“Nana, hi. It was nice to see you earlier,” I said on the phone to Seth’s grandmother the next day. Normally, Lola answered Seth’s calls, but this one had come through to my desk.

“You too, dear. I enjoyed your visit.” Seth had taken me with him this morning. He said he’d wanted to check on his grandmother, but I was pretty sure he’d just wanted to deliver his latest invention. “Although I still didn’t get to show you my device to use the bowling alley downstairs.”

“But we had fun anyway.” Seth’s newest invention was a half-virtual, half-real dominoes game. We’d tried it out this morning. The three of us had sat around Nana’s gaming table, each with a tablet computer in front of us. The tablet had shown us which domino tiles we had, and then with a tap of a few buttons, we could virtually play one. Then a projector made it appear that the domino had actually been laid on the table. Then others could play their dominoes next to it.

Nana’s arthritis was too severe for her to hold and place real dominoes, but she did just fine with moving things around with the tablet. We hadn’t played a full game, but she’d been winning when it was time for us to leave. She’d been thrilled with the device and said she couldn’t wait to play it with her friends.

“You have a very clever grandson.”

“Not going to argue with you about that,” she said, pride in her voice. “I’m glad he brought you by.” She hesitated. “He’s never brought a woman to meet me before.”

“I’m an employee,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable.

“Yes. But also a woman.” Nana’s voice held the same note of amusement that her grandson’s often held.

Her words made me think about Seth’s kiss yesterday. It had been quick—but there was no doubting what it was. I’d been in his arms and he’d kissed me. Before that, he’d flirted, yes. But a kiss changed things. There was no chalking that up to unusual coaching methods. Or was there? Had that been all it was? Just a reward for meeting a goal? Presumably that wasn’t how all Seth-Tech employees were rewarded.

I didn’t know what it meant, and Seth hadn’t seemed any different this morning. He just appeared at my desk as soon as I got in and said we were driving out to deliver something to Nana.

“Erin, are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“Just checking. Please tell Seth to give me a call when he’s done with his meeting. And next time, we’ll definitely try the bowling.”

“Definitely,” I echoed, and then said good-bye and hung up.

Before I could muse too long on Nana’s words, a tall figure appeared next to my desk.

“Good morning, Erin.”

I looked up to see Brad’s friendly face. “Hi.”

“Are you up for a little training?”

Training? Like the kind Seth and I did in the afternoon? Surely, that’s not what he meant. “But Seth usually—” I broke off, aware that my face had gotten red. There was no usual with Seth. Every day was different. Every training session was different.

Maybe Seth had an appointment this afternoon and couldn’t make it? If so, I wasn’t sure I could talk at the podium in front of Brad, even though he was nice. “It’s usually not until afternoon.”

Brad sat in the seat opposite me, and smiled. “Let’s start over. I’d like to work with you right now on some of the company systems that you’ll be using in the future.”

“Oh! Of course. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I saw that scheduling system you made for Seth. Brilliant. I’ve never known him to be as punctual as he has been these last few days. At least I think that was your new system—unless you’ve been setting off Da Bomb Timer in his office?”

I laughed. “No… but thanks for the tip.” Brad smiled. He seemed nice, but I wasn’t as comfortable with him as I was with Seth.

But as it turned out, Brad was super easy to work with. He was the polar opposite of Seth. Polite. Reserved. Courteous. He definitely had boundaries with how he treated employees, unlike Seth. But still, I could see why they were friends. Sometimes ‘opposites attract’ worked for friendship, too.

After showing me a few things at my workstation, Brad led me to his office. It was almost as spacious as Seth’s, but much more organized.

We spent nearly two hours going over some of the inner workings of Seth Spencer Technologies, and by the end of that period, I felt like I’d met my long lost twin. Brad and I spoke the same language. Organization. Details. Order. Both of us were as different from Hurricane Seth’s style as could be.

When it was nearly one, there was a knock at the door. “I ordered Chinese,” Brad said a bit unnecessarily since the delivery guy was wearing a shirt and cap with the name of a Chinese restaurant.

Brad pulled out his wallet, but I wanted to chip in. I reached into my purse for my own wallet, but all I found was a five and two singles. I could’ve sworn I had a twenty. Weird. Maybe I could pay Brad back tomorrow?

When I asked him about it, he waved me off. “My treat. My way of reiterating that we’re glad you’re part of the company.”

“Thank you. Always good to hear one of the founders say that.”

Brad pulled little containers out of the paper bag. “I was part of this from the start, but I’m not sure I’m a founder. This place was always Seth’s vision. All I did was hitch my wagon to his.” Brad handed me a bowl, and I scooped some of the chicken with broccoli into it.

“The way Seth tells it, you’ve done a lot for this place.”

“Yeah… but I never would’ve had the initial vision. And gumption. Seth was making plans for this place by the end of freshman year.”

“Wow,” I said, trying to get my chopsticks to work. “I can’t quite picture Seth as a nerdy little freshman.”

“Nerdy in the tech-geek sense, yes. But not in any other sense. He’s always been full of confidence. If he weren’t such a nice guy, it would cross the border into arrogance. But he never takes himself or anything too seriously. Therefore, he gets away with it.”

“I can’t imagine what school would’ve been like if I’d had more confidence.” Or any confidence, I thought but didn’t say. “High school was a nightmare.”

“It was for me, too.”

“Why?” I didn’t quite get it. Brad was tall. Good-looking. He didn’t have Seth’s extreme extroversion, but he wasn’t awkward like me.

“Mostly because I was different.” Brad expertly raised some noodles to his mouth with his chopsticks. If I’d tried that, they would’ve ended up in my lap. “I never told anyone about my sexual orientation at my high school. I just tried to fit in and keep my head down.”

“You never told your family?”

“Not back then. A few years later, I did. Anyway, one Friday night at the end of our first year rooming together, Seth suggested we use the fake IDs he’d made to sneak into a club and meet women. When I hesitantly told him that I was more interested in meeting men, he didn’t miss a beat. He just said ‘there’ll be men there, too.’ That was it, but it was enough. It was acceptance.”

“I bet that felt like a relief after all that time.”

“You have no idea. And I felt even closer to Seth since he knew my secret. But that also meant he pushed me. Seth never lets people stay in their comfort zone.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” I said dryly.

Brad grinned. “I’m sure you have. Seth was the one who took me to my first gay bar—I hadn’t been brave enough to go on my own. But he made me go, and once we got there, men flocked to him because, well, he’s Seth. And he became my wingman. The best wingman ever.”

I laughed. “That totally sounds like Seth. Is he still your wingman?”

“Not since I met Christopher.”

“Christopher’s your wingman?”

“Christopher’s my boyfriend. We’ve been together for three years.” He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a handsome, smiling redheaded man.

“Nice. What does he do?”

“He’s a doctor. He’s starting a new residency next month.”

“Smart and cute.”

“That’s my type,” Brad said, turning off his phone. “What about you? Anyone special in your life?”

Seth’s face popped into my head. He certainly fit the definition of smart and cute. But other applicable phrases included movie-star handsome. Hot as hell. And out of my league.

“Not right now,” I said, casually. But the look Brad gave me made me think he understood more than I’d meant to convey.

Half an hour after lunch, it was almost two o’clock. Brad said we should wrap things up so that I had time before my training session with Seth. I, naturally, blushed at the mention of my training.

Brad walked me back to my desk the long way, showing me around a few more departments I hadn’t seen before. He also introduced me to a lot of people, but I still hadn’t met Seth’s receptionist. “Where’s Lola’s desk?”

Glancing at me, Brad tilted his head to the side the way Seth sometimes did.

“I talked to her over the intercom a few times, but I’ve never met her. I just thought I should say ‘hi’ in person sometime.”

“Good idea,” Brad said at last. “I’m sure Seth will introduce you sometime.”

“Okay.”

The way Brad was looking at me made me uncomfortable. Did he suspect that I was a little jealous of the close relationship Seth and Lola seemed to have? How she hung on his every word as if she lived to serve him? Plus, I was really dying to know what she looked like. Her voice was just so sultry, it made me picture a Marilyn Monroe-type answering Seth’s calls.

We arrived back at my desk. I thanked Brad for lunch and he took off, leaving me to my thoughts. Above all, I wanted to know what was going on with Seth. Was this all just business as usual to him? Was I just an intriguing challenge to solve? Or something more?

But that was absurd. Seth Spencer didn’t go after people like me. He was way out of my league. Most men seemed to be. They say that some men were only after one thing, but you’d be surprised how many of them expect you to be able to talk to them. And that wasn’t my forte. Sure, I could usually talk to them once I got to know them, but conversation during the initial period was usually so hard that we never got very far.

Sophomore year of college there’d been a guy in my class I’d hung out with quite a bit. We’d study together in the library. A couple of nights he’d walked me home and we’d kissed, but that was about it as far as my experience with men went.

Thinking of being kissed had me touching my lips again. Did Seth consider that kiss yesterday to be a mistake? I hoped not. True, he was my boss, and I was his employee, but it had been special anyway. I didn’t regret it—I hoped he didn’t either.

With a sigh, I leaned back in my chair, running my fingers through my hair, lifting it up and then letting it bounce back into place. Then I felt a fleeting stab—I’d hooked my pinky finger through the hoop of my earring. Somehow, I’d knocked it loose, and I felt the small gold earring hit my shirt and then drop on the floor.

Frustrated, I looked for it, but it was nowhere to be seen. I moved my chair and actually got down on my hands and knees looking for it. Inexplicably, I thought of Nana. This morning at her place, she’d picked up a stack of papers and a paperclip had fallen to the ground.

Before Seth or I could get it for her, she’d whipped out a long tube Seth had designed to fit behind her wheelchair. It had been something like the attachment on a vacuum cleaner. It used suction to pick up something small, but then it kept it safely in a little container instead of letting it disappear forever.

I definitely could’ve used that now, I thought as I finally spotted my earring back by the wall. And then I straightened up, nearly hitting my head on the desk.

Nana said she used that device all the time to pick up small things. It had made her life so much easier. All the things Seth had made had helped her so much. Even with that expensive assisted living place, her life would be a lot more difficult without all of Seth’s inventions.

And then I got an idea.