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“Exactly. That’s the problem with where I work.” He looks off into the distance as though picturing it.
I cock my head and study him. “This may be a dumb question, but since you’re the boss and all, why don’t you set up shop in a place you like? Aren’t there astrophysics labs with windows that open?”
He blinks a few times in that way I’ve come to understand as how he formulates thoughts before speaking them aloud. “There are some limitations with the kind of work we do. It lends itself to the basic Silicon Valley model of an open-plan workplace with modular desks that move around. A lot of natural light comes in the windows of the bigger workspace, but our labs can’t have windows because of the work we do.” He moves his hands in the shape of a cube as though his office is just that size. Somehow, based on how he downplays everything else about himself, I get the feeling his office is rather large.
“A lab, like one telescope and a desk?” I turn my face up to his innocently.
The corner of his mouth tips up. “Are you giving me shit about my lab?”
I mimic the cube shape he made a minute ago. “Ifthisis really the size of four football fields, then yes.”
He says nothing, but the flush across the back of his neck tells me it may even be the size of six football fields. I love catching him in these moments of embarrassment about his success, mainly because he downplays everything about his hot nerd brain all the time.
“Do you want to see it?”
“See what?”
“My lab.”
A laugh bursts from me, and I pull mocking depth into my voice. “Hey baby, want to come see my lab?Is that how you get all the hot chicks?”
Somehow, he manages to turn his momentary embarrassment into a hot guy smirk, and I feel it in my bones. I like this man and can’t find the tools to convince myself I don’t.
I’m in trouble, but I push that thought away for now.
“Notallof them. Not yet.” His smile is a weapon, and I can already see I won’t make it out alive. “Let’s do it. Let’s take a little test drive.”
“In your car?”
His lips quirk to the side. “No. Of my life. Come back to the city with me for a day, and I’ll show you what I do for fun.”
Chapter
Eighteen
Colin
“So you’re basically a reluctant billionaire,” PJ says when she catches me cringing at the helicopter that’s arrived to fly us down to Silicon Valley for our day in the city.
“I feel like that makes me sound like an asshole.”
“Well, let me give you a little quiz, and we’ll see. A, do you give money to charity?”
“Yes, I have a charitable foundation set up with a full-time staff in charge of reading grant proposals.”
“So you’re using your money to help other people.”
Squinting, I tilt my head at her, trying to read what she’s saying. “Yeah…that’s generally what charitable giving is all about.”
“Sure, of course. Unless you’re funding planet-destroying technology or giving all your money to con artists.”
“Ah, that kind of ‘philanthropy.’ No, that’s not what the foundation is about. But thanks for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow.”
“I’m a giver.”
The helicopter rotors whip around, sending ripples of wind scuttling through the grapevines. I catch PJ looking at her peaceful daily backdrop stirred up and marred by the trappings of my world, and I hate the idea of what she sees.
I signal to the pilot, who flips open the passenger door, and I hurry PJ along. We dash across the grassy field, and I step onto the step and into the helicopter. Then I bend down and extend my hand to help her inside.
