“Hi, Alexander,” she says softly, signing as well. The phone translates easily, and above us, the screen captures it.
“Hi, Andrea.” Her phone shows the words.
“The weather here is very nice. Going back to Seattle will be hard,” she signs as she speaks. The app adjusts for a moment, looking for the right combination of words, and soon enough, the sentences appear perfectly.
“Leaving San José will be hard for many reasons,” I reply. I’ll miss having her close by. And I’ll miss room 504.
“I know what you mean. My boss is so obnoxious,” she jokes. Some people laugh next to us, and the fit of humor helps me relax some more. This isn’t too bad. It’s just us interacting as we normally would.
“I hope he’s giving you a raise for all this,” I answer with a smirk.
Our back and forth is humorous and lively; our chemistry makes us particularly good at this. The second half of the demo unfolds just as great, and this time, people from the audience give us discussion topics.
Soon enough, we get to the end of our appointed time. Andrea concludes her presentation with the PR speech given to her about Kelex’s work, goals, projections…
Some part of me feels compelled to give her more merit in this whole thing, so I turn to the assembly and say, “I’d like to point out that Kelex has only been working on this incredible tool for about three weeks—when we acquired it from Andrea. So, as much as I’d like for my company to take the credit for it, she is, in all honesty, the genius behind it.”
Andrea all but gapes at me, utterly blindsided by my initiative. I then take it upon myself to lead us off the stage, resting a hand on her back and saluting the crowd one last time. Once we’re backstage, two people take our mics off, and we’re sent to the lounge we arrived in to pick up our things.
The sense of relief that I feel is grand, but I imagine she feels even better. The dreaded presentation is over, and she was incredible. We get into the small room, the first ones there, and she shuts the door firmly and turns to me.
Exhilarated, she grips my jacket, taking me by surprise, and brings me down for an ardent kiss. God, how I love kissing this woman.
After a short but intense peck, she moves back to look up at me in wonderment. “Thank you so much. It was… amazing. You were amazing. God, my skin is tingling, and I feel like I could run a marathon.”
A lopsided smile twists my lips, and I bend for a hungry peck before moving back up. “It’s the adrenaline. It’ll go down soon.”
“I don’t think so. I think it’s you,” she blurts out, taken by the intensity of the moment.
My heart flutters at her words but even more at the enthralled expression on her face. The way she looks at me is… dangerous. There’s more in her eyes than lust or need. There’s something deep, meaningful, and undeserved. She shouldn’t look at me like this. And I shouldn’t like it as much as I do.
But here we are.
Nothing comes when I try to answer. What can I even say?
Because words fail me, I let my body respond to her declaration the way it craves to. I haul her to me again, capturing her lips with a hunger that matches my adoration for her. She clings to me, desperate for support.
I’d kiss her endlessly, but voices suddenly resonate outside. Shit, the others are here. We barely have time to step back and arrange ourselves before the door flings open.
“Guyth, you were fantathtic!” Steven utters first, looking at her, then at me. “You two make one hell of a team!” The others chime in, all agreeing.
I glimpse at Andrea, and when our gazes meet, we exchange a smile.
Yes, we make one hell of a team.
Chapter 27
The most anticipated event of this convention is the robot battle, which happens the afternoon that follows our presentation. It’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate our hard work and have fun one last time before heading home later tonight.
It takes place in a separate hall, smaller than the others. There are a few stands there, with companies that are primarily into high-tech electronics or robotic programming. In the middle, there’s an arena the size of a boxing ring, surrounded by high plexiglass walls and a net over top.
A stand offers visitors a chance to bet on their champion, and while money isn’t involved, we can win some cool merch if we get it right. All the fighting robots—essentially weaponized Roombas with armor—are displayed so we can choose. I go over them individually, examining their shapes and gauging their potential.
I’m debating whether to vote for number twenty-three when Lex’s voice says from behind me, “Are you sure about that one, Walker?”
I smile, sensing some teasing coming. “I can’t be certain, but I have a good feeling about it.”
“It’s quite small compared to the others.”
