Eruption (The Hunted Series Book 3) (11 page)

Monday

I sat down on a bench outside of the Tavern on the Green. In
less than two weeks we'd be saying our vows under the huge tree with the
shimmering lanterns that I loved so much. I wasn't having second thoughts. Not
for a second. I loved James with every fiber of my being. Sometimes I just
wished he could hear me.

During the orientation meeting I had thought about how much I
owed him. But I had given up a lot for him too. And sometimes I worried that I
lost myself when I moved here. He was complicated and unique and all consuming.
And I was just me. It was easy to feel invisible. Which wasn't really fair to
say. If anything, James was the first person that had ever truly seen me. How
could I feel seen and invisible at the same time?

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the feeling of the sun
on my face. I was just frustrated because school was my thing and Hunter Tech
was his thing. And now I didn't have a thing. I didn't want to follow him
around like a lost puppy. Maybe I was having an identity crisis.

I pulled my legs up on the bench and hugged my knees to my
chest. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, staring at the big tree again.
In twelve days I'd be Mrs. Hunter. That was a new identity. It felt like my
heart was beating out my chest. I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees
and my head between them. It felt like I couldn't breathe. It was all too much
change too soon. I was never good at change and this was a million things at
once. I had tried to tell James that it was too much but he hadn't listened. I
put my face in my hands.

"I thought I might find you here."

I lifted my face out of my hands and up at James. He looked
so worried. Why did it always seem like I was hurting him?

"Having second thoughts?" He looked over his
shoulder at our wedding venue.

"No. Never. James, I 'm so sorry about today. I don't
know what's wrong with me. I'm so, so sorry, I just..."

"Stop. You don't have anything to apologize about."
He sat down and grabbed my hand. "I'm the one that's sorry. I'm still
learning about how all this works."

"God." I wiped my tears away with the back of my
hand. "Still learning how what works? Me?" I laughed. I didn't even
understand myself half the time. How could I expect him to?

"Love. This." He rubbed his thumb along my palm.
"Us. Please don't give up on me."

His words made even more tears fall down my cheeks. "I'm
not. I'm just so embarrassed. You're allowed to talk to whoever you want.
You're allowed to change your lunch plans. I don't know why I even freaked out."

"I didn't want to talk to Isabella. She came to see me.
I didn't want her to make a scene..."

"I know. You already explained it. It's fine."

He squeezed my hand. "She asked if we could start over
as friends. I told her that we could be civil if we run into each other in
public, but nothing more. I told her if she ever stepped foot inside my office
ever again I'd have her thrown out. And I said if she ever reached out to you
or me I'd get a restraining order against her. I know I can talk to whoever I want,
but I don't want to talk to her. Ever again. I have a past. I can't change
what's happened, but I will never, ever put someone before you. I can promise
you that."

"I know. I didn't mean what I said. It's just...with
graduating and moving and planning the wedding, and then meeting your parents
and seeing Isabella, and starting this new job..." I let my voice trail
off. "Geez, of course no one else wanted to hire me. I needed a week off
for our honeymoon almost immediately. But I didn't even get to the interview
process to tell anyone about that." I felt so inadequate.

"About that..."

"You knew no one would hire me because of that, didn't
you? I'm such an idiot. I was giving you a hard time and you were just being
nice and offering me a job because no one else..."

"No." He cleared his throat. "You were right
before. I screened your applications."

"What does that mean exactly?"

He shrugged. "I made it clear that you were working at
Hunter Tech. I'd rather not go into the specifics."

I started laughing. "You're infuriating. You do realize
that, right?" I couldn't seem to stop laughing.

He smiled and wiped one of my tears away with his thumb. I
was pretty sure they were tears from laughing now.

When I finally calmed down, I sighed. "I think I've just
been really stressed out. For the past few years I've been so focused on
finishing school and officially becoming an adult, that I forgot to plan for
this point." I had been so eager to graduate. All those extra classes to
make up for the semester I had lost switching schools. Maybe I had rushed all
of this. Now I was officially an adult and I felt lost.

"That's why I thought fixing you up with a good
job..."

"But you should have talked to me about it. Your
intentions are always good, but I want my opinion to count."

"It does. And I do respect you. If I made you feel like
that wasn't the case, I'm sorry." He cupped my face in his hand. "But
I like taking care of you. You can't expect me to just sit here and see you
struggling and not try to fix it."

I grabbed his hand and pulled it onto my lap. "Do you
ever think sometimes that it was easier when you were my professor?"

He laughed. "No."

"But everything was so clear cut. We each knew where we
stood."

"Penny, I never knew where you stood."

I laughed. "Maybe you're right. I just thought this
boss/intern thing would be a little easier if we just stuck to those roles and
didn't mix in our personal relationship."

"Penny, I don't want to sneak around. I thought we were
done with that when we moved here. We're getting married at the end of the
month. All I ever want to do is be with you. And when we're not together I want
to talk about you. If you're embarrassed..."

"I'm not embarrassed about us. That's not it. I just
didn't want all my new coworkers to judge me before they got to know me."

"Knowing that we're together is part of getting to know
you."

"I know. You're right. And I'm pretty sure one of the
guys I work with thinks I'm in an abusive relationship because I'm being too
secretive about everything."

James laughed. "Wait, really?"

"I don't know. I'm a bad liar. It wasn't a terrible
conclusion with all the weird stuff I said all day. And I don't recommend
starting a new job with a black eye. You told me you couldn't see it."

He shrugged. "You can barely see it."

I lightly shoved his shoulder. "Oh and by the way, Andy
prefers being called Anderson. What's up with that? You always call him
Andy."

"Well yeah, his employees call him Anderson. His friends
call him Andy."

"James! You could have told me that."

He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me
closer to him. "I know it's a lot of change really fast. But we can figure
this out together. If you haven't discovered your passion yet, you have plenty
of time. We have our whole lives to figure it out."

His words should have been soothing, but it made me realize
what I probably already knew and just didn't know how to admit. I already knew
my passion. It was him. And being in love with him wasn't exactly a career
path.

"If you want to take some time off to figure it out, you
can," he said. "You don't have to jump right into this internship.
And if you decide you do want it later, there's always another program in the
fall."

"No, I want to do it. I already got special permission
from my boss for a week off. It seems mean to flake out now."

"I was hoping you'd say that. And maybe tomorrow you can
tell all the new friends you made today that you're shagging the boss."

"Telling them we're engaged sound so much better."

"Going all in right away?"

"Sierra keeps talking about how sexy you are and it
makes me extremely uncomfortable."

He laughed. "You sound jealous."

"I'm not jealous." I bit my lip. "Fine, maybe
a little. But what about the flowers you sent me? Marking your territory right
away?"

"I sent you flowers because I'm an awesome fiancé and I
love you."

I stared at him skeptically.

"And I wanted to force you to tell everyone we were
together. Like I said, I'm done sneaking around. Besides, I haven't locked you
down until you say 'I do.' I'm not going to risk losing you to a younger man at
the last minute."

I laughed. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Before we know it, we'll be married. Right there." I gestured to the tree
in front of us.

He kissed my temple. "I can't wait." 

Tuesday

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around
myself. James was watching me through the reflection in the mirror. He had that
look in his eyes that instantly made me wet. My eyes gravitated down his body.
He was only wearing a pair of boxer briefs and he was clearly just as excited
as me. But there was no way he was going to make me late again today. I walked
out of the bathroom and tried to focus on what I was going to wear instead.

Before I had even made it to the closet, he grabbed me around
the waist and lifted me over his shoulder.

I laughed as he threw me down onto the bed.

"I've been thinking," I said and put my hand on his
chest as he leaned down to kiss me. "It's only a couple weeks to the
wedding now. Maybe we shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?" He put his hand on the knot that
was holding my towel in place.

"Have sex." I grabbed his hand before he could undo
my towel.

"What? Why?"

"I mean, that's a thing that people do. They wait to
make the first time after the wedding special."

He laughed. "That's not a thing."

"Yes it is." I smiled up at him.

"Fine, it is. But it's not something we're going to do.
You don't really want to, do you?"

"I don't know." I bit my lip.

"We're already indulging in a life of sin." He
leaned between my legs, pressing his erection against me, and lightly kissed my
neck. "So much sin." Hit bit my earlobe.

I swallowed down the moan that wanted to escape.

"Besides, you really think you can resist me for two
weeks?" He untied my towel and cupped my left breast in his hand, teasing
my nipple as he left a trail of kisses down my stomach.

My body squirmed beneath his. He was right. There was no way
we'd be able to resist each other for that long.

He kissed my hipbone and then suddenly stopped. He smiled up
at me. "Okay, game on. We'll see who breaks first."

"What? You can't just tease me like that."

He laughed. "I'm totally going to win."

"James it's not a game. And let's start tomorrow."

"No way. I have you right where I want you." He
kissed my hipbone again and stood up.

"You're not serious?"

"It was your idea. Hurry up, we're going to be
late." He disappeared into the closet.

Of course he turned it into a game. And he was right. He
probably would win. His ass looked so amazing in those boxers.

***

"Have you told them all about your awesome fiancé that
you're withholding sex from yet?"

I laughed. "No, I'm going to tell them after
lunch." Today was already going better, although, the nickname Fight Club
had seemed to stick. I picked at my salad. I had vowed to eat healthier before
the wedding. And Ellen had packed me a lunch that consisted of virtually
nothing edible.

James pushed half his sandwich toward me. I didn't hesitate
to pick it up and take a huge bite.

"I don't know why you're pretending to go on a diet
before the wedding," he said.

"It's the principle of the thing. I'm supposed to look
my very best."

"You do."

"Is that so?" I hitched my skirt up a little and
watched his eyes wander up my thighs. Maybe I could win this game. I'd have to
ask Ellen to pack me a banana in my lunch tomorrow. I could definitely work
with that.

"I have a lot of self control, Penny." He grabbed
his sandwich back out of my hand.

"Is that why you slept with one of your students?"

He raised his left eyebrow. "The pros outweighed the
cons on that one. I could have controlled myself. I just chose not to."

"Sure."

"Mhm. You have something right there." He pointed
to the side of my mouth.

I wiped the side of my lip.

"Other side." He leaned forward and slid his thumb
along the corner of my mouth, staring into my eyes.

Fuck. Why is that so hot?

I quickly stood up. "Well, I should probably get back to
work." I grabbed the rest of my salad and tossed it in the trash, leaning
over to make sure he got a good look at my ass.

"You're playing dirty."

I turned around to look at him. "So are you."

He flashed me one of his smiles that always made my knees
weak. "Are you still meeting up with Melissa and Tyler tonight?"

Just thinking about it made my stomach churn. "Yeah. I
figure the three of us need to talk. I don't want to put it off."

He nodded. "I'll just meet you back home later then. I'm
cutting out early today. I have a few errands to run." He stood up,
grabbed my waist, and pulled me in close, planting a passionate kiss against my
lips.

If I thought my knees were weak before, I didn't even know
how to describe this feeling. He squeezed my ass, pressing his body even more
firmly against mine. When he pulled back, I was completely breathless.

"I'm totally going to win," he whispered in my ear
and released me.

I knew I hadn't wanted it to be a game, but now I was
determined to win. "I have a few tricks up my sleeves too."

"Bring it on, baby." He sat back down at his desk
chair and turned on his monitor.

I closed the door behind me. I needed to think of something
super sexy to do. I was so preoccupied while I walked back to my desk that I'm
pretty sure Sierra had called my name a few times before grabbing my elbow.

"Were you just having lunch with James Hunter?"
Sierra squealed.

"Umm..."

"I just saw you come out of his office."

We had reached our desks.

"What are you so excited about?" Zach asked Sierra.

"Penny's secret rendezvous with James Hunter during
lunch."

"Is that why you keep ditching us for lunch?" Tavon
asked. "You're eating with the boss instead? I feel slighted."

"Well, yes and no." Now was as good a time as any.
Especially since I had gotten caught red handed. "I..."

"Wait!" Tavon said cutting me off. "Let us all
guess what you were doing."

I sat down. "I'm just going to tell you."

"No, this is more fun. Zach, you guess first."

He shook his head. "She was probably complaining about a
super annoying new coworker."

Tavon laughed. "I'm sure she was complaining about you.
What is your guess, Sierra?"

Sierra stared at me for a second. "Working her way to
the top?" She giggled at the thought.

I could feel my face turning red.

"Oh, shit!" Tavon said with a laugh. "You're
cheating on your fiancé with your boss, aren't you? Classic."

"No." My voice sounded way more defensive than I
intended it to.

"Yes you are! Your face is bright red. How the hell did
you pull that one off? He's like the most eligible bachelor in the city."

"Wait, I thought you said he was engaged?" Sierra
said.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" Tavon
said before I could reply. "You're engaged, he's engaged, and you're both
cheating and sleeping with each other. That's pretty fucked up."

"You're such an idiot. Clearly he's her fiancé,"
Zach said. He was staring at me intently. "James the telemarketer, I'm
guessing?"

"Yes. Zach wins."

"Oh my God, what?!" Sierra squealed again. Her
voice was starting to hurt my ears. "You're engaged to James Hunter? Are
you serious? You're so lucky."

Tavon snickered. "So Sierra was kind of right. You slept
your way into this job."

"Dude," Zach said. "You shouldn't be messing
with her now. If I remember correctly, you made some pretty shitty hypotheses
about her fiancé before you knew who he was."

"Penny," Tavon said. "We're cool right?
Obviously James Hunter isn't whipped or desperate or controlling. I didn't mean
it."

I laughed. "He actually is controlling. It's fine. I'm
not going to tell him you said that."

"Wait, I think I remember reading about this,"
Sierra said. "James Hunter took a break from corporate America after
selling Blive Tech International." She snapped her fingers. "He was a
professor at some school for a year or something. And he got fired for sleeping
with a few of his students."

"He resigned. And it was just one student."
What
is wrong with people?

"You?"

"I'm going to go get some coffee. Anybody want
anything?" When no one said anything, I got up and walked toward the break
room. They didn't need any other specifics. Everything they wanted to know was
online. I'd hide out here for a few minutes until they were done looking. I
grabbed a mug, poured myself a cup, and walked over to the sugar. When I turned
around, Zach was standing there with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"So the bruise?" He touched his cheek. "Was
that him?"

Oh God.
"No." I tried to walked past him,
but he blocked my path.

"If you don't want to talk to me about it, you should
talk to someone you..."

"No, I actually meant no. It wasn't him."

"Who was it then?"

"Why don't you believe me?"

"Well, for one, you're avoiding the question."

"I'm not. I'm just..."

"So tell me then. If it's not him, it shouldn't
matter."

"Fine, you got me. I'm actually in a Fight Club."

Zach laughed.

"Really. And I can't talk about it. The first rule about
Fight Club is that you don't talk about Fight Club. I don't want to be kicked
out."

He laughed again. "You're too scrawny."

"You wanna bet?"

"Look, if you have a nickname for what your fiancé calls
slapping you around, it doesn't make it any better. You can lie to me but you
shouldn't lie to yourself."

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I didn't want
to be talking about this with a stranger. "I'm not lying. And I don't see
why this is any of your business."

"It's not." He stared at me for another second
before grabbing a cup of coffee for himself. It didn't seem like he believed me
at all. "But you admitted that he's controlling and if he's hurting
you..."

"He's not. Zach can you please just drop it? You can
call me Fight Club as much as you want, but I don't want to talk about
this."

"Okay, Fight Club," he said and shrugged his
shoulders. "I was just trying to help."

"So why are you such an expert on this anyway?" He
had spiked my interest. The tattoos and the tough look seemed to just be a
show. He seemed kind and intuitive and for some reason genuinely cared about my
safety. Maybe some kind of dark past. Everyone should be asking him questions,
not me.

"I don't see why that's any of your business." He
winked at me and walked back toward our desks.

I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the break room. I
knew he was just trying to be nice, but I didn't appreciate all his prying.
Especially if he wasn't willing to give anything away about himself either.

"You have quite the sensational past," Sierra said
as I sat back down.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"So let me get this straight," Tavon said.
"You fucked your professor. Got caught. Lost your scholarship to the
University of New Castle and the respect of your peers. And had to switch
schools because of all the scandalous rumors?"

"I chose to transfer to NYCU. We wanted a fresh
start."

"So how did you pay for it? NYCU is an expensive
college. Especially without instate tuition."

God.

"I'm going to take your silence as confirmation for what
I already thought. James Hunter paid for your education. And he obviously got
you this job. Everything in your life has been handed to you. This is kind of
bullshit. Do you know how hard I had to work to land this internship? How many
interviews we all had to do before we got accepted?"

"My transcript is just as good as yours or I wouldn't be
here."

"I think we all know that's not true."

"I think you're missing the silver lining here,"
Zach said.

Tavon sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Which
is?"

"Penny has an in with the boss. So if we all play our
cards right, we now have a connection that none of the other interns have. You
should be happy about this, not pissed off." He gave me a small smile.
Having him on my side could be a good thing.

"True," Tavon said. "Maybe the four of us
could get drinks one night this week? And you could bring Hunter?"

"Umm..." I let my voice trail off. I didn't know
what James would think about hanging out with a bunch of his interns.
"I'll ask him. But we're really busy the next few weeks."

"With all the wedding planning?" Sierra asked.
"It's probably going to be the most lavish wedding of the year."

I wasn't sure what she wanted me to say. Was she waiting for
me to invite her? "I can ask James about getting drinks one night
though," I said instead.

"I can't wait!" Sierra said. "I've always
wondered what he was like outside of work. It's like hanging out with a
celebrity. I'm so jealous of your life."

"If you don't tone it down Fight Club won't even ask
him," Tavon said. "We'll be cool, I promise. I'll get Sierra under
control."

I laughed. I glanced at Zach, but he was just staring at me
skeptically. "Yeah, I'll ask James and let you guys know." I turned
my attention to the computer screen. Maybe hanging out outside of work with
them would help us bond. And Zach seeing James and me together might get him
off my back.