She could get additional materials to the panel.Through Hotshot.Rourke, is that how she was supposed to think of him?Xavien.It was too weird.And that kiss.What was that about?He’d just kissed her.Boom.Taken charge and… Helena was still talking; servers were somewhere in her periphery passing out plates.Her fingers ran through the loose curls of her hair on her shoulder.
Meeting him.Kissing him.It was still processing.Getting ready for dinner had given her a distraction, something to take her mind off him.
After that weekend, if he stuck around for the conference, they’d have no reason to talk to each other again.The safety of what they’d been was gone.Their security.Their carefully crafted personas, hidden in a digital world, had been blasted to shit.God knew what the guy was really like.Sure, she’d figured Hotshot was no slouch, he’d told her he had a business.Mosaic was more than just a simple business.It was a massive multinational with interests in many industries.Huddle was just a tiny piece of the man’s overall empire.
Empire.Hotshot had an empire.Was successful.Rich.Powerful.A model dater… What the hell was he doing hanging out with her night after night on Huddle?
They got through dinner.She didn’t say much.The guys talked about their figures and got excited about the possibility of reaching the next stage.Helena wasn’t optimistic.
Huddle Hope meant something to her.Yet the idea of moving to California wasn’t as appealing now knowing Hotshot lived there.Overbearing, infuriating, rude Hotshot.
Her clutch vibrated on her lap.
Helena was again talking about how they’d lost their chance.She switched off and opened her clutch to check the screen.
HOTSHOT:Excuse yourself.
What a dick.Did he think giving orders would be endearing?At least now she understood why he was so goddamn arrogant.
Ignoring the message, she slipped her phone back into her clutch and picked up her wine.Downing the last of it, she didn’t hesitate to pick up the bottle and refill it.
“We worked for months on this,” Helena said.“All that work’s just disappeared because Roux couldn’t keep her mouth shut.”
“You’ve said that,” Roux said.“Repeatedly.”Helena was a grade above her, technically her superior, but she wasn’t a supervisor.“I said sorry.What else is there to say?”
“This was a massive opportunity.We could’ve been catapulted to… We could’ve been successful.Lived the LA life!”
“Mosaic isn’t based in LA,” she said.
That was true.Why were they in LA for the conference?Wasn’t it just a big inconvenience for the executives to travel south for the party?Maybe they needed the separation to drag themselves away from the office.
Another vibration.She slid her phone from the clutch just enough to read her Huddle messages.
HOTSHOT:Come outside.
Apparently, this guy didn’t take no for an answer.Why was he so persistent?They couldn’t hang out in public.Couldn’t hang out at all.
HOTSHOT:The terrace doors in the bar are open.Walk out and down the stairs.
Was it his compulsion to treat people like idiots?Just because she didn’t follow his instructions didn’t mean she didn’t understand them.They were clear.Unlike his reason for breaking what had been working for them.
More wine.That would help.
HOTSHOT:You going to make me come get you?
Blackmail?Really.If she didn’t leave, he’d come in and get her.What gave him the right?Someone needed to set this guy straight.Somewhere along the way, he’d confused her for a pushover.
Her glass was still in her hand when she stood up.She gulped half of its contents, then put the rest down.Her colleagues could wonder.With the adrenaline amping her, she couldn’t make polite excuses.
The bar was by the entrance; she’d seen it as they came in.There were matching glass doors to the terrace from the ballroom, but they weren’t open.The doors in the bar were, and it was busy enough that she doubted anyone cared who went outside.
Smokers used the beautiful deck.With dinner not long over, plenty of people were getting their nicotine hit.The glass perimeter barrier around the raised wooden terrace continued down the stairs to the path into the grounds.
A trickling fountain at the end drew her closer.Light beneath the water shone up, illuminating the pool in a sparkling glow.
“You’re a cheap date, Radley.”
Spinning toward the male voice, she found him seated on a carved stone bench, hidden between ten-foot hedges.The fountain didn’t matter to him.The grounds didn’t.The people.The party.He fixed his smirk on her and didn’t flinch.
