds good.”
* * *
Wednesday morning and I was looking around the office with shifty eyes. Hunter had indeed made love to me on Saturday, and then Sunday, and then Monday and Tuesday, too. He woke up and reached for me. He brought me in for nooners, and he tried to get some in the evening. It would be great, except he kept trying to finish without protection. He wanted to try for a baby.
Actually, he was trying for a baby. He was trying to make me lose my mind enough to forget about protection. Half the time it worked.
I should’ve been mad about that, probably. I’d said I wasn’t ready, and he should respect that. The thing was, though…I kept thinking about how I’d forgotten the pill. My mind always went back to his mother’s conversation, and about Hunter wanting kids. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d lodged that information in the recesses of my brain as code for the time is now, because I wasn’t mad at Hunter. Not at all. I kept up my resistance, but I let him break me down on occasion. I let myself forget, and then reveled in his tender kisses and embraces.
I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. Apart from Hunter, obviously. I wanted him with a passion that couldn’t be natural. If love potions were a real thing, I’d look around his house for a cauldron and a pointy black hat, because that was what it felt like. Every time he came into a room I felt a smile bud, even if I was completely focused on something else. I sighed when he touched me and hung on his every word when he spoke.
I was annoying myself, but I couldn’t help it. I was lovesick. It was ridiculous. But holy moly I did love that man.
“Stop thinking about the boss and get that report done,” Brenda said as she set a cup of coffee on my desk.
Brenda looked down at me with a grin. “If you checked out any more, you’d have drool running down your chin.”
I wiped my chin with the back of my hand, just in case, then reached for the coffee cup. “Sorry. He’s just… Things are just weird right now.”
Brenda huffed and went to her desk. “I don’t know about weird, but I’ve never seen that man so happy. I don’t even know him anymore. It’s stressing me out a little.”
“Maybe you’ll take it as a hint to lighten up.”
“Nah. Being grumpy works for me. Someone in this office has to scare visitors.”
“Fair enough,” I said, and with a flip-flopping stomach, I walked into Hunter’s office. I’d decided that today would be the day of “no.” I needed to get better at saying it. Since that first yes I’d been hopeless at standing my ground. Not so now. I would reclaim my ability to deny him.
“Hey, baby,” Hunter said as he leaned back in his chair. He turned his body to face me.
“It still weirds me out that you say baby. I feel like saying please should come before pet names.”
“Saying please has no effect on you. Saying baby makes you blush and your eyes sparkle.” He watched me put his coffee on the corner of his desk before he reached out to me. “Come here.”
“No.” I got a zing of adrenaline. That was weird.
His brow furrowed for a moment and his eyes hardened. He hated when a flat no was thrown at him. I almost wanted to giggle.
“Come here…please,” he said.
“No.” I wrestled with my mad urge to laugh manically and run from the room.
He clasped his hands in his lap. His face closed down into a business mask, but his sexy eyes started to burn. “I want to kiss you, Olivia. Come here.”
“No.” I lifted my chin, unable to help a smile working at my lips. I turned and walked from the room. When I got back to my desk, I said to Brenda, “Sorry in advance.”
Brenda glanced over. “Why? What did you do? You better not have quit, young lady, because I’ve never had it so easy in this office, and I don’t know that I have it in me to go back to working hard.”
“Nothing like that. I’m just going to tell him no a little more often.”
Brenda groaned. “Is it too much to ask for a quiet life?”