Chapter 31

The moment I turn the corner from Reese's building, my phone rings in my pocket. Gabriel.

"Where are you?" He growls down the line the second I pick up. "You're thirty minutes late for brunch."

Brunch at my parents, shit. I'd completely forgotten about it.

"Ah, yeah, sorry, I don't think I'm going to make it."

I can almost picture Gabriel's raised eyebrow. "How come?"

"I just landed after an intercontinental flight, and traffic is bad. No chances of me getting to the Upper East Side in time."

"Intercontinental? Where did you jet to?"

"Rome."

"A little Roman holiday?"

"No, I was at a business conference."

"Ah." I hear shuffling noises as if Gabriel is moving away from the rest of the family, and then he speaks again. "Were you alone or with a certain pretty department head on your business trip?"

"I was with Mr. Mind Your Own Business, have you heard of him?"

"Oooh, someone's touchy today. So, what should I tell Mom and Dad?"

"That I just came back from a work trip and I won't be able to make it."

I end the call, relieved that I won't have to face Dad today. I want to pull out of Mercer Robotics, but my father won't enjoy having his plans thwarted, and that's definitely a conversation I'm not looking forward to having.

When I arrive at the office on Monday morning, Reese is already there.

"Morning," I say as I walk through the door.

She lifts her head and beams at me. "Morning."

My first instinct is to go to her and pull her into a hug. But I have to keep myself in check—also, K-2P gets in my way, whirring and spinning in what I assume is the droid version of wagging his tail.

I laugh and ruffle his metal exterior before heading over to my desk.

The droid follows me. "Did you miss me?"

"I did, but I was in good company." I shoot Reese a look from across the office. She isn't looking at me, but her cheeks slightly color all the same. "What about you? Did you have fun with Maria?"

K-2P beeps in affirmation. "Even if she made me watch TheBachelor with her."

I snort a laugh. "You not a fan of reality TV?"

"I don't understand why people watch that show, and the guy wasn't even that hot."

I honestly don't have a reply to that.

After a while, Reese stands up and walks by my desk, a gleam in her eye. "I need to do the rounds and let everyone know I'm back. Wanna come with me?"

I nod and follow behind her as she sets out across the lab. We make our way around, stopping at each station to talk to the various team leaders about their projects. Everyone is eager to share their progress with Reese—from coding robots that can detect motion, to developing new AI algorithms for facial recognition software.

Reese listens attentively to each of her team leaders, not missing a single detail. She offers her expertise where needed and gives praise where it's due. Her enthusiasm for each project is infectious—it's clear how much she loves what she does here at Mercer Robotics.

When we run into Garrett—the process technology team leader—his eyes light up when he sees Reese, and he immediately starts talking excitedly about his work. I notice the dude does his best to pretend I don't exist.

After some more small talk and a few jokes between them, Reese and I continue on our tour of the lab while Garrett returns to his workstation with a spring in his step. Clearly, the guy has a crush on her, and hates me, making it even more clear why we can't openly date while working in the same division. But that's going to end soon.

All the status advancement reviews go pretty well, except for the giant robotic arm in the middle of the lab which is still misbehaving.

When we come back into the office, Reese sits at her desk and drops her head in her hands.

"That giant thing not following instructions is bothering you, huh?" I take the chair opposite her.

She straightens up. "I just don't understand what we're doing wrong. We've tried everything, but we just don't seem able to switch from point-based teaching to path-based teaching."

I wish I could be of some help, but she might as well be speaking Parseltongue. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing." She waves me off. "I'm sure we're going to crack it, eventually. I just wish we didn't have the added pressure of Bios Torc Solutions being on our heels," she says, talking about the Californian hippies—as Ari called them—trying to develop the same technology.

"I'm not worried," I say, and Reese frowns at me interrogatively. "If anyone can solve the issue, it's you."

Her eyes flicker up to meet mine. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," she says softly, breaking eye contact to look down at her hands. "But don't be so sure."

I am overcome with the urge to reach over and take her hands in mine. To kiss every single one of her knuckles.

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.