She joins me behind the desk and opens a script. It has to be her most impressive one, with thousands of lines of code. I’m so enthralled by it that I barely pay attention to her presence so close to me, her flowery scent filling my lungs. This is eons ahead of everything we did when we tried to accomplish the same thing a few years ago.
I’ve known for a while that she was a sensational coder. But this goes so much further than my expectations. She single-handedly created one of the most impressive applications I’ve ever seen.
Humbled and overwhelmed, I turn to her instead. She swiftly looks away, but I gather she was staring at me, probably curious to guess my reaction from my facial expressions.
As she reads the code on the screen, I quickly take her in. It’s as though she’s getting prettier every time I see her. Her profile is gorgeous, and I’ve grown to appreciate her slightly messy curls. Her plump mouth has been invading my thoughts, even though I’ve barely seen her in these past two weeks. The cushiony swells of her lips beckon sin, andI’m ashamed at how much I’ve been thinking of them on me—even in my sleep.
Between my grandmother’s passing and everything else, I haven’t gotten around to finding a new bed partner. Celeste isn’t an option unless I’m willing to endure more of her demands for something serious between us. As I look at Andrea, I realize I don’t want to find some random woman for some mindless release. She would pale in comparison, and I would still end up frustrated and lusting after my new employee.
No, what I crave deep down isn’t just sex. It’sher. I want to fuck her brilliant brains out. Anything other than that wouldn’t be enough. Not anymore.
The thought of it has my cock swelling under my desk. The way it presses against my slacks is enough to bring me back to the moment, and I tear my gaze away and back to the screen.
“How much?” I bluntly ask.
“Um, I’m not sure. I spent well over one thousand hours on it, I’d say.”
“I meant how much do you want for it?”
“Oh …”
For some reason, this seems to be the last thing she expected me to say. But why would she show me her app if not for that?
Taken by surprise, she opens and closes her mouth several times, trying and failing to speak. When she does, she stumbles on her words.
“Uh, at a rate of fifty-five dollars per hour, which is my current salary, it would mean something along the lines of sixty thousand dollars, which seems both too much and too little. I don’t want to pass for an underachieving idiot or a greedy imbecile, so how much wouldyoupay for it?”
I gaze at the door, knowing I’ll get an earful if Kevin hears of this. He’s a ruthless business shark, but it’s not my style.
“What I’m going to tell you doesn’t leave this room. Is that clear?” I gravely ask. Perplexed, she nods. “For a tool like this one, finished and operational, we could be willing to spend around two million for its exclusive usage.”
Her eyes widen and her lips part with shock as she understands that her life is about to change drastically.
And the first thought that comes to my mind is that, even though she’s about to be rich enough to quit and stay home all day, I hope she doesn’t.
Upon hearing Lex’s estimation, my first thought is,Goodbye, pre-cooked meals, hello deliveries!
And the first sentence I formulate is, “Two million… dollars?”
He looks wholly unimpressed by that and answers, “No, rupees.” His sarcasm takes me by surprise, and I can’t even take offense to his tone. Yep, I deserved that one.
“Although yours is well-advanced, it still isn’t finished, so the value decreases. Furthermore, you’re a single individual, not a company, so once more, the price lessens.”
Still hung up on the cold two mil he dropped on me, I’m not registering much of what he says. He notices and snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Focus, Andrea, I will only tell you this once. I have to check the extent of your work, but given what I’ve seen, the price you ask for should range between four to six hundred.”
“Four to six hundred… thousand?” Okay, I need to shut the fuck up until my brain works again.
He doesn’t even bother to answer me this time. “I can help you determine the exact value of your work if you want. I’ll be the one assessing it anyway if you want to sell it to us.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you being so honest? I mean, you can tell me pretty much any number—I don’t know any better. Why are you not trying to scam me?” Or maybe he is, but he’s great at hiding it.
He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. I try to ignore how his bulging muscles stretch the fabric of his shirt, making his impressive physique even more stunning, but I’m a lost cause.
He’s wearing a light blue button-down today, and the sleeves are rolled up, revealing his powerful forearms and the sparse dark hair on them. To add to his state of looseness, a few buttons are undone at his throat. I try to stop myself, but my eyes lower to the triangle of skin exposed. This is like a Bermuda Triangle, and something mystical keeps pulling me to it. His chest is tanned, like the rest of him, and I can see dark hair peeking out from the opened shirt.
