Page 85 of Mr. Hotshot CEO

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Full of pastries, webegin walking up Mont Royal, the small mountain within the city. It’s a lovely late-summer day, the blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. When we get to the top, Courtney takes lots of pictures, once again saying it’s for our scrapbook. Then we hike along a trail through the woods. At one point, I pull her to the side of the trail, wrap my arms around her from behind, and kiss my way up her neck. At first she laughs, and then she sighs...and then my lips meet hers. We’re trying to get closer, closer, closer...

By the time we reach the large cross at the other end of the mountaintop, gray clouds are rolling in. The image of the cross against the darkening sky seems ominous, and I shiver despite the warm air.

It feels like something bad is going to happen.

But what? I’m on vacation with a pretty girl, and it’s going well.

I push that odd feeling aside.

As we descend the mountain, it starts to sprinkle. We walk faster in the hopes of reaching the hotel before it pours, but the rain quickly becomes heavier. I didn’t even think to check the weather earlier. It looked like such a nice day.

There’s a crack of thunder in the distance. Courtney starts running, laughing as though it was her plan to get caught in the rain all along. I easily match her stride, and soon we’re running together through the rain, getting absolutely soaked, but it’s okay.

It’s fine. It’s great.

The weather is still warm, so I’m not cold, even though my clothes are drenched. Courtney’s T-shirt clings attractively to her chest.

Suddenly, I realize she isn’t beside me anymore, and I stop and turn back. She’s several paces behind me, bent over with her hands on her legs.

“Sorry,” she says as I approach. “I’m not in the greatest shape.”

When she straightens up, she slides her fingers through my wet hair and kisses me. Her mouth is warmer and sweeter than the rain and I don’t want to let go. Ever.

I love her.

The feeling consumes me. I love Courtney, and it feels different from every time this has happened to me before.

I have no choice: Ineedto make this work.

I pull back and look into her eyes.

“Julian?”

Even though I know what I want, what Ineed, I can’t get the words out.

I’ve had many tough phone calls and business meetings, but none of them caused the anxiety that revealing my feelings to Courtney does.

When we were at Chris’s Coffee Shop, she told me she wasn’t interested in a relationship. Then again, she also told me she wasn’t interested in a casual fling, and look what happened.

But there was nothing casual about it from the start, was there? I asked her to move in with me—temporarily, but still—within a few minutes of learning her name. That’s not like me; I’m usually more cautious. Everything has been different with her, and it feels like some part of me knew she was special from the very beginning.

She told me about her struggles with mental illness, but I’m not afraid of her depression. I want her no matter what, and I’ll find a way to solve her problems.

No, my fear is that she’ll turn me down. After all, she said she didn’t do relationships. I have reason to think she shares my feelings, but I can’t be certain, and if she turns me down now, it would ruin what we have left of the weekend. I don’t want to do that.

I can’t bring myself to tell her yet. I’ll wait just a little longer.

“Julian?” she says again.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

And I kiss her once more.

* * *

It stops raining whenwe arrive at the hotel, the storm perfectly timed for us to get soaked. When we get back to our room, we spend an hour sitting in bed in our white bathrobes, wet clothes in a pile on the floor and cups of tea in our hands. Then Courtney goes to the washroom to get ready for dinner, saying she wants her outfit to be a surprise. I haven’t seen the dress she bought with Naomi, nor have I seen her new shoes.