Authors: Cathy Yardley
Level Up (21 page)
Now it was his turn to be stunned. "Wait. You
what
?"
"I realized I'm more of a people person than I thought," she said, with a rueful laugh. "I would've missed so much from up here. Rachel, Hailey, Kyla, Stacy. Hell, even the guys. And I would've missed just having time to live. I would've been working my ass off to prove I was the best, to people who wanted me to fail. I realized I don't want to live like that."
He swallowed. "That's great."
"Most of all," she said, stroking his face, "I don't want to give up on what I found with you. I'm willing to see where it goes if you are."
He kissed her, lightly, then rested his forehead against hers. "How'd they take it?"
"Pretty well," she said. "Of course, I also told them their product was shit and they were trying to lowball me in case it failed.""
He choked.
"Holy wow." He thought about it--her typical, no-holds-barred delivery. "Bet that went over like a lead balloon."
"Apparently, I still need help with my people skills."
He laughed.
The snuggled like that for a moment. "So...I'm your boyfriend now, right?" he said hopefully.
She kissed him, hard. "Drive me home," she breathed, "and I'll show you just how much of my boyfriend you are."
Tessa quickly straightened out her hair and then answered the persistent ringing on her computer. "Hello? Hello! Yes! I'm here!" she said quickly, turning on her webcam.
Ani looked at her from the computer screen, obviously amused. "We were supposed to Skype today, right? Is it a bad time?"
"No! No, it's fine," Tessa said. "Just...um, distracted."
"And how is Mr. Adam?"
Tessa's answering smile was broad.
"That good, huh?"
Considering they'd barely kept their hands off each other since she got home from San José a week prior, yeah, she'd say so. "He says hi."
"Tell him I can't wait to meet him when I come in for my convention," Ani said. "And how about work? You regretting not taking the San José job?"
"Not at all," she said. "Apparently, the guy who offered me the job was trying to save his own ass, set me up as a fall guy. His boss took the project away. They're pushing out the deadline--and get this. They''re subcontracting it to Mysterious Pickles."
"Wow," Ani said.
"It'll be great," Tessa said, "since Abraham told them to hire me as his next engineer. He said that anybody--woman, man, or kangaroo--that could out code him in a straight head to head, without 'being an asshole about it,'' was someone he could work with. I start on the engineering team Monday. So it's all working out."
"That's fantastic. I love seeing you so happy." Ani winked. "It looks like you're finally getting that life, after all."
"I'm leveling up," Tessa said, sighing.
"Well, pick me up at SeaTac, and then see if you can rustle me up a guy, okay?" Ani said. "I could desperately use a quick, fun bounce boy. I haven't been laid in a decade."
Tessa chuckled. "Well, I'll see what I can do.'
"Oh, and Tessa?" Ani smirked. "I love that you combed your hair, but couldn't bother to put on a shirt." Then she hung up.
Tessa covered her bare breasts. "Damn it," she said. "I thought the camera was angled up higher."
Adam, who was buck naked, walked out. "Ready for the
Sherlock
marathon?"
She grinned. Naked Netflix marathons. It was like Christmas.
She hopped into his bed, letting him turn on the TV. Then she paused it, straddling him.
"You know," she said. "Maybe we can start in a minute."
"I deduce you're right," he said, and kissed her.
