Being a gentleman, Adam excused himself from his conversation and turned to give me his attention. His eyes dropped to the cheesecake, and I knew instantly that I’d won. Triumph roared from my smile as I allowed the techie to help me clean off. Hunter’s scowl felt like a victory.
To be honest, during dinner I’d decided I wasn’t sleeping with Adam anyway—I needed some sort of physical chemistry with a man, even for a one-night stand. But I enjoyed screwing with Hunter anyway.
“I’m a butterfingers when I’m tired,” I said to Adam. “I’m still on New York time. I think I’m going to head back to the hotel.”
“I’ll join you,” he promptly replied. Cassie who?
Hunter didn’t give up easily—I’d give him that much.
He stood. “I have a car here. I can give you two a ride. Are you ready to go, Cass? The four of us are all at the Carlisle, I’m assuming?”
I flashed Mr. Persistent my pearly whites and hooked my arm through Adam’s. “I have my rental car here, so Adam and I are good. Thank you so much for the offer, though, Tanner.”
“Hunter.”
“Right.” I smiled.
***
The hotel was only a mile up the road. As we entered, I spotted a few familiar faces—friends of the groom—in the lobby bar. The party seemed to have moved from the rehearsal dinner to the hotel. As we passed, one of the guys I recognized yelled for Adam to join them for a drink.
He looked to me before answering. “What do you say? You up for a nightcap?”
“I’m actually wiped out—time difference and all. But you go. Have fun.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. I’ll be sleeping before my head hits the pillow.”
Adam gave me a quick hug goodnight, and I headed to the elevator alone.
I really was exhausted. Anna and Derek had reserved the top floor of suites for guests traveling in from out of town, and I’d forgotten that I needed to insert my room key into the little slot on the elevator panel to gain access to the floor. After pushing the button a few times, I finally realized and dug into my purse to find the swipe card. I was preoccupied with the search until I heard that voice.
“Natalia.”
My head flew up to find Hunter standing in front of me with a shit-eating grin.
“You…”
“Me,” he said.
I looked around his wide, imposing frame. “Where’s your partner?”
He winked. “Left her at the bar with yours, so the two of them can get to know each other.”
“Won’t you be lonely, then?” I said with sarcasm.
“I might. But I can think of a way to fix that.”
“Going to take matters into your own hands, huh?”
I finally located my room key in my messy purse. Hunter chuckled and took it from my hand to slip into the slot. Of course we were on the same floor since we were part of the same wedding. When the doors slid closed, the elevator suddenly seemed very small. It didn’t help that Hunter hadn’t bothered to turn around when we started to move. He faced me, standing very close. My body definitely took note of the proximity.
“Don’t you have any elevator etiquette?” I asked. “Turn around and stare at the numbers like a normal person.”
“Why would I waste my time looking at that when the view is so much nicer facing this direction?”
“I’m not sleeping with you, you know.”
“Why not? You were gonna sleep with Adam.”
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
“I’ve met Adam before. He’s a nice guy.”
“I’m a nice guy.”
“I don’t know you.”
Hunter slipped his hands into his pockets. “Hunter Delucia, age twenty-nine, single, never been married, no kids. Went to Berkeley for undergraduate and grad school. Degree in architectural engineering. Grew up next door to Derek, been friends since we were in the carriage. He’ll vouch for me as a decent guy. Own a home in Idyllwild, about an hour from the happy couple, with no mortgage. I also built it myself and have lots of trees on my property—that should get me extra points, by the way. Last doctor’s appointment was a month ago—clean as a whistle. And, most importantly…” He took a step closer to me; our bodies were practically touching. “I think you’re extremely sexy. There’s some insane chemistry here, and I think we should explore it.”
I swallowed. Luckily, the elevator dinged, and the doors slid open on the top floor. Needing some air that didn’t smell like Hunter Delucia, I sidestepped around the tree of a man and exited. He followed right behind me. When I abruptly stopped, realizing I was going the wrong way, he walked right into me. His hands caught me, fingers pressing into my hips to stop me from falling forward.