But Maria interrupts my amorous impulses, barging into the office without knocking.

  “Hey, big bosses, we’re going to lunch, you want to…” She trails off. “Did I interrupt something? Were you two having a moment?”

  “No, of course not.” Reese stands up abruptly, looking the opposite of collected. “I’m coming…” She blushes furiously. “To lunch, I mean…”

  I smirk at Reese’s apparent agitation and stand up as well, ready to follow her out of the office.

  Maria grins knowingly and steps aside to let me go first while linking arms with Reese.

  I peek behind me; they’re still rooted in place. “You coming or what?”

  Maria raises a finger. “We’ll be right there, hot shot. We only need a minute.”

  I shrug and go meet the rest of the group who are gearing up with coats and scarves to brave the chilly November day.

  Whatever Maria has to say, it’s probably better if I’m not there to hear it.

  The woman scares the living hell out of me.

  32

  REESE

  As soon as Thomas leaves the room, Maria turns to me with a Cheshire Cat grin on her face. “My. My. My. You could cut the sexual tension in this room with a knife. Did something happen in Rome?”

  I roll my eyes. “No, nothing happened in Rome. It was a business trip,” I say dismissively, but I can feel the heat coloring my cheeks.

  Maria raises an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “Uh-huh, sure. Well, if you ever want to vent about your repressed feelings for Thomas, you know where to find me.”

  I laugh and playfully shove her. “Shut up, Maria.”

  We walk out of the office and join the others, making our way to a nearby bistro for lunch.

  I make a point of sitting at the opposite end of the table to Thomas.

  I know it isn’t fair to him, but I’m too embarrassed by the reactions being near him causes, especially when we’re in public and within view of our co-workers.

  When we finish our meal and head back to the office, I grab my laptop and am about to flee the room to go work someplace else, when Thomas steps in, blocking the door.

  He takes one look at my flustered face and the laptop in my arms and it’s as if he can read “escape plan” on my forehead.

  Thomas suppresses a smile and steps slightly to the side to let me pass, but as I’m scurrying past him, he stops me, grabbing me gently by the arm and leaning in to whisper in my ear, his voice low and serious, “We’ll figure it out.”

  I look up at him in surprise. I’m dying to ask when he’s going to talk to his father about making the switch from Mercer Robotics. But he told me yesterday in the note that he’s planning on doing it soon, and I don’t want to seem pushy. Clingy. Needy. Desperate. Even if I feel all these things.

  I wish feelings were as simple as an algorithm. I could change a few variables and tell my heart not to trash in my chest every time Thomas looks at me this way. But love is irrational, impractical, inconvenient. There’s no logic. It’s the opposite of an algorithm. No control. Only a plunge into the void and blind faith.

  So, I simply nod and flee the office to go work in an empty conference room in a quest to avoid his proximity as much as I can for the rest of the day.

  When I come back a few hours later, Thomas is nowhere to be seen, and I have no one to blame but myself for the pit of disappointment in my stomach. I wish K-2P goodnight and grab my things to head home.

  As I eat microwavable fettuccine Alfredo on the couch alone, I’m melancholic about Italy. I stir the food in my bowl without much appetite. Now that I’ve tasted real pasta, the way it’s supposed to be made, the knock-off version is no longer cutting it. I drop the half-finished meal in the sink and go grab my bag from where I’ve dropped it on the floor. The only thing that could cheer me up right now is one of Thomas’s notes—at least while the author himself remains off-limits.

  I find the blue Post-it lying at the bottom. But before I read it, I change into PJs and get ready for bed. I bring the small sheet of blue paper to bed with me and finally scan the handwritten note.

  Is Maria onto us? Don’t worry, I’ve made an appointment to speak with my father tomorrow morning.

  PS. I left something for you in your desk, first drawer on the right.

  The note brings me relief and unrest simultaneously. I’m glad that he’s going to talk to his father right away like he promised, but now I’m also frothing at the mouth to know what he’s left hidden in my desk.

  Ah, well, I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

  I scoot under the covers and switch off the light. Resting my head on the pillow, I close my eyes. Then open them, staring at the black ceiling. I turn on my right side and force my lids shut. I toss and roll over to my left side. Then I sprawl on the bed in starfish pose and exhale a puff of air, trying to calm my restless mind. But I can’t shake off the need to find out what surprise Thomas has left for me.

  Well, it’s not like I’m going to get up in the middle of the night and go back to the office just to find out. It’s not. I couldn’t. Could I?

  I turn the lights back on and check the time on my phone. It’s barely a few minutes past nine—a slight jet leg had me go to bed early—but now I’m wide awake. I could go back to the office and be back in bed before eleven. And it’d be better than spending the entire night tossing and turning, wondering…

  My mind made up, I throw the covers away from my body and hop off the bed. I grab a pair of black sweatpants and a hoodie that I pull over my silk PJs. Sneakers and a coat are next, and then I’m already out of the apartment and sprinting down the road toward the dark subway station at the corner.

  The train is the same as always, still full of people coming back from working late or heading out for a night of fun. But the journey feels longer than it ever did, making me sigh in relief when I finally arrive at the station closest to our offices.

  The streets here are dark and desolate at this hour as Mercer Industries headquarters are located in an office district. I hurry the few blocks to the building and swipe my badge at the entrance doors, feeling much safer as I slip past them.

  The hall is still and quiet as I cross the lobby, but as I reach the lower level, I find the lights in the lab still on. I expect to find Maria lost working on one of her algorithms, or Ari testing out a new prototype… but to my surprise, when I peep through the glass door windowpane, I discover K-2P standing next to Thomas while they both look intently at the giant robotic arm that has been giving me so many headaches lately.

  They seem totally lost in their research while completely ignoring the time…

  I cautiously open the lab door, not wanting to startle them.

  Thomas still hears the noise and lifts his head.

  “Hi,” I say, already slightly out of breath as our eyes meet. I cross the lab to join them at Ari’s station. “What are you still doing here? I thought you’d already gone home?”

  “I was upstairs, bribing my father’s assistant for a last-minute appointment.” Thomas smiles, melting all my reproductive organs. “Then we got lost having a look at the big guy,” he explains, patting the misbehaving robotic arm. “I know I don’t understand anything about robots, but I was pretty good at statistics in college. So, I asked K-2P to run a diagnostic on all our failed trials and see if he could find a pattern.”

  My gaze drifts down to my small droid. “Did you find anything?”

  He gives me a negative bleep.

  “I’m sorry.” Thomas shrugs. “I knew it was a long shot, so I didn’t want to say anything about it.”

  “And you spent all evening here, working on this? Why?”

  “I saw how worried you were about this project and wanted to pitch in.”

  Before my heart can burst into flames and explode in my chest, he adds, “Sorry I’m useless.” He rotates his shoulders. “And now I’m also sore.”

  “Sore?”

  “Yeah, this guy”—he pats the robotic arm again—“is a pain to move. We ran a few simulations and the recoil almost kicked me flat on my bum, I don’t know how Ari operates it with those skimpy arms of hers.”

  “Oh my gosh.” I slap a hand over my forehead. “Oh my gosh! This entire time we’ve been looking at this wrong. We’ve been going for a sensor-based, hand-guiding system, compensating only for the inertia of the robot but not the inertia of the operator. That’s why it never calibrated right, but if we switched to a method based on torque control…” I look at Thomas and my entire world tilts.

  33

  THOMAS

  “…We could use the dynamic and friction models of the robotic arm along with the motor current to predetermine the user intentions on where to move the end-effector instead of directly recording the external force with sensors…”

  I raise my eyebrows and smile at Reese. I didn’t understand a single thing she just said, but it looks like she’s having a moment.

  She paces in a small circle, holding her chin in her hand. “The new approach could be a game changer.”

  Abruptly, she stops and looks up at me. “You’re a genius.”

  I’m about to say that I did nothing when she does something even more unexpected. She grabs my face and stamps a kiss full on my mouth. “You’re a flipping genius.”

  She’s smiling widely, and she’s not letting go of my face, I note. Instead, her hands wrap behind my neck and her fingers sink into my hair, causing a shiver to run down my spine.

  Our gazes hold, and I get lost in the warm brown of her irises.

  I want to kiss her again, deeply, passionately. I want to feel her body pressed against mine and taste the sweetness of her lips. But I can’t. Not here. Not until I’ve spoken to my father.

  “Thank you,” I say with a smile, making to pull away from her grip, but she doesn’t let me go.

  “What are you doing?” I whisper.

  Her fingers keep caressing the hair at my nape as she replies, “I’m being brave.”

  A jolt of electricity runs through me as Reese leans in again, and this time the kiss has more intent. Her lips are soft and warm against mine, and the scent of her shampoo fills my nostrils. My arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to me. I’m almost afraid she’ll disappear if I let go.

  For a moment, everything else fades away—the lab, the robot arm, even K-2P emitting alarmed beeps next to us—and it’s just Reese and me, caught up in each other.

  Reese presses into me to get closer, and the momentum pushes us backward until my butt hits the workstation behind me. In a moment of slight insanity, I pull Reese up and flip us around so that now Reese is seated on the workbench, legs wrapped around me, eyes hooded with desire.

  She pulls me down to kiss me again. I know I shouldn’t let this continue. We should press pause and talk. Not to mention we are in the middle of our office, and anyone could walk in on us at any moment even if it’s late at night.

  But, gosh, I don’t want this to stop.

  I give myself a few more seconds of life in paradise before I break the kiss, and breathlessly pull away from her. “Reese,” I say, almost pleadingly. “We need to stop.”

  She looks at me with dazed eyes, her pupils blown wide. “Why?” she asks, as if nothing else matters at this moment.

  “I haven’t spoken to my father yet.”

  “But you will, tomorrow, and I want you. I want you now.”

  The meaning of her words doesn’t really sink in until she gently shoves me away and hops off the workstation, slipping her hoodie over her head. Underneath, she’s wearing one of her maddeningly sexy silk pajama tops.

  K-2P emits another series of distressed beeps.

  Reese turns to the droid and, voice thick and hoarse, she commands, “K2-P, please go take a stroll at the vending machines.”

  The robot bleeps in dismay. “Yes, my optical sensors don’t need to see this.”

  We watch him hightail it and we both laugh as he disappears out of the lab.

  I drop my forehead to hers. “We don’t have to do anything tonight, you know, there’s no hurry…”

  “No hurry?” she croaks. “I feel like I might die if you don’t kiss me again.”

  I can’t reason being this close to her, so I take a step back. But it’s a mistake because she uses the extra space to get rid of the sweatpants. Now she’s standing in front of me wearing only a flimsy top and silk shorts.

  My eyes widen as I take in her body, completely caught off guard by her sudden boldness. But before I can even think of a response, she steps closer again, pushing me against a different workstation. Her body is pressed against mine, and I can feel every curve and contour of her as she presses against me and kisses me passionately.

  I capitulate. My hands reach up to tangle in her hair as our lips meet again. The heat between us is intense, and I know right then that I’ll never be the same after tonight. I’ll never feel complete without Reese.

  “Thomas,” she whispers, pulling back and breaking me out of my trance. Reese gently caresses the side of my face as she gazes at me. “I think I might be in love with you.”

  I swallow hard as I watch her, a smile tugging at my lips. “Babe, I think I might’ve been a little in love with you since the day I met you.”

  She pouts. “Just a little?”

  “No, not just a little.” I cup her cheeks and make sure that she hears me. “A lot in love with you, stupidly in love with you, in fact.”

  She searches my eyes. “I still can’t believe that this is real, that you’re real…”

  “I’m real.” I grab one of her hands and bring it over my heart. “This is real.”

  “Then give me what I want.”

  “Anything, baby, just tell me what it is you want.”

  “You, I want you.”

  34

  REESE

  Thomas’s pupils double in size instantly, he scoops me up and carries me inside my office, the only private space in the lab, locking the door behind us.

  He presses me against the wall and his lips descend on mine in a kiss that’s desperate in its urgency.

  My body responds eagerly, pressing up against his muscular frame with equal ferocity.

  His hands are everywhere, roaming over my back, tangling in my hair, gripping my hips. The heat between us is almost unbearable. I moan into his mouth as he nips at my bottom lip before taking it between his own, sucking on it until I’m panting for breath.

  Breaking the kiss, Thomas looks down at me with darkened eyes. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he breathes against my lips.

  “I’m pretty sure I do.”

  “I’ve never wanted anyone like this.”

  I smile, breathless and giddy with desire. My knees go weak as he brushes his hand against the side of my face in the most tender caress. Then he kisses my mouth, feather-like soft, then my cheek, my earlobe. A gentle nip.

  I moan again as he trails kisses down my neck and onto my collarbone. I’ve finally touched the sun and I’m burning and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

  “Tell me what you want,” he whispers into my ear.

  My entire body is trembling with desire. I want everything, but the only word I can manage to say is his name in a pleading whisper for more. “Thomas.”

  When he smiles, it’s like the flutter of a thousand wings in my chest. His mouth caresses mine with gentle intensity while our kiss deepens again into something richer that awakens me on such a basic level all I can do is surrender to it entirely. My senses are filled with Thomas, from his scintillating touch to the sweet taste of him. The moment feels suspended in time as if neither one of us can take it slow or fast enough.

  I’m vaguely aware of him reaching for the back of my pajama top, and then the flimsy fabric swooshes over my head and lands on the tile floor with a soft swish.

  I return the favor and free Thomas of his cashmere sweater and the T-shirt underneath.

  Now that I’m free to let my eyes roam over him, I take a moment to admire his broad chest, his shoulders, and his sculpted stomach.

  I trace a finger down his pecs. “You’re so beautiful.”

  The grin he flashes me in return is devastating. “As if you could talk, baby.”

  I watch him drink me in, and I’ve never felt more desirable in my entire life.

  Thomas’s mouth goes to my neck while his hands caress every inch of me before finding their way under my pajama bottoms.

  A gentle push and the shorts are gone, joining the silk top on the floor.

  Thomas scoops me up into his arms like I weigh nothing.

  We are both breathing heavily as he lifts me up onto my desk. We kiss again and again until Thomas, visibly trembling pulls back.

  His smile is soft and gentle, his eyes dark with desire. “Are you sure about this? Because I can’t hold myself in check much longer…”

  My only response is to unbutton his jeans. “Good, because I don’t want you to hold back.”

  When Thomas is done not holding back, my office is a little worse for wear. A metal clip might be permanently stuck to my butt, and my desk may never be the same.

  Still, I can’t stop smiling. And even more weirdly, I don’t feel awkward, not even when Thomas gets re-dressed and scuttles out of the lab to retrieve my lost sweats while I put my pajamas back on.

  Once we’re both decent again, I can’t help myself. I go to him and hug him. I bury my face in the hard softness of his chest and breathe him in.

  He gently strokes my hair. “Everything okay?”

  “Never been better,” I respond. “Can’t say the same for my office.”

  I relish the low rumble of laughter that bubbles up from his chest. “Yeah, we’d better clean up before someone walks in here tomorrow morning and sounds the alarm.”

  Reluctantly, I let him go, and, together, we clear the mess. I collect a pen holder that tumbled to the floor, searching for the spilled pens, while Thomas gathers a stack of papers that have flown everywhere. Next, we clean up my photo frames that have miraculously remained intact. The same could not be said of the broken coffee mug Thomas retrieves from under my chair.