Page 74 of Something Borrowed, Something You

— Natalia —

“Shit!” The woman mumbled as she bent to pick up the trench coat pooled around her bare feet. “I thought someone else was staying here.” She seemed to have a British accent.

I blinked a few times, at first stunned at the turn of events, but then in an attempt to unglue my eyes from the statuesque redhead. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Tall, thin, with creamy porcelain skin, perky boobs, and legs that ran for miles. I didn’t tend to be overly self-conscious, but standing in a room with her fixed that real quick.

Before I could form a coherent sentence, the woman spoke again while pulling on her coat. “I’m so sorry. I’m in the flat next door. A guy I work with sometimes stays in this one, and I knew he was in town. When I asked the doorman who was staying in this apartment, he told me it was him.”

“How did you get in here?”

She pointed over her shoulder. “The door wasn’t locked. I knocked first, but no one answered, so I opened it.”

“Who are you?”

“Brooke. Brooke Canter.” She cinched her coat at the waist. “I do apologize. I thought you were someone else. I’m mortified.”

The dread that settled in my belly knew the answer, but I asked nonetheless. “Who did you think was staying here?”

“Hunter Delucia.”

Seeing my face falter, the woman’s eyes closed. “Shit. Hunter is the sublet here, isn’t he?”

I nodded slowly.

“We used to…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I should get going.”

Before I could say anything else, the embarrassed woman scurried back out the door. I, on the other hand, seemed to be immobilized.

“Such a goddamn idiot.” I jabbed my finger at the elevator panel a second time, grumbling to myself. The damn thing wasn’t moving, and all I wanted to do was get the hell out of here before Hunter showed up. I shouldn’t be so upset, but I couldn’t help it. It was stupid of me to expect that someone who’d proposed we have a short-term affair hadn’t had others. It didn’t even sound like she’d spoken to Hunter since he’d arrived in town weeks ago, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

The elevator car finally started moving. In my haste to get out of the apartment, I thought I might’ve forgotten to grab my new cell. As I dug frantically in my purse to check, the elevator doors slid open on the ground floor. Frenzied, I found my phone, grabbed my roller bag, and stepped off, without first looking up. Which was the reason I crashed right into a man.

Of course, that man had to be Hunter.

He grabbed my shoulders and steadied them to keep me from falling over. “Hey… where you running off to?”

He said it playfully and with a smile on his face, but when he got a look at my scowl, his smile wilted fast.

“Move,” I demanded.

“Natalia? What happened? What’s going on?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Why?”

“You don’t need me here.”

“What are you talking about? Why are you so upset?”

His hands were still on my shoulders. “Let go of me!”

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay. But talk to me. What’s going on?”

I leveled him with a scathing look. “I met your neighbor.”

His brows drew down as if that wasn’t enough information. Who knows? Maybe it wasn’t. I hadn’t gone door-to-door to see what other women he was fucking on the floor. I rolled my eyes. “Brooke. The redhead.”

Hunter’s eyes shut.

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