I waspositivethere was something in the handbook that said it was inappropriate to drool over how the CMTRO said your name.
“F-four,” I stammered, double-checking my phone to make sure I was right.
Jay’s smile widened, and it made my stomach erupt with butterflies.
“We’re next-door neighbors. I’m in cube six,” he said, and I nearly whimpered in horror.
Of course we were.
“Here’s your key card,” Jay said, handing me the plain white card. “There’s a lanyard in your welcome packet. Most people just wear theirs around their neck. You need it to get into most buildings,” Jay explained, easily falling in step with me as I made my way to cube number four.
I noticed that Jay wasn’t wearinghiskey card around his neck, and I wondered if it was because he thought it would mess with his too-cool-to-care aesthetic.
“Do you want help settling in? The AI system that runs the cubes can take some… getting used to. She can be ah… a bit sassy. It might be quicker and easier if I introduce you to her.”
My fingers shook as I passed my key card over the black scanner settled next to my charcoal door.
He wanted to… come into my cube? Was that allowed?
“Uhm, isn’t that against some sort of company policy? Like, is it okay for the CMTRO to come into an entry-level employee’s cube? That feels like breaking some sort of rule.”
Jay leaned against my door frame. Crossing his hightops out in front of him, he gave me a lazy grin as I fumbled to open my door.
“I’m the NeuroPath rep for this street. It’s my job to make sure everyone gets settled in with as little friction as possible.”
“You didn’t offer to help Melanie,” I grumbled before I could stop myself.
Why did he think I needed help, and Melanie didn’t? Was it because I kept tripping in front of him!? He probably thought I was a huge dork.
He was watching me with that strange look he’d had on his face in the lab earlier, when he’d told me I needed to choose an older memory to extract.
“You’re right. I didn’t offer to help Ms. Larson.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just as capable of getting my AI set up as she is. I know I’m a klutz, but I’m really smart, okay? I may not have made a great first impression, but I promise, when it comes to the work, I can hold my own.”
Jay’s eyes were shining, and his full lips were tilted up slightly at the corners.
“I don’t think you’re a klutz, Milo.”
My skin sheeted with goosebumps again.
My-loh.
“Yeah, well, you’re the only one,” I grumbled, proving my own point and dropping my key card after my fourth attempt to get the scanner to flash green.
I cursed as my card fluttered to the ground. I moved to snatch it up, but once again, Jay beat me to it.
Suddenly, he was kneeling before me.
I looked down at him, my lips parting as he looked up from where he was crouching, holding my card out to me between his middle and index fingers.
His face was directly in line with my hips, and there was a beat where my crazy brain imagined him crouching before me for anentirelydifferent reason.
My face turned beet red, and that amused smile of his widened as if he were picking up exactly where my freaky little mind had gone.
Oh god.
Oh god, oh god, oh god.
