Page 51 of Playing the Field
“The head of Major League Soccer. And the guys from basketball and football.”
“Just the top brass for every major sport in the country.”
She tries to hide some false modesty behind her margarita glass, but I catch her grin. “Pretty much.”
Shaking my head, I raise my full glass for a toast. “You’re such a badass. That’s awesome.”
“Thank you. And…” She looks around us to make sure no one can overhear the conversation. “Just between you and me, I hear there’s another deal in place. With your old company. There’s going to be an announcement and a big launch event for the Devils partnership with AIFund.”
Tatum explains that she heard the Silicon Valley rumor mill says AIFund is backing an artificial intelligence game with the Devils. I kind of miss being in the know about tech news, but also, it’s kind of nice to be away from it.
I can feel the color drain from my face. “Well, I may work for the Devils, but I won’t be going to that event.”
“Why? Oh…” Tatum’s eyes go wide because she knows exactly what I’m thinking—my ex-boyfriend will be there. The one who cost me my job and then dumped me. “Peter?”
“Yeah. No need to see him. Besides, the event is probably only for bigwig execs.”
“I beg to differ. First of all, as the chief data analyst, you’re about to get a whole new playground at work, detailing out the player specs and stats for the hottest game to roll out in years. That’s totally your catnip.”
My smile at the idea of the new work challenges goes so wide that my cheeks hurt. If she’s right about the news, my job is about to become a hundred times better than my old one ever was. “That will be amazing, actually. I’d think about staying permanently for that.”
“Okay, then. You need to hold your head high in your badass job, show up looking amazing with Hunter, and make Peter jealous as the icing on a very decadent cake.”
“Hold your horses. First of all, no one at work can see me with Hunter. Peter is the perfect example of how I ruined a job over a guy. I’m not making that mistake again.”
She waves a hand in the air like she’s fanning away smoke. “So many problems with that thesis—Hunter isn’t Peter, you’re killing it in your new job, you aren’t doomed to make the same mistake again—but we’ll get to that later. For now, make Peter insanely regretful for breaking up with you.”
“I guess I can hold my head high and show him that I’m absolutely ambitious enough to flourish without him. I would reallylike him to leave in tears, preferably mortified publicly, but that may be too much to expect.”
“You need to look amazing. Be amazing. Show him how much better your life is without him.”
“I will do my very best.” Guess I’ll be giving my one black silk dress a run for its money.
Our chips and guac arrives on a large platter, and I don’t waste a second before scooping a heap of green goodness onto a chip and popping it into my mouth. Tatum does the same, and for a moment, we munch in silence.
It takes me back to this morning, when the conversation with Hunter ground to a halt after I tried to thank him for rescuing me. Still confused about why that would offend him, I describe the situation to Tatum.
She puts both hands on the table and levels me with a stern look. “You thanked him for sex? Like he was a paid escort or something?”
A wave of nausea hits me, and I taste bile in my throat. “That’s not what I meant.” But I realize it doesn’t matter what I meant if it sounded that way to Hunter. “Oh god, do you think that’s how he took it?”
“I hate to break it to you, sweet thing, but for a super-smart person, sometimes you have a startling inability to grasp the obvious.”
I think back on the conversation and how quiet Hunter got.
You said you don’t go to hotels for hookups. Well, neither do I.
“You think he was saying he wants more than a hookup?”
Tatum flicks me in the shoulder. “Well, yeah, because that’s basically what he said! Why is this so hard for you to grasp?” She drums her fingers on the table impatiently, and I don’t want to ruin our time together by being obtuse and clueless. I try to allow the thought into my head that Hunter sees me as someone different from the other women in his long dating history—someone he could hook up with more than once.
He may have alluded to that idea, but I still feel wary. I’m just hitting my stride at my job, and the last thing I need is gossip that I’m sleeping with a player. Or the impression that my analytics are biased. I need to make the right decision this time and think about my future.
But first, I need to apologize to Hunter.
CHAPTER 27
Hunter
