The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (28 page)

“Sare, come on.” I
tried, pulling at her arm as Todd got to his feet.

“He’s dead because
of you bitch. You cost him his fucking life twice and I’ll personally make sure
you’re joining him soon.”

I spun around and
spat at him, right in his fucking smug face “Please make sure you keep your
promise Todd, cos’ I would give anything right now to tell your brother I loved
him. I fucking loved him… you even know what that is Todd? Love? Nah, cos’ you
aint fucking worth anybody’s love. You have the cheek to stand there and blame
me for Ry’s death. Where were you for the last seven years? Eh?”

He took a step
towards me as he wiped my spit from his face “Where was I Kay? I was well away
from the place where you put him, that’s where!”

I nodded slowly “Did
you ever go and see Ry and ask why he was actually there?”

He scoffed and I
noticed his mother and father watching me carefully. “Well?” I urged but he
remained silent. “No you didn’t. So don’t fucking preach when you have no idea.
Ryan loved me, Ry loved me to the ends of the earth and I think myself
privileged to have been on the receiving end of that love, because he was the
most honest, compassionate, caring man I have ever met. Yes, it was my fault he
died, and that will haunt me until the day I die, Todd. But I went to visit him
every two weeks. I never missed one order, never forgot him in there. I wrote
to him every week and every time I left him there it ripped me apart. But I
visited Todd. You haven’t seen him since he went in that place, so don’t you
dare pretend to even know what your brother went through.”

I shook my head
sadly at his angry face and then turned and left my in-laws behind me, their
mouths wide and their eyes even wider.

“I could’ve taken
him down babe” Sara whispered in my ear as we kept our chins high and our
spirits higher.

I smirked at her “I
have no doubt, love, but I didn’t want you to damage your nails on that
tosser.”

She shrugged and
regarded her fingers “Awww hell. I think I left one in his eyeball.”

She sighed heavily
then eyed me “Pub?”

“Hell, yes.”

Chapter 32

Lucas

TWO WEEKS
LATER

“For Christ’s sake,
how hard is it to e-mail somebody?” I barked at a flustered Fiona “Move you
stupid woman, I’ll do it myself.”

“I’m so sorry, Mr
Hunt. The programme just closed down on me then I seemed to have lost the
document. Then the phone rang.”

I glared at my new
temp and shook my head. “God forbid! You actually had two things to do? No
wonder you couldn’t cope sweetheart.”

She grinned and
started breathing again and I rolled my eyes when I realised the brain dead
tart had thought I was genuinely being compassionate.

Hitting the send
button I stood and turned to her. “Can you manage now?” I asked slowly. She
narrowed her eyes slightly as she wondered if I was taking the piss.

Well done!

I shook my head and
ventured back to my office, dragging my tired feet along the plush carpet as I
walked in and my gaze swung to the coffee machine as it had for the three
millionth time over the past two weeks.

Nobody could make
coffee like Red, it was perfect; not too weak but not over strong; perfect.
Just like her.

“No, Hunt! You are
not gonna do this again” I chastised myself and flopped down in my chair.

I opened my own
e-mails looking for a diversion and my heart skipped at one from a lay.willow. It
had to be her, nobody else would use that name and I opened it immediately.

From: Layla
Summers

To: Lucas Hunt

Sent: 19/05/2013
11:15

Subject: Stuff

Hi Lucas,

I was wondering
what you wanted me to do with your things.

I can send them by
courier to the office or I could give them to Ava to pass on?

Which would be
best for you?

Anyway, I hope
you’re okay and well, sorry.

Red x

The way she’d signed
it Red brought a smile to my lips, I thought she’d always hated the nickname I
gave her but…

I closed my eyes as
her smiling face erupted onto the back of my eyelids and my heart clenched
again.

“God damn it, you
fucking pussy!” I slammed my fist on the desk and I heard Fiona yelp.

I rubbed my eyes
with my palms and clicked reply on the e-mail. My fingers hovered painfully on
the keyboard. What the hell did I say?

I can’t stop
thinking about you Red.

I love you more than
I can even type Red.

Please, I’m sorry; I
didn’t mean to turn my back on you.

You are so fucking
beautiful and I miss you so much.

I need you.

From: Lucas Hunt

To:
Layla Summers

Sent 21/05/2013
14.11

Subject: re:
Stuff

Hi,

Just give them to
Ava.

Thanks

Lucas

Why the hell had I
hit send?

“Jesus Christ Lucas,
you arsehole!”

I sucked air through
my teeth and wondered if it would help pull the words back through the bloody
phone line.

I had sounded like a
heartless bastard. “You are a heartless bastard, Hunt!”

“Well, finally we
agree” Nate smirked from the doorway and I narrowed my eyes on him.

He lifted a brow at
my mood as he stepped into my office and closed the door behind him. “I see
your temp is as efficient as ever.”

We both scoffed at that
statement. Fiona had ballsed up many documents that had been forwarded to Nate
and if it wasn’t for Ava, checking and editing them, the whole of NSC would’ve
probably gone down the pan due to her adding nine zeroes on a finance payment
to a company who supplied us with water fountains. Her excuse had been
‘I’m
so sorry; the zero key must have stuck’
.

Nate sat in the
chair opposite me and regarded me intently. “What do you want, Nate?”

He sighed then
pursed his lips and looked rather uncomfortable for a while. “Had an e-mail
from Sandra.”

I lifted my eyebrows
at him but nodded for him to continue. “She’s not coming back. Married the toy
boy and they’ve decided to open a bar out in Mexico.” He informed me and I
nodded my head respectfully. “Good for her.”

Nate smiled and
nodded, obviously as impressed with Sandra as I was.

Good luck to her,
she must be going on 60 and lover boy was roughly around 30, and to take a risk
like that at her age earned my admiration.

“So…” Nate smiled a
bit too widely and I braced myself. “Well, we need to get rid of the temps and
get a permanent P.A for you now.”

“Don’t tell me
you’ve offered it to the thick tart out there?” I closed my eyes in
preparation.

Nate barked out a
loud laugh and shook his head in humour. “Lucas, I’d really like my company to
stay afloat if possible.”

I glanced through
the glass in the door and squinted at Fiona who was stabbing at a key on the
keyboard repeatedly and holding her forehead in the other hand. I dreaded to
think what she had done now.

“No, not Fiona but I
have managed to get somebody for you. She’s lovely, you’ll like her. She really
needs the money so she couldn’t refuse my offer really. She’s efficient,
intelligent and a great looker.” He smiled and I liked the first two but wasn’t
so bothered about the latter. Red had been a looker and I couldn’t see anybody
being more beautiful than her but I nodded to Nate appreciatively. He didn’t
need to know I was still pining for my sassy redheaded dancer.

“Great, when does
she start?”

“Tomorrow, so you
better fire your temp. Enjoy!”

“Don’t bloody worry;
nothing will give me greater pleasure. Where are the files for the new P.A?”

He stood and rolled
his head round his neck as he opened my office door “Already on file. All her
info is in your system. Ava updated it earlier.”

“Oh, thanks, I’ll
take a gander” I told him as he stepped out and I logged into the employee
files.

Holy Fuck!

“NATE!!!!”

I heard his laughter
as he disappeared down the corridor and I closed my eyes in despair.

“Miss Summers,
welcome to NSC.” I said to the empty room.

***

She was fucking
efficient, I’ll give her that. As I strolled in at 6 o’clock, Red was already
in my office, coffee machine whirring, flowers in a tall vase and my system up
and running.

“Good morning, Mr
Hunt” she said chirpily without turning around. I could see the tension in her
shoulders but give her credit; she was trying to make it easier for both of us
by taking the bull by the horns and getting on with things.

“Red” I really tried
to reciprocate her attitude but the sight of her tight ass in an even tighter
cream skirt already had my dick pressing into my zip. Her sheer blouse showing
her silk camisole underneath didn’t help matters either.

Fuck me!

This was going to be
fucking torture and I only just managed to supress the groan.

She turned then and
her eyes lifted to mine. I could see her own torture in them as she gulped upon
sight of me but her lips lifted into a tight smile.

“Your coffee
shouldn’t be a moment. Would you like to sync diaries before we start?” her
soft voiced wavered and my stomach clenched at her anxiety.

I stared at her like
a caged bloody lion; my lust, aggression, despair and love all fought for
attention, each wanting to overrule the other and take lead.

She blinked at me
and my teeth sank into my lip when it reminded me of how she would look up at
me after making her come, her huge eyes blinking at me in her sated posture.

“Oh, uhh, yes that
would be good.”

She smiled a little
easier then, as my softer tone relaxed her a little more and she took the chair
opposite mine, crossing her legs like the ever sexy secretary.

I puffed out a
silent breath behind her then went round the desk and settled in my own chair.

She had already
situated her iPad on my desk and it was already logged in to the system. Why
couldn’t bloody Fiona have been this competent?

“I’ve already harmonised
each diary but I need updating and anything arranged for today, I also need
your personal engagements.”

I nodded and glanced
at my monitor to avert my eyes from the stunning swell of her breasts against
her sexy little blouse. Knowing how fucking magnificent her tits actually
looked under that blouse had my cock throbbing even more.

“Uhh, just the
usual. Dry cleaning, my car needs a service booking in. Oh, could you get onto
that clothing company I use and order me a few shirts, white and black should
do.” She nodded and tapped away and I risked a glance at her exquisite face as
her gaze was diverted.

She really was
stunning and my breath wheezed a little as my eyes roamed down the length of
her elegant neck and onto the patch of pale freckled skin that was exposed at
the opening of her shirt.

She looked up at me
expectantly and I quickly averted my eyes, hoping she hadn’t caught me looking.

“Anything else, Mr
Hunt?”

The way she said ‘Mr
Hunt’ had my fists clenching and my teeth gnawing together. What the fuck? I
mean, I think we were onto first names by now, but if that’s the way she wanted
to play then I would participate in her game and perform as she expected.

“I need some flowers
arranging for Erica…”

I saw her fingers
stutter on her keypad and I wanted to swipe that last statement from the air,
take it back but I also didn’t want her to see how much she had hurt me, I
didn’t want her to know how much I had been pining for her.