“Picture this. You come home from a long day at the office, you’re tired, your feet hurt, and it’s storming like crazy outside. All your neighbors lost power hours ago, but not you. The lights pop on instantly, and the temperature is perfect. You don’t have a generator, oh no. You have Sunrise Limited solar panels, plus our patented power storage options. You have peace of mind, you have stability. You have your life.”

I can tell they’re not buying my bullshit, and that’s okay. I’ve been spinning this same line over and over for what feels like years, although it’s really been a week. I’m sick of my own voice at this point, which is a first for me, but it was bound to happen at some point. I’ve been calling every major retailer in the game, every single deep-pocketed investor, trying to talk to them about our future release, with little to no success as of yet. Only frustration on top of frustration.

The investors are all gun-shy when it comes to new technology, and the retailers are all worried about their bottom lines. I suspect I’ll have more success with the investors, considering those men all part with their money based on relationships, and I’ve been cultivating those relationships for a long time. But my boss isn’t interested in a quick infusion of cash. He’s not interested in retooling or building infrastructure. He wants retailers, and so that’s what I’m fucking stuck with.

“Well, gentlemen, thanks for talking to me,” I say after they make their polite excuses. We end the call and I lean back at my desk, sighing and stretching a little bit.

It’s not easy, trying to take this company into the next century. Nobody wants to believe in our technology, which is entirely my fault. I’m supposed to be teaching them, but it’s pretty damn hard when all anyone wants is the old way.

I want to give them the new way, and I want to do it right now. No more waiting, no more bullshit. We can have it all.

I stand up, stretching my legs. I have a few more calls coming up, but I need to put them off for a little while. I head to my door and walk out into the main office, looking around at the little cubes and their little occupants, wonder how much genius I can squeeze out of these people, or if we’re at our maximum.

There’s one person I know who has way more to give. She’s been on my mind ever since she started here, and even more so after that little weekend convention trip we took. I keep thinking about Riley’s body under mine, the way she moved her hips, the way she moaned my name. It was some of the best sex I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some pretty fucking good sex. She seems so stuck-up and dorky on the outside, but as soon as I was kissing her, I knew that was all just a façade.

It’s more than just sex with her, though. She showed some real promise back at that convention. She got some serious dinosaurs to understand what we’re trying to do here, something I haven’t been able to do, not completely at least. Maybe it’s because she’s the one who invented a lot of it, or maybe she just has a gift that she doesn’t even know about. Either way, she was pretty damn marvelous, at least when she decided she wanted to give a shit.

After that night, she really shut me down. I tried to pry some of that brilliance out of her the next day, but she wasn’t having it. No matter how hard I pushed or what tactics I tried, she just wasn’t having it.

I thought that might cool off after a while, you know, let her have some space back at the office, but nope. She’s still distant and angry with me, and I have no clue why.

It’s frustrating. I want to fuck her again, taste her again, but I know that probably won’t happen. I can deal with that, although grudgingly. I can’t force her to be into it, even though I’m pretty sure she already is.

At the very least, we have to have a working relationship. As of right now, we don’t, and I’m tired of it.

I find Riley in the break room after checking her workstation. One of her engineers gives her up almost immediately, almost as if they’ve been expecting me.

She doesn’t react when I come in the room. She gives me the same unhurried, almost lazily annoyed glare she’s been fixing on me since the convention.

“I was looking for you,” I say to her.

“You found me.”

“I thought we might talk.” I come further into the room, shutting the door behind me. We’re alone with only the buzz of the vending machines for company. She’s sitting at a table toward the back and she doesn’t move as I approach and sit across from her.

“Okay,” she says. “What’s up?” She crosses her arms and fixes an even more annoyed glare at me.

I decide to ignore it, like I have been since it started. “I have some calls today,” I say.

“Good for you.”

“I was hoping you could help me.”

She hesitates, and I can tell I surprised her. “Help you?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.

“You were good with the dinosaurs,” I explain. “I could really use your expertise on the phone.”

“Dinosaurs?” I catch a hint of amusement in her tone.

“You know, old guys that have been in this industry since the start. The kind of guys that don’t want to change and think your whole tech is bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit,” she says angrily.

“I know that,” I answer, softening my tone and spreading my hands wide. “I’m trying to convince them, but I’m not always succeeding.”

“That’s your job,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t have time to do it for you.”

I lean back in my chair, pursing my lips. “It’ll be good for both of us,” I say. “Get some interest, make the bosses know you’re a team player.”

“I don’t need to be a team player,” she says flatly. “I build the things. You sell them. Now, are we done here?”

She pushes back from the table, and I know I’m losing her. This is how she always is with me, cold and distant and just professional enough to keep people from suspecting anything.

But I can see it, painted all over her body language. It’s so obvious, she might as well be screaming in my face.

She freaking hates me. I mean, really, she despises me. Hates my fucking guts, and I have no clue why.

As she’s walking past me, I reach out on instinct. I know I shouldn’t, it’s a stupid, boneheaded move, but I grab her wrist and turn her toward me. She glares down at me like my hand is made of hot lava.

“Why the fuck do you despise me?” I ask her.

The sharp retort she was about to bite off at me dies on her lips. Her eyes meet mine and for a second, I see a glimmer of something there. It’s not the normal pure loathing, but something else, something much different.

It’s desire. I swear, it’s desire, like she wants me to pull her closer and fuck her tight little cunt until she screams. I grip her wrist harder and for a second, I think I just might do it. Forget about anyone that might walk in, I don’t care. I’d throw this job away for one more taste of her.

Instead, though, she recoils and pulls her hand away. “Don’t touch me,” she says, stepping back. “And I don’t hate you.”

“Yes, you do.” I stand up, dedicated to this now. It’s not the best move, but fuck it. I need to start selling product, and I need her on my team.

She shakes her head, eyes wide. “I don’t, I just… I don’t work for you, okay? I’m an engineer. I don’t want to sell anything.”

I wave that away. “You’ve been acting like I’m a murderer ever since we came back from that conference,” I say. “I get it, you’re all high and mighty because you don’t have to sell anything. You get to make your machines and all that without getting your hands dirty with the commerce. But face it, that’s not what’s happening here.”

She stares at me and I stare right back. I’m not letting her win this, not for a second. She’s not leaving this room until I understand what her problem is.

“You want to know?” she asks softly.

“Yeah, I want to know. Tell me what I did to make you hate me so much.”

She stares for a second before taking a deep breath and letting it out.

“You got me pregnant.”

I stare as she storms out of the room without another word. I stand there at a total loss, like a bomb just went off, and I’m trying to pick up all my missing limbs.