Charlie spotted me through the glass as I told her secretary I needed to talk to her. She waved me in and then her hand froze mid-air as she spotted Stacy. I guess she hoped it would be just me.

We walked in and Stacy extended a coffee. “I brought this for you. Actually I brought it for Ethan but he didn’t want four.”

Charlie frowned at the paper cup and took it, then glanced to me. “No, I can’t see how he would.”

“That makes one of us,” Stacy muttered with rolling eyes.

“Anyway,” I interrupted. “You ready to be blown away, Ms. Reed?”

Cobalt eyes darted between the intern and I. She didn’t look ready. “That depends.”

“Stacy has something she wants to say.”

“Oh shoot, I forgot my computer in your office!”

Charlie muttered, “She was in your office?”

I looked at her because I caught something in her tone. Stacy took a sip of coffee, set her cup down and ran out of the room.

“Be right back!”

That left Charlie and I alone, me with two cups of coffee in my hand that she was staring at. “She gets these for me. Has a little crush. Don’t worry about it.”

“Why should I be worried?” she sarcastically mumbled as she walked behind her desk and took a seat, looking regal as ever.

“I like your suit. Cream. Almost naked.” I was trying to flirt but Charlie wasn’t amused. I felt like we’d gone back to square one, which was weird because the mask she had on wasn’t there during our phone conversation earlier. “You’re jealous of Stacy.”

Charlie shook her head, but her lips were tight. She set her coffee down like it had a disease. “Nope. Why would I be?”

“That’s a good question. Why are you?”

“I’m not,” she fake-smiled, eyes cold.

Sighing I put the cups I was carrying down by Stacy’s. “Is it just this office that winds you up?”

“I’m not wound up! I’m working. This is my company, remember? Everything is fine.”

Stacy sprung back in, laptop already open. “Did you tell her?”

Charlie eyed me, “He didn’t tell me anything about you.”

I cocked my head at her like, be nice. “I wanted you to tell her, Stacy, go on.”

Oblivious to the tension, she jogged behind the C.E.O.’s desk like it was a normal place for an intern to be, and plopped the computer down. Charlie visibly reacted with her tension momentarily put on hold like when a puppy jumps on your lap. It’s got dirty feet and has ruined your clothes but it’s so fucking innocent you can’t yell at it.

“Listen to what she has to say.”

Stacy launched in and pointed to the screen. “Well, I couldn’t sleep on Saturday because I was thinking about Ethan.”

I winced. “Skip to the good part, Stacy!”

Charlie muttered, “Oh, there’s more?”

Stacy said, “Yes! Way more!” and she launched into what she’d discovered about the hacker.

Charlie’s face went from distant and furious to astounded and excited.

Stacy finished by explaining, “He was very smart. Hid his coordinates so well even I almost didn’t find them.”

I mouthed to Charlie, “Hire her.”

Stacy continued, “But this is where he hid them. See how sneaky? And so I did the math and found out where he lives. Or where his hideout is. But either way, I know that’s where he’s set up.”

The room was quiet as Stacy and I waited. Charlie stared at the laptop and whispered, “What now, do I call the police or what?”

“Ethan’s cousin is training to be a cop!”

“Dear God,” I muttered, rubbing my face. “Stacy, would you give us a minute?”

She looked at Charlie’s face and saw the tight line of her lip. “Did I get Ethan in trouble?”

I answered, “No, you’re great. Please give us a minute.”

“Sure.” She walked around and looked at the three coffee cups, my two and her one. “Which one’s mine?”

“Just pick a cup. It’s cool.”

Her hand shot out and grabbed the nearest one. She slipped out as quiet as a mouse. I was about to talk when she ran back in and switched to the other cup. “This one was mine.” Off my look, she shrugged and whispered, “I’m a germaphobe.”

As soon as she was gone Charlie spun her chair around and leapt up, walking to the view. She’d worn her hair straight and free and it hung in sweet smelling, red sheets down her back. The cream-colored suit looked fantastic on her and I wanted to pull her to me and tell her how good it was to see her. But despite how Stacy made me look by busting open that hacker’s code on a whim, I was no dummy.

“You said I was jealous of her,” Charlie began, “as though there were no reason to be, when clearly she’s crazy about you.”

Emphasis on crazy.

“Doesn’t it matter who I’m crazy about?”

Charlie stiffened. She was dead set on staying pissed. “I should have known better. Actually I did know better, I just ignored it and went ahead and had sex with you anyway.”

My chest felt like she’d punched it and I sat on the back of her couch, staring at her profile. Now she was calling it just sex. Yesterday on the plane we hadn’t fucked and it was the most intimate thing I’d ever done with anyone, to do all of that stuff and not fuck. I was perfectly happy kissing her on that couch, being quiet together, bathing her after the food fight where we’d laughed ou asses off, laying with her in my arms until the plane landed. The sweetness of how she’d told me to call her whenever I could, but not to worry about her.

Well I was worrying now. “I see.”

She looked at me. “You see what?”

“You’re going to think what you want. Why don’t you just ask me?”

She whirled around, eyes flashing with hurt. “Did you have sex with that girl?”

I stared at Charlie and saw the fork in the road she presented me. I could go down the lying path and build a relationship on uneven soil. Or I could be honest and risk losing the permit to build at all.

“Shit,” I muttered, looking at the view. It was a clear day, but I said, “Look at that haze huh?”

Charlie frowned and glanced out. “It’s crystal clear!”

“No, Scotland, remember? The overcast. How you looked against that backdrop. Your eyes, Charlie, they killed me.”

Her shoulders shifted. “Ethan…”

“Yes, I did.”

We stared at each other, both struggling and neither looking away. “You did?”

“I had sex with her, but it was before I met you. And I can’t take it back. But I wish I could.”

Charlie blinked and walked away from me, raking her hair with shaking fingers. “Oh fuck,” she whispered staring out.

“Where do we go from here? Because I know where I want to go.”

She turned her head a little to look at me over her shoulder with big, scared eyes. “Where?”

I walked to her and ran my hand down her back. “I can touch you now, since I’m no longer working for you.” Off her confused reaction I explained, “As soon as that hacker is arrested it’s done. Stacy can code better than I can. She broke my encryption, so you should have her code the next one. I have a feeling nobody will breach it.”

Charlie was listening, but the look in her eyes hadn’t lost the fear. “Ethan…”

I lowered my voice, “What is it? Just tell me.”

“Brock installed surveillance capabilities into your computer cameras.”

She turned to me as I backed up, eyes narrowing as I began to understand what she was saying. “Wait a second, let me get this straight. You already knew about me and Stacy? You were testing me just now?” My voice cracked. “You saw us? You watched?” I cleared my throat as puzzle pieces slammed into place. “He set me up and then you didn’t say anything.” Locking eyes with her, I rasped, “How many days were you guys watching me? Did you just sit in there and laugh? And then when I didn’t know who you were, you must have thought that was fucking hilarious, didn’t you?”

“No, Ethan, I didn’t—”

I held up my hand and cut her off, heading to the door. “So in the break room when you called me a delivery guy you were just playing me. Insulting me for the fun of it?” I reached for the door, disgusted. I was dying inside and in a childish move I told her, “You know how I said people were after me for my invention, in Scotland when you were suspicious of everyone, remember that? Nobody’s after me. I just told you that for my own entertainment. There. We’re even!”

Her jaw dropped and I left, passing her secretary so fast her head swung up in surprise.

“Two people quit today,” I called over my shoulder. “She’s doing a bang up job in there.”