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“That’s fine,” she said. “Business isn’t exactly booming tonight.”
Leaving Sean to the terrible flirtations of my sister, I went into the back and tossed off the apron, grabbing my purse, and opening it up. Inside was a key card for the offices. One that I forgot to toss when I quit, and I wondered if was still active.
I was going to find out.
ChapterThirty-Two
Hunter
It was nearly seven. I had been working all day, mostly ignoring the entire world. Sean had gone to the bar to pitch the idea, and had texted to tell me things were going well, but had seemingly dropped off the face of the planet after that. It didn’t matter much. I was so busy catching up on everything that I couldn’t spend the time to pay attention to my phone or any messages coming in.
Not having Julia around had been difficult. Rather than hiring a new assistant, I elected to go it on my own, which was a terrible mistake. But in my mind, no one could fill the role Julia had. Not anymore. The only way another person could be my assistant was if Julia hired them and trained them. Otherwise, they would never be good enough.
I glanced at the clock on the wall again, and sighed. I should probably just pack it in. Otherwise, I’d be here until midnight. Everyone else had gone home, even Bobby, and without Julia, the building just felt so cold and empty. Sometimes, I thought Sean might have the right idea. I should just put a giant projector in here, put a bed in the corner, and just live at the office.
There was a sound in the hallway that made me stop what I was doing. Was it the elevator? Who would be coming in at this time of day to my floor? It had to be Bobby. He probably forgot his reading glasses again. I told him he should just buy a few dozen pairs and leave them in all the places he goes so he wouldn’t have to come back to the office for them, but he insisted on only having one pair.
I stood up, crossing over toward the door so I could greet him when the elevator opened and footsteps rushed toward my own door. I stopped, waiting for the figure to appear in the long glass wall. When it did, my throat clenched.
It was Julia.
She slammed into the door, holding her key card above her head.
“Julia?”
“Why the hell didn’t you hire me back?!”
It was ostensibly a question, but it came off an awful lot like a threat. She was standing just feet away from me, her face red and her body shaking, presumably with anger.
“I wanted you to be able to pursue the job you really wanted,” I said. “I figured I owed you that much. After how I treated you. So, I showed off some of your work.”
“Did you even want me around?” she demanded. “Did you get what you wanted and this was some kind of hush payment? Get me a job somewhere else and buy the bar and hopefully I wouldn’t tell anyone you were banging the secretary?”
“No,” I said flatly. “I wouldn’t care if everyone on the planet knew about us. I just wanted you to be happy. If you feel like you need to sue me, then go for it. I won’t even put up a defense. But to answer your question, yes. I wanted you around. I still do. All the time. Every single damned second I spend in this building, I miss having you here with me. I haven’t filled that office because no one can. No one can be you. It feels like an insult to even think about someone else sitting in your chair.”
“So, what, you’re doing it yourself?”
“Yes,” I said. “And it’s going terribly, I might add. But I can’t have someone else in there, and I can’t have you, because when you worked for me, you drove me insane.”
“Insane?” she thundered. “I droveyouinsane?”
“Yes!” I shouted. “Because I’m in love with you, Julia! I have been since the moment I laid eyes on you. You were the best damned assistant I could ask for, but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. If you were going to be in my life, it needed to be all the way. Not just at work. Not just on our walks from the coffee shop. All the way. And if I can’t have that, then I just want you to be happy doing whatever it is you want to do.”
“The only thing I want is to be with you, Hunter,” she said.
I froze. I could feel the blood pumping through the veins in my neck, and the world seemed to fade around her. Nothing else mattered in this moment but her. And the words she said still lingered in the air.
“Do you mean that?” I asked.
“Do you?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. Words weren’t going to suffice. Words for what I felt didn’t even exist.
Closing the space between us with maddened, rapid steps, I embraced her, and our lips crushed together. In that moment, nothing could stop me from holding her. Nothing.
I pulled her into me and carried her to the wall, pressing her against it as our tongues slid into each other’s mouths, tasting each other again and reveling in it.
“Let’s go home,” she said through gasping breaths.
