It’s strange how quickly a place can start to feel like a prison.

Most businesses really do look a lot like prisons, to be fair. Bland colors, uninteresting decorations, and the stink of desperation permeate even the nicest of workplace environments. I didn’t notice it all that much when I first came to Sunrise Limited, probably because I was so excited just to have a job that seemed to really want me, but now that’s pretty different.

I see every little flaw. The bumps in the walls, the scuffs on the cubicle walls. I can smell burnt popcorn every time someone opens the break room door and I can hear the other engineers around me, really hear them, every gross glottal chew and mouth-breathe and snotty grunt. People are by default gross, and I’m probably included in that, but right now it’s taken to another level.

I breathe in and let it go. I know I’m being harsh. My fellow engineers are just doing their jobs, I shouldn’t blame all this on them, but I can’t help myself. My whole world is crumbling around me and I’m trapped under these fluorescent lights, trying to ignore their buzzing, trying not to smash through these cardboard-thin walls and scream until my throat closes up.

I’m being dramatic. Yeah, I know, it’s dramatic, but here I am. I’m pregnant, so I can get away with it, probably. I feel like I’m losing two babies right now: the baby inside of me, because I’m still pretty sure I’m giving it up for adoption, and my solar panels. One I’m giving up by choice, even though it still hurts. The other is getting ripped out of me by force.

I want to concentrate on my job. I really do. The cursor blinks on my computer screen and I have another hour of code writing before I’ll actually complete the utterly meaningless and routine task I was assigned. I know I’m a code monkey now, no better than the lowest of the low on the hierarchy, and that’s not so bad in and of itself. But that combined with all the other insults makes me want to vomit in my own mouth.

I’m still being dramatic. I know, I know. I take another deep breath, try and let it go. The door to the break room opens and I sniff a little bit. Burnt popcorn, and something else. What is that? I crane my neck around the end of my cube, but the break room door is shutting already, the source of the smell getting bottled back up.

I sigh, leaning forward again. Someone blows his nose nearby. I have to count to ten before I can go back to work. Someone grunts and answers a phone on the other side of the room. I have to count to twenty before I can think about counting to ten before I can get back to work.

I’m a mess. I’m a big freaking mess. Nobody wants to hear me complain but here I am, bitching and moaning internally while staying completely silent externally. Layer on layer of fucked-up messiness, that’s what I am. Maybe that’s all I’ll ever be.

I hear footsteps coming down the carpeted hall. I want to look, but I restrain myself. I can’t look every time someone crosses behind my cube. I wait for the steps to pass but they don’t, they stop somewhere nearby. I half turn and notice a blotch in my peripheral vision. I turn completely, facing the blotch, and it resolves into Aaron’s smug gorgeous face.

“Hey there, beautiful,” he says.

I quirk an eyebrow at him. “Beautiful?” I haven’t washed my hair in three days and I’m pretty sure I’m wearing the same cardigan I wore yesterday.

“Sorry, is that workplace harassment?” he asks, barely suppressing another smile.

“Yes,” I say. “But whatever. You’re an ass anyway. What do you want?”

“We need to talk.” His cocky smile is gone, replaced by a serious mask.

I shake my head. I’m just not interested in it anymore. I don’t know what he’s up to and I don’t want to know. “Maybe later,” I say, turning away.

“Riley.” He steps into my cube, crouching down next to me. I’m a little startled. “Listen. This is important, okay?” He’s whispering, practically hissing into my ear.

I look at him again, at his damn handsome face, the father of the baby growing inside of me. I let out an involuntary sigh. His suit is pristine, almost too perfect as always. Sometimes I wish he’d have a single hair out of place just so that I could feel better about my own slovenly self, but whatever, here we are.

I’m still being dramatic.

“Can it wait until after work?” I ask him.

He shakes his head, that smile creeping back. “I’m sure you’re sick of me right now, but try and trust me one more time.”

“You haven’t made that easy.”

“I know.” He runs his hand through his hair, and I realize that he’s nervous. Stressed, even. Which I thought was impossible.

“What did you do?” I ask him quietly, leaning closer.

That gleam in his eye gets brighter. “Who says I did anything?”

“I say, because I know you.”

“Do you?”

“Stop playing games.”

“Stand up and come with me.” His breath smells like mint and lavender, an insane combination, but it’s intoxicating. I want to feel his tongue against mine again, his teeth on my ass cheek. I want his finger in my tight asshole. God, I’m so fucked up and dramatic, but I don’t care. I want him. “I have one more gift that I think may help our little… situation.”

“My little situation,” I correct, but I hesitate. I’m being a bitch needlessly and I know it. “I guess I can take lunch.”

“Come on, princess.” He stands up, that huge cocky grin back on his lips. “Come with me. I have something for you.”

I sigh and stand. I go to take his hand and he squeezes it before he drops it. I’m a little embarrassed as we walk back through the office, heading out toward the parking lot. I don’t know why my first instinct was to hold his hand, since he couldn’t exactly cling on to me like that as we walked through the office. That would be career suicide. A double career suicide between lovers, or whatever the heck we are. The best kind of career suicide, at least. We could be the Romeo and Juliet of the business world.

I take a breath to get rid of these stupid thoughts as we leave our office and head out into the sunshine. I hurry to match his stride and he glances at me. “My car,” he says.

“We have to drive somewhere?” I ask, a little annoyed. “I do want to have lunch at some point.”

“I’ll get you lunch, and this will be worth it. I promise.”

“Fine.” I don’t know why I’m going along with this, but frankly it’s better than sitting back in that office and hating myself. I needed to get out of there before I went a little insane.

We get into Aaron’s car, a black Audi sedan, and we head out. I don’t know where we’re going, and I realize that I don’t really care. As long as I’m not stuck back in that cubicle, I’m actually pretty happy.

“I met with someone yesterday,” Aaron says without looking away from the road. “A man I know named Steve Schneider.”

I shrug a little, watching the road signs tick past. “That’s good,” I say.

“Steve’s not exactly a good friend,” he continues, despite my lackluster reply. “He’s an impatient man with a deep, deep wallet.”

That catches my attention. “You met with an investor?”

He nods. “Had to call in some favors to get the meeting, but he seemed pretty receptive to my idea.”

“Wait a second,” I say, fully paying attention now. “You met with an investor on your own time, outside of work for Sunrise?”

He flashes me that grin of his. “That’s right.” He slows the car down and pulls into a small business park tucked away from the main road, less than ten minutes away from Sunrise’s office. He parks toward the front and gets out.

I follow him, buzzing with excitement and confusion. “Why are we here?” I ask him, hurrying to catch up.

“I want to show you something,” he says.

“I know, you keep telling me. But what’s really going on?”

He goes directly in through the front and I have to hurry to follow. He doesn’t hold the door, which is very rude, but whatever. I catch up inside as he turns right down a short corridor, passing office doors. We stop at the door at the very end, the company name missing from the plaque on the right. He glances at me, that maddening smirk back on his lips, as he opens the door and steps inside.

“It’s an empty office,” I point out as the door clicks shut behind us.

“Yep, it is.”

The space isn’t huge. There are two corner offices and enough room for maybe twenty or thirty cubes, plus a decent-sized conference room. There’s a break room toward the back, a supply closet, and two bathrooms, but not much else.

“It’s fully wired,” Aaron says, gesturing around, “and ready to go, assuming we can get furniture and shit at a reasonable price.”

“What?” I ask him, laughing a little bit. “Have you gone totally insane?”

“Come here,” he says, grabbing my hand and tugging me along behind him. “Look at this.” He steps in front of the biggest of the two corner offices, pushing open the door. It’s empty, like everything else, but it’s pretty big and has a nice window at the back. It’s way better than what I have now, that’s for sure.

“This can be yours,” he says. “It’s the bigger of the two. You’re welcome. I’ll be right down there.” He points at the other office. “Engineers will be in the middle, plus receptionists, and a little sales team off to the side, although we’ll want them on the road mostly for the first year.”

“Slow down,” I say, laughing and holding up my hands. “Are you starting a business?”

“I’m starting your business.” He turns to me, hands on my shoulders. “Sunrise is going to give you back control over your designs, basically no strings attached. They’re calling it a peace offering, and I’m calling it an opportunity.”

I blink at him, not sure what the hell to say. “How? Why?”

“I convinced Mitchell it would be easier, and I think he’s pretty desperate to avoid any problems right now.” He grins at me and I don’t know what to say. “The board’s pushing him to make money. But we’re going to fuck him, and fuck him hard.”

Aaron takes me by the hand again and pulls me away from the office. We walk right into the middle of the space and he stands behind me, taking me by the shoulders and slowly rotating me in circles.

“Imagine it, Riley. You’ll take control of the tech and the designs, and I’ll run the business and sales ends. Together, we can make something important.”

I look at the space. I mean, I really look at it. I’m so freaked out and overwhelmed and this is for sure the most insane thing anyone has ever said or done or offered, but I look at the space and I can see it. I can see it all. I can see my team, a bunch of nerdy engineers that really give a crap about solar technology. I can see Aaron lecturing the salesmen and the social media team, getting them fired up, pushing them to succeed. I can see the two of us together late at night in the conference room, working on some final project that’s tripping things up, and coming up with a solution.

I can see myself on my knees in Aaron’s office, his cock in my mouth. I can see Aaron’s mouth between my legs, my thighs pressing against his ears, my back on my desk as I moan his name over and over again.

I can see it all. And it’s fucking glorious.

“How?” I ask him.

“The investor. He’ll give us the money to get started. This space is available, and I know some guys that can furnish the place on the cheap. We’ll recruit some engineers, hopefully poach some guys from Sunrise, and we’ll get started.”

I watch him without saying a word for a minute. I want to scream with joy and kiss him, but something stops me.

“How?” I ask again. “How will we actually build these things? Do you know people in manufacturing, anything like that?”

“I do know some,” he says, nodding. “But so does Steve. He’s going to be pretty hands-on, especially in the beginning. That’s just the kind of guy he is. But we need that, especially as we start to grow.”

“How?” I whisper one more time as he steps closer, arms pulling me against him.

“All we have to do is try,” he says softly. “I’m making this happen for you, Riley. I fucked up before, but I won’t fuck up again. Let me build this for you. Let me give it to you.”

“What do you want in return?” I ask softly.

“Only what you already want to give to me.”

I blink and stare at him. I know what he means. I’ve known all along.

I reach up, up onto my tiptoes, and I kiss him. He pulls me tight, returning the kiss, but it doesn’t last long. I break away, staring up at him, realization washing over me.

Aaron is going places. He’s too big for this world, this tiny little world, but he’s going to make it bigger. He’ll tear it apart and rebuild it all if he has to, but I know he’s going to do it. Maybe I can design panels, do some complicated and important engineering, but I need people like Aaron to make my ideas real. Without him, Sunrise would own my designs, and they’d never see the light of day.

It’s not just business with him. It can’t be. I’m pregnant with his baby, which is an absolute truth that I’ve been running from since the start. I’m pregnant and he wants to raise it as his own, while all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry.

There’s my problem, right there. That’s the difference between the two of us. Aaron wants to act, and I want to hide away.

I can’t hide. I can’t run. No more.

“I have to take this place by the balls,” I say softly.

He blinks at me. “Uh, what?”

I grin and realize we’re very, very close, and he might just think I’m about to grab at his junk. “Not you,” I say, stepping away. “Sunrise. The sexiest assholes on our sales trip. All this.” I gesture around me. “I have to stop running away.”

“Meet with Steve,” he says.

“Okay.” I nod at him once. “I’ll do it.”

“I knew you would.” He grins, pulls me against him again, and kisses me deep.