43. Does That Sound Good?
43
DOES THAT SOUND GOOD?
Hunter
This is the best way to wake up—Nate between my legs, sucking me off. Coming before I even get out of bed.
Afterward, I stretch luxuriously. “I’m really going to like the off-season.”
He settles next to me, runs his fingers through my hair. “And that’s how you should wake me up when you come home in the middle of the night.”
I laugh but only briefly.
My mind snags on the word home.
What will home be when he comes to London? I’m almost afraid to ask, but he put himself on the line last night, so it’s my turn. “Nate, when you come to London, will you get your own place? Or will you stay with me?”
He props his head in his hand. “I don’t know. What do you want?”
I swallow roughly, pushing past my nerves. I want him with me, but before I can answer, he sets a hand on my chest. “We can take it slow and figure it out,” he says.
He’s handling everything differently this time around. Undoing his past mistakes seems important to him, so I don’t protest. “Sounds good to me,” I say cheerily, then swing my legs out of bed. “I should shower and get dressed for my meeting with Ilene.”
I never checked into a hotel, so I brought my bag to Nate’s house last night.
“I’m meeting some of my teammates for a workout over on Fillmore in an hour,” Nate says as he pops out of bed too. “But when are you free later? Oh! Can you come to the auction with me tonight?”
I laugh. “As the emcee’s date?”
Nate shoots me a stern look. “You’re the emcee’s boyfriend, and don’t you forget it.”
I beam. “I won’t forget it, and I’d love to be your date.”
As I riffle around in my bag for clothes, my phone buzzes. His beeps.
“Aww, our phones are having simultaneous Os,” I remark.
Nate laughs and picks up his mobile from the nightstand, reading a text as he heads to the bathroom.
I have the same message—a group text from Vance to Nate and me.
Vance: I worked my magic. I got Hunter on as the co-host for the auction tonight. It’ll be your final husband hurrah. You’re welcome.
I roll my eyes. “Your agent is a piece of work.” But Nate looks lost in thought, standing in front of the bathroom mirror.
“Are you okay?” I ask, concerned.
He looks up from his phone, almost like he forgot I was here. “Yes. So we’ll be responsible and get a divorce…and then date?” He sounds so serious.
“That’s what you wanted, right?” I ask, even though the word divorce feels all wrong when you’re falling for someone.
“Sure,” he says, then he tips his forehead to the shower. “Shower with me.”
Bossy Nate is in the house, so I set down my phone. Serious thoughts can wait.
At The Happy Cow on Union Street, I sit across from a pink-haired bundle of energy, nursing a cup of tea while we conduct a postmortem on last night’s party.
Ilene abruptly stops the convo to tap her silver tumbler. “You have to try one of these. This place makes the best kale smoothies in all of San Francisco. I learned about them on How To Eat a Banana .”
“Love that show,” I say.
She gives a proud shrug. “I acquired it for Webflix. The hosts are brill.”
“They are.” Kale smoothies are not my thing, but…when in Rome. “I’ll have one, then.”
Ilene beams. I bet kale smoothies are why she never has jet lag with her travel schedule. I’m not even sure where she lives. I think she might live everywhere.
When the server comes by with our breakfast, I ask for a kale smoothie.
Then we tuck into our food. As I take a bite of my eggs, Ilene sets down her drink, flicks some pink hair off her shoulder, and says, “So, is now a good time to work out the details?”
Did I miss an agenda for this morning? I thought it was a standard catch-up, but I’ve learned as a producer sometimes you need to roll with it. “Sure,” I say.
“Great. Let’s talk about all your new projects,” she says, then slurps her smoothie concoction through her own metal straw.
I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. Details makes sense now. “Right. The expansion into Europe,” I prompt.
She pauses mid-suck, one eyebrow arching. “Expansion into Europe?”
Did I get it wrong? “When the Hawks were in London, you mentioned that Webflix would be expanding into Europe?”
Maybe she forgot our conversation while we were walking through Triumph Stadium?
She lets the straw fall into her cup, wincing. “Oh, I can see why you thought that. But when I said we’re going to be expanding all our sports divisions and pushing forward with more sports in Europe, I meant we’re doing both.”
Wow. I do love Webflix’s commitment to sports. This company is a dream. “Great. I’d love to hear how I can help. What details did you have in mind?” The server returns with my smoothie, and I thank him, then meet Ilene’s gaze.
She studies me like I perplex her, tilting her head. “The ones about your move, Hunter.”
“My move?”
Now, she laughs, “We did talk about this at the cocktail party in London.”
We did?
Ohhhhh. Right. There was that thing she said when my dad walked into the room. What did I agree to?
I am not impressing my boss, so I start over with the truth. “I’m so sorry, Ilene. I don’t know what I agreed to. I was distracted when my father showed up, and I apologize,” I say uncomfortably, then I pick up the smoothie to mask my discomfort.
“I understand,” she says, thoughtfully. “Family is complicated. But I hope you don’t mind I’ve been moving forward on plans to relocate you to San Francisco.”
I clutch the kale smoothie tightly so it doesn’t slip from my hands.