The Hunter(9)

“What?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.



“Did you see whether the elevator was empty when I came down from Norman & Wilde or whether there was anyone in there with me?” I demanded.



“Um … I don’t know - there could have been I guess. I wasn’t really looking, I was looking at you. You had a weird look on your face, like you were scared or something and then you looked round and you were deathly pale when you looked back at me. Then you began to act like you‘d had a frontal lobotomy.”



“Oh thanks!” I said laughing, although it would explain my inability to control my speech and movements.



“Well, you did. You couldn’t even speak,” she replied indignantly. Then she raised her eyebrows. “I mean you, lost for words … unfreezing believable! I should‘ve filmed you on my phone, nobody will believe me that you were speechless.”



I pulled a face at her and we finished our lunches in companionable silence. We then debated whether I had earned the rest of the day off or whether I should return to the office. The stress of my first design meeting followed by my encounter in the elevator had really wiped me out so I decided to bunk off, much to Angel’s disapproval and we went back to the apartment and chilled out all afternoon.



We had decided that we would order in pizza for dinner and chill out in front of a movie. We were just debating whether we had the energy to go out to each when the intercom buzzed. It was James, informing us that we had some gentlemen in the foyer, requesting to come up to our apartment. I was wondering who on earth it could be when I heard a disembodied voice moaning “I’ve got no chance catching her unaware in the shower now, all naked and wet.”



“Travis!” we both chorused, laughing. “It’s fine, James. You can let them up!”



A minute later the band trooped in through the door. Chad held up two bottles of champagne and Scott held a stack of pizza boxes.



“A little bird told us that a celebration was in order,” Chad said before throwing his arms around me. “Well done, Issy!”



“Yeah, well done babe,” said Ethan, bending his head to kiss me on the lips gently.



Before I could cuss Ethan for kissing my lips, I was wrapped in a celebratory bear hug by Scott. He released me and I stood, genuinely surprised and happy that the guys had taken the time to congratulate me. I let out a long sigh of pleasure until I heard a growl behind me. I turned to see Travis holding his arms out to me. “Come here sexpot,” he grunted. “A celebratory shag is in order, I think.”



“Sorry, Travis but I prefer my pizza like my men - hot! And your plan fails on both counts,” I said as sweetly as I could.



“Please yourself,” Travis muttered like a petulant teenager. “I ain’t always going to be chasin’ you, you know. Miss it, miss out, baby!”



“I’ll take my chances, Travis,” I said, as seriously as I could manage.



We all tucked into pizza and champagne before arguing about which film to watch. Travis wanted to watch a porno - surprise, surprise and sulked when he couldn’t get his own way. He then tried to instigate a game of spin the bottle, but there were no takers. He sat in the corner muttering about the lack of rock star behavior in the band and was generally ignored by everyone.



We all settled down to watch an action hero movie but I could feel my eyes closing after my big day. Travis immediately offered to take me to bed so I made Scott promise to guard my body and my honor if I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I could hear Angel’s voice gently telling me to wake up but I knew that I didn’t want to. Images of midnight blue eyes and dark brown, bed head hair were rolling through my mind and I very much wanted to hang on to them. Angel’s voice became a little more insistent and I fought to stay asleep until I heard Travis’ voice loudly declaring that she should leave me alone because I was obviously having a wet dream about him.



My eyes flew open. “What’s the matter?” I asked Angel, my eyes searching her face for clues.



“Nothing, you were dreaming and I was worried that it was a bad dream, that’s all,” I could see concern in her pale blue eyes before she hugged me and began to stroke my hair in an unmistakable gesture of comfort.



“No, you weren’t having a bad dream,” Travis jumped up, grinned excitedly. “You were having a wet dream … about me. You were moaning and groaning, touching yourself and calling my name!”



I was about to tell him that I wasn’t in the mood for his jokes when I noticed that all of the other guys were just staring at me. As soon as I met his eye, Scott looked away uncomfortably.