Page 55 of Hot Shot
“You’ve got a visitor out here.”
A visitor? I furrow my brow. Who’s here to visit me? “Okay.” I set the piping bag on the table. “I’m done with the cake so—“
She interrupts me as she steps into the kitchen. “Great. How about I clean up here and put the cake away? You go. It’s almost noon. Call it a day. You didn’t take a break today, did you?” She frowns at me.
“I was busy,” I mumble.
She shoos me away from the counter. “This cake is beautiful, Mads,” she says. “Your customer is going to be thrilled.”
“Thanks. See you tomorrow.”
She waves as I head out the kitchen door. I blow out a breath when I see Hunter talking to Brandon at the counter.
For a few seconds, I’d been worried my visitor was EJ. Not that he knows where I work, but I wouldn’t put it past him to figure it out.
My heart starts racing as I walk over to Hunter. When he sees me, he pushes off the display case he’s leaning on.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Hi,” I whisper.
He grins at me and opens his arms. I step into his embrace. “Hi,” he whispers back into my hair. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. Want to get out of here?” I ask, pulling back to look up at him.
“Are you done for the day?”
I nod.
“Good. I’m done too. Where do you want to go?”
Are we going to ignore the elephant in the room? I glance over and see Brandon wiping off the counters. Is this because we have an audience?
There are a million things I want to say. That I want to ask. But not here.
“Maybe we can go to your place?” I stare at him, hoping he can see all the things I’m silently trying to tell him.
“Okay. Yeah, let’s do that. Come on.” He holds the door open for me, and we step out into the cool afternoon air. “Do you remember where it is, or do you want to follow me?”
“I think I remember. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling into the parking garage of Hunter’s apartment building.
I did not, in fact, remember where it was and had to frantically call him and ask for the address. I was close but off by a couple of blocks.
Grabbing my purse, I head to the lobby where I find Hunter chatting animatedly with the doorman. When he sees me his eyes light up and he ends his conversation.
He takes my hand the minute I’m by his side and we walk to the elevators. The entire ride up to his apartment is silent.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out the minute his apartment door closes behind us.
He doesn’t say anything, simply takes off his shoes, walks into the living room, and takes a seat on the couch. I bite my lower lip as I pull off my shoes and follow him.
“Madison, whatever you feel like you need to apologize for, don’t worry about it. We can go back to being friends without everything being weird between us. It’s fine. I understand.” He winces as he speaks but gives me a small smile.
“No, you don’t understand, Hunter,” I say, shifting to face him. “I’m sorry for freaking out, for telling you I just want to be friends. For ghosting you for a week. I didn’t handle the situation right.”
His face lights up. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying.” I blow out a breath.Time to take a chance. It’s now or never. “I like you, Hunter. I liked kissing you. I want to be more than friends with you if you still want that. I was afraid I was going to be a distraction for you. I don’t want to take your attention from hockey, but I never stopped to actually give you a choice. I took that decision away from you and for that I’m sorry.”
