Page 33 of One Midnight Kiss

13

FOX

It was Monday, and the first public advertisements for Hanna had gone live on Friday without a hitch. As stressful as it was, excitement thrummed through me too. I made it a point to go over every ad, double checking every detail. The last thing I wanted to do was promise consumers Hanna would do the dishes and change the sheets.

A dry amusement came over me at the thought. What a blip that would be. An AI that could fold laundry or wash the dishes. It had all the makings of a futuristic domestic thriller from the fifties. But honestly, that was where things were headed. Humanoid robots were already in the works. Hanna was a first step toward that reality.

I went to my office and could feel the energy. We had all put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into Hanna. We were so close to sending our baby out into the world.

I popped my head into the corner where our social media gurus hung out. They were all kids, fresh out of high school and college. They knew all there was to know about Tik Tok, Instagram, and the world of hashtags.

They would be the ones responsible for making Hanna known to the world. They were taking the marketing campaign and basically putting it on steroids. Natalia’s team had provided the hashtags and given them guidelines on how to push it. Although my guys would add their own special touches.

“Hey, guys,” I greeted them. “How is it going? Are the ads hitting?”

“Like a storm!” Jamie, the youngest of the group, answered enthusiastically. “Twitter is going crazy with #HelloHanna and potential customers are buzzing about it on Reddit.”

“That’s good to hear, I think,” I replied.

“Yes, it’s a good thing,” he said. “People are engaging.”

I felt a jolt of excitement and pride. This was it. This was what all our hard work had led to.

The only gray cloud in my sunny sky was Natalia. She wasn’t returning my calls. In fact, I hadn’t talked to her since I rescued her from the side of the road. I didn’t think we were going to be best buds, but I did expect us to at least be on speaking terms.

I had a feeling she was avoiding me on purpose.

Her pride was wounded. I got it, but I actually needed to talk to her about the symposium. I needed to do it today, before I bought her a plane ticket and reserved a hotel room for her. I also needed the information her team had put together for my Hanna pitch at the symposium.

Both reasons were good excuses to see her in person. I didn’t want to do email or keep playing phone tag. Hell, at this point I felt like I knew her assistant Penelope as well as I knew my own sister-in-law.

Deep down, if I was being honest, I could admit I kind of just wanted to see her. I missed a woman I didn’t even know. She didn’t like me. That much she made very clear. Maybe it was the challenge that had me walking right back to the elevators. I wasn’t used to women being so averse to spending time with me. Usually, I was pushing them away.

Upstairs, I barely made it down the hall before Penelope shot me a murderous glare. “Absolutely not,” she said. “I told you the last time you called, you have to make an appointment and I know for a fact you don’t have one.”

“No appointment,” I said, grinning as I approached her desk. “But you like me, right? We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.”

“Debatable,” Penelope muttered, putting a folder down and turning her full attention to me. “If you’re here to see Natalia, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

I sighed. “Are we really going to play that game?”

“What game are you talking about?”

“You’re going to tell me she’s busy or not in the office and I’m going to have to barge into her office. She gets mad. You get mad. Let’s save ourselves all the drama and just let me in to see her.”

“There will be no more barging from you,” she said. “I have pepper spray and I’m willing to use it.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Duly noted.”

“Besides, she’s not in her office,” Penelope said.

I sighed. “Is she in the conference room?”

“No. She’s not here. As in, she’s not in the office.”

I frowned. “Will she be in later?”

“She hasn’t been in since Thursday.”