“Let me guess.” I sipped my wine. “You used to be a start-up guy. Who dressed up with hoodies, was addicted to cold brew, and had fifteen-hour days?”
He laughed. “Guilty. Though I always liked button-downs. Even in the hoodie years.” I tilted my head. “What kind of company?”
“Tech. We built software for real-time inventory tracking. Exciting stuff, I know.”
“But you made it work?”
“Yeah. We scaled. Sold. I stepped down last year.”
“And now you're, what, bored?” He shrugged, but I saw the flicker in his expression. “Not bored. Just… ready for something bigger. Or maybe just different.”
Different. Right. Something like Hayes. I nodded, letting silence stretch just long enough to make him shift in his seat. “Sounds like you’ve been busy for a while.”
He looked down at his glass. “For way more than a decade. I turned thirty-eight this year, and I haven’t had a real vacation since my honeymoon, which was almost eight years ago.”
That stopped me. Not because it was dramatic,but because it was honest. I don’t want to ask about his marriage, but I don’t see a ring, not even a tan line on his finger.
Anyway, I don’t care about that.
“Yikes,” I said. “I don’t even remember the last time I stayed in one city for more than a week, let alone a relationship.” He gave me a sideways look. “You travel that much? Outside of work, of course?”
“Every month. My life basically fits in a carry-on. If you don’t count my shoes.”
“And you like it that way?”
I smiled. “I like not being expected to sit still.” He nodded, slowly. Like he understood that more than he let on.
Then he looked at me, eyes warm. “Can I ask you something without sounding like an old man?”
“That’s a dangerous opener.”
He laughed. “How old are you?”
I gasped theatrically. “Oh my god. You’re thirty-eight, and you still don’t know you’re not supposed to ask a woman her age?”
His expression tightened in mock guilt. “Noted.” I swirled the wine in my glass, grinning. “I’m twenty-six.”
“Good age.”
“You make it sound like I’m a cheese.”
He really laughs now, “I mean that in the best way.”
I took another sip of my wine, letting the flavor settle on my tongue. The wine was smooth, deep, andwarm. Like this night, unexpected, but settling in all the right places. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the headline burning into my brain.
Theo Jones, CEO of Hayes International.
He didn’t know who I was. And I wasn’t planning on telling him either. He took another sip of wine, watching me over the rim of his glass. “Okay, your turn.”
“My turn for what?”
“To tell me what you studied before you decided to become a professional city-hopper.” I smiled, setting my glass down. “I majored in Art, History, and Languages.”
His brow lifted. “Double major?”
“And a master’s.” He blinked. “Alright, overachiever.”
“I contain multitudes.”
