Shaking his head in disgust, he pushed his chair back and got to his feet. He needed a distraction before he lost his fucking mind. There was plenty of work that needed his attention, but right now, he couldn’t focus on any of that. He needed to move.
Besides, he needed to know how tight his leash was now.
With that in mind, Hunter walked over to the ugly pea green duffle bag that he’d been living out of since he’d left the Marines and searched until he found what he was looking for. Shaking the orange spray can that he used when he went on jobs to mark security concerns, he headed out the front door.
A high-pitched beep sounded when he was ten feet from the end of his driveway, signaling the first side of the invisible fence that was supposed to keep him locked away for the next twelve months. Grinding his jaw, he stepped back until the unit on his leg stopped beeping and marked the spot with a large “X.”
Walking towards the side of the large yard, Hunter marked intervals of ten feet until another beep had him placing a new mark and headed towards the back of his property, continuing to mark intervals at every ten feet. The next beep came before he made it to the woods that lined the back of his property. Turning to his right, he walked a straight line until he came to the other side of his property. From there he turned to the right and repeated the action until he came to the original line that marked off the front yard.
When he was done, Hunter tossed the can aside, looked around him, and nodded. He was definitely going to lose his fucking mind here. There was absolutely no doubt about it, he absently thought as he watched a small four-door sedan covered in dents and rust pull into his driveway.
It took him a few seconds to figure out who it was, and when he did, he couldn’t help but chuckle. She actually came back. He wasn’t sure if he should give her points for bravery or question her sanity for willingly coming back here when he would have fucking split the second the opportunity presented itself. She was definitely a glutton for punishment, Hunter decided, as he studied her for a moment, debating on what he was going to do with her.
He didn’t really need her for anything, but since she was here…
*-*-*-*
“Miss Daniels,” the deep voice that she was beginning to loathe drawled from right behind her.
Tightening her arms around her bag, her shoulders dropped in defeat. So much for getting a shower and a few hours of sleep in before facing her new boss, who just happened to be a criminal. Kylie wanted to ask him what he did, but then again, she was actually afraid that he might tell her and the answer would force her to do something stupid like flee.
So, she was going to keep her mouth shut no matter how badly she wanted to ask about his house arrest, and God, did she want to ask him. She’d Google his name later on her phone after she had some food in her stomach and a little sleep so that she was less likely to freak out over whatever she found.
But, for now…
“It’s Miss Davis,” Kylie reminded him, slapping a smile on her face as she turned around to face him. “Is there something that I can help you with, Mr. O’Mallery?” she asked, noting that he was taller than her, but then again, most people were, she thought as she discreetly took in the man that she was going to be working for.
He was also large, incredibly handsome, with short brown hair cut in a messy military style that only made him look more dangerous, a small scar along his temple, intense green eyes that were glaring at her and…
She decided that it would be in her best interest to stop staring at him now.
“Yes,” Hunter said, folding obscenely large arms over an equally large chest that had her once again forcing her mind away from that whole anger management issue that he seemed to have going for him. “I’m going to need you to run a few errands,” he said, sounding bored.
Nodding slowly, and trying not to think about just how exhausted she was, she asked, “Do you have a list?”
“No,” he said, shrugging and making her wonder if he expected her to read his mind.
“Would you like me to make a list?” Kylie offered as she shifted the heavy bag in her arms.
“No.”
Blinking, she said, “Okay,” really not sure how she was supposed to proceed at this point.
“There’s no food in the house so I’m going to need you to buy everything,” Hunter said, as though she was supposed to know what “everything” entailed.
“Is there anything in particular that you wanted?” Kylie asked, deciding not to mention the three bags of food that she’d already picked up from the grocery store since she doubted that he was a yogurt and grape nuts kind of guy.
Shrugging, and definitely looking bored, he said, “I’m not picky.”
For some reason, Kylie kind of doubted that, but since she wasn’t the type to argue with her boss, she simply nodded and reminded herself that the faster she got this done, the sooner that she could get some sleep.
*-*-*-*
“Oh good, you’re back,” her very large boss said from where he was lounging in the living room with a bottle of water by his side and a game controller in his hand as he focused on some violent video game that he was playing on the flat-screen television that was bigger than her car.
“Yes, Mr. O’Mallery,” Kylie said, sounding out of breath as she struggled under the weight of the ten grocery bags that she was determined to carry inside because she refused to make a hundred trips to her car.
“Great,” Hunter said, not really sounding like he cared as he continued to sit there, ignoring her as he battled his way through a horde of flesh-eating zombies.
“Yup, great,” she mumbled quietly, wincing as the bags in her right hand continued to cut off circulation in her fingers while she slowly made her way to the kitchen.
She was almost to the kitchen when he asked, “Did you get ice cream?”
“Yes,” Kylie said, relieved that she’d taken him at his word and picked up everything that she could get her hands on from deodorant to cucumbers, ensuring that she wouldn’t be forced to go out again for a while.
“Shrimp?” he called out as she pushed the kitchen door open with her back.
“Yes.”
The heavy sigh that immediately followed sent a shiver of unease down her spine. “I’m allergic to shrimp,” Hunter announced, and although she wished she’d known that he was allergic to shrimp, it wasn’t the end of the world.
She could just-
“Did you get organic honey glazed soy nuts?”
“No,” Kylie said, swallowing nervously as she hoped against hope that he wasn’t going to make her go back out and buy them, but then again, she should have known better.
Another sigh. “I’m afraid that I’m going to need you to go back out and get them,” Hunter said, not sounding sorry at all, which again, wasn’t exactly a shock.
This wasn’t her first job as an assistant or even her first position as a live-in, so she knew exactly what was expected of her and just how little she mattered. If her boss wanted tampons at one in the morning, a tampon-hunting she would go. If they wanted nail polisher remover while she was on a date, not that she’d been on one in years, she was expected to hand her popcorn over, ask her date to tell her how the movie ended later, and rush off to the pharmacy with the hope that it was still open.