Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hunter
N o one zoned out as much as her. In one moment, she would be staring at me intently, and in the next, I would move from the spot I was standing in with the others, and she would still be staring, completely lost in her own thoughts. More often than needed, I headed back to the cart for a drink, and I savored each and every one. This time, however, I noted that she was getting hot, so I decided to stop for a moment and chat with her as she handed me a cold bottle of water.
“You want to head back to the hotel?” I asked, and she shook her head. “No, I need to be on top of updates, and I like it here.”
This pleased me, so I nodded and returned the bottle to her.
“It is a beautiful course and country,” I remarked, looking around at the greenery and scenery, and had to admit that it was quite stunning.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I wish we never had to return to New York.”
“You want to stay here forever?” I asked, and she nodded.
“Can we?”
“Let's talk about it after we’re done here and return to the club for lunch,” I said, and her smile widened even further. My heart skipped a beat because for a moment, I couldn’t help but connect this moment right here and the way she looked at me to how I had always imagined the person I would fall in love with would look at me.
She'd ask for something, and I’d be sure it was a done deal, but of course, she would still need some persuading to agree. This, of course, was not even a possible deal, but with her, it was easy to imagine that everything was possible. I almost kissed her right then and there, but thankfully one of the men reached out to me, and I came to my senses. We both knew what had been about to happen, though, so she turned away, while I couldn’t help but notice the slight flush of her cheeks. Whether it was due to the heat or that she was blushing, I couldn’t tell. Maybe it was her makeup, but whatever it was, it made her look ethereal.
Soon enough, we completed the game, and even though it was very clear that I was the winner, we concluded that there was no winner. Still, I wasn’t there to randomly play golf, so as we returned to the clubhouse for lunch, the thrill of the game gradually faded away, and we moved on to business conversations.
This was the most important part which needed all my attention, but it was hard to focus when she was so close by. She didn’t even bother eating, as all she did was focus on listening and taking meeting notes, and throughout it all, I especially loved how our eyes kept meeting. It was as though she was so attentive to me that the moment she sensed that I was staring at her, she either lowered her gaze, averted her eyes, or found the courage to look right at me as well.
Eventually, though, it came to an end, and even though she couldn’t sit with me, I pulled out my phone and sent a message.
“Get something to eat there; mango sticky rice is out of this world. Get it with the ice cream.”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Ice cream and rice sound a bit off to me. I'll get coconut chicken instead.”
“I thought you said you’re familiar with Thai food thanks to your friend?” I teased.
She smiled, “I am, but there are some things I have avoided, and they’ve been easy to avoid because they can sometimes be quite overpriced.”
“Well, the food here is free, so eat.”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied, and when I glanced over at her table, she couldn’t hide the smile on her face.
She got up then, and I watched as she called a waiter over and, after placing her order, headed over to the bar. I really wanted to speak to her, if for no other reason than to just be close to her, so I rose to my feet with the guise of ordering something stronger.
“McCallan,” I asked the bartender as soon as I arrived, yet she didn’t turn. She knew I was beside her; she could recognize my voice, and yet she didn’t turn. So, I turned around and leaned against the counter as I took in the ambience of the area.
“Any news from New York yet?” I asked her.
“A couple of news channels wanted to report it, but the Public Relations team has it under control. The breach has been found and intercepted, and right now, they are in the process of retrieving all relevant information and completely preventing this from ever happening again.”
I went quiet then, as I thought of what to do to facilitate this as well, and it soon occurred to me that I didn’t need to think too hard because soon enough, I would be returning to the city, and I would be able to meet with our CTO. I already had some ideas in mind.
“Find someone for me,” I told her.
“Yes, Sir,” she replied instantly, pulling out her phone to take notes.
“Dylan Fisher.”
“Dylan Fisher?” she repeated.
“Yes. He’s one of the best in the industry in cybersecurity. We can’t recruit him because he has a thing against stable employment, but he will do some consultations for us.”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied and seemed to immediately get to work on this, but I stopped her.
“Have lunch first,” I said. “We can continue afterward when we return to the hotel.”
She nodded, and resisting the urge once again to kiss her, I moved away.