“There you go. Stop worrying about what society wants. All that matters is whathewants. Which, quite obviously, is you,” Kate scolds. “I’m sure your Lex has many flaws, too. He can’t be all that perfect.”
“He isn’tmyLex,” I respond defensively, knowing she is right about my inability to love myself.
We spend over an hour talking. I tell her everything I can think of, sparing her the steamiest details. I feel like an infatuated teenager confessing her stories about a boy. By the time we hang up, I’m much more confident about myself, and the future seems to hold great promise.
I fall asleep a few minutes later, a dreamy smile on my face, imagining what’s to come withmyLex.
Chapter 28
It’s odd to be alone in my office again. Not only did I get used to Andrea’s presence, but I also grew fond of it. She fidgets, and moves, and sings, and can’t keep an organized desk to save her life. Which are all things I hate.
But the space feels empty now that she isn’t in it anymore, and I keep looking at the bare half of my desk, wishing her screens were still there with her mess.
I’m sure she’s happy to be downstairs again with the others, so I take comfort in knowing that returning to normal is good for one of us, at least. And I can always join the team in the Lair if the silence becomes too oppressive.
That’s exactly what I consider doing when someone knocks on the door. “Come in.”
As if my mind conjured her, Andrea appears as the door opens. She’s wearing the Hulk T-shirt she had on during her first day here, and it throws me back in time to those first moments in the elevator. But the high-waisted black skirt it’s tucked into takes me to a hypothetical future where I rip it off her.
She hesitates, wondering if she should close the door or leave it ajar. Everyone usually does the former, so I say, “Close it.”
She complies and walks around my desk to stand next to me. “Hi,” she greets, bending just enough to be level with me. I don’t need a more vocal invitation to give her a kiss.
“Hi. How was your Sunday?”
“Restful. Yours?”
“I worked.” She frowns disapprovingly. “What brings you here?”
“I’m having issues with the deep learning protocol, and I was told you could help me.”
“I might, but what do I get in exchange?” I try, playful and seductive.
“An app that’ll make you millions,” she snorts with an eye roll while moving to get a chair to sit by me.
I chuckle and save what I was doing. We work for a while, miraculously behaving, finding enough satisfaction in our knees touching under the desk. After about two hours of focused work, I’m done correcting the issues while explaining the process to her. Once everything is saved, she returns the chair to the other side before coming back to me. She doesn’t seem ready to head back downstairs yet. Which is good because I want more of her.
“So, how does it feel to get your office back to yourself? Do you miss me terribly?” she asks, leaning on the desk with her arms folded over her chest.
“It’s awfully quiet now.”
“I wasn’t noisy.”
“You got carried away with the music at times,” I reveal. Vexed, she frowns. “I’m not complaining. I quite enjoyed it when you hummed a tune or sang a verse. Especially the ones in Spanish.”
“I’m not a good singer,” she says with a grimace.
“I noticed.”
Her jaw drops with amused indignation, and she attempts to move away from me. But I hook my fingers in the waistband of her pretty skirt and tug her closer.
“Good thing we won’t have a karaoke machine at the party on Friday.” This time, my teasing earns me a weak punch in the shoulder, but she stays right there. “Do you have your costume?”
Kelex’s eighth anniversary is right around the corner, and like every year, everyone gets absurdly excited about it. It’s always a big fuss, where we treat our employees with an evening of fun.
Since Kevin and I weren’t sure about Kelex’s official birth date, we picked September 23rd—a significant day for several reasons. Richard Rhodes invented the very first version of the hearing aid, and Nintendo was founded on that same date. Three years into celebrating Kelex’s birthday, dressing up as Nintendo characters for the party became a tradition.
Andrea looks very smug when she answers, “I actually won the privilege of being Mario this morning.”
