Some Like It Hot (27 page)

“Boy, don’t you look serious.”

Mallory glanced up from the huge calendar spread out on her desk and gazed into the smiling face of her sister, Barbara. She couldn’t help but smile back. Evidently her emotional state was so apparent that Barbara sensed that something was wrong.

As always her sister’s appearance in her office always brought a ray of sunshine. At five foot six in stocking feet yet with a somewhat petite build, which they had both inherited from their mother, Barbara took great pride in the way she looked and always had the ability to garner a lot of men’s attention. In fact, they both had, only Barbara was always the one with the willingness to return that attention. She had been able to balance with ease getting her schoolwork done and dating.

Not only was Barbara her sibling, but she was also her best friend. With only a two-year difference in their ages, they had grown up as playmates and confidantes in the constant chaos that seemed to inhabit the Standish household.

Her father, a financial adviser with a major bank, went on numerous business trips and always returned home with sloppy evidence that the trips had been more pleasure than business. Instead of getting fed up with her husband’s unfaithfulness, Olivia Standish was the dutiful wife, intent on making her marriage work and providing her daughters with a roof over their heads. However, their father finally took the decision out of their mother’s hands when he arrived home one day and announced he wanted a divorce to marry his “young” assistant. Mallory would never forget that day for as long as she lived since it just happened to be on her twelfth birthday.

Although their mother had been devastated by her husband’s departure, both Mallory and Barbara had thought,
Good riddance,
and had tried moving on with their lives. It didn’t help matters when, less than a year later, their mother, still suffering from a broken heart, had gotten killed in a car accident.

For Mallory, the moral of the story had been to never grow up and fall in love with a man who had “playboy” tendencies. Yet she had done that very thing after meeting Hunter Sloan.

Barbara, on the other hand, had always looked at things through rose-colored glasses. Her take on the entire Standish family affair was that their father had been a class-ass jerk and that not all men were like him, and had been determined to fall in love with one who wasn’t. She and Lewis had met four years ago after Barbara had completed college and gone to work for a huge marketing firm in San Diego. They had met one night at a nightclub and, according to her sister, it had been love at first sight. Their courtship had been short and sweet and they had gotten married less than a year later.

Mallory had always liked her brother-in-law, although she did consider him somewhat too serious at times, the complete opposite of Barbara. But it always appeared that he loved Barbara immensely and went out of his way to make her happy. Other than their desperate desire to have a baby, she always considered Barbara and Lewis a happy couple and perfect for each other.

At least she had until that day she’d seen Lewis at the hotel. Like their mother, Barbara would be devastated if she ever discovered Lewis was cheating on her, and Mallory hoped and prayed that was not the case.

Standing, Mallory quickly rounded her desk and crossed the room to give her sister a huge hug. “I’m always serious, Barb. You’re the playful one. Besides, it’s different when you run your own business.” She glanced back at the calendar on her desk. “Although business is good for the remainder of the year, I often wonder how I’m going to pull things off. For instance, in two weeks I have three big parties planned on the same day. Luckily, they’re at staggered times, but still that’s almost stretching me thin.”

Barbara raised a concerned brow. “Then why did you do it, Mal?”

Mallory smiled. “To stay busy.”

From the look on Barbara’s face they both knew there was a lot more behind her response. Every since her breakup with Hunter she had been working extremely hard to keep him off her mind. Now it seemed her attempt to do so had been a waste of time since he was definitely back on her mind and had been there since she’d seen him yesterday.

And then there was the question he’d asked her…

“You need a life, Mallory,” Barbara said, interrupting her thoughts. “Let me introduce you to this guy I was telling you about who works with Lewis. He moved to town recently from Atlanta and—”

“Forget it, Barbara. I’m not interested.”

Barbara took Mallory’s hand in hers. “I wish you would get interested. I think he would be perfect for you.”

Mallory sighed. As far as she was concerned the only perfect guy in her book was Hunter. Although she knew their breakup was the smartest move for the both of them, she had to give him his due. There was an out-and-out sexiness that made any woman want to tumble between the sheets with him. Hunter Sloan was fabulous in and out of bed.

Deciding she needed to change the subject and quick, she asked. “And what brought you by today? Although I’m always glad to see you, I wasn’t expecting you. When we talked last night you didn’t mention that you would be stopping by.”

Barbara folded her arms across her chest. “I took some time off from work today to do a few things and decided to visit. I was worried about you. I didn’t like the way you sounded last night. It was as if you were keeping something from me.”

If only you knew,
Mallory thought, feeling somewhat guilty, and wondering what Barbara would think if she knew that Mallory was having her husband investigated. She sighed, not wanting to think about that since she felt that she was doing the right thing, and that it was for Barbara’s benefit and future happiness. She didn’t want Barbara to become like their mother.

“I’m fine,” Mallory tried to assure her. “Like I said a few moments ago, I’ve been busy a lot lately.”

“There is more to what’s going on with you than work, Mal, so don’t pretend otherwise and I know it’s all because of Hunter Sloan. The way I see it, if you’re going to be miserable without him in your life then you may as well be miserable with Hunter and go back to him.”

Mallory’s eyebrows lifted. “What are you talking about?”

Barbara grinned. “I’m talking about you being sexually deprived. I bet you haven’t slept with a man since Hunter.”

Mallory frowned. “There is more to a relationship than sex, Barbara.”

Barbara’s grin widened. “And I agree, but I also think a person shouldn’t be alone and miserable. You were always the uptight one, not me. I know you aren’t into casual relationships, and that’s cool, but you loved Hunter. I can’t believe he didn’t have any feelings for you, no matter what he said.”

Mallory shook her head as she gazed at Barbara. This was her sister who thought everyone should be in love and happy. “Well, he didn’t have feelings for me and I’ve accepted it and moved on. I admit that even after six months it’s hard, but I’ll survive.”

An hour or so after Barbara had left, Mallory was still thinking about what her sister had said. Yes, she would survive and eventually she would get over Hunter. However, in the meantime, she would continue to be sexually deprived and was determined to get over that as well.

There was more to a relationship than sex, but at the moment it was a part she definitely missed.

Hunter sat in his parked car and watched as Lewis Townsend walked out of the Federal Building where he worked and strolled across the parking lot to his dark blue sedan.

Keeping at a comfortable distance, Hunter started his car to follow behind Lewis when he pulled into traffic. It was lunchtime and it seemed the man had a destination in mind, and Hunter had a feeling it wasn’t Burger King. Nor did it appear that he was headed for the same hotel Mallory had seen him at yesterday. He took the interstate and that led in an entirely different direction.

Hunter sighed. He wasn’t crazy about getting involved in Mallory’s family’s affairs, but then it was a job. He cursed softly knowing that when it came to Mallory there was nothing he considered as business, even this, as much as he wanted to. During the four months of their affair they had shared an intense physical desire for each other and he had begun getting petrified that it would lead to something more serious. The last thing he had wanted was to begin developing deep feelings for a woman, and when he’d discovered he was doing just that, he had thought the best thing to do was to cut out, which is precisely what he’d done. But now, six months later, after seeing Mallory again, he was finding out that out of sight had not been out of mind. He had thought of her a lot, he had craved her a lot. And last night, like a number of other nights, the memories of her had filled his dreams.

His thoughts were momentarily interrupted when Lewis pulled into the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel. Making sure he wasn’t seen, Hunter parked in a space across from where Lewis parked his car, then watched as the man got out of the vehicle and, after glancing around a few times, went inside.

It didn’t take long for Hunter to get out of his car and follow, still maintaining a safe distance. He hated admitting it, but the way Lewis was nervously glancing around and making sure he wasn’t recognized by anyone would lead anyone to believe he was definitely doing something he shouldn’t. You could tell the man was an amateur at being discreet. If he wasn’t in the process of being unfaithful to his wife, he was certainly giving the appearance that he was. No wonder Mallory’s suspicions had been raised.

Hunter pulled what appeared to be an ink pen from his top pocket. In truth, the instrument he held in his hand was a miniature digital camera that could pick up a subject as far away as a hundred feet. It had been costly, but over the past year had proven to be highly effective. He decided to take a few shots of Lewis to show Mallory later.

Moments later Hunter stood behind a huge planter and watched as Lewis was given a passkey without signing in, which meant someone was already waiting for him in one of the rooms. Hunter folded the newspaper he was holding and watched further as the man crossed the lobby and entered the gift shop. Lewis emerged a few minutes later with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He glanced around again before stepping into the elevator.

It would have been too risky to get on the elevator with the man since they had met once before. Hunter knew the only thing he could do for now was to sit and wait. All Mallory had asked for was evidence that the man was cheating on her sister, and so far in Hunter’s book the man’s actions were definitely suspect, although he felt he needed more proof. The next step would be getting pictures of him and the woman together. Today, he would merely report back to Mallory on what he’d seen and let her decide if she needed for him to investigate things further.

Hunter went into the coffee shop to wait out his time. An hour or so later, a smiling Lewis Townsend stepped off the elevator. After glancing at his watch the man quickly made his way out of the hotel.

Some men have all the luck. What a way to spend your lunch hour,
Hunter thought as he stood. There was no need to follow Lewis, since chances were he would be returning to work. Knowing there was a strong possibility that Lewis had been involved in some sort of a sexual romp reminded Hunter of what he wasn’t getting and hadn’t gotten in over six months.

Automatically, his thoughts fell on Mallory.

Damn, he wanted her, and just thinking of how he wanted her made him go hard. He needed to call her to set up a meeting to discuss what he’d seen today. But he intended for their meeting to be more than that. He couldn’t ignore his intense desire for her any longer. Fate had her stumbling back into his life and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do about it. He shrugged, knowing that wasn’t entirely true. The one thing he was sure of doing was making love to her again. His sanity depended on it.

Squinting his eyes against the sharpness of the midday sun, Hunter walked out of the hotel planning the seduction of Mallory Standish.

As Mallory brought her car to a stop in front of Hunter’s home she thought she needed to have her head examined. Why on earth had she agreed to meet with him here instead of at his office or some other neutral place?

The thought of being alone with him in such close quarters didn’t sit too well with her. But he had taken pictures of Lewis that he wanted her to see, and since her last appointment had been with someone who lived within a mile of his home, his suggestion of meeting here had sounded logical.

However, as she got out of her car she knew there was nothing logical when it came to Hunter Sloan or her love for him. Considering everything, she should have gotten over him months ago, but she hadn’t and now he was back in her life, even if it was just on a temporary basis.

When she reached his door she felt heat sizzle down her spine. Her body was remembering other times she had shown up here and what she’d always gotten once she crossed over the threshold. Trying to convince her anatomy of what not to expect was a job in itself and the way her breathing was quickening meant she wasn’t being convincing enough. Taking a deep breath she rang his doorbell and listened while it echoed through his home.

He opened the door on the second ring. Mallory almost stopped breathing when her gaze met those of the strikingly handsome man standing less than a few feet in front of her. With his shirt unbuttoned and his belt hanging out of the loops, it was apparent he was just about to change clothes. But still he looked so smooth and suave that she felt her toes curl in her shoes.

She stared at him for a moment then released a long-suffering sigh. “I hope I’m not too early.”

The corners of his eyes creased in a way she’d always found irresistibly sexy as he stood back to let her enter. “No, you’re right on time,” he said smiling, closing the door behind her. “I got home a few minutes ago and hadn’t had time to set things up. I thought you could view the pictures from my computer.”

She unconsciously slid her tongue over her lips. “All right.”

“Do you mind if I shower first?”

She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“I said that I’d like to take a shower before showing you the pictures.”

His statement nearly paralyzed her. There had never been a time when she had been in his home when he’d taken a shower and she hadn’t joined him, whether she needed one or not. Vivid scenes of them in the shower stall began playing around in her head. Blood pounded through her body, especially the parts he had once touched, which meant she was tingling everywhere.

She knew the sensible thing to do was to tell him his shower needed to wait and that she wanted to see the pictures now so that she could leave. But there was a part of her that didn’t want to be sensible, and it was reminding her that he had graciously taken this case on very short notice and she should be more appreciative. However, sexual need was replacing appreciation and she knew if she hung around she could get into trouble.

“Maybe I should come back later,” she said and wondered if he could hear the frustration in her words.

“There’s no need. My shower will only take a minute.”

Mallory doubted that. Nothing Hunter did only took a minute. He could take the word “slow” to a whole other level and put the word “anticipation” right up there with it. No one had ever kissed her the way Hunter kissed her: slow and thorough. He would take his time like he had all day and all night. She cleared her throat. “Yes, but if you’re busy then—”

“I’m not busy, Mallory, I’m just hot and sweaty. Come sit in the living room and make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back before you know it.”

A confusing mixture of emotions swept through her. “Okay, I’ll wait for you to finish,” she finally said.

He smiled. “Thanks.”

He led the way and she followed, appreciating how good he looked from behind. And if she remembered correctly…and she was sure that she did, she knew that his front wasn’t so bad either. In fact it was the best, although she hadn’t had anything else to compare it with. But she couldn’t imagine anyone being better than Hunter. From the first time they had made love he made her feel completely sexy; he could arouse every inch of her with just one heated look.

She blinked, noticed he had stopped to turn around and his mouth was moving. She blinked again. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

He looked at her for a long moment and then he smiled again. “I said I want to clear the air about something else. About yesterday…”

She swallowed deeply before asking, “What about yesterday?”

“That question I asked you at Rowdy’s that upset you.”

Mallory stiffened, recalling exactly what he’d asked her. “Yes, what about it?”

“I need to apologize. I was out of line. I had no right asking you something like that and I knew it. I guess six months going without can make a person kind of crazy.”

Mallory raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing more than the simple fact that I haven’t slept with a woman since we broke up and I’m still going through withdrawal.”

Mallory sucked in a breath. Hunter’s words caught her off guard. She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you trying to tell me that you haven’t slept with anyone in six months?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

She shook her head, not believing a word he’d said. Hunter was too much of a passionate man to go without sex for that long. “And what about your dinner date the other night?”

“My date was my aunt Judith, Mallory. She had invited me to dinner and I accepted. Like I said, I haven’t shared a bed with anyone since we split.”

Mallory’s skin began sizzling beneath the blouse she was wearing and fire began stirring in her stomach as she held his gaze. “B-but why?”

He leaned against the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest and stood in a pose that looked as serious as it could get. “I haven’t gotten over you yet,” he said as if those words explained everything.

Well, they didn’t. Her eyes widened. “You haven’t gotten over me yet?”

“No.”

Mallory stared across the room at him, not knowing what to say. The dark, brooding eyes holding hers were not happy, and a part of her felt giddy at the thought that although he had been the one to make the decision to end their affair, memories of how good they’d been together plagued him.

“And I wouldn’t get all that happy about it if I were you.”

She tilted her head to the side and gazed at him. “Excuse me?”

“I said don’t get all that happy about the fact that I haven’t gotten over you yet, because I have a very strong feeling you haven’t gotten over me either.”

With those final words he turned and walked out of the room.

Hunter walked into his bedroom, closed the door behind him, and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He hadn’t meant to say those things to Mallory. He should have thought clearly before opening his mouth and telling her he still hadn’t gotten over her. Now she would think he definitely had a thing for her.

He cursed softly when he had to inwardly admit that he did have a thing for her. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman, and since their breakup, he had literally lost his appetite for anyone other than her. His shoulders relaxed as he let his breath out. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to let her know where he stood. That way she would know exactly where he was coming from and right where he intended to go. He began stripping off his clothes as he headed for the shower. He glanced at the bed before entering his bathroom and thought that would be a great place to start.

Like he had told her, he believed she wasn’t over him yet either. It was there in her eyes whenever she looked at him. He had been her lover long enough to know deep longing and desire within her when he saw it. He hadn’t paid any attention to it yesterday at Rowdy’s but here in his house, in his domain where he had made love to her many times, he felt it and was attuned to it. There was no way he was overreacting to the situation. Mallory wanted him as much as he wanted her and as soon as he took his shower he intended to prove it. Oh yeah, he would show her those pictures, and then he would show her something else. He wanted her to see just what a bad state he was in. He needed to make love to her. She needed to make love to him.

They needed to make love to each other.

Mallory nervously paced around Hunter’s living room. She paused for a moment and blew out a breath as she tried to steady her emotions. Hunter had been able to read her so clearly. He could tell that she had not gotten over him but what he didn’t know was why. She loved him.

She couldn’t help but wonder what was his reason for not getting over her. Oh sure, the sex between them had been good but he had dated plenty of other women before her and she hadn’t been much of an expert in the bedroom. In fact he had taught her a lot of his preferred techniques. So what was the deal with him? She wasn’t the one who had run away from a relationship that had started getting serious. He had.

Deciding Hunter was a puzzle she didn’t want to figure out at the moment, she made a vain attempt to distract herself from the tingling that was going on throughout her body. She glanced around the room to see if he had changed anything since the last time she had visited.

Everything looked the same. She remembered the first time she had spent the night with him here. They had gone to a movie and he had invited her back to his home for ice cream. They never did eat the ice cream, because the moment the door had closed behind them they had begun stripping naked.

“Sorry, if I took too long.”

She quickly glanced up when Hunter reentered the room. She studied him, accessed him. He had changed into a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top and boy did he look good. He radiated, energy, vitality, and sensuality. She knew at that moment she needed to take care of what she’d come for and leave as quickly as possible.

“You weren’t long at all. Can I see the pictures now?”

“Sure, let’s go into my office.”

Again, he led the way and she followed. He pulled out the chair to his desk. “Come on and sit down. I’ll turn on the computer and get things started.”

She nodded and took a seat at his desk. When he leaned over her to boot up the computer she took a deep breath. The aroma of his aftershave was doing crazy things to her body parts. Her heart began beating faster. He appeared big leaning down so close to her like he was. He was so close all she’d had to do was to stick out her tongue to lick the side of his face, and she was tempted to do just that.

“That should do it,” he said softly, close to her ear.

She blinked and noticed his computer was now on and several pictures were on the screen, all of Lewis. One showed him walking into the hotel, the other of him at the check-in desk with the receptionist handing him a passkey. Then there was the one of him walking out of the gift shop with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, and the last frame showed him getting out of the elevator minus the flowers with a huge smile on his face.

Mallory frowned, disappointed, and leaned back in her chair. “So, what do you think?”

“Umm, what I think doesn’t matter. What do
you
think?” Hunter asked her.

She glanced back at the pictures. “I would say it looks like he’s involved in an affair.”

Hunter raised his eyes to the ceiling. “You need more evidence than this, Mallory. There still may be a plausible reason behind what he’s doing.”

She rubbed her upper arms as if to ward off a chill when in essence the room felt hot, especially with Hunter’s close proximity. And it didn’t help matters that her heart was pumping hard. He hadn’t moved an inch and was still standing next to the chair. “Come on, Hunter, the hotel, the flowers, the smile. What other proof do I need?” she asked, tipping her head back to look at him.

“The identity of the woman would be nice.” He moved to sit down on the edge of the desk. “Look, Mallory, I know those photos look pretty damaging, but until you actually see him and this alleged woman together you really don’t have a case. If he’s involved in an affair it’s apparent this female is in a hotel room waiting when he arrives. And it seems he’s not using the same hotel, maybe for fear of being seen or recognized. That will make it hard to set any kind of trap for him beforehand since I have no idea what hotel he may be using next or when he’ll be using it.”

Mallory nodded, knowing Hunter was right. She needed a female’s face to go along with her accusations, otherwise it would continue to be sheer speculation on her part. “I want to be there when it’s discovered who she is, Hunter.”

He lifted a brow and looked surprised. “Why?”

“Because it might be someone Barbara knows—a neighbor, a coworker, a person she considers a friend.”

Hunter wondered if her request had anything to do with what her father had done to her mother. She had shared with him one night that the woman her father had had an affair with had been a coworker, a person who had befriended her mother. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Mallory.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Things could get messy.”

Mallory’s eyes narrowed. “The way I see it, things are going to get messy anyway when I tell Barbara what I’ve found out.”

“Which at the moment is nothing,” Hunter reminded her.

Anger fired through her. “I happen to think it’s something.”

He leaned toward her, so close their lips almost touched. “Are you willing to destroy your sister’s happiness on these few pictures, Mallory? What if there’s a good reason for what he’s doing and it has nothing to do with being unfaithful to your sister? There’re too many what-ifs until you have more proof,” he said angling his mouth a little closer to hers. His hand fell to her nape and his fingers skimmed softly through her hair.

“I know how much finding out the truth means to you and you’ve hired me to find out what you need to know. I think doing things my way is best,” he murmured softly.

Mallory inhaled deep and found herself saying. “All right, I will.” His touch was electric and her mind was more on what he was doing than what he was saying. Her brain was becoming muddled as heat skittered up her spine. At that moment she became keenly aware of just how close their faces were. They were so close she could feel the tantalizing sweetness of his breath fan across her lips. He slowly inched a little closer and she couldn’t help herself when her lips parted and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth.