"Well, one I get Ryan and Kellie off my ass. And two, I get the European advertising campaign done, which, three, again, gets Kellie and Ryan off my ass."
"I guess that does sound like a fair deal then."
"So, it’s a deal?" He asked.
"It's a deal." I held up my glass to clink with his as we solidified the deal.
After our agreement, and dinner came, we actually had a fairly pleasant meal. We still bantered all the way through our dinner, but it didn't have the same edge that it had before. I wasn't sure if it was because I was feeling pretty good about having a gallery showing, or the wine. Maybe it was that Hunter seemed to be acting on his best behavior. I wondered if Ryan had talked to him, or if Hunter had realized what an asshole he'd been before, and he was trying to do better. I'm not sure why he’d be trying to behave, considering how I had treated him, but whatever the reason, we enjoyed a good meal and some lively conversation.
By the time we finished our meal, the noise in the restaurant had picked up. The music from downstairs was louder and looking out the window I could see that there were more people, many of them dancing out on the dance floor. He glanced out too and I had a moment to wonder if this is where he came to stalk his prey. But he didn't look long before he turned his attention back to me.
"Do you like to dance?” he asked.
"Sure." I wasn't sure if he was actually asking me if I wanted to dance or if I just enjoy dancing.
"But I still have some work to do later tonight so I'm going to have to head out pretty soon." That wasn't a complete lie. I did have more work that I wanted to do. But in case he was getting any ideas about me, I wanted to make sure I had an out. Then I laughed at myself because Hunter wouldn't have any interest in me. Especially not with all those long-legged blonde women shimmering in their barely there outfits on the dance floor. I'm sure he could have the pick of the lot. He probably already had.
We finished our meal and he walked me out to my car.
"I'll see you in the office tomorrow," he said as I unlocked my car door.
I turned to look at him with a smirk. "Yeah, I should be there around noon, maybe."
His lips twitched up into that half smile again. It made me wish I could see a full on beaming smile from him.
I had given him the opportunity to make some sort of snarky comeback like maybe how much I needed beauty rest or something, but he didn't say anything. He just stood and looked at me like I was some sort of enigma.
Then he gave a small laugh like he was humored by something he was thinking. I didn’t have time to ask about it, as his hand reached out, wrapped around my neck and he pulled me to him fusing his lips to mine.
My brain went blank of everything except the taste of him, and the warmth of his body as it pressed against mine. Just as my body was beginning to melt against his, he stepped back, turned and began walking away.
What the hell?
As he kept walking, he called back over his shoulder, "That was payback for yesterday."
I managed to open the car door and on shaky legs got inside the driver seat. I sat with my heart racing and my mind in a whirl from what just happened. I couldn't say that I hated Hunter Strong, but I definitely didn't like him. So why was it when he was so near or when our lips were mashed together, that it did all sorts of crazy things inside my body?
I began to realize that working for him could be an even bigger problem than I'd anticipated. Before, my concern was about being bored, or having my creativity stifled. But now I had to wonder if my hormones were always going to go crazy when he was around?
7
Hunter
I wasn't sure if Natalie had been serious or not when she said she'd show up at work at noon. She was just the sort of free spirit that might do something like that. But she showed up at eight o'clock, like everybody else.
I greeted her and told her that I would show her around. She looked up at me with an expression that seemed to ask if that was a good idea. I wasn't sure that it was considering that most of the time we couldn't say a civil word to each other. Last night after we forged our deal had been the exception. But even then, there was a banter that wasn't totally and completely friendly. It just hadn't been as nasty as it'd been before.
I brought her to the section of the building that had held most of the marketing team. I began introducing her to the various staff that were.
I had some curiosity about how they would accept Natalie as their new boss. It wasn't just that Natalie didn't look the corporate type that had me wondering what they would think of her. It was more of the carefree and relaxed way she moved through life. I suspected she was more likely to give them free reign on all their creative ventures, and maybe even art lessons, then she would push them to meet deadlines. But if that turned out to be the case, it would just give me a reason to fire her and I’d have Ryan's backing because he was hell-bent on getting this European campaign done ASAP.
As I introduced her to the various staff that would be working with her, she was friendly and outgoing, and they seemed to take to her. She expressed a genuine interest in them and what they were working on. And unlike with me, she held her opinions about the work they were doing to herself.
We reached the section of the office that held the copywriting team and I introduced her to our lead copywriter, Gavin Martin. Gavin looked up from his desk, and had the proverbial eyes popping out of the head as he saw Natalie. He stood wiping his hands on his pants as he thrust out his arm to introduce himself and shake her hand.
At first, I was amused by his reaction, but as their conversation went on, Gavin's enthusiasm toward Natalie, and the way his eyes every now and then would drift over her body with a lingering look at her tits, I began to feel unsettled about him. At first, I told myself that he was being inappropriate, and I would definitely have words with him about it. But as she laughed at something that he said and patted his arm, that unsettled feeling felt an awful lot like jealousy.
Ah hell no, I thought to myself. Yes, she kissed me and yes I kissed her. And yes, I had jerked off a few times at the image of her. But I had no intention of ever getting attached to a woman. Not ever.