Chapter 15
Kara's POV
“Otherwise, what?” I snapped.
“I just mean that—” Maya trailed off.
She bit her lip, looking down. She looked upset and disbelieving. But still too intimidated by me to speak more firmly.
I didn’t blame her for being suspicious. She was right, after all, that there was more between Hunter and I than he was admitting. I wished he would just tell her the truth.
That we were married, but he didn’t love me.
I thought she’d probably take it better than he was imagine she would. He could promise to divorce me and marry her. That he didn’t care about me; that there had never been anything real between us.
She’d forgive him. They could be together.
And I could be free.
I was surprised when Hunter messaged me later in the afternoon, instructing me to come to the Alpha suite as soon as I finished work. I didn’t stop to change, worried there might be urgent pack business. After yesterday, I didn’t think he could want me for any other reason.
But he was reclining on the sofa when I walked in the door. He looked casual, relaxed, hair still damp from a shower.
He was wearing only a towel, slung low around his hips.
His erection tented the cloth upward.
My breath quickened and I felt a tug in my lower abdomen.
There was a flash of relief, that nothing was wrong, mixed with a larger swell of irritation. After his lie about me only being there to deliver documents yesterday, and giving me all of Maya’s work alongside my own, when I was ill, it seemed especially brazen to call me here for sex.
But even though I resented him for it, I wanted him.
I wondered if I’d ever stop wanting him.
I stepped out of my high heels as I walked toward him, reaching around my back to unzip my pencil skirt. He sat up on the sofa as I approached, and quickly tugged the fabric down over my hips to fall in a heap on the floor.
He spread his legs and tucked his fingers into my thong at my hipbones, using the fabric to pull me closer.
He reached one hand slowly along toward the crotch of my panties, feeling the wetness there through the black lace.
His breath deepened and a slight flush crept up his neck. He unbuttoned my blouse and cupped my breasts in his hands. I gasped and moaned.
They were so tender with the pregnancy, the nipples much more sensitive than usual.
I wished I didn’t want to, but I stepped closer to him, shrugging my shoulders to let the shirt fall to join my skirt on the floor. He reached across his lap to grasp the towel and fling it from his body.
I moved to kneel down, wanting to take him into my mouth.
But he stopped my progress downward, swiftly lifting me onto his lap instead.
I squirmed and sighed as I took him deeply into me. My back arched involuntarily.
He bit the side of my neck and looked at me with eyes glinting with molten desire.
It was stronger than usual. A fierce, taut lust.
He did want me. I satisfied him. We knew each other’s bodies and fit together well. Always had.
But that expression was for Maya, not me.
“Are you thinking about her?” I asked breathlessly. My voice quavered with both desire and upset. He didn’t answer, but reached around to grab my thighs and wrap my legs around his back.
Distracting me with my favorite position.
I didn’t have time to be annoyed, though, because he started to rotate his hips in a way he knew would drive me crazy.
I threw my head back and tried to forget it wasn’t me he really wanted.
I reclined back against the sofa cushions when we finished, spent.
I was almost completely relaxed and satisfied, but I remembered to suck in my stomach and turn slightly to the side. The ridges of my uterus were still subtle, but I couldn’t risk him noticing the difference in my naked stomach.
He stood and dressed quickly, throwing my clothes to land on the cushion beside me.
“You need to avoid coming here unless I ask you to,” he said lightly. “I don’t want it to cause misunderstandings with Maya.”
I should have felt rage at the injustice of being summoned for sex, then immediately told I should stay away.
But I only felt my heart break more completely with each word he said so casually. I nodded.
I was about to enter Hunter’s office when the brisk clicking of Maya’s heels startled me. I turned as she stepped between me and the door, looking serious.
She spoke gently but firmly:
“Hunter is in an important conference call. His orders are that all documents, even confidential ones, should be handed to me.”
She emphasized the word “confidential,” narrowing her eyes. She still seemed to be upset with me for the briefcase thing. Suspicion still hung around her face, too.
She also looked proud to have been trusted by Hunter with this.
Trusted over me.
Laila cleared her throat from her desk.
“Kara has always been able to go straight into the office, even during meetings,” she muttered. Maya stood up straighter, and took another step so that she was blocking the door more completely.
As if I was going to rush past her into the room.
The tension rose between us in the air as I stared into her unyielding face.
I could press the issue. I was certain most of the other deltas would support me. I was also sure that if I went to shoulder my way past her, she wouldn’t stop me.
But it didn’t matter.
And I didn’t actually need the aggravation of an altercation with her.
I nodded. Maya’s diaphragm deflated with relief.
I opened the file folder I was holding.
“This is the pack school’s budget sheet,” I said, handing her the form. “Can you pass it to Hunter as soon as he’s available? It’s vital that he gets it before he leaves on the business trip.”
Maya snatched the paper from my hand, nearly crumpling it.
She hesitated, looking down at the page, then retreated to her desk.
She sat down heavily as she tossed it onto another pile of papers.
I turned on my heel, collected my lunch from the fridge, and walked out the front door into the sunshine. I needed a break from the stifling, tense air inside this building. I also didn’t feel the need to speak to Hunter before he left on his trip. I watched his car pull away from the building from the garden, feeling relieved when he was gone.
The sun had warmed and calmed me. I’d eaten slowly, finishing with a ginger candy, and was for once feeling that the nausea was at bay.
But I heard raised voices from outside the building even before I opened the door.
Maya and Laila were facing off against each other, faces flushed and bodies tense.
“This is a deliberate attempt to take revenge on Kara,” Laila was shouting. “And don’t you dare try to deny it.”
