"Oh, don't worry, I'll be texting you soon enough." Indy grinned and grabbed her purse, getting up. "I'll see you soon, Nat. I'm so glad to be back here."

"It's good to have you back, Indy," Natalie replied. She waved at her friend. "Now shoo. Find yourself a place to live."

Indy grinned and waved, heading to her car to go back to her hotel room to look up places to live.

Natalie waved back and made her way back to her loft. Time to get started on some custom advanced-skill enchantment orders.

It only took Indy a week to find an apartment and move in. She'd have to buy a few new things to make it more homey, but she could take her time with that.

So she sent off a text to Natalie.

I finally got an apartment, I'm getting unpacked now.

Natalie was in the middle of an enchanting when the text came in, so it had to wait until she was done to reply.

Good to hear. Hunter is due home in a week. Come over when he gets here.

Sure thing. Hey, he'll be home in time for that big party coming up. I'm guessing you'll both be attending?

Because if Indira had gotten an invite, even after all the time away from town, then she knew Natalie would have been an invite.

Of course. Because even without a formal invite, Hunter would be welcome if Natalie was.

Great, I'll see him there. If you have a few hours, you can come over say Wednesday and I'll make pastries and dinner. Indy just hoped the text didn't sound as pathetically hopeful as it did in her head.

It did sound pathetically hopeful, but Natalie smiled a bit.

I can be there Wednesday.

Excellent. I'll see you Wednesday, then.

Grinning, Indy went to go make plans for dinner that night.

While she was looking forward to Wednesday, Monday ended up being Natalie's real problem. Running the company meant she had to go to business meetings, and those were never fun. But she did it, dressing in a black pencil skirt, a red blouse with a black jacket, and a silver-and-garnet bracelet that she had enchanted to glow ever so slightly. She sat down in the board room primly, making sure everyone knew she wasn't fooling around.

Richard arrived with his father, since he was being groomed to inherit the company. He was dressed in a navy blue tailored suit with an off-white shirt. He followed his father into the room, hazel eyes scanning the board room, although his gaze froze on Natalie. His heart beat a little faster as something in his mind clicked, and he blinked.

He'd just imprinted. On a business associate.

His father was either going to skin him or promote him.

Natalie shifted in her seat a bit as she felt her skin tingling a bit. She could feel the weight of someone's gaze on her, and she couldn't help but glance around. Before she could stop herself, her eyes landed on the handsome young man who had just walked in. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart sped up. Somehow, the world felt like it had just slipped more into alignment. She could feel her face heat up a bit as she realized what had just happened. She'd just imprinted on someone from a rival company.

Richard cleared his throat after a moment and slid into a seat across from Natalie, managing to tear his gaze away from her to glance at his father, who looked rather bemused but not upset. The meeting started without any further upsets, but Richard couldn't keep his attention on the meeting. He kept glancing at Natalie.

Natalie made a valiant effort to pay attention to the meeting. It pertained to her company, after all. And she succeeded, for the most part, although she spent a few spare moments studying Richard. He was rather handsome, but there was a whole list of reasons why this was a Bad Thing.

Richard stood once the meeting was over, pulling his father aside and speaking to him quietly for several moments. His father looked briefly stunned before he laughed quietly.

"Well, well. It seems we have something extra to discuss," his father said, looking at Natalie's parents.

"Do we?" Natalie's father asked mildly. "I trust there is a reason that this something wasn't brought up during the meeting, then?"

Natalie grimaced a bit. Damn. She'd been hoping to slip out before anything like this happened.

"Indeed. My son has just informed me that we have a more... personal arrangement to discuss. It would seem that these two are meant to be together."

Richard shot Natalie an almost apologetic smile. Hey, it was going to happen anyway, he just wanted to get it over with.

Natalie's father raised an eyebrow and glanced at his daughter before turning back to his associate. "Indeed? This is an... unusual situation we find ourselves in, then."

Natalie just glared at Richard. The glare was a little more half-hearted than she wanted.

"Indeed." Richard's father smiled faintly. "If you need time to speak with your family and decide what kind of... arrangement you are comfortable with, we can always meet again in a few days."

Richard just grimaced faintly at the word. Well, arrangement was better than marriage or merger.

"I believe some time to assess the situation would be beneficial on both sides," Natalie's father replied. He glanced at his daughter again, and Natalie just set her teeth stubbornly.

Richard's father nodded. "Very well. I'll call you Wednesday, then?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. That should be enough time to talk things over, he figured.

Natalie's father nodded.

"Wednesday is fine," he said. Natalie grimaced again. She had plans Wednesday.

"Very good. Until Wednesday, then." Richard and his father both nodded to the others and left, Richard taking one last look at Natalie before he shook his head and followed his father.