by Haley Travis
All of these strange little ways to build up hype were admittedly a bit ridiculous. We had a technologically superior product, and it should be easy to market. But these days it was all about being first, and having the major influencers on your side, as much as it was about what you were selling.
My father must be spinning in his grave, realizing that it was the artwork on the merch that would help sell our new computer processors and video cards just as much as the firepower inside them.
What a weird world we live in , I thought to myself for the millionth time.
Finally getting back to the office nearly two hours later, I took a photo of the merch samples and emailed it to Terry through our private server. To my absolute delight, there was an email from Jenna, saying that she loved the marketing and the lightness of our message.
Responding immediately, I gave her the address and invited her to swing by at four. She replied in minutes, confirming that she’d drop in.
Opening the feed to the parking lot security camera on the far left of my three huge monitors, I popped on my headphones and dove into paperwork, getting ahead of work for the next hour. Our legal team had made everything official, so I could now explain things to Jenna.
A few other people needed to be told, but Jenna was the person I wanted to impress the most.
Breaking down, I finally realized that I needed to know about her. I searched for Jenna Meyers online, aching for any personal information. Yet she had every social media profile locked down tight, with only the straightforward headshot from her work website.
Even when I dug further, the only hits I could find were from having dinner with her two girlfriends on a restaurant review, and an old list of books on her to-be-read pile from four years ago. If her tastes hadn’t changed, she enjoyed science fiction and fantasy. At least that was something.
My pulse jumped as a car pulled into our lot. That was definitely Jenna at the wheel. Racing out through the double security doors, I reached her before she could even knock.
“How are people supposed to get in if there’s no buzz code?” she asked suspiciously.
“They’re not,” I shrugged. “Parcels are either picked up by me, or left at a post office box. Nobody else should ever be here. I was watching for you on the security camera.”
There was no way to read the look she shot me. Keying in today’s code, I held the door for her as she stepped inside.
Jenna’s eyes darted around the bare beige hallway. “It’s like an FBI fortress in here,” she quipped as I keyed in the code for the second door.
I was surprised when it didn’t open. Keying the pad again, it still didn’t work. Going back to the first door, Jenna raised an eyebrow at me.
“Terry is always changing the security codes,” I explained.
Tapping in the code at the door we just came through from outside, my password was denied, and that door wouldn’t open now. It must have double-locked during the reset. We were stuck in the corridor.
“Dammit,” I muttered. “He probably updated the codes when we were halfway through. I’ll text him.” Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick message, then looked up to give Jenna a reassuring smile.
Her back was against the wall, eyes wide, hands shaking. The hallway we were stuck in was at least fifteen feet long and four feet wide, but from her frantic, wild eyes, she clearly was panicking.
“Jenna,” I said gently, “Are you claustrophobic?”
She nodded, her shoulder bag hitting the ground as it slipped off. “I can’t…” She muttered, then stopped. Her chest was rising and falling too quickly, her breathing jerky.
I moved to stand in front of her, but not too close, taking her hand and gently stroking her palm. “Slow breathing. We won’t be stuck here more than ten to twenty minutes, I promise.”
She nodded, her bright blue eyes wide, but she couldn’t seem to get a full breath. Although I was worried that she was distraught, I couldn’t help noticing that the slight flush across her cheeks was so pretty. The way she stared at me was magnetic.
“What can I do?” I asked.
Jenna opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. In a sudden flash, I wondered if a shock would help. In old movies, they used to slap hysterical people, which forced them to take a sharp breath.
Now, there was no way I would slap this beautiful girl, but there was indeed one other way I could give her a complete shock to the nervous system. It was too forward, but it was also a fast way to find out if I had a chance with her.
Snaking my arm around her waist, I pulled her against me, bringing our mouths almost together. “I’ve wanted to kiss you from the second I saw you,” I whispered. “Tell me to stop, Jenna.”
Her breathing slowed down, deeper, but still raspy. Then her head shook back and forth slightly.
“No? You don’t want me to stop?” I asked.
My heart was galloping, my fingers tightening on her back as I pulled us closer together.
Her hand slipped around my shoulder, pulling me in a split second before our lips met. The heavenly pressure of her soft mouth on mine gave me an electric thrill that ran up my spine.
Before I knew what was happening, I had her shirt untucked so I could caress the silky skin across her back, holding her entire body against mine as I feasted on her luscious lips. Her soft moan brought my cock to instant attention. I couldn’t stop myself from pressing against her as she backed toward the wall.
“Tell me to stop, Jenna,” I murmured, sliding my hand down to grip her round ass firmly. She was kissing me back just as passionately, making us both gasp with desire.
“Please…” She breathed, her fingers swirling in the back of my hair as her breasts crushed against my chest.
“Please take you right here in this hallway?” I chuckled, skimming my lips down her throat. “I swear I might.”
“Yes,” she moaned as I found a spot in the nook of her collarbone that seemed to drive her wild. From her tiny, choked noises, I had to guess that she’d not been with a man in a long time, if ever.
That thought made my shaft throb against her hip bone. To be the first one to taste her, to know her. Hear her lose control.
Kissing her lips again, I marveled at her sweetness as she clung to me desperately. I honestly wondered if I could turn the cameras off remotely, but then realized that would freak Terry out if he noticed. More importantly, such a precious girl deserved far better than a quickie in a hallway for her first time. Or even if it wasn’t her first time, for our first time together.
Placing one hand in the center of her chest, I could feel her heart racing. “Are you still panicking, or is that for me?”
“I...” She jumped back with a gasp, shoving her hands against my chest. Once I realized she was trying to move me, I stepped away. “Did you kiss me just so that I’d stop hyperventilating?”
“Well, I really wanted to anyway, and that seemed a good excuse to be unprofessional.”
“You asshole,” she hissed. Then her eyes flew wide, her hand slapping over her mouth. “I’m sorry – I should never have said that.”
Reaching for her shoulder, she flinched away. Dammit, I’d already scared her off. “I’m sorry, Jenna. You didn’t tell me to stop, then you lunged for me. I thought–”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s over,” she snapped. “Please get us out of here.”
Digging out my phone, I finally got hold of Mark, one of our techs, who rushed out from the lab to open the door. As the bolts clicked, my heart dropped. I didn’t want Jenna to fall for me because we were trapped, but her sweetness mixed with my directness would make us an incredible couple.
As I led her down the hall to the gaming area, I watched her stiff posture, the lift of her chin. She barely looked at me. It was hard to tell if she was embarrassed or whether she was truly furious.
Either way, I hoped that I hadn’t just ruined everything.
5
_____
Jenna
R
unning a hand through my hair, I desperately tried to pull myself together. I don’t know what had come over me. I’d had a few little claustrophobic panic attacks before, but usually shook them off in a few minutes. Maybe it was the thought of being trapped with Andrew, and all of the things that could happen, that had set me off.
I was angrier with myself than at him. He’d clearly asked me permission before we kissed. Well, he told me to tell him to stop, which was somehow insanely hot. Yet once the decision was in front of me, and I felt like he was taking control...a shudder ran through me as I realized how much I needed more.
I honestly couldn’t tell whether he was trying to get a little action just because the opportunity was in front of him, or if he was genuinely attracted to me. A guy like him belonged with a much sexier woman, not a quiet, slightly nerdy type. He was likely used to toying with girls whenever he wanted.
Sitting down heavily on the leather couch, I tried to focus on this project instead of the humming buzz I felt in both my lips and my stomach.
“Do you play video games?” Andrew asked, sitting a polite distance from me and calling up a game.
“Not this kind,” I admitted. “Only puzzle games on my phone.”
“Okay, no problem.” He brought up two different games on the massive screens. “These are first-person shooter games, where you walk around killing bad guys.”
“Sure, I’ve seen commercials for these.” I didn’t mention that I wasn’t interested in violence, and walking around in a virtual environment would probably make me dizzy after a while.
“I’ll break this down as simply as I can,” he said. “The system has a map of the environment and renders the backgrounds as you move around. It takes a huge amount of computing power to do this quickly.”
“Okay.”
He turned a character down a busy street with a park on one side, and buildings on the other. “Everyone wants their games to seem hyper-realistic and have as much visual detail as possible. But processors can only do so much. Every new generation of the game gets faster and smoother, but what if there was a processor that could decide which parts required full resolution, and which parts didn’t?”
“So something already fuzzy like clouds could be blurry, but that car in front of them should be sharp?”
“Exactly.” Andrew flashed me a giant grin that sent warmth straight to my knees. “Straight lines on the edges of windows should be crisp, but the panes of glass could be softer. Tree trunks could be softened ten percent, leaves could be softened twenty percent, which would free up more room to make moving objects more vivid.”
“Wow. So you’re using an artistic eye with the technology to make these decisions?”
“Precisely.” He nodded emphatically, pleased that I understood. “And also, when you’re looking at the screen, you’re focused on what’s directly ahead of you. The graphics on the outer edges can be just a bit softer. Ten percent might not seem like much, but throughout a whole scene, it adds up.”
“Are you designing new games that feature this new idea?” I asked.
“No. That’s the beauty of it. This can be added to most newer existing systems. So it won’t disturb a game you’re already in the middle of, only enhance it.”
“So...what do you actually do?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“I go through the games and make notes on surfaces, textures, and gameplay. Terry creates the algorithms and designs the processors and video cards. I also coordinate testers, doing a security clearance on each person who comes in. And I run the rest of the company. He’s made a few other tech inventions, like our dad did before us.”
“He must be proud that you boys took over,” I smiled.
Andrew stood up suddenly. His face had turned into a mask. “Let’s go to the office and I’ll give you photos of our booth layout for next week.”
Following on his heels, I didn’t know what I’d done or said to upset him. He certainly flashed between moods quickly.
The strangest thing was, I couldn’t help feeling proud of him. It sounded like an incredible product, and he was right – getting it into the hands of the major gamers was the fastest way to get attention.
I just had to stay focused and professional until this thing was over, no matter how much my spine prickled every time I looked at him.
6
_____
Andrew
After escorting Jenna back to her car after the rest of our meeting, I felt like an enormous jerk. She’d hit one of my weird trigger buttons, and for some reason it had rattled me.
I didn’t want to tell her how my parents had died for fear she’d pity me.
I wanted her to feel nothing but passion and comfort around me. Never pity. If there was any chance that she might go into caregiver mode around me, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I should be the one caring for her, always.
Slumping back to my office, I went through a list of suggested events on Saturday night that she had sent me. There were some Lightning Games pre-parties, and a couple of techno lounge events where there would be some related media, but my heart wasn’t in it.
How could I have fun at a party unless I had Jenna with me?
The guilt from kissing her in the hallway weighed on me heavily. She was likely worried her boss Jeremy might find out, or that I’d be too casual with her from now on.
I was surprised to get a call from her the next afternoon.
“Hey, Andrew, sorry to call you on a Saturday.”
“That’s okay. I’m in the office.”
She paused. “Me too.”
“We’re terrible workaholics,” I tried to chuckle. “What’s up?”
She ran through the details of an event tonight for a Lightspeed competitor, sort of an anti-event.
“How did you even hear about this?” I asked.
There was another pause. “My friend Corina, the one you met at lunch, her company did the PR for it. I managed to get you plus one on the guest list. You should go and be seen, and drop hints about your new product to key people. I can email you the invite and a list of suggested people to chat to.”
“Conversational targets,” I grumbled. “What a weird world.”
“I know,” she sighed. “It’s bizarre. But you need to start getting the word out so that you can make more of a splash next week. Also, you need to be seen as mellow, so that FlashFleaze’s people will know that you’re not violent after that incident with the photographer.”
“How the hell am I supposed to appear mellow?” I asked, sitting up straight in my desk chair.
Jenna was quiet for a moment, and I wished this was a video call so that I could study her expression. “A few of his entourage will likely be there. Jimmy Vieki is his right-hand man, so to speak, and he’s confirmed. I checked through his socials, and he’s gone to this event the past two years.”
“I’m supposed to march up there and start a conversation?”
“Sort of. Maybe whoever you bring can accidentally bump into him, and you all start chatting that way. It’s an old trick.”
“Come with me,” I said quickly. “You know all the tricks. Be my date.”
“I can’t,” she nearly whispered.
“Please.” I’ve never begged in my life, but I was already crazy about her. I would have done anything to see her again as soon as possible.
She stayed silent, and I knew it would be difficult to change her mind.
“Jeremy gave you this project, and thought that you would go the extra mile to make it work,” I reminded her, feeling like a jerk, but playing this card anyway. “Do you want to be able to tell him honestly that you tried absolutely everything? Or do you want to have to tell him you were too busy to go to an event and guide your client?”
Her heavy sigh made me need to know what else I could do to make her breathe that hard.
“Fine. I’ll send the info. It starts at nine, so I’ll meet you out front at nine-thirty.”
“No, send me your ad
dress, and I’ll pick you up. That way, we can make a grand entrance.”
“You’re right. We should get your photo taken on the way in. I’ll take care of it.”
“Great,” I said. “See you tonight.”
It wasn’t a real date, but it was a situation where we’d have to fake it a bit. This would give me every excuse to stay close to her. I didn’t even know what my angle was going to be. She seemed to like me, but was more concerned about her job.
If I could convince her that being close to me all night was part of her position, I could find a way to spin it until we were really together. In a flash, I had to wonder if I was getting the hang of this PR stuff, or if I was really just a selfish creep who couldn’t leave a sweet girl alone.
