“Hunter, I need you to focus.”
He blinked. “Right.” He dragged the shirt over his head.
I started pacing. “This is bad.”
“It’s manageable,” he countered.
“You just said it was basically career-ending,” I reminded him.
“I just wanted you to know the stakes, I didn’t meant to scare you away,” he stated.
“You’re doing a terrible job.”
His mouth twitched for half a second, but the smile didn’t hold. That was what scared me most. Hunter Russell wasn’t relaxed or amused. He looked like a man walking into a room where the wrong glance could cost him something important, and I think that something was me. He picked up his phone again.
“Your dad texted me.”
My entire body froze. “What did he say?”
Hunter looked like he would rather be checked into the boards by three defensemen at once.
“Holland says you’re coming to lunch. Good. I want to ask you about the prospects camp schedule.”
I closed my eyes. “My father wants to discuss prospects camp with you after you saw my prospects.”
Hunter made a strangled sound. “Catherine.”
“What? I’m spiraling,” I warned.
“I know, but please don’t say prospects while I’m trying to survive this.”
A laugh escaped me that sounded half hysterical. Then I looked at him again, and the laugh faded. He was pale under his tan.
“Hey,” I said softly.
He looked at me.
“We’re going to be okay,” I said. Something happened between us here today, and it felt so right that it couldn’t be wrong. “We can go to lunch and act like adults.”
His eyebrows rose. I stepped closer and fixed the collar of his shirt because my hands needed something to do. Also because touching him still felt like something I was allowed to want, even if we had to pretend otherwise in twenty minutes. He went still under my fingers.
“I don’t regret today. I want to keep seeing you,” he said quietly.
Something softened inside me. “I want that too.”
“Right. Your dad is perceptive. We have to play it safe,” Hunter said, looking toward the door like Cole Davis might already be on the other side of it.
“My mom notices more,” I brought to his attention.
“Great,” he sighed.
“They’re both terrifying,” I laughed nervously.
My phone buzzed again.
Dad: You with Taylor? Meet us at the restaurant.
I typed back with shaky fingers.