Page 60 of Betrayal

Anna surveyed the crowdin the bar before bringing her gaze back to Hunter.“Did you sort out your problem earlier?”

“Yeah.”Whatever his problem was, he wasn’t sharing.

Suck it up, Anna.

He deals with commercial-in-confidence stuff or banal human relationships stuff.Just like she did.And she had no intention of downloading every detail of her working day on him.

“The bathrooms are gorgeous.You’ve even got one of those suites I saw at an airport one time.The adult/child combo.”She savoured a sip of her Sancerre, a new wine for her, but the self-professed-sommelier cum bartender had convinced them both to try it.

“Airports are a place where you don’t want to lose your kid when you have to go to the bathroom.But they can be useful in a childcare setting.Or so Maha tells me.”

“It’s really coming together.”

“We’re on track for completion within the three months.”He toasted her with his untouched wine.“How’s your team feeling?”

“There’s only the one colleague I’ve been worried about.I’ve been showing her pictures,” Anna confessed.“I was going to ask you if I could bring a tour group through one afternoon?”

“I’ll check with Kazim when we’re good to go with just basic safety gear.”

A waiter appeared at Hunter’s shoulder, pausing their conversation momentarily.“Your table’s ready, sir.”

The man wove his way through small tables and past booths lining the wall to arrive at the end booth.

“I like this better than Icebergs.”Once seated, Anna nudged him with her thigh.“Cosier.”

“I’m starting to learn that cosy is shorthand for telling you things.”

“Is that a complaint?”

“A realisation that I’m starting to read your mind.”He looked baffled.

“Not possible.I’m infinitely mysterious.”She lowered her gaze to her menu.“I’ll have the Mezze plate please.”

“Infinitely mysterious in some ways and transparent as gossamer in others.You swap kisses for secrets.I’ll have the Mezze plate too.”He signalled the waiter and placed the order.

“I’m not asking for secrets,” she said, fiddling with the stem of her glass.“To be blunt, I’m asking for intimacy.”

“‘Talk first, touch later.’”He repeated her words, and Anna couldn’t read his mood.“I remember the rule.”

“We’ve got a few minutes before our meals get here.”

Intimacy mattered, sharing yourself mattered, and Hunter mattered to her.

“What do you want to know?”He propped his chin on his fist.

“Did you have any kind of relationship with Nick when you were a kid?”

“Everything begins and ends with Nick.”He sat back with a wry smile.“I was a loser.Born a loser.He started telling me that when I was about six and wanted to spend the day with Mum’s brother Ben on a job.”

“Working with Ben is how you got the scars and callouses.”Anna turned his hand over and placed a kiss in the middle of his palm.“Bet Ben never called you a loser.”

“Yeah to the scars.Ben told me I had skills and moves.”He chuckled.“You have the damnedest ability to zoom in on the best bits of my life.Working with Ben was the best thing I ever did.Rehabbing was his skill.He took on more projects, cut me in.Trained me, paid me wages, and an increasing cut of the profits until it was fifty-fifty by the time I started studying architecture.”

“Is Ben still building?”

“He decided he was getting a bit old, so he moved into crane hire.Started a partnership with a bloke.Sank all his assets into the business.”To distract her or to drain the moment of its intensity, he held his wine up to the light, sniffed, then took a sip.“This is good.”

“Very good,” she agreed.

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