“How did Ben feel about that?”
His smile twists. “Pissed, but eventually he agreed withme. We were in way over our heads, and there was a company offering us a ton of fucking money to buy a game we made up in college. It made sense to sell. We figured we could eventually use the money to do other things.”
“And then you joined Taskio instead.”
“After the acquisition, we both stayed on to consult forDinoCode.And then a guy at the new company had a sister in New York who was looking for an engineer to help build out the software for a startup she was working on. That was Naomi, by the way.”
“So you took the job?”
He nods. “I came back to New York, then Ben followed me out here six months later.”
“And the rest is history.”
“That it is,” he says, abstracted now. He picks the Brian toy up again and turns it over in his hand.
“Do you regretit?”
“Not really,” he says, setting Brian back on the shelf. “Sometimes I do wonder if we gave up too soon. Or if I gave up, I guess. But I still think it was the right call.”
“I don’t get it. If you made all this money fromDinoCode,why work at Taskio?”
“Well, we were like twenty-three when we sold it. I had to dosomething.I liked the energy of a startup but not the stress, so Taskio was a good fit forme.”
“Makes sense.”
What he doesn’t say is that he’s also practically a founder of Taskio, something he hinted at last week but hasn’t explicitly said. I wonder how big his stake is. Someday it will also make him millions.
I look at Connor like I’ve never seen him before. He’s like, an actual grown-up. Who invents things. That’shot.
“You’ve gone very quiet on me there, Annabelle,” he says, gently drawing his index finger down the bridge of my nose.
“Just—processing. How come you never told me? You know I’ve been playingDinoCode.”
“I figured if I told you, you’d stop.”
I smile. “That is probably true.”
“And honestly,” he continues. “I liked that you were playing it. It felt like my worlds colliding.”
“Man,” I say. “I feel like such a slacker now. No one told me we were out here inventing things. I feel like I need to come up with something.”
“Oh yeah?” he says, pulling in close. He slides his arms around my waist, kisses the side of my neck.
“Definitely. Something’s coming to me, actually.”
He turns me toward the wall, hands guiding my hips.
“Just go with me on this. It’s an educational game for grown women who need to learn to code.”
I feel a warm hand at my neck, then the slide of a zipper. Cool air on my back.
“I’m thinking it’s an animated coconut who loves…bodybuilding?”
My dress slides over one shoulder, then the other. Down my arms.
“You’re right. Too obvious. An animated coconut with an ice cream shop.”
His thumb brushes across the lace of mybra.
