She was also correct. I never acted like this—at least not on the surface.
“So you haven’t heard that we had sex this weekend at the conference?”
“No, is that what the rumor mill is saying?”
“Yes, and it’s not true.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you had, you know. He’s leaving when his contract is up in a month and a half or so, which means it would be a fairly unmessy affair. And he’s got…something, hasn’t he?”
Somethingwas the understatement of the century. How hadn’t I noticed it before? For weeks, we’d been working in the same building, in the same company, attending the same meetings and drinking from the same damn water filter. But one rogue erection during a conference talk and suddenly I saw him as if it was the first time, with all his softness and infuriating kindness and stupidly kissable lips.
What was it, anyway, that something?Somethingspecial?Somethingsexy?Somethingmore than both of those things put together?
Fluorine Scout wanted to run experiment after experiment on him. Argon Scout, the Public Scout, on the other hand, wanted to go back to the old way things were, without him.
No. Hudson Bailey and I could not be a thing—not even a totally platonic thing.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve been too busy trying to get this prototype finished. Remember? The one that we were blue-skyingbefore you told the entire world it would be out and ready by next Christmas?”
She waved her hand at me, like the details of her “move fast and break things” ethos hadn’t turned this office fromeasygoing days at the sex toy officetonightmarish crunch to meet this insane deadline.
“Do you ever think about anything but work?”
“You pay me too much to think about anything else. Besides, I think about work twenty-four-seven and it’sstillnot enough.”
She clicked her tongue. “Ah. You’re still hung up on the Mr. Ose deal.”
“You’re not?”
The events of the last thirty-six-odd hours had given memuchto stress over. Clara’s disappointment over our Mr. Ose meeting was at the top of that list. But she couldn’t look less worried.
“I knew it was a big ask, pushing him to order all those units without ever seeing a prototype.”
“Then why’d you ask me to take the meeting? With a guy whohas never even used a sex toy, no less.”
Clara smirked. My stomach dropped.
“Youknewabout that?”
“He mentioned it in his interview. I didn’t think it was relevant. Anyone good at their job should be able to port their skills from one vertical to the other, and he’s proven himself quite adept at doing so, having worked in so many industries as a contractor. Besides, I thought he could learn on the job.”
For a moment, I considered not telling her about his little request. But it wasClara. I told her everything. We were in this business together. She’d picked me up when I was at my lowest, after the GalacticSolutions explosion, and I owed her my unfailing loyalty. “Speaking of learning on the job…He wants me to give him sex toy lessons.” Clara’s eyes lit up, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing. “Lessons, Clara. Not demonstrations.”
She pouted. “And you’re going to, right?”
“I said I would, but I’m going to blow him off. It’s too much. I can’t afford any distractions right now.”
“It wouldn’t be a distraction,” she countered. “Him knowing about the industry is important to our success with The Fantasy.”
“Thenyouteach him!”
A longing sigh. “That’s a young woman’s game.”
“We’re not going to sleep together.”
She pursed her lips. “A pity. But even so, I think you should do it. Especially since the dynamic is…changing…around here.”
Her usually breezy manner shifted. It set me on edge.
