Chapter 3 FIRST SIGHT

CHAPTER 3

FIRST SIGHT

ZAC

"I'M JUST NOT SURE THAT I understand how this is going to move forward," Callum, my Scottish contact, remarked to me over the video call we were on.

"Take a look at the outlines I sent you," I replied. "That covers everything you need to know. And if you have any questions, you know you can always come to me, of course."

"Of course," Callum said, and I heard him shuffling papers off-screen.

The two of us had arranged this call earlier in the week so he could go over the details of the new expansion plan I was laying out to work with his tourism firm in Scotland. He could be a little skittish, and this was basically a chance for me to remind him that this was what he had asked for from me and that I wasn't going to let his nerves get the better of him.

"But do you really think we can do this?" he asked, and he looked down the camera lens at me, his nervous brown eyes flicking this way and that as though he was trying to parse just how serious I was with all of this.

"I can show you the success I've had in France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland if you'd like," I replied patiently. "But I'm sure you're pretty well acquainted with that yourself, am I right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have agreed to this in the first place."

Callum grinned. I knew that I had managed to say the right thing. With guys like him, it was just a matter of finding the right button to press and then you could get what you'd been after.

"You're right," he conceded. "Can I call you back later? Once I've had a chance to go over all of this?"

"Of course," I replied. "Speak to you soon, Callum."

He ended the call, and I was suddenly standing in that meeting room all by myself in total silence. But not for long as I suddenly remembered that I had agreed to have lunch with my mom. She would likely be waiting for me downstairs already, and if I was late, I would never hear the end of it.

I grabbed my coat and headed down toward the reception area where I knew that she would be waiting. And sure enough, she was there-but she wasn't alone.

There was a woman with her, a woman I'd never seen before. Mom was chatting with her as she headed over to the door, and the woman seemed animated as she talked back. She had a long rush of red hair that fell to her shoulders and bright green eyes that seemed to glow against her milky-white skin. She was dressed in what looked like a suit, though I couldn't make out if it was one of the kind that I saw around here a lot.

Did she work here? I was pretty sure I would have remembered someone like that working here. That was for sure.

As soon as the door closed behind this mystery woman, Mom turned and laid eyes on me. With a big smile on her face, she made her way across the reception area and gave me a big hug.

"Zac," she said happily. "So good to see you. Did your meeting go well?"

"Yeah, it did," I replied, and I nodded toward the door. "And yours?"

"What are you talking about?" Mom asked, and she shot a look over to the spot I had just seen her with the woman. "Oh, that girl? She's just a-uh, the daughter of a friend of mine."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked as I slipped into my jacket.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because there isn't a single one of your daughter's friends that you haven't tried to set me up with over the last couple of years, but I've never seen that woman in my life."

"You're too much of a cynic," she remarked cheerfully as we headed for the door.

"And you're too much of a liar," I responded. "Why did you meet her here? Is there something I should know?"

"Because interviewing for your personal assistant position shouldn't happen outside the office," she replied.

I sighed heavily as we headed out onto the street together. "I thought I'd made myself clear. There is no personal assistant position to interview for. We talked about this, remember?"

"Yeah, and we also talked about how you're going to lose your mind if you don't take a break every now and then," she pointed out.

"That's not a call you get to make," I said, trying to protest, but I knew as soon as I said it that she wasn't going to hear a word that came out of my mouth.

"I'm your mother. I'm the only one who gets to make that call." She looped her arm through mine protectively. "So, where are we going for lunch today?"

I sighed, and we headed down to the taco place I knew she liked, not far from the office building. She would never suggest it herself because it was pretty pricey, but she always seemed to forget I could actually afford to pay for fancy places for her these days.

She never liked to ask anything of me. Sometimes, I would have preferred she ask a little more before she just went headfirst into my life and tried to prove that she had control over everything she wanted control over.

By the time we were seated at our table with a spread of delicious food in front of us, I figured it was as good a time as any to remind her that I didn't need her meddling in my personal or professional life any longer.

"You know, you really should call that girl who was in today and let her know there isn't really a personal assistant position open," I said as she took her first bite of her taco. My mom doesn't understand I don't need any assistance, I could handle everything on my own just fine.