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He seemed to nod, but I knew his family history. His father had been wealthy. Maybe not as wealthy as his son became, but it wasn’t like Hunter Erickson ever wanted for anything. He never had to guess if the light bill had been paid or if he was going to have enough money to go on a school trip. Or if his parents had taken out a loan from someone who didn’t handle late fees without breaking bones. Or ever have to ride the bus because he couldn’t afford the hundred dollars his neighbor charged to fix the transmission on his beat up twenty-year-old Chevy.
“Journalism?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Like a reporter? Why?”
“I like asking questions,” I said. “And getting answers.”
“I ask questions,” he said. “I’m asking them right now. I’m out reporter-ing you.”
“This is an interview,” I said, feeling it all slipping away from me. “That’s the whole premise.”
“Do you have any questions?” he asked.
I felt myself stutter, and I knew he saw it. My mind was blank. Everything I had prepared was gone in the wake of his weird interviewing style and incredible stare. I felt those eyes burning into my soul. I wanted to just blabber to him, to tell him everything about myself. My body was going a step further. It acted like tearing off my clothes might be a decent idea.
“Yeah,” I said. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit. There I go again.
“Excuse me?” he asked, clearly taken aback. But smiling.
“You bring us in and sit us in a small room together like a science experiment. Then you play games with us to see if we can read your mind. What the hell is that? Are you some kind of psycho?”
“Perhaps,” he said, but his voice was calm and his eyes just as piercing as ever. For some reason, the cool way he said that made it even creepier.
And incredibly sexy.
“Well, I don’t work for psychos. Not unless their name is Colleen, and even then, I do it in protest. This is bullshit. You are bullshit. Thanks, but I’m done.”
“You’re done?” he asked, almost laughing.
“Yeah, I think so,” I said. “I don’t have any questions for you. You have all the answers you need in that file. It has my contact information, so, you know, if you don’t mind someone telling you that your entire…” I flailed both my hands at him, vaguely gesturing at him, his desk and his office, “this, all this, is bullshit, then… call me.”
Stomping off, I went back to the small office, grabbed my bag, and walked for the main door, which the older gentleman was now holding. As I approached, he seemed like he was damn near giddy.
“Thank you, Julia,” he said as I passed.
“Yeah, sure,” I muttered, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
So much for that.
ChapterFour
Hunter
She pretty much fired herself before she even got the job. And yet.
I couldn’t get the image of the stunning woman out of my mind, no matter what I did. Interviews with the other candidates came and went, and the entire time I was speaking with them, I was thinking about her. About the way her deep-sea blue eyes cut into mine and arrested me to the spot. About the way she stood up for herself, pushing back against me even after exhibiting the skills I required most.
She was a free thinker, but there was more to that. Free thinkers could be stupid. She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t arrogant. She knew her worth, and fought for it, rightly dismissing something she felt was beneath her. Someone like her didn’t deserve to be put through the wringer of my multi-level interviews. She deserved to get one interview, have someone realize how amazing she was, and hire her.
That was what I wanted to do. Hire her.
Or claim her.
