and rested his arms on the table in front of him. “It’s really what I want, Taylor. I don’t want you to go somewhere else. And hell, yes, you’re ready. It’s not like we’re going to just toss you onto the team, and expect you to sink or swim. Someone will be assigned to teach you all of our procedures so you’ll feel confident once you finish that training.”
“I did learn some things during the time I spent with Harlow as an intern,” I mused.
“I think you owe it to yourself to give Montgomery a shot,” he said roughly. “You’ll always have the option to go somewhere else if it ends up not being your thing.”
“Not being my thing? It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for a new grad, Hudson, and I would have applied with Montgomery at some point in the future. You know that my goal is to assist in the efforts to help mining companies make the least possible impact on the environment.”
He smiled. “You’ll be working on that with a team of people who have the exact same goals.”
My heart was racing as I finally said, “Then I’m agreeing to help you out with favor number two. When do I start?”
I watched as the tension began to disappear from Hudson’s gorgeous face. “When your internship comes to an end,” he said gruffly. “And there is a part two that comes with this favor.”
“Hudson, I don’t need another four or five weeks before I can go to work—”
“You do,” he interrupted. “Christ! You’ve worked your ass off without a damn break for years over the last decade. You took care of Mac and held down a job for three years. After that you worked and grieved. For the next six years after that, you went to school full-time and worked. And then, instead of taking the summer off, you uprooted your life in Stanford and came here to do a demanding internship before you went to a permanent position. To top all that shit off, you ended up in a damn hostage situation where you nearly lost your life. Now that you’re well and healthy again, you need to take some time to yourself, Taylor. I don’t care if you do your pre-employment paperwork over the next five weeks, and you completed the basic orientation before you started as an intern, so it should be a smooth transition. Take this time to enjoy your life before you dive in headfirst into a demanding job.” He paused, looking slightly apprehensive before he added, “Also, I want to help you be completely prepared. Let me help you update some of your electronics. You’ll need a new laptop, an upgraded phone, etc. etc. etc. I’m not asking you to let me do that as your employer. I want to do that as me, Hudson, the guy who cares about you. I’d also really like it if you didn’t make any plans to find your own place. Stay, Taylor. Stay with me here. Not because I’m doing you a favor, but because I’d miss you like crazy if you weren’t here anymore.”
Tears blurred my vision, but I didn’t care. If there was anybody who needed to completely take some time off, it was the man sitting across the table from me right now. Instead, he was lecturing me about taking a vacation. Probably the most touching thing about part two of this favor was it had everything to do with me, and not Montgomery Mining. He wanted this for me because he…cared. Period. Hudson knew me. He saw me.
I wanted to crawl across this damn table, throw myself into his arms, and never leave.
But I held myself back because I had a few conditions of my own. “Nobody needs a vacation more than you do, Hudson, and I’m not talking about taking time off for family obligations, weddings, get-togethers or parties. I want to spend time with you, Hudson, and I want to see you relax. I want at least two weeks. I’ll give you an hour in your office every morning, but after that, you’re mine.”
His eyes grew stormy, like he’d be perfectly happy to put himself into my hands. “Done,” he agreed readily. “Hell, I’m already yours anyway.”
My heart tripped as I saw the possessive look in those molten gray eyes of his.
Although he should already understand how much I wanted him, how I was already his, too, I wasn’t sure he quite understood exactly how I felt.