Chapter Three

They agreed neither one of them should be driving, so Justin scheduled an Uber to pick them up. He watched her, standing a few feet away, at the curb outside, looking everywhere but him. The pause in conversation was enough for her to withdraw, and he struggled to bring her back into the discussion.

He and Antonio had worked late Friday night, bringing everything together in preparation for Monday. Though tonight should have been their Saturday night respite, Antonio called at the last minute and said he needed to deal with some family business.

Justin was disappointed at being blown off. However, the sexy redhead with pale green eyes, who watched him from across the bar and looked away every time he tried to catch her gaze, was a pleasant distraction. Enough to make him forget for a few moments he’d been looking forward to watching Antonio work. The way his voice dropped and his accent grew heavier when he was flirting.

Rather than lingering on that, Justin needed to draw himself and his siren back into the conversation. “What was it that changed your mind about me? The promise of a sexy best friend? No, wait—it was the comic references, wasn’t it?”

It was a bonus that she let him fly his geek flag. It had been a long time since he felt like he could let that side of him show with anyone besides Antonio, and being himself felt good.

Crinkles of laughter scrunched around her eyes. “Depends. Is your friend really as attractive as you say?”

He brought his hands to his chest. “You know how to squash a guy’s ego. But I did ask. Truth is I’d switch teams for him.” The casual statement snagged something in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t grasp the thought. He shook it aside.

A car pulled up to the curb—blue Nissan Versa, like the app said it would be. The driver rolled down the passenger window. “You Justin?”

“That’s me.” Justin opened the back door for the woman and took the opportunity to study her legs—long and slender in something as simple as jeans—when she slid into the car. He sat next to her, grateful for a crowded back seat for the first time he could remember.

“Justin. Got it.” She shifted enough to face him but made no effort to put space between them. Her thigh pressed against his, searing hot and tempting.

He shook his head. “Sorry—what?”

“Your name. I didn’t catch it before. I’m Em.”

The driver maneuvered them into traffic, and Justin was glad he wasn’t chatty. Justin shook Em’s offered hand, letting his touch linger. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Is it?” She was still smiling, the passing streetlights and traffic adding a mischievous glint to her eyes. “Because when we left the conversation, you were going gay for your friend. Which is a hot visual—especially that you don’t mind admitting it—but it leaves me out in the cold if I say he’s the reason I’m going home with you. My final answer is it was actually the possibility of hearing you tell stories about your trips abroad. That, and I assume you have a massive home entertainment system, for playing those horrific movies you mentioned.”

“I knew it. I need to lose that shark line in bars and start leading with Hey, baby. Want to come back to my place and see my impressive equipment?”

Her laugh was light and playful. “Sure. You should do that. Can I watch next time you try?”

“Is that where the appeal is?” It wasn’t what he meant to ask next, and it took him a second for his brain to catch up to his mouth.

“The appeal in what?” she asked.

Might as well go with it, now that he brought it up. “The fantasy of two guys at once. Is the appeal in watching?” He kept his voice low, wanting this discussion to stay intimate and for their ears only.

“The two guys thing was meant to be a shock-value kind of statement. It didn’t carry the impact I thought it would.” Pink dotted her cheeks, and she bit her bottom lip.

She’d meant for her confession about being with two men to deter him. Why didn’t it? “It was close enough to the front of your thoughts for you to grab it as a quick answer. You’ve considered it before.”

“I think you’re as fascinated with the idea as I am.”

“Then you are fascinated by it.” Justin was as well, on an intellectual level. The idea of kissing Antonio, making out with him, more, was enough to raise his blood pressure. Justin had never been attracted to any other man, though, and he wasn’t willing to risk what he had with Antonio for casual experimentation. He didn’t even like entertaining the thought because it was so implausible.

Justin didn’t know what was different about tonight—enough whiskey he’d lost track, the tantalizing woman next to him, or an extra kiss of humidity. The notion wouldn’t leave him alone, especially with Em as part of the vision.

“You still haven’t quite answered—what about the fantasy does it for you?” he asked. Maybe her answer would help him sort out his own curiosities, given he didn’t have another outlet for them. “Is it the multiple points of contact?” He hovered his hand millimeters from her cheek, drawing a path along her face without making contact.

“There’s some allure in that,” she said, “but you were closer the first time.” She tilted her head into his touch, and heat sparked against his fingertips, racing up his arm and igniting his pulse. Her sigh—so quiet he felt it on his palm, as much as heard it—added more fuel to the flames.

He struggled to flip back those few minutes and remember what he said. The fuzz of alcohol and all the blood rushing from his head made it a difficult task. “With what?”

“The watching. The being watched.”

Snippets blinked through his thoughts. Sitting at a distance, while she stripped down and ran her hands along her body in a private show. Making her moan, kissing along freckled skin and finding out where her sweet spots were, while someone else looked on. Being that someone else. Each new scenario danced along his skin and teased, asking which was most appealing. He lowered his head to her ear, inhaling a faint perfume. “In other words, there’s a level of anticipation in knowing our driver is only a few feet away and might catch us if we misbehaved?”

“You’re making it too simple.” She rested her hand on his thigh. Did she know she traced tiny circles along the inside of his leg, making his cock twitch, or was it a subconscious tick?

“Help me understand.”

“There’s an intimacy to it. Two people are attracted to each other, and they do… that. There are sparks.” She met his gaze and held it, licking her lips.

He had to stop himself from kissing away the shine, afraid it would stop her explanation.

“I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” she said. “Even my best friend doesn’t know these things about me.”

“With any luck, by the end of the night, I’ll find out a bit more she’s not privy to.”

“Fair enough. Add a third to something that private, either participating or witnessing, and the intensity rises. It’s kind of like vicariously feeling what they feel, but on a more personal, up-close level.” Em frowned and looked away. “I’m not doing a very good job of explaining.”

“We’re here.” The driver’s sharp tone shattered the immersive bubble around Justin and Em.

Sure enough, they were parked in front of a stucco, three-story house that looked like all the others sprawled along the winding street. Justin adjusted to the shock of being part of the real world again and forced a smile at the man looking back at them. “Thanks, man,” Justin said and helped Em from the car.

His dick didn’t get the signal the conversation was over, and rubbed against the seam of his jeans as he and Em strolled up the walk, their fingers intertwined. It loosed the floodgate on his desire again. When they reached the front door, he twirled her, to place her back against the frame, then cupped her cheek. He dipped his head enough to feel the warmth radiating from her lips. Her quiet gasp screamed in his ears. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job of explaining,” he whispered against her mouth, and kissed her.

The taste of sour apples and cola lingered on her tongue. She pressed into him, grinding her hip against his erection. He slid his hand to the back of her head, to twist his fingers in her hair. He tugged her head back and laid a row of kisses along her jaw and neck.

He managed to fish his keys from his pocket and not let go of her, and was surprised he got the door unlocked without dropping them. “Walk me through this daydream of yours.” He kicked his shoes off, then pushed her back toward the couch. The reality of her body molded to his overlapped with images of Antonio sliding up behind her and joining in the fun.

“I don’t know. Me, you, this friend of yours, and lots of naughtiness?” Hesitation filled her reply. “You know how it works. You’ve seen porn.”

She had no idea how true that statement was. He glided his hands under her top, to dance his fingers up her spine. “I want to hear your interpretation. Are you watching or an active participant?”

“Depends on the day.” More courage worked its way into her voice. She kept her gaze on her hands, as she moved up the front of his shirt, undoing buttons along the way. She trailed her mouth over his chest, tracing the lines of some of his tattoos. “Sometimes I’m watching the two of you make out.” She dragged a thumb over his nipple. “Sitting back and playing with myself, while he covers you with attention.”

Justin liked the way she pulled him into the description, and he had shed enough inhibition that the thought of Antonio’s naked form against his added to his arousal.

It had been a long time since he let himself entertain that image, but tonight it was more vivid and intense than he ever remembered it being. “Playing with yourself? I like that. What next?” He dropped one hand below her waist and ground denim against her slit. She pushed into his hand with a moan, hips thrusting in time to his teasing.

“He kisses down your chest, undoes your pants, ­ and works you free.” She slid his zipper down as she talked. When she wrapped her cool fingers around his warm shaft, he hissed at the shock that raced through him.

“You’re watching while he jerks me off?”

She bit her bottom lip. “Better. While he takes you in his mouth.”

God. Justin could almost feel the heat of lips against his cock, and they were Antonio’s. “What if I want you to be an active participant?” he asked.

“You could kiss me while he was kneeling between your legs.”

Justin liked that suggestion. He sought out her mouth again, bit at her lips, and devoured her groans, until they broke apart with a gasp. “What next?”

Eyes wide, she stared at him and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know or won’t say?”

“Both?”

He was immersed in the daydream, as it bled into this moment, and happy to pick up the slack. “I’ll help. I want to see these full lips wrapped around his dick.” He pulled his thumb along her bottom lip. She flicked out her tongue and drew the digit into her mouth, to trace along the pad, then draw circles, before releasing him.

“So we’ve moved on from him at your feet? If we shift position, does that put you behind me?” she asked.

He spun her and slid his hands to her breasts. “It does. And I’m taking advantage of it.” He pinched her nipples through her bra and shirt, and she gasped.

Her back pressed into his chest, and her ass teased his cock until he thought he might come.

“You look gorgeous, giving him head. Trying to keep up the rhythm, as I roll these nubs between my fingers.” He pulled harder, and she squirmed in time with his touch.

Her breathing grew shallower. Her pants rubbed against his exposed dick, creating enough friction it almost hurt, but still enticed. “I might lose track of what I’m doing if you keep that up,” she said.

He dropped one hand to the button on her pants and undid them. “I’ve lost track of what I’m doing. Watching your ass wiggle in the air, I can’t help but slide my fingers between your legs.” He pushed under her panties and dipped into her folds. “Fuck. You’re soaked.” In the fantasy and in real life—the combination kept him anchored.

“Because I’ve never done something this intense before.”

Him either. “I can’t let him have you all to himself. I need to be inside you.”

She wiggled her ass one more time, then hooked her hands in the waist of her jeans and pushed her clothes to the floor. He barely had the presence of mind to grab a condom from his wallet and roll it on.

Hand on her back, he pushed her forward. She caught herself on her palms and knelt on the edge of the couch. Her gorgeous, round butt teased him, temptation hiding between her legs. Would this have been so potent without the verbal play? He was grateful he didn’t have to find out.

He nudged her pussy, then thrust forward, pushing his cock deep inside her. Gripping her hip with one hand, he moved the other to her clit.

When he found the swollen button and circled it, she cried out and drove back into him. He pumped against her while he rubbed her sex, using her gasps to pace himself. “Are you still sucking him off while I fuck you?” he asked.

“Yes. But not for long. He’s close, and I’m too distracted by what you’re doing. I have to pull back, but he’s stroking himself.”

Justin was too lost in the fantasy and in Em, to keep talking. He pressed harder against her clit, and her pussy clenched around him when she came.

She didn’t pull away, and he didn’t ease up. The squeezing around his shaft mingled with her cries, drawing him toward climax. His legs threatened to give out, but he steeled himself. Digging his fingers into her pelvis, he pounded hard and fast, the slap of skin against skin filling the room.

He grunted as orgasm spread through him. His vision narrowed, his ears rang with their mingled sounds of pleasure, and the scents of sex and whisky teased his nose.

After he was spent and her screams faded to whimpers, he slowed down, then puttered to a stop.

“God damn.” He bent at the waist, to lay kisses along her back, then pulled her upright.

She wobbled, and the lack of balance was enough to send them tumbling to the couch.

“I think you left a mark.” She splayed her hand over her hip.

He pushed her back enough to kiss the pale flesh. “Better?”

“I don’t think it will stop the bruising, but I’m not complaining.”

“Fuck. That was incredible. And you felt amazing.” As the endorphins from pleasure ebbed, logic seeped in. Did he really do that? Fantasize about his best friend sucking him off? About sharing this woman with Antonio? How was Justin supposed to face him again?

Em curled up against him and rested her hand on his stomach. Her gentle breath fell across his chest. “Thank you for the fantasy,” she said.

Right. It was only a daydream. Antonio was attractive, but it wasn’t as though Justin harbored a secret crush on him. This was fun and games and a one-night stand. Nothing more.

He didn’t realize he’d dozed off, until sunlight struck his closed eyes, jarring him awake. He stretched and realized he was alone on the couch. That was a bit disappointing.

“Em? Are you still here?” he called through the house.

No answer.

Bummer.

There was a note on the coffee table. The flowing script said, Thanks for the wonderful night and the memories. Good luck with your investors.

The sentiment made him smile. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed it. Better still, her good luck meant she’d been listening to him last night. Even if he’d never see her again, it was nice to be heard beyond the sex.

His phone beeped. That must be what woke him up. He grabbed it from the floor, where it had tumbled at some point during their playtime. Antonio had left a voicemail saying they could start their day whenever Justin was ready.

Hearing Antonio’s voice didn’t make Justin squirm as much as he’d expect. He could push the fun of last night aside and brace himself for the long weeks ahead.

Chapter Four

Antonio made himself comfortable at Justin’s kitchen table and opened his laptop. The motions were familiar and comforting—things he’d done dozens or possibly hundreds of times, since Justin bought the house a few years back.

“My apologies for last night.” Antonio would have rather been working. Even though it shouldn’t be necessary, it was better than showing his father’s business partners around town and pretending he didn’t recognize all the subtle attempts to remind him how much better things were back in Milan. Their efforts had the opposite effect.

Justin had offered to keep him company, but Antonio didn’t want him knowing the real reason for the visit. He didn’t intend to reveal his father urging him to come home, unless things got that bad here. Which they wouldn’t.

Justin took a seat, tablet in hand for notes. “We needed a night off anyway, and I kept myself busy.” There was the tiniest catch in his voice. It could have been a swallow, or a pause to breathe.

Antonio knew it was more. “What did you get up to?”

“You know—a bit of this, a little of that. A lot of gorgeous redheaded siren with a brain to match.”

Antonio almost pushed for more, but something he couldn’t define stopped him. “You and your redheads.”

“Anyway.” Justin’s voice was too sharp in the quiet room, echoing off polished stone and stainless steel. “What else do we need to cover before tomorrow?”

“We need to make sure we’re not missing any tiny details.” Last night didn’t matter. Either Antonio’s company or whatever Justin got up to that he hesitated to share. If they got this right—making the retainer and Grant happy, while still letting their side project continue—Antonio would remain in the States. He hated the idea of letting his father down, but proving this company was not only viable, but also cutting edge, would soften the blow of him staying here. With Justin.

 

* * * *

 

Antonio paused out of view of the office lobby, taking a few seconds to steel himself for the day ahead. They had a plan. Whoever this woman was, she’d be shown what she needed in order to do her job, and he and Justin could carry on as necessary, to do theirs.

He didn’t need to ask Reception who the retainer was. She was the only other person in the room. The redhead in a pinstriped suit, perched on the edge of her seat as if getting comfortable was the last thing she wanted. She was gorgeous, and exactly Justin’s type.

Lust surged through him, catching Antonio off-guard. Even with her mouth pinched in a flat line and her eyes dull and cast at nothing in particular, she was attractive. Cute in that deceptive way that probably fooled people into thinking there was nothing under the surface. Something told him she took advantage of that assumption. She must have some defense in place, to be in a position like hers.

“Ms. Lowry.” Antonio stopped in front of her and extended his hand.

She stood and smoothed her skirt, before returning the greeting. “Emily, please. Mr. Conroy?” Her voice was lilting and pleasant, but didn’t hold any traces of hesitation. That was sexy.

Which was completely inappropriate for Antonio to think. Don’t hit on the employees. Usually he didn’t need reminders like that. “His schedule is packed this morning, though he’ll try to stop by later and introduce himself. I’m Antonio Bianchi. Co-founder and development manager. Antonio is fine. I’ll be your primary contact while you’re here.” He gestured toward the elevator banks. “This way.”

They crossed the room, her heels not echoing on the tile as loudly as they should. Was she walking with a light step on purpose?

“How much do you know about our business?” His question came out gruffer than he expected. He needed to find a balance between being polite and stowing his attraction. He took a deep breath and counted to three as they waited for the lift, forcing his racing thoughts to calm.

She pursed her lips and stood a little straighter. She was only a few inches shorter than him and met his gaze, unwavering. “Grant gave me an overview of your specialties and what he’d like to see accomplished while I’m here, and I spent several hours on your website.”

“In other words, not much of anything.” Christ, he was being an asshole. They stepped into the waiting car, and he hit the button for the third floor, where his programmers sat.

Her scowl said she agreed with his assessment. “I’d like to hear the details from you. Someone in your position is more familiar with everything I need to know.”

Justin would give her most of those details. He excelled at selling people on the dream that built this company. He had a vision and a compelling way of sharing it. Besides, they agreed Antonio’s job was to give her enough to keep her busy and cut her out of everything else.

“I’m pressed for time this morning as well. I hope you understand. Things like company vision and real orientation will have to wait.” At least until he could still his racing pulse enough to deal with her professionally. The doors slid open, and they stepped onto the office floor, rows of cubicles spanning in front of them.

“That’s fine.” Her voice was low but firm. She stepped in his path, forcing him to look her in the eye. “I’m not here to take work from you or take away this vast thing the two of you have built. My job is to make yours easier. To do whatever grunt work is related to the project.”

He raised his brows at what sounded like a well-rehearsed speech. “That’s good. How long did it take you to refine it?”

She looked away for a brief moment, before looking at him again. “This is my fourth attempt.” Some of the formality vanished from her voice. “I close with offering to treat you and Mr. Conroy to dinner—on Grant’s dime—so you see I’m like any other developer you’d hire.”

“With the exception that we don’t typically give our programmers that kind of expense account.”

Her shoulders slumped, and her expression softened. “I don’t want to argue with you, but I will. I’d prefer you give me a task, and I’ll do it.”

That was the opening he needed to put her to work, and out of his distraction range. “How familiar are you with Source Secure?”

“Intimately.”

The single word triggered the last kind of thing he should be thinking. Whispers of how he’d approach her differently if she weren’t working for him. If he’d met her at a bar, like Justin met his redhead Saturday night. The stunning woman with the light walk and the tempting hips that begged to be grasped, while he pushed her back and kissed away her shy smile and turned it into something mischievous.

That needs to stop now. “That’s where we do source control. I flagged a series of files in there. Some are documentation. Others, the code that goes with it. Read through them, to familiarize yourself with the system.”

The creases in her brow deepened.

“Do you have any questions or concerns?” he asked. A voice in the back of his mind screamed that he was being unreasonably harsh, but he wasn’t in the mood to listen.

“I don’t have a problem learning, but I may absorb more if you sit me with someone, rather than give me a series of notes without a point of reference.”

“Did my accent make me difficult to understand? You’re here to do whatever we need, are you not?” Antonio asked.

“I am.”

“That’s what we need. Your desk is right there.” He led her to a cubicle set up with its screen facing his door, that allowed zero privacy, and she followed his gaze. “Your Active Directory login and temporary password are on a sticky note, and there’s a number to call if you need helpdesk support.”

She looked back at him, face pinched. “And if I have questions about what I’m reading?”

“Make a list. I’ll see if I can find a resource for you later. Anything else?”

“No. I’m on it.” She walked the short distance to her new work home.

He wouldn’t watch her ass in that skirt. He had his own work to do. He headed to his office and settled in front of his computer. Sitting in a spreadsheet in front of him was his actual backlog of work. It started with bug fixes—things that could introduce her to the code much more effectively. Tasks that needed to be done but kept getting put off. This was what he and Justin agreed on, though.

Jackass. The word echoed in Antonio’s head, taunting him. Not only did he shove real help aside, he also ogled her in the process. She was knowingly a contractor for a man who took some sort of perverse joy in making his investments jump through hoops. Antonio was surprised she didn’t call him on the menial labor. Was she really that amicable, or was she keeping track of every slight and misstep she could report back to Grant?

It didn’t matter how many directions Antonio tried to drive his thoughts in, he kept coming back to the fact he hadn’t given Emily a chance. He really was being an asshole. A horny, spiteful—

A knock drew his attention, and he looked up, to see Emily standing in the doorway. She didn’t look any happier than when he shooed her away, nearly an hour ago.

He forced a blanket over his mind, to at least be civil. “Yes?”

“Is this what you have all your developers do when they start working for you?” The quaver in her words vanished by the end of her question.

“No.”

“Do you think I’m not qualified for the job?” She crossed her arms.

There was no reason to make this worse, but he struggled to find an apology. “I assume you’re quite qualified.”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Then give me something to do that will teach me and will actually help you meet your deadline.”

“How do you know this won’t?”

“It doesn’t matter how anal a company is when it comes to documentation—and few even bother to make it a priority—unless they’re about to be audited, they don’t care about shi— things like this. And if you are about to be audited, you don’t expect someone to code from your documentation; it only has to be readable.”

“What is it you expect of me, Ms. Lowry?”

Several seconds passed before she replied. “Give me a real task list, and if I need orientation before I dig into your code, hand me over to someone who can provide that.”

He glanced at his screens, and his project timeline mocked him. He dragged the spreadsheet over to his primary monitor, then turned the second screen to face her. “Grab your laptop, and you can follow along.”

She relaxed her shoulders, and a smile ghosted across her lips. “Be back in two seconds.” When she returned, she set up her machine so she could see both it and his screen, and looked at him. “Whatever you do, don’t go easy on me.”

His helpful mind summoned a new interpretation for her statement, of pushing her onto the desk, shoving her skirt to her waist, and sliding between her legs. What the fuck is wrong with me today?

She didn’t know what she was asking, and he needed to stop letting his mind wander. He’d give her the same orientation all new developers received. He tended to be the one who did that first-day training, because the system was his. He’d done this enough times to have an idea of when to pause, when to nudge for questions, and when to plow forward.

He gave her a brief rundown of how the AI worked, and she nodded through the entire thing. That was a good sign. He pulled up the data structure. “We have a fourteen-layer normalization.” He paused and waited for her eyes to glaze over.

“Why?” she asked.

The simplicity of her query caught him off guard. Everyone else came back with an argument about how that was stupid or didn’t make sense, or they simply stared at him blankly. He laid out the answer, complete with all the technical details.

“That makes sense. But typically, when I see a system that’s created for flexibility, even the programmers struggle to extract information. How do you get around meaningless naming conventions and still keep things open ended?”

As the overview continued, she snapped back several more questions that implied she not only understood everything he was saying, but she also didn’t have a desire to argue. Despite not wanting to like her, knowing one misstep while she was around could cost them financing, and telling himself she was nothing more than another cog, he liked how quickly she caught on. This kind of intelligence was sexier than the peek of lace from her thigh-high stockings each time she shifted in her seat.

Antonio hated to admit it, but so far she was impressive.

He didn’t realize how much time had passed, until his messenger chimed through his speakers. It was the daily roundup, to see who wanted lunch. “I didn’t mean to work you this hard. It’s noon. We should take a break.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll stay at my desk and work through what we’ve gone over so far. I won’t bill it back to Grant; I want to make sure I have a good grasp of what you’re telling me.”

Anyone else, and he’d wonder if the statement was either a way to kiss ass or some sort of passive-aggressive attempt at guilt. Nothing but sincerity shone in her eyes, and given how plainly she wore her emotions earlier, he believed she was genuine.

A sliver of regret wormed its way in, that he treated her poorly less than four hours ago. “Would you like company? We’ll have something brought in and go over what we covered.”

“Don’t you need to catch up on work?”

“I do. But an hour’s not enough time to find my focus. Let’s get you taken care of, and then I’ll get work done.”

He asked one of the guys to pick something up for them, then continued to review with Emily until the food arrived. He stepped out of the room long enough to grab their lunch. When he returned, he was surprised at what he saw.

“Didn’t expect that,” Antonio said. He set her sandwich, chips, and drink in front of her, and took his to the other side of the desk.

“Expect what?”

“You still reviewing.” He grabbed a fork. “You have five minutes free of the boss’s watchful eye, and I figured you’d be checking your email.”

“I wouldn’t do that. We’re working.”

He raised his brows. “Every person I’ve met, no matter how dedicated they are to their job—and that includes me—checks their phone the moment they have a breather. I don’t need a predictive algorithm to tell me that. It’s just the way things are.”

“Apparently you do need one. Unless you’re blowing smoke about what yours is capable of, it would have told you, based on my previous behavior, that I wouldn’t be looking at email when you got back. Or texts. Or anything like that.”

“Don’t pull that I’m not addicted to my electronics bullshit with me.”

She laughed and grabbed a potato chip. “I never said I didn’t check.”

He ran the conversation through his head. “But you implied it pretty heavily.”

“All right. I did do that. I looked when you left the room. From there, reality gets boring though. No new messages. No notifications on social media. I ran out of things to look at before you got back.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not. My life is that dull.” She didn’t look bothered by the conversation. Instead, amusement danced behind her eyes.

“Are you kidding? That sounds wonderful. I love the idea of not having a queue of pending notes because I kept my head down for an hour.”

“You’re full of crap.” There was no malice in her words. “You’d go nuts if you found yourself without something to do. I mean, I’m guessing, but a guy like you in a high-profile job like this drives hard because you don’t like to slow down.”

Good point. Not that he was giving her the satisfaction of conceding. “I might; I might not. It’s been a while since that was an option, and some days I do miss not being tethered. Back to it?”

“Doritos and education. Sounds perfect.”

“I would have aced school if they offered that kind of reward,” he said.

Her shoulders relaxed, and some of the stress seemed to drain from her neck, so she didn’t sit as stiffly. “Takeout as incentive for pop quizzes? Pizza for exams?”

“Not pizza. Not the way they make it here, anyway. I’m thinking a shot of Nyquil and an afternoon nap, for acing the final.”

“Nyquil? Isn’t that a bit…” She bit her bottom lip.

“A bit what?”

“Nothing.”

He took a sip of his drink. “You were going to say a bit high school, weren’t you? Poking fun at getting drunk off cough syrup?” This was nice. He was surprised but pleased with how easily the banter flowed.

“I was, but I realized that if you didn’t grow up in the States, the joke might not mean the same thing culturally.”

As pleasant as the teasing was, they did have work to do. “Dad and Mom did let us indulge a bit younger than is common here. Review time. Tell me the kinds of data sits at the tertiary level.”

“Nice try. We didn’t cover that. I’ll make you a deal—you give me that information, and you can have my cookie.”

“A bribe. Smart woman.”

She shrugged. “I know the way to a man’s heart. Pry open the ribcage.”

“Ouch. Brutal.” He expected her to say through his stomach, but that wasn’t right either. The answer was definitely his brain. She was almost more invested in this conversation that Justin was.

Antonio hated the thought the moment he had it. Justin was burned out and answering to someone else’s whim, but he wouldn’t throw everything away. They were all trapped in this situation, and the only way out was through it

To be continued…

Chapter One – Two |  Chapter Five – Seven

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