“Miss me?”

I turned around on the balcony and was greeted by the sight of Bryce. He wore a confident smile on his face as he strolled out toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist when he was close.

“You look like you’re in a good mood,” I said, his touch making me hot.

“I’m in a relieved mood,” he said. “Hunter tried to put me on the spot about the low-income housing project. Had all the major investors in there waiting for me.”

“Are you serious?” I asked. “What a prick.”

“I figured he’d pull something like this,” I said. “But I didn’t think he’d try something so soon, and at an event like this.”

A focused expression formed on Bryce’s face.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Just thinking about how I want to handle this. And I have an idea.”

“Handle what?” I asked.

“The low-income housing project. Really, the whole social division.”

“And what’s the idea?”

A hint of a smile formed on his lips as his eyes met mine.

“How do you feel about a reassignment?”

My own eyes went wide. “What?” I asked. “Surely you’re not asking what I think you’re asking.”

“I’m pretty sure I am. How would you feel about taking the reins on the social enterprise initiative?”

“No way,” I said, stepping back. “This new position you have me with is difficult enough. Handling something like this…I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“That’s the best part,” I said. “It’d be something you’d be building from the ground up. There’s already a tech department at Carver, but the social division is totally nonexistent.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” I asked.

“Think about it— you’re an entrepreneur at heart, and this would be the entrepreneur jobs to end all jobs. You’d make this division all by yourself with your own two hands. You’d hire the crew, you’d draw up the plans, you’d meet with investors. And when it was all over and done with, you’d be the head of the company’s entire social enterprise organization.”

My heart beat faster just thinking about it.

“And all of this responsibility is supposed to make me feel better?”

“Remember how you said your biggest mistake when starting Illimitable was to leave everything that you didn’t know how to do to Walsh and Becca?”

“Right,” I said.

“Well, here’s your chance to make up for all of that. If I put you in charge of this department, then you’d have the chance to learn all of those skills yourself. It’d be a hard learning curve, but you’d come out on the other side a true businesswoman.”

It was all so much.

“What about the tech department?” I asked. “That’s where my real skill set is.”

“You’d still be working with the tech department to put together the web presence the division is going to need. And every business leader has skills that he or she brings to the table—yours is your years of tech experience. That’ll give you a hell of an edge.”

“And I can’t help but think that you’re suggesting this because there’s something in it for you.”

“There is. Hunter’s latest move here showed that he’s not going to be sitting on his ass while I remake the company. If I get too personally involved in the housing initiative, it’ll draw too much attention to the project. But if I put you in charge, you’ll be able to put it all together on a low profile. By the time it’s up and running and we’re ready for the investment money, it’ll already be in motion.” He went on. “And on top of that, you being out of the tech department will keep Walsh and Becca off your back. And I’ll give you the OK to bring some of your own team over to work with you directly if you want.”

It sounded good, surprisingly. I said nothing, letting his words settle in my mind.

“It’d be just like starting your own company,” he said. “But this one would be bigger than any you’d ever dreamed of. And you’d be putting it together from the ground up, with your own two hands.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had never dreamed of building low-income housing, but I’d definitely dreamed of running my own company. I’d almost done it, too, but I hadn’t been confident enough in exactly the skills Bryce was offering me a chance to develop. It was a dream opportunity, and at that moment I felt like I’d be a total idiot to turn it down.

“No need to come to a decision now,” he said. “I just laid a lot at your feet.”

“You sure did,” I said, still reeling from the offer.

“What do you say about heading back in?” he asked.

“I think I still need a few minutes to process everything. You know, think about the fact that you’ve just offered me the biggest opportunity of my life.”

He chuckled, his mouth spreading into that gorgeous fucking smile of his. “Sure,” he said. “Just remember—I wouldn’t ask you to do anything that I didn’t think you were capable of. And the list of things I don’t think you’re capable of is shrinking by the day.” He leaned in and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. “Take your time,” he said. “And come find me when you’re ready.”

With that, he stepped back into the apartment.

I took in a deep breath before throwing back the rest of my drink. As soon as I brought the booze down in a hard swallow, I knew I’d need another before too long, if only to help me deal with everything that was going on.

The balcony was long, to put it mildly. It wrapped all the way around the building, and I decided to do a loop before heading in, figuring that’d give me enough time to sort out my thoughts.

About halfway through the walk, however, I spotted a familiar face standing alone, a drink in his hand as he looked out onto the city—it was Hunter.

As soon as I turned the corner and saw him, my instinct was to do a one-eighty heel-turn and march right back to where I had been. I hadn’t forgotten the way he’d leered at me that first time we met, and hearing what Bryce had said he’d just pulled didn’t make me any more eager to speak to him.

But he looked up and took notice of me, and I realized right away that there was no getting out of a conversation. Things might’ve been tense between him and Bryce, but that didn’t mean I needed to give him the cold shoulder.

“Hey,” he said, speaking in that car-salesman tone, the one that made you feel like you couldn’t trust a word out of his mouth, even something as simple as a greeting.

“Evening,” I said.

I walked up to his side, making sure to keep a good few feet between us.

“You out here by your lonesome?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said. “Just have a lot on my mind.”

“Same here,” he said.

“Where’s Felicity?” I asked. “I’ve been here for a good hour and I still haven’t gotten a chance to say hi.”

“She’s in there doing the whole social butterfly thing. Once she gets into the zone there’s no turning her off. Not until she’s good and ready.”

Then his eyes flicked onto me again, this time in that leering way I recognized.

“That’s a hell of a dress,” he said. “Looks like it was made just for you.”

I turned my head just enough to notice the scent of whiskey floating through the air. And now that I was closer to Hunter I could see that there was the slightest trace of unsteadiness to how he stood.

He was drunk—no doubt about that. I wondered if his reaction to getting shut down by Bryce had been to down a few shots of whiskey and stew in self-pity.

“That fucking fiancé of yours made me look like a real ass,” he said.

Question asked, question answered. I began mentally preparing my escape from the conversation.

“Sounds to me like you were the one who started it,” I said.

Hunter snorted. “He was the one who started it by making that stupid fucking decision to waste money on charity handouts. No goddamn way could I stand by and not say anything while he pulled something like that. We could be making millions on luxury condos in Noe Valley and he wants to play goody-goody with shitty apartments for shitty people. Un-fucking-believable.”

He then raised his hand in front of him, as if signaling to himself to put the brakes on his rant.

“Sorry,” he said. “Don’t mean to talk about business.”

Then he leaned onto the balcony railing, his drunkenness causing him to do it in a very ungraceful manner.

“I gotta question,” he said. “How the hell did Bryce ever get a girl like you, anyway?”

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Just saying,” he said. “You and he got engaged so fucking fast. How the hell did he pull that off with his whole ‘stoic CEO’ act?”

I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to slap him or just turn and walk away. Stupidly, I humored him.

“He was sweet,” I said, almost tricking myself into believing the lie. “He didn’t ogle me when we first met, for one.” I couldn’t resist.

“Well, when you’ve got a body like yours and you’re wearing a dress like that, you can’t really blame a guy for looking,” he said.

Oh, great.

“You’re drunk,” I said, my tone sharp.

He snorted. “You think I need to get drunk to notice how fucking hot you are?” he asked. “Hell, you’d have to be blind to not notice.”

He took a step closer to me, leaving only a few inches of distance between us.

“Listen,” he said, “I know how much of a fucking bore Bryce is. Total stick-up-his-ass prick. But you look like a girl who knows how to have some fun. And you’re not married yet.”

“I’m sure Felicity wouldn’t be too happy to see what you’re doing,” I said.

“She and I have an understanding,” he said. “We’re both the type who has a hard time settling down. So I think you and I ought to just go for it, you know?”

I felt the touch of his hand on my hip. Instinctively, I gasped and jumped back a step. Hunter’s hand slipped off and dropped lifelessly to his side. I would’ve been well within my rights to slap that smug-looking asshole right in the face. Instead, though I can’t say why, I had pity on him.

“Listen,” I said, making my tone as stern as I could. “I know you just got your ego wrecked, and I know you’re drunk. So I’m going to give you the chance to put this stupid, stupid mistake of yours behind you. Got it?”

He snorted again, acting like a petulant little kid. “Fine,” he said. “Whatever.”

Then I jabbed a finger into his face. “And if you ever try anything like that again, I’ll let Bryce know. And something tells me you wouldn’t like what would happen if I did. Understand me?”

“Fine,” he said. “Whatever.”

I knew that I was letting him off easy—too easy. But more than anything I wanted to get the hell out of there.

“Good night,” I shot over my shoulder as I turned on my heels and hurried back inside.

Right then, I needed that damn drink.