After he’d finished the conversation, Hunter flung himself into work for the rest of the afternoon, using the escape his job gave him. Hard physical labour and intense concentration a way out from the usual trepidation he felt whenever he had anything to do with his family. A trepidation he didn’t want to feel. Yeah, he didn’t get along with his father or his brother, but that was because their attitudes didn’t fit with his. Because he’d never wanted to follow his father into law the way Philip had expected. Because he’d hated the phoniness of his father’s social circle and the expectations that came along with it. Not for any other reason.
And as for Elizabeth, his father’s second wife… Well, he didn’t think of her at all.
Much later, his head buzzing with the pleasant, empty peace that always came after a day’s hard work on site, he drove back to the company’s offices, situated in a renovated warehouse along Auckland’s waterfront.
The reception area was empty, the office staff already gone home, apart from Vin sitting behind the reception desk and scowling at something on the computer monitor.
“You look pissed,” Hunter commented, leaning one hip on the desk. “Porn not loading right?”
Vin didn’t look up. “Bugger off. I need Tina. The application form isn’t fucking printing.”
Tina was their office manager and could do anything with computers.
“Why not give her a call? I’m sure she’d be happy to take an hour and a half ferry ride from Waiheke just to come and print out your form for you.”
Vin glowered. “Yeah, thanks for the input, buddy.” Cursing, he pushed back his chair, running a hand through his dark hair. “Hey, Ellie? Get in here, I need your help.”
Hunter stiffened. Ellie? What the hell was she doing here?
The door to Vin’s office opened. Ellie stood in the doorway, frowning. “What now? I’m in the middle of—” She stopped dead, startled gray eyes meeting Hunter’s.
The black-haired, green-eyed vamp who’d unzipped her jumpsuit in his truck was gone. In her place was the Ellie he knew, Vin’s little sister Ellie, with her long, copper-red hair in a loose ponytail at her neck, eyes wide underneath her heavy fringe. She wasn’t wearing her usual Gothic makeup, freckles scattered over her pale cheekbones like a sprinkling of gold dust. Even her clothing was low-key. A pair of black skinny jeans with a heavy, silver-studded belt and a tight black tank top.
A flood of something that surely couldn’t be arousal pulsed suddenly in his veins, his attention zeroing in on the tank top and how it clung to the small, perfect breasts underneath. He knew what those breasts looked like. It had been three weeks but he still remembered them bare in his truck.
Don’t fucking touch me...
He made himself speak. “Hey, Ellie. How’s it going?” And thank God his voice sounded normal because that’s how he wanted things to stay between them. Normal. As if that night hadn’t happened.
A bright flare of pain sparked in her eyes, swiftly hidden by the fall of red-gold lashes. “Fine,” she said flatly, not looking at him. “What is it, Vin?”
If her brother had noticed the sudden tension in the room, he gave no sign. “I can’t get this damn application to print out and it needs to be in tomorrow.”
Ellie crossed over to the desk and went behind it, moving to where her brother sat, her attention very firmly on the computer monitor. Giving no sign Hunter even existed.
It shouldn’t have bothered him in the slightest but now, somehow, it did. Ellie had never ignored him. She’d always said hello, given him a hug. Given him her special, sweet smile. The one he’d never seen her give anyone else. The one he’d always thought of as his.
But not now. Not today.
Are you surprised? Considering she told you how she felt and you threw it back in her face?
Hunter shifted uncomfortably against the reception desk.
He’d acted badly toward her that night. Pretty much on purpose. But he’d had no other choice. She couldn’t want him. Shouldn’t want him. Because there could be no possibility of anything between them. None at all.
Ellie had been a child when he’d first met her. Sweet and fresh and innocent. Like a bright burst of sunshine, she’d lit up what had been a very dark time for him and even if he’d been interested in her, he wouldn’t want to do anything that would screw up that relationship. Taint the brightness of her. And that wasn’t even considering how Vin would deal with any liaison between them. Not well, in all likelihood.
Yeah, it was a pity he’d hurt her but shit, the alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
“Get out of the way,” Ellie murmured to her brother and obediently Vin slid his chair sideways to make way for her. She bent down to peer at the monitor, red hair sliding over her pale shoulder, the neck of her tank top gaping.
Hunter looked away.
Beautiful breasts. Smooth white skin. Her hand on his cock. The heat…
Fuck. Why did he keep thinking of that? He’d never thought of her in that way before and yet the past couple of weeks, every time he closed his eyes, that’s all he could see. Like that one night had opened something inside him that should have stayed closed.
Was it only because she’d unzipped that bloody jumpsuit? The prospect of the wedding stirring up old and painful memories? Whatever, those thoughts couldn’t continue. He wouldn’t let them.
Ellie and Vin were arguing about something, but Hunter didn’t pay any attention, his gaze focusing on a drawing pin sitting on the desk. Idly he picked it up, held it in his palm. Then slowly he closed his fingers around it and squeezed tight, pain blossoming as the tip of the pin dug into his hand. But he didn’t let go. Only squeezed tighter. Letting the pain in, letting it obliterate the memory of Ellie’s white skin completely.
“Jesus, Hunt. What the hell have you done?”
Ellie jerked her head up from the monitor at the sound of her brother’s horrified voice.
And went cold. Across the desk, Hunter stood looking down at his hand, blood making a slow, purposeful trail down his wrist. “Chill, Vin,” he said casually. “It’s only a bit of blood. I caught a nail on site. No big deal.”
She took a small breath, disturbed by the oddly detached look on Hunter’s face. As if the blood dripping down his arm was an interesting experiment that had nothing to do with him.
Vin frowned at him. “Go get cleaned up then. Don’t stand around getting blood on the new carpet for Christ’s sake.”
But Hunter was already moving, heading toward the bathroom.
The tension that had gripped her twisted tighter as he disappeared through the door. Why had he said that about the nail? She hadn’t noticed any blood when she’d first come out of Vin’s office to find him standing by the desk. So why had he lied?
Discomforted, Ellie stared at the doorway Hunter had vanished through.
She’d been bracing herself for the moment they’d meet again, knowing it would arrive, especially when she’d come to the company office to use Vin’s computer. But no amount of bracing had made the moment any easier. In a dusty black T-shirt and denim cut-offs, tanned skin still gleaming with sweat, he was her every fantasy come to life and it wasn’t fair.
Then he’d looked at her like he always did. Greeted her casually, like he always did. And the unfairness of it all had overflowed. Her gut reaction had been to walk away, get as far from him as possible. But that was the coward’s way out. And since the moment in her kitchen three weeks ago, she’d decided she was done being a coward. Running away from him didn’t work. Neither had being upfront and honest. The only option left was to ignore him completely.
Then again that was difficult when he was bleeding all over the place. What the hell had he done to himself?
“You okay, Ell?”
She glanced down at her brother, his dark blue eyes rather too perceptive for her liking. “Yeah, why?”
“I’ve never seen you give Hunt the cold shoulder before. You guys have an argument or something?”
She shook off the image of Hunter’s bleeding hand. “Oh, just a minor disagreement. No biggie.” God, she’d never tell Vin what had really gone down between them. There were some things her brother definitely didn’t need to know.
Vin tilted the chair a little. “What about?”
Bugger. Why was he so bloody interested? And what the hell kind of reason could she give him? “Uh…he didn’t like my con costume.”
Vin raised a brow. “I didn’t like your con costume.”
Ellie decided not to say anything to that, pretending to be busy fiddling around on the screen with the printer drivers then trying the print button again. After a moment, the printer on the desk next to the monitor whirred to life.
“Finally,” her brother muttered, his big, rangy body leaning forward in the chair to check his university application form was printing out okay. “You’re a godsend, Ellie.”
She grinned. “I know. Have you got your portfolio sorted?”
Vin was applying to get into architecture school, something he’d been meaning to do for years. Only now, when the business was doing well and their mother relatively stable, had he finally decided the time was right. She was glad he was finally making a move. His and Hunter’s plans for their business—getting into building eco-homes—was an excellent one. The pair of them wanted to handle all aspects of the process, from the design to the building stage, which meant that at least one of them had to have some kind of architectural training. And of course Vin wouldn’t take the easy route and do a draughtsman’s course. No, he had to take the whole four-year university route. But then that was Vin, a complete control freak.