Page 24 of Technical Advances

He stood, rubbing his hands awkwardly on his thighs. It was so strange to wrap my head around seeing him being awkward, but I was really learning to love it.

“Are you done? We can head to the lab if you are. I’ll show you around. We can get started.”

“Yes, I’m done.” I stood, too, and started to wrap up one of the half-eaten sandwiches.

“Leave all that,” Anson insisted. “Ross will get it. Let’s go see the lab!” Any heaviness left over from our conversation, or awkwardness from the hand-holding, was lost as Anson sounded genuinely excited to show me his private lab.

We were back in the elevator in no time, me rushing to keep up with Anson, sparing a glance behind me as we passed Ross’s glass-walled office. His mouth was agape, watching us scurry past. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he shook his head and laughed back.

The elevator dinged as I faced forward, walking right into Anson’s back. I could hear Ross laughing behind me while in front of me Anson pivoted to face me.

He was standing right there, boxed in until the doors slid open behind him. That errant strand of hair had fallen from behind his ear again, but he stood perfectly still in front of me, not turning to enter or backing up into the elevator. I couldn’t decide where to look. His hair fluttered, silky brown with gray flecks that made it seem like it was sparkling, his eyes dancing in the harsh light of the hallway, flecks of slivery gray highlighting blue irises, whose depth went on for miles. I settled on his lips as they subconsciously worked to move the hair from in front of his eyes.

Behind him, the door began to close, so I skirted around him to catch it. Anson pivoted but didn’t move otherwise, which meant we’d managed to shift even closer together. It was my turn to be boxed in, my hand holding the door open, my body brushed up against Anson’s. His hand slowly rose, and my stomach fluttered. Was he about to …

Ross cleared his throat, and Anson’s hand found the strand of hair, tucking it behind his ear. Without moving, he turned his head to look over his shoulder.

“Ross, there are sandwiches in my office. Feel free to grab one.” He smiled at me, but all I could focus on was the fact that we were still touching, my chest against his bicep. I couldn’t move without nudging past him, and he simply didn’t move. “Or three,” he said to Ross. “We’ll be down in the lab if you need us.”

“Thanks, boss. Or I guess, thanks, Benji, for bringing them. IT is sending a laptop. I’ll have them bring it down to you.”

“They can leave it …”

“In the antechamber. I know!”

Ross looked at me. “Very few people are allowed in Anson’s lab.” He cleared his throat again, and Anson finally moved away from me, pivoting and entering the elevator. He nodded a “thank you” my way, jutting his chin toward my hand, holding the door open. I stepped in, more than a little flustered and confused as the door closed on a smirking Ross.

CHAPTER 10

ANSON

That first time I swiped my key card, and the doors to the lab slid open with Benji standing beside me, it was like the world was going from black-and-white to technicolor. I watched his face as he took it in. The space wasn’t huge, mostly another desk, some counters, numerous 3D printers, and cabinets full of tools and parts. But Benji’s face lit up like it too had left Kansas and entered Oz.

“Is that a …” he asked, but instead of naming the printer he ran up to it, his eyes wide with excitement.

“I didn’t even know the 4.0 was released yet!”

“It isn’t.”’ I smiled.

I think I heard Benji mutter, “Holy fucking shit,” under his breath. I stood just inside the doorway, my hands locked behind my back, allowing the sliding doors to close automatically behind me. I watched as Benji explored.

“Wow.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s perfect.”

“I’ve always thought so.” Benji’s smile lit up the whole room, and I may have realized a beat or two too late that I was standing there staring at it, unmoving. Had I done the same thing upstairs, when I had turned around in front of the elevator to find Benji directly in front of me, barely an inch of space between us.

In the lab, I turned to look out the glass doors to the outside room, even though we had just walked through the space. “No laptop yet, but we can …” I didn’t need to finish the sentence. Benji headed to the desk and pulled out the chair.

“Let’s get started.” He patted the chair, a match to the one I used upstairs, his smile widening as he rubbed the leather. “Jesus, this thing really is soft.” There was one other chair in the room, a more standard office chair, that Beck had insisted I have available for him. It was decidedly less comfortable than my gaming chair, and though I’d never thought about it before, I realized that may have been a subconscious choice on my part because I rarely enjoyed being interrupted when Beck felt the need to hunt me down in my private lab. The less comfortable the chair, the more likely Beck’s visits were kept short.

Before I sat, I texted Ross and asked him to order two more of the gaming chairs. I stood indecisively even once that was done and even though Benji had already sat off to one side of the computer screens in Beck’s chair.

He tapped the chair again. “Ready to get started? Or am I keeping you from something? I can go, or, you know, work on my own if you have other things you need to do.”

I pulled out the good chair and sat down.