Now, Please(46)

“Good evening, Mrs. Foster. Yes, everything is fine. What did you have planned for tonight?”

“Well, Miss Englewood is having company tonight, so she’s ordered appetizers. For you, I’d planned a pot roast.”

My focus stuttered. It sounded like Blaire lived with Hunter, though I could’ve sworn that I’d always heard she led an entirely separate life…

Hunter looked down at me. “Do you like roast?”

“Homemade food I don’t have to make? Yes! Roast, sandwiches—whatever. I’m in.”

“Miss Jonston and I will take our meal in the dining room—or do you know where Blaire has planned her get-together?” He sounded like he was talking about a roommate. Which implied she did, in fact, live with him.

Mrs. Foster’s smile at my roast and sandwiches comment dwindled. A disapproving look came into her eyes. “She’ll probably be in the dining room at some point. I believe she has planned…” The older woman pursed her lips. “A sex party. It will be her, another gal, and a host of men, I believe.”

My mouth dropped open in disbelief. I thought I had roommate troubles…

Hunter’s jaw clenched and his arm tightened around my waist. “I see. We’ll stay in my room, then.”

He steered me from the kitchen and we returned the way we had come until we were at the front of the house. A wide staircase led up to the second floor.

“So…Blaire lives here, huh?” I asked in a small voice.

“Part of the contract. She moved in the day after I signed. I rarely see her.”

I nodded as though it was perfectly normal to treat one’s fiancée with no more regard than a roommate, and then bring girls home when said fiancée was in the same house. I then put her from my mind. He was just newly resigning himself to wanting me back in his life. I didn’t want to rock the boat so soon. If they rarely saw each other, she wouldn’t be a problem for me.

We walked to the back of the house. Hunter let me into a massive room with a fireplace, a bathroom in the far corner, and a glass door leading out to a deck. Another large TV hung on the wall opposite the king-sized bed.

“Sure you have enough space?” I asked, glancing over the immaculate room.

“I spend most of my time here when I’m not working. All I really need is a bed.”

“Uh huh.” I looked at the four-poster monstrosity that would never fit in my own room.

“Would you like something to drink?” He crossed to a globe in the corner and pulled back the dome. Like in the movies, various kinds of alcohol waited in their crystal decanters. Luckily, beside the brown liquids he obviously drank, based on the levels in the containers, he also had an unopened bottle of wine. “I can have something brought up, too, if this won’t work? A beer, maybe…”

“Nope, wine is fine.” I sat on the edge of the bed, taking it all in. I was in Hunter Carlisle’s house! I’d gone from reluctant admin, to sex buddy, to intimate partner, to on the outs, to seriously in, all in a little over a month. It had been a wild ride so far.

“So…Blaire’s into orgies, huh?” I wiggled out of my shoes.

“Yes. Among other things. She speaks about class and status while performing some…interesting sexual acts.” Hunter handed me the glass of wine before sitting next to me on the bed and looking at the blank TV.

“And you are…planning to marry her?” I said hesitantly.

“At first I was, but…” He took a sip of his drink. “Even without…changing circumstances, I have a hard time associating myself with someone who invades my home with strange fetishes. Having an orgy is one of her tamer occupations. Imagine if a business associate found out.”

“So why is she still around? You know, if you aren’t happy…” I was trying to be really blasé about this whole thing, but the thought of him marrying someone else, even if it didn’t mean anything, was squeezing my heart in uncomfortable ways.

“We entered into a contract. It might be easier to marry her and then get the wedding annulled than call it off. I need to have my lawyer look at it.”

“You and your contracts.” I took a sip of my wine as my mind played over the “changing circumstances” comment.

“Yes.” His eyes dipped to my lips. “Did you want to take a dip in the hot tub before dinner?”

“Normally I’d just say yes, but you have people in this house, and I don’t have a suit. Or a solid-colored bra and panties.”

Hunter stood and put his drink down on a dresser. He walked toward the bathroom, disappearing around the corner, before coming back with two robes. He laid them on the bed. “No one will bother us.”