more than memories and hormones.” He shook his head, unsure of how to put his feelings into words. “I think you are too, and that’s exactly what I don’t want this relationship to be.” He tore his eyes from the city and took his bite of ice cream.
When he finally got up the courage to look at Molly, she gave him a small smile and nodded. “You’re right, Hunter.”
He drew in a deep breath and reached for her hand. “I would like to hold your hand, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.” She tucked her ice cream back into the plastic bag and set it on her other side so she could scoot closer to him. With her fingers intertwined with his, she leaned her head against his bicep, and they watched the sun paint the last of its rays over the city of Denver.
“I have a very early morning,” Hunter said, though he didn’t want to break this evening.
“Let’s go,” she said, hopping off the tailgate.
Hunter took her home, and he had no idea what the week ahead held for him. At her door, he drew her into a hug and told her exactly that. “So can I call you when I know more?”
“Sure,” she said. “You have my number now.”
“Yes, I do.” He smiled at her, leaned down, and pressed his lips to her cheek. “Thanks for coming along last minute, Molly.” He walked away, his cowboy boots thumping on the steps as he went down them. He was proud of himself for controlling his hormones, and an increased measure of hope filled him that he and Molly could have a second chance at recreating their first love.
The next morning, Hunter arrived at the huge, thirty-seven-story building in downtown Denver by eight-thirty. His appointment with Laura wasn’t until nine, and she was going to go over all of his options for living and getting paid. Once that was done, he had a meeting with human resources to finalize all of his hiring paperwork, and then his lab manager was set to meet him for lunch in the company cafeteria.
“You can do this,” he told himself, but he didn’t get out of his truck. He thought of Uncle Wes, who’d been the CEO before Laura. He’d lived in one of those company-owned condos, and he’d come to this building hundreds of times.
He thought of Uncle Colton, who’d worked on the Human Genome Project and inspired Hunter in his own career in genetics and biology. He’d worked in the labs here too, and he’d survived.
His own father had come here every day—and a lot of weekends—to deal with everything legal for this massive company.
Hunter picked up his phone and tapped to call his uncle.
“Hunt,” Uncle Wes said, his voice normal and not gravelly, which meant Hunter hadn’t woken him. “Getting ready for your first day?”
“Yes,” Hunter said, his throat closing on him.
After a few beats of silence, Uncle Wes said, “Hunter, this is just like going to that animatronics class. You didn’t want to do it, but you did. And you didn’t hate it.”
Hunter smiled at the memory. He’d sat outside on a bench to make that call to his uncle, and Wes had asked him all kinds of questions until Hunter had identified why he didn’t want to take the class.
“Robots are creepy,” he’d told Uncle Wes. And they were, but he hadn’t hated the class. He simply wasn’t interested in robotics, especially with puppets involved.
“I don’t want to have a life I hate,” Hunter said, thinking of the farm and how much he’d love that life.
“You don’t have to work at HMC,” Uncle Wes said. “I think you’ll like it, though. They haven’t had anyone in their labs with your skill set, ever.”
“Then there won’t be anything for me to do.” He didn’t want to analyze the qualities of plastic—what had put the Hammond name on the map. His great-great-grandfather had invented the most common type of plastic used around the world, and that was what had funded Hunter’s extremely comfortable life. It had funded his father’s too, and it would fund his son’s, and his grandson’s, and on and on.
There was plenty of money in the Hammond family, that was for sure.
“There will be plenty for you to do,” Uncle Wes said. “You get to make up what you do, Hunt. Not only that, but you can take this company into a brand-new direction. You can open up brand-new fields for the company to explore. It’s going