Eruption

40

He pulled me into his chest and put his hand on the side of my face. "You're quite sentimental tonight."

I breathed in his heavenly scent. "Sometimes I think about when you said you wanted to go to Vegas and..."

"This is what I want too."

"Are you sure? You said you didn't want a big wedding and I..."

"Penny. The first time I got married, I wasn't in love. I didn't have a say in any of the plans. I wasn't excited to walk down the aisle. And before I met you, I never thought I'd get married again." He ran his fingers through my hair. "No one's ever loved me like you love me. This is what planning a wedding is supposed to be like. I liked looking at venues, picking flowers, being excluded from helping you pick out a dress..."

I laughed.

"I've had fun doing all of it. This is going to be our wedding. And I'm so excited to marry you. I thought I didn't want this back then, but I want it now. I want to see you walk down the aisle toward me. I want our friends and family to clap when we have our first kiss. And I want to have a first dance. I want all of it with you."

"I think we should choose this one then," I said and looked down at the chocolate cake. "I'm still going to try all the others though. This place is amazing."

James laughed and released me from his embrace. "There is one last thing to do here."

"What's that?"

He picked up a piece of cake in his hand and lifted it toward me.

"Don't you dare, James."

Before I had even completed the sentence, he smashed the cake against my face. He laughed as I wiped it off my nose.

"Oh, I'm going to get you." I picked up a piece of cake and chased after him.

***

James opened the door for me. As soon as we were both inside, he put his arm across my shoulders.

"They're over there," I said, nodding toward where Sierra was waving her hand in the air. They were sitting at a table and there were two empty seats. "I'll sit next to her."

James laughed. "You're so cute."

We walked together toward my fellow interns.

"Hey, guys," I said. I was about to sit down next to Sierra, but she tapped on the chair. "You can sit here, Mr. Hunter. It's so great that you could join us."

James squeezed my shoulder. "Thanks." He smiled at me and sat down next to her. "But please, you can all call me James."

Sierra beamed.

I internally rolled my eyes and sat down between James and Zach.

"Hi, Penny," Zach said. He was the only one that seemed to realize I had said anything. "You have some icing in your hair, I think." He pointed to the left side of his head.

I wiped above my right ear.

Zach laughed. "No, not mirrored. It's on your left."

I wiped above my left ear.

"You got it." He took a swig of his beer.

James put his arm back around my shoulders. "How are you guys liking the internship?" he asked.

"It's awesome," Tavon said. "Anderson is letting us go through your current marketing strategies to see if we have any ideas."

"And do you have any?" James asked.

Tavon cleared his throat. "Well, we just got started..."

"I'm just kidding," James said. "We don't have to talk about work. Did any of you grow up in the city?"

"Yeah, I did," Zach said. "I went to NYCU like Penny, but we didn't have any classes together. You went to Harvard, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you get a masters there too?" Tavon asked.

"No, I just went to undergrad. I started laying the groundwork for Blive Tech while I was still in school, so I jumped right into that instead of going for my masters."

"And you were one of the youngest millionaires ever right?" Tavon asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"That's freaking awesome. What made you sell Blive Tech when it was going so well?"

"A number of different things. Mainly I just wanted a new challenge."

"And that's why you started teaching?" asked Sierra.

James smiled down at me. "Yes. I taught in New York for a little bit and then transferred to the University of New Castle. I really enjoyed it."

"It's a shame you had to stop."

"Not really. I got everything I wanted from it."

"What, a girlfriend?" Zach asked.

Zach, what the hell?

James laughed. "No. I loved teaching. It was a nice change of pace. But I missed running a business. Well, yeah, and I guess I got an amazing girlfriend out of it."

"Weren't you still married when you moved to Delaware?" Zach asked.

Is he purposely trying to torture me?

James cleared his throat. "I had filed for divorce before moving."

"I was reading about your first wife too," Sierra said. "It's so sad what happened. Were you really childhood sweethearts?"

James looked uncomfortable. "No. It's a long story. Did you guys want refills?"

"That would be great," Tavon said.

"I'll be right back." James squeezed my shoulder and walked toward the bar.

"Oh my God, he's even sexier in normal clothes," Sierra said as soon as James had walked away. "I've never seen him in jeans before."

"What is wrong with you guys?" I said.

Zach laughed. "We're just trying to get to know him."

"No, I agree with Penny," Tavon said. "You guys are being embarrassing. Sierra, stop flirting with him."

"I'm not flirting with him," she said and crossed her arms.

"Penny?" Tavon was looking at me for help.

"You kind of are."

"I'm so sorry. I'll stop." Her face had turned slightly red.

"It's okay," I said.

"And Zach, why are you attacking him?" Tavon asked.

Zach shrugged. "Just trying to figure him out." He was looking at me. "Gauging his reactions to different things."

"Zach, I asked you to drop it..." my voice trailed off when James came back over. He had a beer in his hand and a waiter was following him with a tray of drinks.

"I opened up a tab for the table," James said as he sat down. He immediately draped his arm back around my shoulders.

"Thanks, man," Tavon said. "So what made you get into tech in the first place?"

"Honestly, it was forced on me."

Everyone laughed. I looked up at James. I had never asked him that question and I was curious about the rest of his answer.

"I liked reading in my free time. And my parents hated that. They put a computer in my room and kept giving me games to play on it until I finally got interested."

"You do realize that's the opposite problem all our parents had with us, right?" Sierra asked.

James laughed. "I think they knew there was an opportunity for advancement there. Whereas being an author wasn't something they wanted for me. My older sister was already interested in literature. And they were right. The opportunities in this field are endless."

"So you originally wanted to be an author?" Sierra asked.

James shrugged. "No. I don't know. I was young. I didn't really know what I wanted to be."

I bit my lip. He was never allowed to dream about what he wanted to be. His parents had decided that for him early on.