Waiting For It - Allyson Lindt Page 0,18

came more easily than I thought. “All I’m saying is, give me as much Ryan Reynolds as Gomez Adams.”

“So... masturbating with a unicorn?” Luke winked before turning away to load our things into the back of the car.

“I could get into it if that’s your thing.”

“I don’t come in rainbows.”

I laughed at the visual and his playful retort. “Probably good.”

“Happy to prove it.”

My brain stalled, but only for a heartbeat this time. I could do this. “Even better. Do you think if you ate a handful of Skittles first, I could taste the rainbow?”

He sucked a sharp breath through his teeth and shook his head. “The things you do to my imagination...”

Me? To him?

“We should get going.” Luke opened the passenger door for me. “Otherwise, we may not make it to the office.”

Responsibility warred with desire, as I slid into the car. “Office. Right.”

We left airport parking and were pulling onto the freeway, when Luke’s phone rang. Just a few minutes earlier, and I’d think the damn thing was trying to interrupt us.

He pulled it from his pocket and handed it to me. “Anyone important?”

“Scott.” My gut sank. Did the company CTO regularly make casual calls to Luke? “Answering. Putting on speaker.” I swiped as I talked.

“Hello.” Luke spoke loudly and clearly.

“How far out are you?” Scott was usually friendly. Chatty. The way he cut straight to the point was less than reassuring.

His abrupt tone kicked my stomach into my shoes. “Just left the airport,” I said.

“Good. You’re both there. Something came out of Sacramento today.” Scott let out a long sigh. “Someone published the entire game plot, including our surprise ending, online.”

“What? Why?” I knew why, but it was easier to ask than admit someone with access to that information—someone so close to this project—was trying to fuck us.

“Next steps.” Luke had lost any hint of playfulness and was all business.

Hot.

“Chloe’s already released five other variations in the same forums, to confuse things. Yoshi is handling everything else public-facing,” Scott said. “Zane emailed you machine information. I need you to find out who this came from and deal with them.”

“On it. We’ll check in soon,” Luke said.

Dread hung heavy in my limbs as we disconnected from Scott. As if missed deadlines weren’t enough, now we were dealing with sabotage—espionage?—too. “Nice of someone to set up a welcome present for us.” My sarcasm came out with more bitterness and less teasing than I intended.

“Yay.” Luke scrubbed a hand through his short hair. “When we get in, Mike and I are going to talk. I need you chatting with developers. Keep it informal. Fast. Don’t plan on getting a lot of your own coding done today.”

“Right.” I hated the idea of losing a day of work, but this was important too.

Luke rested a hand on my knee. The shock of heat was muffled by stress. “I’m glad you’re here.” He gently squeezed my leg. “No one else I trust more to get us through this.”

It wasn’t filthy or sexy, but it did summon a ball of warmth in my chest that spread through me.

We spent the rest of the drive modifying our plans for the week. I watched the scenery pass by in a hazy blur. I’d taken several trips out here, and always loved the scenery. Today, I couldn’t see a lot of it.

Wildfires were tearing through the hills, not too far away, and the air was choked with smoke. We had summer fires in Salt Lake, but nothing this severe. I hated that so many of our programmers were dealing with the evacuation and the fear of losing their homes on top of a deadline and a visit from the boss.

We arrived at the building and headed straight for the floor where the developers worked. My first few times here, doing this felt awkward. Like walking into a stranger’s home and making myself comfortable. But now, it was almost as familiar as walking into my own office.

The location Luke, Chase, and I worked in was Rinslet’s international headquarters. Rinslet didn’t have the same kind of massive campus that some of the bigger tech companies had, but they owned the entire building downtown, and it was one of the taller ones in the city. There was a little of everything on-site—cafeteria, gym, gaming room.

This was a satellite location for developers, so we only took up a floor. Everyone in the open-floor plan had their heads down and fingers flying over keys when we stepped into the room. A few people