Page 9 of Just Home for the Holidays

“Then you want one.”

“No, I don’t.” Chloe winced when he waited. She looked down at her phone and the stupid text message, feeling Hunter’s gaze bore down upon her. She found herself wanting to tell him the truth. It might actually convince him to back out.

She met his gaze steadily. “Okay, I was engaged to a guy before I took the job in San Francisco. My mom adored him but I dumped him.”

Hunter blinked. “Why?”

“You’re going to laugh.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

Chloe sat on the edge of the conference table, too. “He was bossy.”

Hunter was watching her closely. Having his attention made her feel a bit warm and a little flustered, which was probably why she said more.

“He decided things, and couldn’t understand that other people might not agree. He’s like a bulldozer.”

“He decided you would make a good wife for him and couldn’t accept that you might think otherwise,” Hunter guessed and she was startled by his insight.

Chloe nodded.

“What’s he like?”

“Handsome, rich, successful, from a good family, impeccably dressed, well connected...”

“Sounds like he should have been perfect for you.”

“That’s what everyone else thought!” she said with exasperation.

“Why not you?”

Chloe frowned. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, that’s a sure sign that it does. Come on. Who do you think I’m going to tell?”

“I want to make my own choices. That’s all.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“He was choosing the venue for the wedding, planning when we’d have kids and where we’d take vacations. I hadn’t even accepted his proposal! He thought I should give up my job and organize his life instead.”

“While you want your career.”

“I didn’t get my MBA just to have an MRS.”

Hunter grinned. “I can see that. And he’s coming Friday?”

She nodded again. “Because my mom invited him.”

“So, he has expectations, since she invited him. She probably told him you’d be in town. He must still be single, then.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And you need a hunk with a tux in self-defense.”

“It sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?”

“No, it sounds like he really is the right guy for you,” Hunter said, to her surprise. “Sounds like it’s just a question of his information management style.”

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