“And if you have any questions while you are deciding if you are going to do this or not, you can call me or Ms. Hayes,” he offers.
“Fine,” I agree and then he looks over at the waiter.
“We still going to have lunch?” he asks and I just laugh. “We still need to eat.”
“You already lured me here under false pretenses,” I tell him and look at my watch to see I have two hours before I have to meet my mother. “I should have left already.”
“Technically I didn’t.” His blue eyes go lighter.
“You texted me last night after I had already taken the meeting,” I point out and he looks up, probably trying to think of what else to say. “So you knew I had emailed her.”
“I did.” He doesn’t lie to me or try to spin the truth. “But I texted you on a personal level.”
I can’t help the chuckle that comes out of me. “I can’t even argue with you.”
The waiter comes over and we both order a salad. “So on a scale from one to a hundred, how shocked were you when you saw me?” He puts his elbows on the table and I follow his move, entwining my fingers together and resting my chin on them.
“A million,” I answer him and he grins. “Your mission statement on the website was the thing that pulled me in.”
“That was all Ms. Hayes.” He doesn’t take the credit. “You two will work well together.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “I didn’t say yes yet.”
“But you didn’t say no either.” He points at me and the rest of the lunch is spent with us talking about how his back-to-the-ice training is going.
When I push away from the table and stand up, his eyes go down, a full sweep of my outfit, and I’m suddenly happy I chose this outfit. The white wraparound skirt hits me mid-thigh, shorter than I would ever wear three months ago, but also one I was dying to wear. I hold my nude-colored purse in both hands as I wait for him to stand up. He grabs his things, putting his aviator glasses on the top of his head as he extends his hand out for me to walk in front of him. I walk toward the front door, smiling at the hostess when she tells us to have a nice day.
The wind blows my hair over my face as I step out and wait for him to follow. I look at the black Land Rover on the other side of my white one. “Well,” I say, stopping in the middle of the parking lot, “thank you for meeting with me.”
He extends his hand for me to shake and I reach out, my hand sliding into his. “Thank you for your interest in our foundation,” he replies, so official.
“I guess I’ll be in touch,” I state, our hands still in each other’s, moving up and down.
“I am very much looking forward to that.” His eyes stare into mine. “And for working with you.” I don’t know why but those words make my insides shiver.
“I’m going to need my hand back, if you expect me to be in touch with you,” I joke and he just smirks, squeezing mine once before letting it go.
“Have a good day, Lexi,” he says and waits for me to walk over to my SUV before he walks over to his. I get in at the same time my phone rings, and I see it’s my mother. “Hey, Mom,” I answer, looking in my rearview at his ass as he walks to his own vehicle. The tight black dress pants fitting him perfectly. “Did you land?”
“We just landed,” she says breathlessly. “Do you want to meet us at the first house?”
“Yeah,” I reply with a smile, “I’ll be there in fifteen.” I watch him back out of his parking spot and look over at me. The aviator glasses on his face make him even more hot. I shake my head. “I’m excited.”
“Us too,” she says. My phone rings and I see he’s calling me.
“I’ll see you soon,” I say, hanging up and answering him, “Hello.”
“Everything okay?” he asks me and I turn to look out the back window at him.
“Yeah, why?”
“You haven’t left yet,” he notes and I wonder if he can see me, “just making sure you are okay.”
“All good,” I assure him. “My mother called.”
“Sounds good.” He holds up his hand and waves. “Talk later,” he adds, right before he disconnects. I watch him drive out of the parking lot when I add the address of the house in the GPS. I replay the whole conversation we had at lunch as I follow the directions to the house, stopping when it tells me I’ve reached the destination. I get out of the SUV and walk toward the house. Stepping onto the driveway, I see the black double garage door. I look up at the house and it looks like it’s all concrete. I look over my shoulder when I hear a car approaching and then smile when I see my mother in the passenger side, waving. The car comes to a stop and I walk toward them.
My mother gets out and comes to me while my father trails behind her. “Hey,” she says with a huge smile on her face as she comes to me and gives me a big hug, and we sway side to side. Letting me go, she then grabs my face in her hands. “You look so good,” she praises, “even better than the last time we saw you.”
