Page 38 of Pinkie Promise

“You got a driver’s license?” he asks.

“Nope. You?”

He sticks his tongue in his cheek, trying not to laugh again. “You are so fuckin’ weird,” he murmurs.

His tone is so fond that I preen and snuggle further into the seat.

“What do you study?” he asks as we approach the road that takes us toward the dark and sexy O’Malley condo block.

“Guess,” I say to him.

He smiles to himself. “Shoulda known,” he murmurs. “You’re an English Lit chick, right?”

“Congratulations Detective,” I say, and he rewards me with a hand-squeeze.

Then he surprises me by saying, “My major’s Engineering.”

I should have known that seeing as he already mentioned that he knew Connell from his classes, but for some unknown reason I hadn’t put two-and-two together. “It sounds intense,” I comment.

He shrugs. “Same as yours. Just a different flavour.”

“Why Engineering?”

“Right now the plan is to play for the NHL, but after I finish up my hockey career my brothers and I will be taking over our dad’s garage. Not that he’ll step down – we’ll just be handling more than we used to so that he can spend some time with our mom.” He contemplates something for a moment and then grins. “In my second year at Carter U I took a Physics module because at the time one of my brothers was all crazy about space. Thought I’d learn some shit that could blow his little mind.”

I scrunch up my nose and laugh. “That’s really cute.”

Hunter’s smile widens. “Yeah, I’m super fuckin’ cute,” he drawls dryly. “Honestly, I’m only at Carter U because of Tanner. He said I’d be kickin’ myself in four years if I didn’t, because at the time I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go pro with my sport.”

I’m in awe of Hunter’s down-to-earth honesty. I think that it’s a small town thing and I’m a little bit in love with it. “Hold up,” I laugh, leaning slightly closer to him. “Are you saying that you didn’t want to go to college?”

He smirks and says, “Hell no I didn’t wanna go to college, I wanted to do car shit with my dad. I don’t mind doing hockey though ’cause it’s still something physical. And the pay…” He swallows hard. “I’m not gonna lie, the pay is… good.”

“Did you get to pick the number on your jersey?” I ask, remembering the big number 9 on his back.

He flashes me a grin. “Yeah. Sometimes colleges can be weird about it but Carter U was fine with us picking them, as long as they weren’t already taken.”

“Is nine your favourite number?” I ask, smiling when he breathes out a laugh.

“I mean…” He looks away from me for a beat, his cheeks flushing a little. “Considering my number of siblings… and at the time I knew that my parents were, like… God, this is gonna sound weird as hell but, I knew that they were trying for a girl so…”

“So…?” I prompt, secretly loving the fact that he has something as cute as a favourite number.

He shakes his head as if he can’t believe that he’s telling me this and then his beautiful sparkling eyes meet mine.

Warmth spreads through my belly and I try not to spontaneously combust.

“So I guess nine and eight are my mom and dad, then seven to three represents my baby siblings.” He rakes a hand through his hair, flashing me the swollen curve of his bicep. “Guess that makes me two.”

We stay silent for a few seconds, breathing heavily as we watch each other.

“So,” I say finally, my voice a whisper, “if your family represents the numbers from nine to two… who’s the one?”

Hunter swipes his tongue over his bottom lip and rasps, “I guess we’ll see.”

After putting the car in park Hunter looks down at me as I unbuckle my seatbelt and, when our eyes meet, the cabin of the car gets instantly warmer. I watch him as he swipes his tongue over his lower lip, but then he clicks open his door and heavily dismounts to the road, the truck groaning loudly in protest as he comes around to open mine.

He doesn’t lock up the truck as he walks me to the entrance of the condo, showing me that he doesn’t expect an invite inside.

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