"Just . . . breathed . . . wrong," she said, coughing between words. It was kind of weird how close-and yet far away-Cooper had been with his guess.

After all, she was the one intent on the virgins around here.

With a weak smile, she opened the box Audrey had sent. Pink lace and black satin caught her eye and she immediately flipped it shut. Feigning ease, she pushed the box aside. "What did Audrey say she was sending me again?"

"Stress relievers, I think she said. Something to help things along." He shrugged and sipped his coffee again. "She said you'd know what to do with it."

It was clear he hadn't looked in the box. "I have a pretty good idea, yeah." At his inquisitive look, she lied, "Bath salts."

"Ah. Girl stuff."

"Definitely girl stuff." And before she could giggle and ruin things, she pulled the other box out and pretended to sniff it. "I think I smell cookies."

He grinned.

She flipped open the lid and sighed with pleasure. "Two dozen? You shouldn't have."

"And some toffee dream bars underneath, just in case you want a little variety."

She pulled out the bags of cookies and smelled the bag of coffee beans that had been included. "You're awesome, Cooper. I'm sure these cookies aren't as good as mine, though."

"They should be. It's your recipe." He was watching her with a soft, adoring look on his face. "I've missed seeing you, Gretchen. The Cuppa isn't the same without your smiling face."

And he reached across the counter to place his hand over hers.

Damn. It seemed they couldn't even go a half hour anymore without things getting awkward. "Cooper . . ."

"I can't stop thinking about you, Gretchen."

"Cooper-"

"No, please, let me say this." His eyes were pleading. "It's time I said this."

The door to the kitchen opened. Hunter stalked in, a dashing figure in his neatly pressed, too-formal-for-around-the-house-but-he-wore-it-anyhow dark suit. He glowered at Cooper and his hand on Gretchen's, then moved to Gretchen's side and kissed her cheek, his arm sliding around her waist.

A very possessive, obvious gesture.

White-hot shock drained the blood from Cooper's face. He turned white, then went blood red with embarrassment, staring at Hunter. "I-"

"Introduce us, Gretchen," Hunter demanded, his gaze on Cooper even as he hovered possessively over her.

She ground her teeth. Well, hell. This had just gotten ugly fast. She slid her hand out from under Cooper's and gave him a soft, apologetic smile. "Cooper, this is . . . Hunter. He owns Buchanan Manor."

"Yes. The phantom intent on sucking the blood of virgins, I believe you said," Hunter stated coldly.

Cooper's face turned an alarming shade of purple. "Uh . . ."

"Thanks for bringing the box, Cooper." She shut it to give her hands something to do and so she could quit staring at the many shades of awkward that Cooper's face was turning. "This is going to be really helpful for my deadline."

"Of course. Anything you need, I'm here for you."

Hunter seemed to glower even more. "You don't need to be here for her. I'm here for her."

Gretchen inhaled sharply. This was going from bad to worse. "Since you're here, Cooper-"

"Actually, I was just about to leave." He got up hastily, the stool nearly falling over with his jerky movements.

"Oh, but I was wondering if you could take a check to my landlord-"

"He said he has to go," Hunter said darkly. "I'll take care of whatever you need, Gretchen." His gaze moved over Cooper again. "He knows that."

"I really should go," Cooper said. He gestured at the door.

"Eldon will show you out."

And the annoying butler was there a moment later, holding the door to the kitchen open. Cooper headed for it, but not before giving Gretchen a wounded look as he headed out the door.

"Thanks again, Cooper. You're a good friend," she called as he was escorted out. When the door swung shut again, she buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God, that went really badly."

"Who was that?" Hunter asked, his voice stiff with fury.

"He's a friend of mine."

"He was trying to hit on you," Hunter bit out. "His hand was on yours."

"Not through any of my doing," she admitted. "I've been trying to figure out a way to let him down easy." She glanced at the kitchen door and felt a twinge of remorse. "Guess I don't have to worry about that anymore."

"You didn't tell him we were together?"

She tilted her head, giving Hunter an odd look. "Are we together, Hunter? You've never said and I didn't want to presume."

Shock crossed his face. "We had sex."

"We had really great sex, Hunter. And I love having sex with you. But it doesn't mean we're together."

The expression on his face looked shattered. "I . . . see."

Why was he so upset at that? She was trying to give him an easy out. Here's some casual sex with no strings attached. You're welcome. Why was he so offended then? Most guys would be thrilled.

He turned away, and she noticed he was carefully hiding the scarred side of his face.

It hit her, then.

The phantom intent on sucking the blood of virgins, I believe you said.

He'd heard that. And she'd simply sputtered. She hadn't defended him, or protested, and then to make matters worse, she'd just told him she wasn't in this for a relationship.

No wonder he was acting wounded. "Hunter. That wasn't what I meant."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Gretchen." His voice was stiff and cold. "Spare me your excuses."

"I'm not giving you excuses, you prickly jerk. I'm trying to tell you that if you don't want to be with me, I understand. I'm not dumping you."

He said nothing.

"Hunter!" she exclaimed, moving to his side and wrapping her arm around his waist. "I like you. I like you a lot. But I didn't want to assume this was more than it was."

"You let Cooper assume."

"Cooper's been my friend for years, and he's my boss at the coffee shop I occasionally work at. I have to handle him with kid gloves, which isn't easy when he's trying to declare his love every five minutes. I'm not interested in him."

Hunter's dark eyes focused on her again, his gaze narrow and suspicious, as if he couldn't quite believe what she was saying. "Answer me truthfully, Gretchen. Are you interested in me?"

"Now that's a silly question," she teased, tugging on his jacket sleeve. When he didn't relax, she realized how deadly serious he was. No amount of teasing was going to ease this situation. And for a moment, Gretchen felt uneasy. Like she was stepping into raw territory. For some reason, it was very important that she not hurt Hunter. She didn't want to hurt him more than anything. "I like you more than I should," she admitted quietly. "Someone like you doesn't really belong with someone like me, but I can't seem to stop myself when I'm with you. I want to kiss you until you're blushing, and grab your ass every time I walk past, and do dirty, lascivious things to you."

The stiffness in his gaze receded a bit. He regarded her for a long moment, and then his hand tightened on her waist and he pulled her against him for a hard, breathless kiss.

"Someone like you is better than what someone like me deserves," he said gruffly.

She frowned a bit at that-she'd been talking about money and station in life. But it was clear he couldn't see past his face. "You shouldn't talk like that."

"I speak from experience, Gretchen. You're the only woman who's ever looked at me and not been revolted."

Her hand caressed his scarred cheek, and she brushed her thumb over his lower lip. "Shall I show you just how un-revolted I am by you?"

He growled low in his throat. "You should."

She glanced around at the empty kitchen, then grinned mischievously. "Does the door to this room lock?"

"No."

She shrugged and began to slide backward onto the kitchen island. "Then you'd better hope Eldon doesn't walk in on us."

Chapter 9.

"You're never going to believe this." Kat's voice bubbled with excitement. "It's wicked amazing."

Gretchen cradled the phone to her ear and continued typing, logging her current letter. The month was creeping past entirely too fast and she was barely halfway through the enormous trunk of letters. She kept getting distracted by Hunter, though who could blame her? A sexy, delicious man who constantly wanted sex and gave her great orgasms? Every job should come with such distractions.

Still, she was behind in her work and it wasn't going to get done unless she threw every free minute into it. "My landlord called you?"

"No. Though I did drop off that check. He was kind of pissy about it."

"We got the payment in for the contract?"

"Better."

"What's better than getting paid?"

"You know Astronaut Bill number forty-two? Astronaut Bill and the Tragedy of Europa IV?"

"That was the one with the rampant disease, right? Yeah, I hated that book." Gretchen wrinkled her nose. "The cover sucked and they made me write in a plotline where Bill cheats on Uranea because he thought she was dead and they needed sex in at least three chapters."

"It hit the New York Times Best Seller list."

Gretchen dropped the phone in shock. She stared at her computer screen for a moment, then scrambled to pick up the phone, where she could hear her agent laughing with glee. "You're joking."

"I'm not joking! You hit number thirty-four. That's the extended New York Times list, which isn't as great as the main list, but whatever."

"But . . . but . . . how?" Gretchen spluttered, thinking. "The majority of the sales are through truck stops and subscriptions. I sell hardly anything through retail outlets."

"Well, you sold a shit-ton last week," Kat said gleefully. "The team over at Incomparable Books is absolutely thrilled and they want you to do more Bill books. As many as you can work into your schedule this year. They don't even care that you're late on this other one. Isn't that awesome? Steady work!"

"Great," Gretchen echoed, suddenly feeling a little queasy.

"Sales is trying to figure out what the spike in sales came from, but they're super pleased. They say that if sales keep going the way they are, they might even add your name as a byline at some point." Kat sounded impressed. "Just think. You could write under your own name."

"Great," Gretchen said again.

"So how many Bill books do you think you can fit into your schedule this year? I told them you write fast. At least four, I think. What do you think?"

Four more Bill books, as fast as she could crank them out? Her stomach churned. "I'm not sure. Let me look at my calendar and I'll call you back, okay?"

"Will do," Kat chirped into the phone. "By the way, I was going to send you flowers but I wasn't sure if it would be apropos since you're guesting over there. But I totally thought of flowers for you. I even bought some shoes in your honor."

"You're so thoughtful," Gretchen said wryly, laughing. "Call you back soon."

When she hung up the phone, she stared at her surroundings, uncomprehending. Then, the reality of it hit her and she burst into tears.

She felt . . . trapped. God, what was wrong with her? This should have made her happy. Before today, Incomparable Books had been on the verge of booting her from their stable of ghostwriters. She couldn't hit a deadline and her books weren't what the fans seemed to want. They wanted Bill having all kinds of sexist, ridiculous adventures and Gretchen had a hard time writing that. But with the success of this book, it meant steady paychecks. It meant success.

It meant she was locked into that misogynistic asshole Bill for the rest of the year, and possibly several years into the future. And she should have been thrilled.

But instead, she just wept.

It was there that Hunter found her, still on the couch and crying her eyes out. "Gretchen?"

She turned to glance at the doorway and absently dashed a bit of wetness from her cheek. "Hey." Damn it. Her nose sounded stuffy.

His eyes narrowed and he strode toward her, his fingers moving to lift her chin and tilt her face to him. "You're upset."

"It's nothing."