“Still nothing. I’m sure he’s still just busy. I think he mentioned that all four national broadcast networks sent teams to cover this demonstration. He’s definitely stressed to the max…” Jay chewed on his bottom lip, looking concerned.
I reached out and gently touched his forearm to get his attention.
“We’ll check in on him when we get there and see if we can do anything to help.”
Jay glanced up from his phone, a soft smile spreading across his perfect lips. He leaned forward to kiss me as he reached around me to tug the door open.
“How aboutIcheck in on him, hmm? You have enough on your plate as it is.” He teased playfully. I laughed, tilting my head back, feeling giddy with pleasure as he peppered gentle kisses across my cheeks while gently guiding me out the door.
I was about to tease him back when a sharpgaspcaused us both to jump.
Jay jerked away from me, and I turned to see freakingMelaniestanding on Jay’s porch staring at us like she’d just witnessed a murder.
Her mouth was hanging open, and her eyes were wide behind her cat-eye lenses.
“Ms. Larson…” Jay said, immediately morphing into the corporate version of himself. But I knew it didn’t matter. It was too late. She’dseen.
Jiminy Cricket… we were screwed.
“Mr. Reynolds—I’m sorry, but I?—”
“You what? Shouldn’t you be at themandatorydemonstration that’s due to start in the next ten minutes?” Jay snapped, and I almost reached out to grab his hand to calm him down. I knew he was trying to reclaim control of the situation, but this wasn’t helping. Pissing her off was just going to give her more reason to screw us over.
“Jay…” I whispered, tugging lightly on the sleeve of his t-shirt to get his attention.
At the sound of my voice, Melanie’s gaze snapped to mine, and her entire demeanor immediately changed from shocked to…cold fury.
She narrowed her eyes at me, and I was honestly surprised my breath didn’t mist with how frigid the sunny, California afternoon suddenly felt.
Melanie pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything. She simply smoothed her hands over her pencil skirt and turned her attention back to Jay.
“Mr. Luke Stevens sent me, actually,” she replied coolly, her gaze flicking briefly back to me before settling on Jay’s face. One of her perfectly manicured eyebrows rose, as if she were challenging him to argue with her. “He asked me to come get you, Mr. Reynolds. Apparently, there is a very high-profile guest requesting an impromptu meeting with you inThe Cave. Mr. Stevens is obviously unable to attend as he will be leading the presentation with Mr. Murphy.”
A cold rush of anxiety spiked through me, and I glanced nervously up at Jay. He wasn’t looking at me, though; he was glaring at Melanie. That muscle in his jaw was ticking again, and I swallowed at how angry he was.
“Who is the guest?” he snapped, and Melanie gave him an elegant shrug.
“Mr. Stevens didn’t share that information with me. He simply asked me to escort you to NeuroWell.”
I could almosthearJay’s teeth grinding together in rage. After a long moment, he finally turned away from Melanie, giving me his full attention.
“Are you going to be okay without me?”
No.
“Y-yes, of course. I’ll be fine.”
Jay’s eyes searched mine, and his brows pinched together with concern. He knew how much I hated public speaking.
I could see him warring with his need to protect and support me, and his need to keep up appearances with Luke until we had him under control.
But… it might already be too late. There was no doubt in my mind that Melanie had seen Jay kissing me. If she told Luke, he would know that I’d done something to the chip, and the game would be over before it began.
Our best chance was for Jay to go with Melanie and try to keep her busy until I did what I needed to do on stage.
“Text me if you need me. I’ll come running.”
I swallowed and nodded, glancing at Melanie, who was watching us with a terrifyingly blank expression on her face.
