I looked back down at my computer, blocking out her sexy hum. I ignored her hippy saunter to the waiting area. And finally, I ignored the tear dripping down my face as she walked by my desk after being called into Hunter’s office.
“When are the others coming?” I asked Brenda, not looking up.
“Why don’t you take a long lunch?” Brenda said softly. “Come back at two. Everything should be over by then. He won’t see these women for long.”
I grabbed my handbag and walked out of the office, my mind on that beautiful, experienced, high-powered woman in there with Hunter, flirting and seducing him with her eyes. She probably hoped he would take her right there. And maybe he would.
I sat at a cafe with a coffee and an untouched sandwich for two and a half hours. Just sat there, staring at nothing. Images of Hunter kept flashing through my mind. Sweet things, like him holding the door open for me, or guiding me around, or our dance. Then the kissing. I felt the burn of his passion, so fresh in my memory. His shaking hands after we lay in a tangle of limbs. His soft words.
I sighed and shifted my unfocused gaze. Another tear dripped down my cheek.
I flinched as my phone vibrated on the table. I stared down in confusion, forgetting I’d brought it out at all. Hunter’s name showed up above a text. “Come back to the office. Please.”
I smiled a little at the please before throwing my coffee in the trash. The sandwich I gave to a homeless man asking for change outside. He glanced up with thanks, looking weary and downtrodden.
He looked exactly how I felt.
Back at the office, I passed by Brenda’s empty desk and stopped at Hunter’s door. I peeked through the vast and sunlit space, seeing him sitting at his desk, turned in his chair toward the window.
I walked in slowly, pain still eating away at my insides. “You wanted to see me?”
He turned around, showing that handsome face and those deep brown, turbulent eyes. “Yes. Have you found a new position?”
I took a seat in his visitor chair, not because I thought I’d stick around for long, but because I just didn’t have any strength anymore. He’d defeated me. This whole situation had beaten me. I felt it in every nerve in my body.
“I found one that could work. It’s in Windsor.”
“Windsor?” Hunter’s brow furrowed. “Way up north?”
“Yes. It’s cheaper up there, and I could get a car. Seems like a good place. More bang for my buck.”
Hunter braced his elbows on his desk. “It’s a long way. What about your family?”
“It’s only an hour north with a car. And it’s not much further from my mom than San Francisco is. Not that it would really matter She has her own thing going.”
Hunter stared at me for a moment then bent down to the desk. “If that’s what you want.”
I clasped my hands in my lap. It wasn’t. None of this was what I wanted. Getting away from him, though, would be the only way to heal. It would be the only way I could forget that a piece of him was still lodged deeply inside my heart from that intense, emotional night we’d spent together. From all our time together.
“Okay. I’ll arrange everything. Brenda will contact you with the details.” Hunter looked at his computer, but I could tell his eyes weren’t reading what was on the screen.
“What about my computer? And should I give the credit card to you or Brenda?”
He shook his head in small jerks. “The computer will be needed in your next position. Keep that with you. And keep the credit card, in case you need something.”
“I won’t need anything, Hunter. You gave me a job. I’m all set.”
His arms flexed. His gaze hit mine, powerful and intense. “Keep it. You’ll need a new place to live, maybe new furniture—”
“I’ll just leave it with Brenda.” I stood and turned for the door.
“Olivia.”
I paused, glancing back. Fire lit his eyes and his jaw clenched. He stared, not saying anything.
“Is that it for today?” I asked. “This is the exit interview, I take it…”
To his continued silence, I turned and walked from the room. I tidied up my desk, took the last of my personal items, left the credit card on Brenda’s desk, and cried as I made my way home.
Chapter Eleven
I jumped when my phone rang. I’d been sitting in my room, staring at the wall. Normal people would probably have been staring out the window, but really, what was the difference? I wasn’t seeing anything anyway.
I held my phone up so I could see the screen, expecting it to be Kimberly. I’d filled her in on what had happened with Hunter shortly after my last day, needing to purge, and now she called daily, sometimes more, to check up on me. I got the impression she was worried that I would haul myself to the Golden Gate Bridge and do a swan dive off it.