So he can’t love me.
-??-
Chapter 35
Lincoln's POV
Gabby looks so sad in this moment, and all I want to do is hold her. I’ve been trying to deny my urges… the need to just take her and kiss her, to drop to my knees and beg for her forgiveness. I’ve been trying not to fantasize about making love to her or her coming back to me, forgiving me.
When she touched me earlier, my brain honestly didn’t know what to do with that situation. It’s something I had dreamed of so many times that when it happened, I had to retreat inside my mind to question whether or not what was actually happening was real or just another dream, one of those endless dream cycles I had when I was hurting over Gabby leaving.
Because… well… what happened wasexactlythe same thing that happened in one of my dreams. She had come over to pick up some of her stuff, and I swore she would never want me again, but then she touched me the way she used to. Then her hand slid all the way down to cup my erection. That was the first wet dream I’d had in alongtime. She was about to suck it, and I was so upset because the dream ended there. And then just now in the living room… she didexactlythat before stopping at almost the same point. Well… when we were married, and somany times, she would flirt with me and touch me like that, right before swallowing my dick.
Damn.
She said she doesn’t want me anymore.
That hurt.
But I deserve that.
But then why did she touch me like that?
Is she trying to tease me?
Because if so, it’sworking.
I’m going to need to get a nut off before going to work.
I reallydowant to help her, though.
I caresomuch for her, and I feel horrible about her losing her job, especially because of Sarah.
And if Sarah were anybody else and not my friend, or not someone I needed to work closely with, I’d have kicked her to the curb.
But Sarah is too important.
Even though the robot news has launched, there’s still so much work to do.
The testing phase is already a nightmare. People make their pre-orders, but that just means the real hell starts for us. Once thosepre-orders hit a certain number, Helion and the rest of us have to start stress-testing units in the field, closed environments, open environments, weather resistance, task adaptability, all of that. We have to monitor user data, patch problems on the fly, and document every flaw, every glitch, every behavioral hiccup.
And the thing is… the boss is already talking about the second edition.
Making this one with just enough flaws so that when we roll out the next version, people will think it’s an essential upgrade. Incremental upgrading of software and hardware. Classic strategy.
You give them 85% the first time, then 90%, then 95%, and you stretch them along that line for as many versions as you can. Consumers eat that shit up. It’s how you maximize profits without blowing your load on the perfect model right away.
If I thought the work was bad before, if I thought it was demanding, this is going to be evenworse.
Nonstop updates.
Field reports.
Fixes.Constantfixes.
Meetings. I’mbarelyhome as it is.
But… there will be something nice about someone watching over Morris. And even more… there will be something nice about having Gabrielle under the same roof as me again.
