Marice has messaged me every two hours today asking me how I'm feeling. Truth be told, every time I forget that Hunter is coming to pick me up and I finally relax and dive into my work, I get a ping from Slack and the anxiety starts up again. I think she's trying to be supportive but I'm really tempted to block her right now.

Ms. Harris stopped by the office today two times, the most she's ever come by. Maybe Marice was right about her, and she could sense my panic.

We finished our SEO reports today and debriefed with Ms. Harris most of the afternoon. She was actually very pleased with our report. Rachel designed a very sleek and aesthetic report theme which Ms. Harris loved, even going as far as saying she didn't have any edits. So at least she's in a relatively good mood.

Hunter sent me a text message around 4 p.m. saying he might be a little bit early, depending when his meeting lets out. It's currently ten to five, and my palms are glistening with a sheen of sweat.

"Lilah!" Rachel shouts as she throws a rolled up piece of paper at my head. The white ball ricochets off my temple and lands on my desk.

"What?" I snarl. Rachel reminds me of a mean older brother, not that I would know being an only child but she fits the bill.

"Wanna come to the bar with us tonight?" Sure, that's how you invite someone out for the first time, throw an inanimate object at their head.

"What a kind invitation Rach, but I actually have plans tonight."

Rachel throws me a sarcastic scowl. "Sitting at home reading Wuthering Heights on a Friday isn't 'plans'." She is such a gem.

"I have plans with a person," I elaborate.

"Oooo, with who?" Karl chimes in. Is everyone in this office this nosy?

I roll my eyes. "Just someone."

"Is someone hot?" Rachel perks up and raises her eyebrows. I pick up the paper ball off my desk and toss it at Rachel's head. "Ouch, territorial much?"

"He's definitely not bad looking," I brag. Sanjay, Karl and Rachel all 'ooo' in unison.

"Not bad looking, huh?" I dart my eyes to Hunter who's lurking just outside our office. He flashes a mischievous grin as he leans on the door frame.

"Hunter!" I squeak. "You're here! Perfect, let's go." I hastily grab my jacket and purse and speed walk to the door.

"Wait, you look familiar," Sanjay muses. I turn my head and flash Sanjay my most menacing death glare. It must have seeped into his core because he quickly looks down and mutters, "Nevermind."

"Shall we?" I ask Hunter as I try to push him through the door. What is he made out of? Stone?

Rachel clears her throat loudly. "Sterling, aren't you going to introduce us to your boyfriend?" The colour from my face drains, and I swear I just felt a tear roll down my cheek. Although, it could have been sweat. I can't believe she just called him my boyfriend. I haven't even called him that.

I look up at Hunter who's grinning cheek-to-cheek and I know he's enjoying this. I clench my teeth and turn to face my eager colleagues. A soft chuckle escapes from the back of Hunter's throat as he puts his hand on my waist.

"Hunter?"

"Yes, babe?" Oh, he just called me babe. No. Focus. The sooner this is over the sooner we can leave.

"I'd like to introduce you to my incredibly intrusive and shameless colleagues. This is Rachel Brown, that's Sanjay Singh and over there is Karl Miller." All three of them nod and mutter their hello's.

Rachel motions her hand towards Hunter and shakes her head. I bite my lip out of sheer frustration. "And this is Hunter Carlisle, my uh-" Shit. What is he?

"Her boyfriend," Hunter states coolly. I turn my flustered face to meet his eyes. Hunter shrugs unapologetically.

I turn back around to my colleagues, wide eyed. "My boyfriend." Suddenly I'm very grateful Hunter has his hand on my waist, otherwise I might have fainted by now. "Alright, you've met. Now, we're going to go. Have fun at the bar and I'll see you all on Monday. Ok?"

Hunter backs out of the doorway and I grab his hand and drag him down the hallway.

"Lilah, will you slow down?" Hunter laughs. "You're going to fall."

"Let's just get out of here!"

Just as we're about to walk through the front doors, the sound of a throat being cleared and a heel tapping on the ground stops us in our tracks.

"Hunter?" Shit.

I feel the temperature shift, cold air rushes down my spine. Oh, this is not good.

I look up briefly, nevermind, we're just standing below the air conditioning duct.

Hunter squeezes my hand tightly as we both turn around. His grip is firm and reassuring.

"Camille." Hunter nods unfazed.

I watch the exchange with curious eyes. They're both just staring at each other. I don't think Camille has blinked the entire time. Hunter's posture is confident and unaffected. I tug on Hunter's hand gently and his gaze shifts toward me, his eyes soften and I smile.

Quickly realizing that I just brought attention to myself, I glance back to Camille, whose eyes are now zoned in on our intertwined hands. I try to pull away but Hunter doesn't let go.

Camille scoffs and rolls her eyes. "I didn't know you started a daycare."

My jaw drops. Daycare? How young does she think I am? Blood boils in my veins and I take a deep breath to relax myself. She is your boss. You will be calm.

"Are you done, Camille?" Hunter shakes his head.

"Lilah, you really shouldn't lie on your résumé." Camille scans my face with her eerie crystal blue eyes. "No where did you mention you were a gold digger."

My jaw literally hits the ground. What did she just call me? This cannot be happening.

Hunter's mouth opens to say something but the pitter patter of Marice's chunky heels clacking against the granite floor draws all of our attention. Was she eavesdropping? Stupid question. Of course she was.

"Ms. Harris!" Marice stops in front of Camille. "My office. Now." Camille flips her hair and walks down the hallway. Marice briskly waddles towards us with an apologetic look on her face.

"Delilah, darling. I'm so sorry about that." Marice looks up at Hunter, her head nearly at a 90 degree angle. "Hunt, why did you think it was a good idea for you to come here? You know how she is!"

"Mar," Hunter places his hand atop her shoulder. "I'm not going to tiptoe around Camille. If she wants to act like an immature child, then that is her prerogative."

"But what about poor Delilah?"

They're talking like I'm not even here!

Hunter cocks his head towards me. "I think Delilah is capable of making decisions for herself, right?"

"Yes," I mutter. "It's-it's fine. Better now than later, I suppose."

Maybe I can transfer Divisions. Public relations is similar to marketing. I could be friends with Bee and Cleo.

"Look at her Hunter," Marice scolds. "She's mortified."

"I don't think you're giving Lilah enough credit." Hunter lifts his hand and delicately strokes my hair. "She's still standing." I toss him an unimpressed glare and he chuckles.

"Will you both just stop?" I blurt. "Yes, that was incredibly awkward, and yes I feel very uncomfortable right now. But you guys are making it worse. So just stop."

Marice frowns. "I'll go talk to Camille and tell her that her comments were wildly inappropriate."

"Ok, thanks." I nod. "Have a good weekend Marice, please don't worry, I'm fine."

Marice smiles and scurries off to her office. I wonder what she's going to say to Ms. Harris.

Hunter opens the front door for me and we make our way to his car. Gold digger? She called me a gold digger in front of Hunter. I'm more like a copper digger. Is that what everyone is going to think when they see us together? Surely I don't look that impoverished. Don't gold diggers go after men twice their age? Hunter's probably no older than thirty. Oh, my head's starting to hurt.

"Lilah?" Hunter's low voice snaps my out of my reverie. "Get in." Hunter's holding the door of his BMW open for me. I didn't even notice we got out of the elevator.

I scramble inside and put on my seatbelt.

The entire drive to Hunter's condo I didn't say a word. Hunter's mouth opened a couple times, but he never said anything either.

We pull into a concrete underground parking lot and Hunter reverses into his spot. Popping open the trunk Hunter pulls out a brown paper bag full of groceries, and a bottle of wine. I grab the wine from his hand, so he can maneuver the doors.

"This way," Hunter murmurs as he leads me to the elevator.

Hunter scans his fob and presses PH. Of course he lives on the penthouse floor. Mildly annoyed, I roll my eyes at myself for caring.

The elevator doors open up directly into Hunter's living room. My eyes dart to the floor-to-ceiling windows exposing a beautiful view of the New York skyline. Incredible. I follow Hunter to the kitchen and drop the wine off on the counter. He takes my jacket and hangs it up in the closet just off the side of the elevator. The kitchen is large with stainless steel appliances and a white waterfall quartz countertop that flows into the living space. His furniture is industrial and modern. I walk into the living room and peruse the black and white photographs on the walls. They're all cityscapes from around the globe. Tokyo, London, Dubai and I don't recognize the rest.

"Lilah?" Hunter calls from the kitchen and I turn around. "I-I'm sorry about Camille." His voice is hoarse.

I walk over to the kitchen island and take a seat on a high-top chair. "It's okay, really. Maybe I'll just switch divisions," I joke.

"That's not funny." Hunter frowns. "She shouldn't have talked to you like that."

I shrug. "I know, but I'm sure I'd have a similar reaction if my ex-fiancé started dating one of my employees."

Hunter eyes me carefully as he unpacks the grocery bag. "For some reason I can't see you verbally jousting anyone."

"Are you implying that I have no spine?" I furrow my brows and pout.

"No." Hunter grins. "I'm implying that you're sweet."

"I could be spicy if the circumstances presented themselves." I roll my eyes. Hunter chuckles and rolls up the sleeves of his light grey button up shirt exposing his perfectly sculpted forearms. "So, what are you making?" I point to the pile of ingredients.

Hunter places a cast iron skillet on an element and pours in some olive oil. "We are having salmon on a bed of arugula salad."

"Are you a good cook?" He seems to know what he's doing. Hunter unwraps two filets of salmon and tosses them on the skillet which sizzles on contact.

"I'll let you be the judge of that." Hunter winks as he tosses the greens into a large glass bowl. "Do you want to put on some music and open the wine?" He motions over to the sound system just below the mounted plasma screen TV.

"Sure." I hop off the chair and skip towards the audio system. Why are there so many buttons? I press the power button and the system flashes with blue LED lights.

"There's an iPod attached to the system, play whatever you'd like," Hunter comments from the kitchen.

Let's see. Whoa, there's like ten thousand songs on here! I open up the artists tab and scroll to F. Ah, perfect. I put on the Come Fly with Me album. Frank Sinatra's voice croons through the speakers.

"Sinatra?" Hunter muses as I return to the kitchen and grab the bottle of wine. Hunter passes me the opener. Shit. These are always so hard to use! Kimmy and I prefer wine with twist off caps.

"Yes, he's my favourite!" I remove the seal off the wine and position the pointy end of the opener directly in the middle of the cork, and twist it down. "His music is so..upbeat, as you would say." I bite my tongue as I use my non-existent arm muscles to pummel the opener through the sturdy cork. It won't go down! I look up at Hunter feeling defeated. "Your opener seems to be defective." I hand him the bottle of wine.

"Oh, really?" Hunter smirks.

"Mhm," I mumble as I shrug. I watch him as he opens the wine, the muscles in his forearm flexing with every turn. Why is that so hot? Stop staring!

"Glasses?" I ask. Hunter grabs two wine glasses from a cabinet and I pour us both a glass. "To being spicy?"

We both laugh as we clink and take a sip. "I think you've converted me to red wine," I admit.

Hunter removes the salmon from the skillet and places it on top of the arugula and cherry tomato salad. "What did you drink before?"

I blush slightly knowing my answer. "Kim and I usually drink Rosé." I don't know why I feel weird admitting that.

"You'll get along with my mother then. She only drinks rosé."

"What? Really?"

"Yes, why do you sound so surprised?"

"I don't know, I never thought of rosé as high-class."

Hunter walks around the island and sits down beside me. "Are you taking a jab at me?" Hunter asks teasingly. Am I? Did I imply Hunter was snobby?

"I didn't mean to." I bite my lip. "It just seems like your world is so disconnected from mine at times." Like all the time.

"We live in the same world, babe." Hunter places a soft kiss on my hand. "Maybe our time zones are just a little different."

I giggle before taking a bite of the salmon. "Mmm," I mumble. "This is so good! Do you cook often?"

"I try to, but I often don't have the time."

"Work?"

"Yes, whenever we're close to a new product release, the paperwork starts stacking up."

I take a small sip of wine. "Do you only handle the finances at Fairview?"

I'm glad Hunter hasn't brought up how I know where he works even though he hasn't mentioned it to me before. He probably assumes Marice gave me the rundown. I'll gladly throw her under the bus rather than admit to Googling him.

"I'm the acting CFO but I also overview all the logistical aspects of the company." AKA you're the President.

"You don't talk about your job like you love it," I observe.

Hunter shrugs. "It's not what I envisioned as my career when I was younger."

"Really? What did you want to be?"

"An architect, actually." That explains all the photographs of buildings. "But my father decided to expand his business and he needed help."

"Is that what you went to school for at Stanford? Architectural Design?"

Hunter nods. "Yes, but I ended up getting my Master's in business management."

"Well, you're still young, you can change careers at some point, right?"

Hunter narrows his eyes. "If it were only that easy." What does that mean?

"What's stopping you?" I ask innocently hoping I'm not overstepping my bounds.

"Family obligation." Hunter runs his hand through his hair as he collects his thoughts. "My father is a difficult person to say no to."

I scrunch up my face. "Can't Jack take over as president if you wanted to leave?"

Hunter throws his head back and laughs. "Jack is brilliant, but he's our lead researcher. I don't think he'd want to give that up."

"Well, I guess then you're stuck." I flash Hunter a coy smile. "At least your boss doesn't think you're a gold digger."

Hunter's solemn eyes pierce mine. "Camille was out of line. Don't take anything she said personally." I know that she just said those things to get under my skin. I'm blatantly aware that her words are untrue, so I'm not that upset by them. Rather just shocked. Hunter doesn't seem to put any weight to her statement either.

I nibble on my bottom lip. "So, why did you guys break up?"

"I was wondering when you would finally ask." Hunter collects our plates and carries them to the sink. "She was unfaithful." His voice is low.

She cheated on Hunter? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea. Why would she risk losing a man like Hunter for a meaningless fling. Maybe it wasn't just a fling... She could have had a full blown affair. My eyes widen at the thought. After I caught my first highschool boyfriend making out with another girl during homecoming, my mom told me that for some people it's quantity over quality. Camille could be a quantity gal.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I whisper as I walk around the island and wrap my arms around Hunter, my face pressing gently into his back.

Hunter spins around and my eyes peer into his unreadable gaze. He reaches up and tucks my hair behind my ear. "Dessert?" he asks. A warm sensation flows into my abdomen. "I could go for something sweet right now." Hunter's husky voice sends a current of electricity down my spine.

"What's for dessert?" My tone is hushed and full of anticipation. Hunter's eyes flash with playful trouble as he extends his arms towards me. Oh, no. He's going to lift me up! Before I can protest, Hunter scoops me up into his arms and starts walking towards the living room. I can't help but release a stream of giggles as he gently tosses me on the couch.

"Did you just man-handle me?" I ask, feigning offense. Hunter smirks as he sits down beside me.

"I'll let you man-handle me for revenge." Hunter raises his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, I'm sure you would!" I shake my head coyly. "But remember what you said? I'm too sweet. I couldn't possibly exact revenge on someone."

"Perhaps you can make an exception this time." Hunter's blazing eyes survey my face.

I prop myself up on the couch and in one swift motion I swing my leg over Hunter's lap so that I'm straddling him. His eyes widen as I reach backwards and release the clip holding my hair in a bun. My long wavy hair cascades down my shoulders as I shake it out. Kimmy would be so proud of me right now.

Just as I lean in towards Hunter's face, he shifts below me. "Whoa, Lilah."

I pull back confused. "What?!"

"You're vibrating on me."

I narrow my eyes in horror. "I'm what?" Is that some weird sexual innuendo?

Hunter laughs. "Your phone." I reach into my back pocket. Oh, I'm literally vibrating on him. OH! On. Him. My cheeks flush at the realization.

"What did you think I was talking about?" A lopsided grin spreads on Hunter's face. "Is it Kimmy again?"

"No, I told her not to call me tonight." I roll my eyes and check the caller ID. "Oh, it's my mom's care center." The phone continues to vibrate.

"Care center?"

"I'll explain in a second." I answer the phone as I lift myself off of Hunter's lap and walk towards the window. "Hello?"

"Good evening, is this Miss Sterling?"

"Yes, this is she." What do they want this time?

"Hello, this is Doctor Young calling, your mother's primary physician." They have doctors calling now to collect the fee? That's low.

"I have another couple days before the payment is due. It'll be on time this month, I promise."

"That's not why I'm calling." It's not?

"Oh, sorry. Why are you calling me then?"

"Miss Sterling, I'm very pleased to tell you that earlier this evening your mother regained consciousness."

My heart plummets to my stomach and all I see is black