Page 55 of Regret

Chapter 17

Hunter parked the Bugatti in front of a house that looked like someone had magically pulled it from a catalogue and plopped it down in the most perfect location ever. Now Scarlet knew exactly what Hunter meant by saying the car they took would totally blend in where they were going.

The double-story beach house was an oceanfront property with windows all around the first floor, giving it a panoramic view of the water. Two huge white pillars stood vast in front of the house, above it a huge balcony with a walkway right around the top floor. It was ultra-modern, and even sexy in a weird, architectural way.

“Wow.” Scarlet stared open mouthed at the house when she closed the car door.

“Yeah. The underwear model just happens to be an architect as well.” Hunter walked around and stood next to her. “Hence the huge-ass, flashy beach house.”

She glanced at him. “So the underwear model isn’t just a pretty face?”

He narrowed his eyes, and she smirked. Even though he tried to play their little kissing fest in the elevator off as a method to help her get a grip, the little action that took place against his apartment window sure as hell wasn’t. The way he touched her, the way his voice dropped when he spoke all those dirty words was proof enough that he really wanted to fuck her right there and then. Of course, there was the very impressive wood he was sporting and the way he reacted when she pushed her hand down his pants. There was no way he could have downplayed that as anything other than him really wanting her—well, her body at least.

Hunter walked up the steps and turned to face her. “You coming? Or are you going to stand there the whole day drooling over a piece of architecture?”

“A piece of architecture?” Scarlet started up the stairs. “This is a masterpiece of architecture if you ask me.”

“Luckily, I’m not asking you.”

Hunter entered the passcode and they heard the click of the door unlocking. The lights in the foyer automatically switched on, and when Scarlet walked into the house, her jaw dropped.

The first thing she noticed was the huge metal spiral chandelier with soft lights hanging from the double ceiling. A spiral staircase to the right led up to the second floor, with silver diagonal wires running down from the ceiling connecting to the steps. Everything was metal, silver, granite, and shaped concrete. Square shapes and lines seemed to be the theme, exactly the way Scarlet imagined an architect’s house to look like.

As she made her way to the living area on the left, she took in every highly contemporary inch of the house. White couches stood in the living room with a huge flat screen television set against the wall. The gray granite top dining room table with ten matching gray chairs stood to the right. The entire living area was open plan, feeling airy and light. And even though the furniture seemed nothing less than fucking expensive, everything about the house seemed like a minimalist design. Ultra-modern simplicity. In other words, fucking awesome.

“Look at this view.” Scarlet rushed to the windows, looking out over the ocean and wooden deck with pool to boot. The sun was high in the sky, rays of sunshine beaming over the crystal clear water. For a few moments she basked in the beauty and serenity of it all. It had been so long since Scarlet had experienced something this amazing, this beautiful. Every apartment or room she had lived in the last few years was cramped, old, and depressing.

Hunter stepped up next to her. “Adam might be an arrogant SOB, but he sure has taste.”

“I want a tour.” She turned to face him. “I want to see every inch of this damn house.”

And then something really fucking weird happened—Hunter smiled. It wasn’t an arrogant smirk, or one of his cocky grins she had gotten used to. It was an actual smile. A warm, sincere, from the heart kind of smile, and it made her aware just how damn attractive he really was.

He nodded. “Sure. Come on.”

“Yay.” She rushed off in the other direction, eager to see the rest of house. Hunter followed, and she heard him snicker behind her.Not such a hard ass after all.

It took them more than an hour to take a tour through the entire house. That was if you didn’t count the time Scarlet took listing at least ten very good reasons why she should have the main bedroom with sliding doors that stepped out to yet another beautiful deck with a massive Jacuzzi. After about twenty minutes of incessant whining, Hunter eventually agreed, but with one condition. He would sleep in the same room since the house was just too goddamn big and he wanted her close at all times—just in case.

Scarlet agreed, but the long gray couch that was bigger than her damn apartment would be his bed. No way would she be sharing the king-size bed covered in black silk sheets with anyone.

“Okay.” Scarlet clapped her hands together when they walked into the living area again. “Now that the grand tour is out of the way, let’s check out the mini bar.” She glanced around the living room. “Which would be where exactly?”

Hunter stepped into the kitchen, which was only separated from the living room by a twelve-foot marble counter top with three round metal lamps hanging over it.

“This would be the mini bar.” He opened a double door cabinet, and Scarlet found herself gawking at one big fridge with clear doors, displaying every alcoholic beverage you could come up with in a ninety-second time limit. From beer to wine to ciders to tequila. Everything Scarlet could think of was there. Except for the most important one.

“Where’s the Jack Daniels?”

Hunter searched the fridge. “Well, it seems like that’s the only damn thing the underwear model didn’t stock up on.”

Damn.“I knew there was something about him I didn’t like. Fine. I’ll go with tequila, then.”

“Yeah, good choice.” Hunter opened the fridge and pulled out the bottle.

After filling two shot glasses, Hunter didn’t wait for her to join in before he slammed away his first shot.

Scarlet peered at him with narrowed eyes. “On edge much?”

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