deadline for trial testing by a week.”
“You kind of did what?” Avery asked. His mouth fell open, and his mug wobbled in his hand.
“Set your chai down before you spill it all over me,” Jonah insisted.
Avery rolled his eyes but did it anyway. “A guy knocks over coffee one time…”
Jonah held up two fingers. “But who’s counting?”
“You obviously are,” Avery groused. “Why’d you guarantee we’ll finish the final phase so quickly?”
Jonah sighed. “It wasn’t my finest moment.” He’d been reeling from Trexler’s insults and dismissive attitude toward his abilities, but Jonah left his excuses unsaid. “Now, we need to find a way to finish the microchip and begin phases of testing.”
“Sounds like we’ll be ordering in lunch,” Avery said.
“Maybe dinner too. Or do you have plans?” Jonah asked.
Avery broke eye contact by looking down at the cup in his hands. “No plans,” he said softly.
What was the wistful tone all about? Was Avery pining for the new guy? Jonah wanted to ask more, but he needed to keep their focus on the task at hand and not open a can of worms. Instead, Jonah said, “Fine, but no eating or drinking around Stella.”
Avery met his declaration with an eye roll, then finished his tea while they reviewed their plans for the final phase. Once they finished, Avery walked over to Stella, stroked her keyboard, and said, “Hello, beautiful.”
Jonah felt the caress in his soul and barely suppressed a shiver. Damn, it was going to be a long fucking day.
Eleven hours, dozens of pages of scribbled notes, two rounds of takeout food, and three bags of Caramel Bugles later, they had reached the testing phase. Jonah intently watched his monitor as Avery attempted to hack through their new cyber-protection from his laptop. As the day wore on, Jonah’s office seemed to shrink in size until it felt smaller than a coat closet. He’d lost his jacket and tie not long after they started their marathon of coding. At some point, he’d loosened three buttons on his shirt, and had caught Avery staring at the swath of tan skin exposed there every so often. Pointing it out would’ve embarrassed Avery, so Jonah silently basked in the attention and debated tempting the devil by undoing another button.
Jonah traced his bottom lip with his forefinger and watched with glee as their cybersecurity chip blocked Avery’s attempts to breach the firewall. Each time he was thwarted, Avery made this adorable little grunt that had Jonah thinking dirty, dirty thoughts.
“I wish I’d thought to program sounds,” Jonah teased.
“What kind of sounds?” Avery said without looking up from his laptop. His fingers flew over the keys as he continued trying to penetrate the fortress.
“Video arcade noises like when Pac-Man died. I could’ve rigged it to play every time you failed to breach the firewall.”
Avery chuckled. “Explosions like Battleship?”
Jonah grimaced. “I’m not too keen on war games or explosions.”
Avery’s fingers stilled, and he looked up at Jonah with a horror-stricken expression on his face. “Oh, God. That was such an insensitive thing to say.”
“Why?” Jonah teased.
Avery pinned him with an annoyed look. Apparently, he’d uncovered the truth about Jonah’s injury. For eight months, Jonah had given a variety of reasons for his scar ranging from getting struck with debris while rescuing a kitten from a tree during a hurricane to battling a samurai.
“I won’t get triggered and ‘Hulk out’ over loud noises and explosions,” Jonah said.
Avery continued to glower, which Jonah much preferred over pity. “I never once implied such a thing.”
“What happened to your flowers?” Jonah suddenly asked, opening the can of worms he’d vowed to leave alone.
Avery only gaped at him unblinkingly. Who could blame him? The question had come out of nowhere. “My flowers?”
“The ones Romeo brought you. I caught you making heart eyes at them every time I stepped out of my office yesterday.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Avery scoffed. “I took them to my grandmother.”
Of all the possible things Avery could’ve said, Jonah hadn’t been expecting this one. “Why?”
Avery released a deep sigh. “I told you he wasn’t the guy for me.” It was Jonah’s turn to just stare. “Here was this handsome, successful guy who seemed to be interested in me, but I felt…nothing. No spark.”
Jonah snorted, and Avery scowled.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Avery asked.
“No spark?” Jonah asked. “I’d hate to see how you return from a lunch date when you do feel chemistry with a man.”
Avery stiffened in his chair. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on, Avery. Flushed cheeks