And I was. I absolutely was.
But was Hudson?
I’d tossed off all my personal and professional obligations the night before in the hopes that Hudson would finally make a move. That he would finally crack under the pressure of his upcoming departure from BuzzCorp and sweep me up into his arms, shouting that he knew I’d wanted to keep things professional, that we always had a deadline to this relationship, that he understood my fears about intimacy, but he didn’t care. His heart was on the line, and it was mine for the taking. All I had to do was say yes.
Only…none of that happened. The next morning, I was thoroughly sated after a long night of hotel sex, full of breakfast bagels delivered by my oh-so-handsome bed companion, and ready to face a day of BuzzCorp work…but I was no closer to Hudson telling me he loved me.
My pre-departure anxiety came rushing back to me. I’d been to New York a few times for conferences like this one, and back in high school and college, I’d attended (and won, thank you very much) more academic contests and quiz bowls than I could count. Back then, I hadn’t thought much of the city. Even for someone as studiously disciplined as I was, the constant, inescapable cacophony of bumper-kissing cars and yapping sidewalk strutters and rattling construction drove me to the brink of distraction. An unsettling feeling for someone who’d been able to bury her head in a book and escape the world anywhere else.
In short, in times past, I’d always come to New York with a timer on my heart, counting down until the very blissful second when I got to finally leave.
Now I wanted time to slow. To defy all laws of physics and slow—just to give us a little more time. Surely if we had just a little more time, he’d open up.
Right?
“Scout, what do you think?”
“Hm?”
Yanked from my internal stewing, I returned to the moment at hand. Hudson gestured to the glass in front of us, through which we could see the diverse group of twenty or so testers being candidly interviewed by Addie and several other members of the marketing team. The conversation was lively—laughter and jokes abounded. It wasn’t surprising to see the envy in Hudson’s eyes, and I felt for him. I really did. He wasterrifiedof that sort of openness. Terrified of the rejection that might come with it.
“It’s just that they’re very brave. I know the men don’t want to talk on camera and that’s a problem for the marketing team, but still. They’re very brave to even talk about it in this setting,” he said by way of explanation. “What do you think?”
“I don’t think we should be scared of what we want. Ever,” I said, hoping the pointed tone might somehow get through to him. “I mean…what wouldyousay if you weren’t afraid of how people would react?”
We both tore our gazes away from the focus group and met somewhere in the middle. His eyes brimmed with promise. Was this the moment? Was he finally going to—
Crash.
The suite door slammed open. Clara stood there, framed by the blue metal, her hair out of place for the first time…I want to sayever?
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, flailing wildly.
I frowned. “Observing the focus group.”
A knot tightened in my stomach. Clara wasneverout of sorts.Never allowed herself to be flapped. If she was like this, then we must be in a DEFCON 1.
“Haven’t you checked your phone?”
“No, it died last night and—”
Unwilling to finish that sentence withI was in Hudson’s room and since he has a stupid Android, I didn’t have anything to charge it with,I trailed off.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Jared is claiming to own a patent on the slip-stick wire coupling we use in The Fantasy’s major control systems. He somehow got into our storage yesterday and looked at the final prototypes. No idea how the hell he did that, but he’s ready to sic Lloyd’s legal dogs on us.”
I knew how he did it.
When Hudson and I returned the test unit we’d “borrowed” yesterday, we must not have locked the door behind us. I’d been so wrapped up in my flirtations and myfeelingsand my stupid dream of a New York City rom-com moment that I’d forgotten the most basic thing about a top-secret product rollout.
Double-check all the locks.
“It’s not his design, though,” Hudson said. “Right?”
“No, of course not. That’s not the point. They’re just saying this to spike our launch. Which means that if we’re going to make all of this go away by then, we’re going to need to find a new coupling to use. Which means we need to update the prototypes, adjust the costings, revise the specs we give to investors. It’s fractions of a dollar per unit, but we must be up front with them.”
My world narrowed around me. I barely had the breath to reply:
“Okay.”
