“Hey, Jason,” Charlie said, straightening slightly. “Late night at the lab?”
“Always,” he said with an easy laugh. “Richard’s got us running the sensor calibrations again.”
“All of them? But we just finished?—”
“I know.” He shrugged, then extended his hand to me. “Jason Mercer.”
“Asher,” I replied, shaking his hand with perhaps more force than necessary. The guy worked with Charlie. At HydroCore. My company, as of tomorrow.
“Jason’s on my team,” Charlie explained. “Lead programmer for the sensor array.”
“One of Charlie’s many minions,” he added with a grin that said he didn’t mind. He looked back at Charlie. “A bunch of us are heading to Barney’s. You should come. We need your brain on this calibration issue.”
I felt an irrational surge of irritation. Were they involved? Charlie’s body language said no, but Jason’s obvious attempt to separate us made me wonder.
Charlie hesitated. “I’m actually here with Mia ...”
“Perfect! Bring her too. We haven’t seen her in ages.” Jason’s gaze flicked to me, then back to Charlie. “Unless you’ve got other plans?”
Before she could answer, Mia returned, her timing suspiciously perfect. “Plans? Are we making plans?” Her eyes darted between the three of us, quickly assessing the situation. “Jason! How’s it going, lab rat?”
“Mia,” he said, his smile widening. “We were just talking about heading to Barney’s. You two should join.”
“Mmm, I don’t know,” Mia said, her gaze settling on me with undisguised curiosity. “Charlie was just getting to know her hero here.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at the “hero” comment, but Charlie beat me to it.
“He’s not my—” she started, then sighed. “Asher, this is my friend Mia. Mia, Asher.”
“Charmed,” Mia said, extending her hand with a flourish. I shook it briefly.
“Likewise.”
“So, Barney’s?” Jason pressed, clearly eager to whisk Charlie away.
I was not only reluctant to end our conversation, but vehemently opposed to watching her walk out of this bar with him. “Actually, I was about to ask Charlie if she’d join me for dinner tomorrow night.”
Three pairs of eyes snapped to me with varying degrees of surprise.
“Were you?” Charlie asked, one eyebrow arched.
“If you’re free,” I added, maintaining my composure. I didn’t get a no very often, but Charlie was anything but a sure thing.
“I thought you said you had a big meeting tomorrow,” she reminded me, challenge in her eyes.
“It’ll be done by seven.” If everything went according to plan, I’d own her company by noon.
Jason cleared his throat. “Charlie, we really could use your help tonight.”
Charlie looked between us, clearly weighing her options. “Rain check on Barney’s, Jason? I should probably call it a night anyway. I have an early board meeting tomorrow.”
The same board meeting where I’d be announcing my takeover. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
Jason’s disappointment was palpable. “Sure, no problem. Next time.”
“I’ll walk you out,” I offered as Charlie and Mia gathered their things.
“That’s really not necessary,” Charlie started, but Mia cut her off.
