“Sorry I couldn’t make any commentary on the chainmail bikinis the characters wear in the game. I know that’s your favorite subject. Plus, I like them and I vote we keep them.”
“Of course you do.” Grinning, she slipped out of Adam’s hold and bent to grab her sweatshirt and purse. “I gotta get going. Don’t want to be late on my first day.”
Adam walked her to the door, where she paused to kiss him goodbye. “Text me later. Let me know how it’s going,” he said, hooking an arm around her and pulling her against him. She kissed him again.
“Mmm. You have to stop, or I won’t want to leave.”
“You’ve caught on to my evil plan.”
God, any more of this and I was going to start making gagging noises right here on the spot. I coughed into my hand, “Get-a-room.”
Adam glared at me. “We did have a room ‘til some douchebag decided to barge in on us.”
I raised my brows. “She’s gonna be late, dude.”
He grimaced but let her go, then kissed her again on her cheek. “Good luck. Love you.”
“I know.” She turned, waving to me as an afterthought, and was gone.
Adam took a minute to watch her go, as if he wasn’t going to see her again in months or a year instead of this evening. Something about that irritated me. And yet, underneath that layer of irritation was envy, if I allowed myself to admit it.
I looked away, annoyed at that thought. Love. Who needed that shit? I turned back to Adam. “Should I step out? Give you a moment to recover?”
“Go fuck yourself,” he said with a good-natured grin, turning to join me by the window.
“She’ll be okay. Her docs gave her the okay for school, right?”
“She’s fine.” He shrugged self-consciously, but I could tell he was still worried.
“She’s still not letting you ride the bike?”
He gestured to the suit he wore sans jacket. “Like I was going to ride the bike in this.”
“Gotta look pretty for your pictures today.”
He rolled his eyes. “Speaking of looking pretty…we watched your TED talk a few times. It was really good. Well done.”
I smiled. “Thanks. It went over well. I’ve got some follow-up interviews to do for some of the newspapers who wanted more.”
“We need all the good press we can get. I also have some really good news. I’m bringing in someone who I think is going to be key in the formation of our board of directors.” Adam turned to me, his mouth turned up in a self-satisfied smile.
Uh-oh. I knew that smile. He was about to spring something on me. He glanced at his watch. “He should be here any minute. He’s stopping by for a few so I can show him around.”
“And this person is someone I don’t know?”
“You’ve never met him, but he’s been supportive of me and my ventures for a long time. I owe him a lot.”
“And his qualifications?” I bit out, trying to hide my irritation but not quite succeeding. “I really wish you would have run this by me first.”
“I’m running it by you now. And he has no idea what I’m going to ask him to do. I thought I’d introduce you first. I know that he’ll be a good—”
The intercom on Adam’s desk buzzed, and his intern’s voice came through, “Adam? You have a visitor to see you… Mr. David Weiss?”
Instead of answering the intercom, Adam headed for the door, motioning for me to follow. Upon first hearing the man’s name, my stomach had dropped. Not good. Not good at all.
I trailed behind Adam by about three or four feet, feeling like a dog being dragged to the washbasin. Adam stopped when he came face to face with a man in his early fifties—medium height, fit build, salt and pepper hair, olive skin. He didn’t look anything like April—or rather, she didn’t look anything like him.
Adam was enthusiastically pumping his hand. “Hey, David. So great to see you. Glad you could come out.”
“Well, thanks for inviting me—finally.” He had an East Coast accent—Boston, I guessed.
“I have to be careful letting the competition in here, you know. You signed that NDA, right?” Adam smirked.
David Weiss laughed. “You were always a funny kid.”
Adam turned to me. “Let me introduce you to my right-hand man. This is Jordan Fawkes, our CFO. He’s running the show on all of the IPO stuff.”
“Ah, you’re the one who’s been putting my little girl through her paces.”