He looked at her for a moment as if he were truly considering her question.“I think my biggest nightmare would be someone attacking my people.”
Azlyn’s heart skittered a beat.“That’s…kinda sweet that you care so much for them.”
“You don’t think that a country’s leader cares for their people?”
“Not here,” she said with a sigh, gesturing with her straw in an encompassing circle.“Our politicians are all owned by corporations.The corporations are run by greed.And now, our country is an oligarchy.It’s pathetic.”She sighed, carefully setting her cup down on the mostly-plastic table.“I suspect that’s true of many countries these days.The political systems have been reduced to what makes the most profit.”
He nodded his agreement, seeing the intelligence in her eyes.“Is that what motivates you to dig up the dirt on your guests for the documentaries that you and Olivia produce?”
“Exactly,” she replied with a firm nod.“I hate that our country has shifted to this mindset.The corporate greed and the lack of ethics shown by politicians is disheartening.The show with Olivia is one of the ways that I fight back.”
“So, you’re a crusader.”
“Not at all.”
“Absolutely.You crusade for the little people.”
Azlyn huffed, shaking her head.“If anything, I crusade to take down the bad guys.The little guys have to look out for themselves.I’m too focused on the big guys and their insatiable greed.Anyone with billions and trillions of dollars is a bad guy by definition.”
He was startled by that claim and stared at her.
“You’renot a bad guy,” she said in answer to his silent question.
“But I have that level of net worth.”
She ran a hand through her soft curls.“I researched you, Zayn.”She didn’t use his title this time and for some reason, that felt significant.For both of them.“I know what you do.Your country has free higher education.Not to mention, paid maternity leave and subsidized child care.That means mothers or fathers can stay home with their children during the first year and give their babies the attention they need without the interference of baby formula manufacturers forcing women to get back to work and rely on formula.”
“Does that happen here?”
“Yep.The baby formula companies are some of the largest contributors to political campaigns.That’s the reason why American women don’t have paid maternity leave.Because mothers have to return quickly to the workplace, they tend to rely on baby formula instead of breastfeeding.I’m told pumping at work is brutal.”
“That’s insane!”
She shrugged.“It’s true.Unfortunately.”
He shook his head, then told her about some of the stranger requests of the wealthy people in his country.Azlyn countered with a story about political donations negatively affecting school budgets.So, he told her how a plastics manufacturer wanted to dump waste water into one of the major tributaries in Lativa.They went back and forth, trading political horror stories about corporate greed.
“And yet,” she finally finished, smiling up at him, “we persevere.”
“True.”
There was a long silence as she stared into Zayn’s eyes.He wanted to pull her onto his lap and kiss her.He was so turned on by her belief that the world could be a better place that he could barely keep his hands off her.Hell, he wanted to…!
The words “marry her” popped into his mind so fast, it was shocking.He’d known this woman for literally three hours and he was already thinking of a long term relationship?
No, he was thinking about forever.
That was insane!
Before he could react to his thoughts, Azlyn cleared her throat, checking the time on her cell phone.“Good grief!”she gasped, immediately collecting the trash from their meal and stuffing it into one of the bags.“I need to get back to work.”
He stood up and tried to help her, but Azlyn was too quick.Plus, he was still reeling from the thought of marrying someone he’d just met.It was insane.Wasn’t it?Damn it, he hadn’t even kissed her yet!
She turned to smile up at him.“Thank you for sharing lunch with me,” she said, and extended her hand.“I know you have other meetings to get to.”
Zayn shook her hand because he wasn’t sure what else to do.He felt the need to walk her back to the studio, but before he could say so, Azlyn dropped his hand and rushed out of the restaurant.
He stood there, watching as she hurried down the street.His only consolation was that she looked just as stunned and confused as he felt.
