Adie stared at a point behind his shoulder and forced out her apology. “I do apologize. I wasn’t very professional last night.”
“No, you weren’t,” Hunt agreed, his tone measured and calm. “You weren’t wearing any shoes—you have pretty toes by the way. You tossed back superb whiskey like it was juice, fed me chocolate and invited me into your bed.”
Yeah, she remembered. She’d been there.
“I’ll completely understand if you don’t want to proceed with this meeting,” Adie said, her words stiff.
Hunt had the temerity to flash a megawatt grin. “No, you’re here and I’ll listen to your pitch. But...”
Adie held her breath as he walked across the room to stand in front of her, hands in his pockets, completely at ease. He stared down at her, his eyes an enigmatic color between gray and blue. “But, at some time in the future, rain or shine, hail or hellfire, we will pick up where we left off last night.”
Adie saw the heated desire in his eyes and knew he was thinking of how he’d held her in his arms, his hand on her breast, his other hand under her skirt, down the back of her panties. He’d rocketed her from zero to a hundred in seconds and, had Kate not called her last night, this meeting would be a hundred times more awkward.
And it was plenty awkward already. Mostly because she still really, desperately, wanted to strip him naked and do wicked, wicked things to him.
Without giving her a chance to respond, Hunt sidestepped to the right and walked over to the door, yanking it open. “Kate, come back in, we’ve got work to do.”
Adie stared at his broad back, bemused, confused and—dammit—wholly turned on.
Thank God Adie’d done this pitch a hundred times before and could recite the words by rote. There was nothing too big, too costly or too complicated for her to fulfill. She touched on what she could offer him as a concierge in terms of travel—luxury villas and upmarket hotel suites, adventure holidays and reservations at the best restaurants wherever in the world he happened to be.
Hunt’s face remained impassive and, worse, unimpressed. She mentioned backstage passes to sold-out music and culture events. He finally showed a hint of interest when she mentioned the best box seats at sports stadiums. The purchasing of personalized gifts for employees, friends and family raised another flicker of interest and she ended by reassuring him that, by employing Treasures and Tasks, he’d enjoy white-glove service in every aspect of his life.
Hunt picked up her glossy brochure and thumbed through it. Adie gently bit the inside of her lip, wishing she could read him. She’d never met anyone with such a poker face. This wasn’t the man she’d met last night, the one with passion in his eyes. No, this Hunt was all business. Adie thought they might be wasting their time. He didn’t seem impressed by anything she’d said.
She knew that some people called her a glorified personal assistant, but she didn’t care. She loved arranging personal experiences, like over-the-top wedding proposals and anniversary dinners, private meals cooked by fabulous chefs, wine tastings in galleries and private viewings of museums and art galleries by world-renowned curators. She loved facilitating experiences that would create lifelong memories...
But, to be honest, buying another diamond bracelet or superbike for a spoiled child didn’t excite her.
Maybe it was because her parents thought luxury gifts were an adequate substitute for their time and affection. Instead of the Victorian mini-mansion playhouse she’d received at eight and the pony she was given at ten, she would’ve far preferred for them to read her a story, drive her to school or—novel idea—live in the same house with her.
Or at the very least, be there on Christmas morning.
Hunt pulled a writing pad toward him, picked up a fountain pen and dashed words across the page. After ripping off the sheet and passing it to her, Hunt leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers over his flat stomach. Adie looked down at the list he’d handed her and quickly read through the bullet points. They ranged from buying Christmas gifts to organizing a couple of cocktail parties, decorating his apartment and booking a surfing holiday in Jeffrey’s Bay sometime in the New Year.
The last item on the list was the one that intrigued her the most: to help with the final arrangements for his foundation’s urban treasure hunt race... Now, that sounded interesting.
Adie placed the paper on his desk and crossed her legs. Hoping her expression matched his inscrutable one, she lifted one eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.
“Duncan takes care of most of what you provide. And he does his job exceptionally well.”
She wouldn’t be getting any business from him, Adie thought. Why would he pay her when he had his own personal concierge on staff? Now all she could hope for was that his fondness for Kate would prompt him to mention Treasures and Tasks to his rich friends. If Adie didn’t sign up some new clients on retainer, she couldn’t justify the costs of setting up a satellite branch in Manhattan.
Hunt continued, “However, Duncan is leaving shortly for a family emergency. I doubt he’ll be back before Christmas and while he says he’s going to carry on working, I don’t want him to feel torn between his duty to someone he loves and his job.” Hunt held Adie’s eyes and she caught the flash of emotion in his expression, there and gone too fast for her to discern what he was feeling. He leaned forward and tapped the paper she’d placed on the desk. “I’m prepared to hire you to fill in for him. I presume you can handle all of this?”
Adie internally scoffed. Was he kidding? Compared to arranging a Michelin chef to cook in an igloo so her clients could have dinner under the northern lights, this was child’s play.
“We can,” Adie replied, picking up the list again. She frowned at the last item. “Can you give me a little more detail about the urban treasure hunt race?”
“It’s my foundation’s primary fundraising event of the year. Teams of two—one a professional sportsperson and one an underprivileged teen from one of the sports programs the foundation runs—race through lower Manhattan, looking for clues. The sports stars raise money for the foundation by asking people they know to pledge an amount for every leg completed. We receive a lot of corporate donations, as well.”
“And when is it?”
Hunt grimaced. “This coming weekend. The hunt happens on Saturday, culminating in a cocktail party where we give out prizes.”
“That sounds like so much fun,” Kate said, smiling. “And Duncan arranged it all himself?”
Hunt returned Kate’s smile and it was pure affection. “Duncan handled the entrants and matching the sports stars with the kids. There’s a company that handles all the race details, they set up the route and place people along the way who hand out clues. The contestants just run around Manhattan, searching for clues and the first team to arrive at the designated endpoint earns money toward the teen’s college fund. The professional teammate wins triple matching funds from the foundation for the money they’ve raised. Everyone wins prizes at the evening event, as well.” Hunt shrugged. “Duncan will know the details.”