“I Saw My Boss Sunbathing." She Smirked, ‘Enjoying the View?’ I Said, ‘More Than I Should.’

Описание: I wasn't supposed to be on that terrace.
That's the part I keep coming back to. If my laptop hadn't died during the afternoon session, if the hotel's business center hadn't been locked, if I hadn't remembered that the rooftop terrace had outlets near the far wall — none of it happens. I walk past a closed door, go back to my room, order room service, and wake up the next morning the same man I was the day before.
But my laptop died. And the business center was locked. And I remembered the outlets.
So I pushed open the terrace door, stepped into the warm Carmel afternoon, and stopped walking.
Adrienne Holloway was lying on a sun lounger ten feet away from me, eyes closed, wearing a cream-colored swimsuit, one arm hanging loose off the side of the chair. She looked like someone who had been there for hours and planned to stay for several more. The sun was hitting the terrace at an angle that made everything look like a photograph, and I stood there holding my dead laptop like an idiot, unable to make myself move in any direction.
I watched her breathe.
I'm not proud of that. But I did. I stood there and watched her breathe and thought about how I had sat across from this woman in fifty-three meetings over two years — I know it was fifty-three because I kept detailed notes and the number stuck — and I had never once seen her look like this. Unguarded. Soft around the edges. Like the version of her that existed before she learned to walk into rooms like she owned the air inside them.
I should have turned around.
I was already turning around, actually. My right foot had already started moving backward. And then she spoke.
"Enjoying the view, Callum?"
She still hadn't opened her eyes.