Intense love CEO

Park. He and Derek are childhood friends, but they don't see each other as much because Hunter travels around the country for months on end on these projects. Mr. Dark, Tall, Handsome and Sexy seemed proud of his resume. I smiled at him with fake sweetness. "I used to love that park. I'm glad you increased the neighborhood's carbon footprint through the roof and destroyed some of our environment."

"You're a tree-hugger, aren't you?" Anna must be right. We'd kill each other if we were a couple." "Hmmm... I'll have cheesecake. Are you thirsty? I'm dying of thirst. Yeah." Anna was pretty wasted. "We haven't even had dinner yet," I reminded her. "So what? Let's have dessert. Come on!" Licking her lips, she walked back into the restaurant without us. Hunter laughed. "It was nice meeting you, Natalia. And if things don't work out with Adam, who's annoying as hell, I'm in room 315 at the hotel." He winked and leaned in to whisper in my ear. "We could even kill each other... I've always wanted to die in bed." "Are these chairs taken?" Adam and I were finishing our dessert when Hunter walked over and pointed to two chairs across from us. The couple who had been sitting there had left a few minutes earlier. "Yes," I lied. But Adam was kind enough to correct me: "Actually, Eric and Kim were sitting there. They just said goodbye, remember, Nat?" A wide, arrogant smile spread across Hunter's face. He pulled out a chair for the girl, his wedding date, and sat right in front of me. "This is Cassie. She's a tech goddess, a Caltech graduate. Do you know Adam, Cassie?" Adam looked very interested: "We had a quick chat this afternoon."

But I didn't know you worked in tech. I graduated from MIT. I work with Derek at Clique, programming robots." Adam and Cassie's conversation took off. Neither of them noticed the grimace I made at the nerd cupid. I leaned forward, smiling, and said through my teeth, "I know what you're doing." Hunter leaned back in his chair with a smug grin that went from ear to ear. "I don't know what you're talking about." "It won't work." "You say so. But I'll be here if you need a backup." I drank the rest of my coffee and adjusted the front of my dress to show just the right amount of cleavage. Then I picked up the napkin on the table and discreetly dropped it on the floor. As I raised my fork to my mouth, I accidentally dropped a piece of cheesecake into my cleavage. Hunter watched the whole scene with interest. Leaning over, I touched Adam's bicep. "Do you have a napkin?"

They must have taken mine when they cleared the table, and I just made a mess of it." Like the gentleman he was, Adam excused himself from Cassie and turned to give me his attention. When his eyes dropped to the cheesecake in my cleavage, I knew instantly that I had won. I smiled triumphantly as the nerd helped me clean up my cleavage. Hunter's scowl felt like a victory. To be honest, I had already decided during dinner that I wasn't going to sleep with Adam-I needed to feel some degree of physical attraction for a man, even if it was just for one night. But I did enjoy teasing Hunter. "My hand gets sore when I'm tired," I told Adam. "And I'm still on New York time. I think I'll head back to the hotel." "I'll come with you," he replied immediately. Who was Cassie again? Laughs. But Hunter wasn't one to give in easily-I could tell that for him. He stood up. "I have a car. I can give you both a ride. Are you ready to go, Cass?" The four of us are staying at the Carlisle, I guess?"

I smiled at Mr. Insistent and linked arms with Adam. "I have a rental car, so Adam and I can come together. But thanks for offering, Tanner." "Hunter." "Okay." I smiled. The hotel was only a mile down the highway. As we pulled in, we ran into familiar faces-friends of the groom-at the lobby bar. It looked like the pre-wedding party had moved from the restaurant to the hotel. As we walked by, one of the guys I recognized yelled for Adam to join them for a drink. He looked at me before answering. "What do you think? Fancy a nightcap?" "Actually, I'm pretty tired-jet lag and all. But go have a drink with them, yeah. Have a good time." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, sure. I'm going to pass out on the bed." Adam gave me a quick hug goodnight, and I headed to the elevator alone. I was exhausted. Anna and Derek had reserved the top floor of suites for out-of-town guests, and I had forgotten that I needed to insert my key card into the elevator panel to access the floor. After pressing the button several times, I finally realized it and started rummaging through my bag for the card. I was busy searching when I heard that voice. "Natalia." I was met with Hunter's cocky smile. "You..." "Me," he confirmed. I looked around at his large, imposing figure. "Where's your partner?" He winked. "I left her at the bar with your partner so you two can get to know each other better." "Aren't you going to be lonely?"

I said sarcastically. "Maybe. But there's a way to fix that." "You're going to take matters into your own hands, aren't you?" I finally found the room key in my bag. Hunter chuckled and took it from me to insert it into the panel. Of course we were on the same floor, since we were guests at the same wedding. When the doors closed, the elevator suddenly felt too small for the two of us. It didn't help that Hunter was still facing me as the elevator started to ascend.

He kept staring at me from up close, and my body reacted to the proximity. "Don't you know elevator etiquette?" I asked. "Turn around and look at the buttons like a normal person." "Why would I waste my time with buttons when I could be enjoying a much nicer view?" "You know I'm not going to sleep with you." "Why not? You were going to sleep with Adam." "That's different." "What do you mean?" "I already knew Adam. He's a nice guy." "I'm a nice guy." "I don't know you." Hunter shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hunter Delucia, twenty-nine, single, never married, no kids. Undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from Berkeley. Grew up next door to Derek, they've been friends since they were babies. He can tell you I'm a nice guy." I live in Idyllwild, an hour away from the happy couple, in my own house. I built my own house and have lots of trees on the property-that should earn me some extra points, by the way.

I had my checkups a month ago and I'm super healthy. And most importantly..." He took a step toward me; our bodies were almost touching. "I think you're really sexy. There's this crazy chemistry between us, and I think we need to take advantage of it." I swallowed hard. Luckily, the elevator arrived and the doors opened. I needed air that didn't smell like Hunter Delucia, so I walked around the tree man and out. He followed me. When I stopped abruptly, realizing I was going the wrong way, he nearly ran me over. His hands caught me, his fingers pressing into my hips to keep me from falling face first. "Whoa. Are you okay?" "Oh my! You almost knocked me over." "You stopped dead in your tracks." – If he hadn't been glued to me, he wouldn't have run me over. We w

falling face first. "Whoa. Are you okay?" "Oh my! You almost knocked me over." "You stopped dead in your tracks." – If he hadn't been glued to me, he wouldn't have run me over. We were still in the middle of the hallway, and he was still holding my hips... and I was enjoying it. Jesus, I hadn't had a dry spell for a long time.

More than two years. His fingers tightened a little more and his head leaned down to whisper in my ear. – You smell delicious. A fire rose from his touch. I closed my eyes. Hmm... He and Derek are childhood friends. He can't be that bad. Maybe... Luckily, the arrival of another elevator saved me from doing something stupid. Some of Derek's friends showed up and didn't notice what was happening between Hunter and me. – Hey, Delucia! – My arms rested on his shoulders. – Let's go drink in our room. I regained my senses and took the opportunity to escape, practically running down the hallway towards my room. Of course my room had to be the last one. Hunter shouted my name as I put the key in the door. I ignored him and went straight inside. Leaning against the inside of the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. What the hell am I doing? Get a grip, Nat. Literally running away from a man instead of just saying "no" and throwing him off? But something about him made me feel uneasy and nervous-like I needed to run in the opposite direction. A light knock on the door I was still leaning against made me jump. "Natalia." Why did he have to call me that? "I'm asleep." I heard his chuckle.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm in the room next door. Even the hotel thinks we should sleep together." I shook my head but smiled. "Good night, Hunter." "Good night, Natalia. I can't wait to see you tomorrow." Chapter 2 Natalia A crew was working on the bride-to-be to the sound of Jack Johnson's Waves. The huge suite smelled of lilacs-Anna's favorite scent. Every time I walked down New York's Flower Shop Street in the spring, I expected to run into her around the next corner. When Anna saw me walk in, she raised her champagne glass to her reflection in the mirror. "Holy shit, I'm getting married!" Usually, anything related to marriage brought out my bitter, pessimistic side, but for Anna's sake, I suppressed those feelings. I took the glass from her hand and smiled back. "Holy shit, you're getting married!" The hairdresser smiled wryly and shook his head. "We're very refined, you know?" I joked. In two hours, my best friend would be getting married to a rich, handsome, young, tech-savvy guy who kissed the ground she walked on. It was a far cry from my fake marriage. "I saw Hunter following you yesterday," Anna said. "The way he was all over you, poor Cassie couldn't even compete." I needed a mimosa to talk about that man. I drank Anna's drink and went to the bar to refill her glass and get one for myself. "Do you remember when I was seventeen and I had a crush on Mr. Westbrook, the substitute English teacher?" "How could I forget? He was twenty-three and gorgeous." "Hunter...

Well, I don't know what to think of him, to be honest. He's dirty, direct, insistent... and very sexy." "And gorgeous, financially secure, secure, and VERY sexy," Anna added. I sighed. "Yeah. All of that. But there's something about him... something I can't quite put my finger on... that makes him just as off-limits as Mr. Westbrook was." Anna's eyes flicked to my reflection in the mirror. "Really?" "Why are you smiling, silly?" "He's off-limits because he gives you butterflies." "No, he doesn't," I lied. I didn't even know why I was lying. Besides, the butterflies he gave me weren't the kind I usually felt in my stomach... These butterflies I felt a little lower down. "Yes, they did." "No, they didn't." "Then why not give in?" You just said you think he's hot. You were thinking about sleeping with Adam, and he's not nearly as hot as Hunter." I remembered his hands on my hips the night before, and the chill started to set in again. That feeling, combined with Anna's arguments, proved something I didn't want to accept. "I think he's too stuck-up." "You like stuck-up guys.

In fact, all the guys you've dated have been stuck-up." "Exactly. Enough stuck-up guys." Anna gave a mischievous smile and said to the hairdresser, "I'm sure she'll go for it." He looked at me, then back at Anna. "Oh, she will." Derek and Anna got married on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Despite my disdain for marriage as an institution, I cried tears of joy. I noticed more than one groomsman with tears in his eyes, too. One in particular caught my attention. After the second time Hunter caught me gawking at how handsome he looked in his suit and slicked-back hair, I managed to avoid eye contact for the rest of the ceremony and the first hour of the reception. It wasn't easy, considering how close we were standing since we were both groomsmen. But I managed it. Until I was slow dancing with Anna's dad. "Can I interrupt?" Hunter patted Mark on the shoulder. "You're hogging the most beautiful guest." Anna's dad smiled and pointed a finger at Hunter. "Lucky you said 'guest,' because today it's the bride, my daughter, the most beautiful of them all." The two men patted each other on the back and I ended up in Hunter's arms.

Unlike Mark, who kept his body a polite distance from mine during the dance, Hunter used one hand to grab mine while he slid the other down my back and pulled me against his. Damn, that felt good. "You're squeezing me a little." "So you don't run away again." I threw my head back a little. "Again? I've never run away from you." "Call it what you will, but you've been avoiding me like I've got something contagious." I stammered, "You must have something contagious." He ignored me. "You look beautiful today. I like your hair up." "Thanks." He pulled me even closer, forcing my head to rest on his shoulder, then leaned in to whisper in my ear, "I can't wait to let it down." The guy had balls, you know. And why, God, did I really want him to let my hair down? "You're crazy. Ever since we met, everything you've said to me has been inconvenient." "So are you the only one who can talk about your plans to sleep with someone? I can't?" "I haven't talked about my plans to sleep with anyone." "You were talking to Anna about sleeping with Adam when we first met." That was a private conversation. He shrugged.

"This one is too." "But..." I was lost, partly because he was kind of right. In my mind, talking about sleeping with someone to a third person was fine, but it was wrong of him to talk so directly to the person he wanted to sleep with. It didn't make much sense, but I stuck to the following logic: "You're being rude. I wasn't explicit. It's not what you say that's offensive, it's the way you say it." "So you don't like talking dirty? Maybe you've never heard good dirty talk." "I've heard great dirty talk." "So you do?" The man was impossible. Luckily for my sanity, and also for my stamina, the song we were dancing to ended and the DJ announced dinner time. But Hunter didn't let go of me. "The song's over. You can let me go." "Shall we dance a

also for my stamina, the song we were dancing to ended and the DJ announced dinner time. But Hunter didn't let go of me. "The song's over. You can let me go." "Shall we dance again later?" I smiled broadly. "No way."

Of course Hunter liked my answer. He laughed and kissed my forehead. "I bet you're a volcano in bed. I can't wait to see." "Enjoy the party, Mr. Delucia." I could feel his eyes on my ass with every step I took to leave the dance floor. I had been legally single for less than a year and a half. I had no intention of getting married again, so when the famous moment to catch the bride's bouquet came, I stayed in my seat. But of course Anna wouldn't let me. She snatched the microphone from the DJ and demanded that I and a few other women who were skipping the ritual get on the dance floor immediately. Rather than make a scene, I obliged and went, although I did end up standing on the side of the dance floor, far away, by myself.

I didn't want a bouquet. The DJ encouraged the crowd to count down as Anna stood in the middle of the dance floor, her back to the excited single ladies. "Three, two, one!" The bouquet didn't fly over the bride's head. Instead, she turned around and threw it right at me. On instinct, I grabbed the bouquet of flowers. Grrrr! I wanted to kill Anna. Especially when I looked around and saw Hunter staring at me with a big grin on his face as he snapped his fingers like he was about to get into a fight.

Ten minutes later, I was standing next to Anna, watching the dance floor fill with single men eager to grab the garter her husband had just ripped off her leg. I was holding a stiff vodka and cranberry drink in case I needed liquid courage. "If Hunter gets that damn garter, I'll kill you." "The ones who protest the loudest are the ones with the most to hide." "The ones who cause the most trouble make others angry," I snapped. "He's a really nice guy. I can imagine worse people putting their hands up your dress." "If he's so nice, why wasn't he my date to the wedding?" Anna sighed. "He's smart, confident, and charming." "And-" "And I've known him for four years now, and every time I see him, he's with a different beautiful woman." I thought maybe after Garrett you wanted a different kind of guy." I downed half my drink at the mention of my ex-husband

. "Why am I attracted to jerks?" "Because they're attractive. That's part of why they're jerks. Hunter isn't a jerk. Not at all. And he must be great in bed. If I were you, for a one-night stand, I'd choose him over Adam." She turned to face me and said, "Hunter is for sex without love. As long as you remember that, I bet he'll drive you up the wall." A sudden scream drew our attention back to what was happening on the dance floor. We'd missed Derek tossing the garter, but there was no way I could miss the cocky grin on the man who was twirling the garter around his finger and looking in my direction. "Don't tell me you're going to follow that East Coast tradition of having the guy who caught the garter put it on the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet." Anna laughed. "No way." The drinks soon took effect. After that first vodka and cranberry I had while chatting with Anna, I grabbed another one and quickly drank it. Which meant I was pretty tipsy when the DJ set up a chair in the middle of the dance floor and announced my name. Derek and Anna also approached under the gaze of all the guests. "Why don't you sit down, Nat?" the DJ said, patting the seat. "

Our beautiful bride invited the gentleman who picked the garter to choose a song. I'm going to play a little bit to see if you like it. After all, this is the song he'll be getting under your dress to." The DJ pressed a button on his iPad and a song shook the room – it was "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC. After ten seconds, he pressed another button and the music stopped. He spoke into the microphone again: "So, what do you think? Did our friend Hunter here choose the right song for tonight?" I shook my head as the guests laughed and Hunter's eyes sparkled. "Okay. Then maybe you should choose the song." You must have something more appropriate in mind." I thought for a moment, then motioned for the DJ to bend down so I could whisper in his ear. He smiled and pressed more buttons on the iPad before speaking to Hunter, "I'm starting to feel a little tense here. Maybe you guys are communicating through music?" Hunter looked at me and I shrugged. The DJ put on the song I had chosen. It was "Ridin' Solo" by Jason Derulo, a true anthem to singleness

. It started to blare through the room and Hunter burst out laughing. After everyone had laughed, the DJ told the crowd that maybe he should pick a soundtrack himself. Then Hunter got down on one knee to the sound of "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé. Of course, he could put on a show like no other. He twirled the garter on his index finger while giving the crowd big smiles. Then he slowly lifted my foot, kissed it lightly and slid the garter down my calf. "Oh, do we have a gentleman today?" the DJ asked the guests over the microphone. "Is he going to go up?" The wicked glint in Hunter's eyes told me he wasn't going to be a gentleman. Over the next few minutes, to the sound of "Go up! Go up!" chanted in unison by the male audience, Hunter slid the garter up another few inches. And he wasn't just sliding the garter up. His fingers slowly caressed the inside of my leg as he pushed the fabric up. When he got to mid-thigh, he squeezed my leg to get my attention, and our eyes met. Then his hands kept going up. I hated that I hadn't set a limit. I hated that my hands had stayed still, one on each side of me, and that my usually commanding voice had sounded muzzled. But my body's reaction was impossible to hide. My nipples were hard as rocks, my breathing quickened, my skin crawled.

I was much more turned on than I should have been. And it was not just his hand that did this - it was the way he knew he was as excited as me, and this is what made me crazy. Optical to have passed in slow motion for me, Beyoncé didn't even finish singing for the Single Ladies. Hunter slid back to my knee and squeezed him as he tilted to question me: - Don't say that I was the only one to feel it. Pada. - You are okay? - suggested Anna's husband. A drink took two, two led to three, and three led to... in the United States, the brides use a league under the dress to bring luck and happiness to the wedding.My muscles ached. There was a puddle on my pillow, where I must have been drooling all night.

Without looking up, I glanced around the room and saw my suitcase sitting on a piece of furniture in the corner-ugh, I didn't even remember going back to my hotel room. But I was glad I was here, and not in the room next door. I tried to pull back the last thing I remembered. Me catching the bouquet, Hunter catching the garter, his hand under my dress. Oh my God. I felt terrible, but I still managed to pull another memory out of me. I remembered the four of us walking to the bar-me, Anna, Derek, and Hunter. Hunter toasted the three things we need most in lif