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The scent of coffee teased her. The room was dark from the heavy shades, and she had no idea what time it was. She looked around for a clock but didn’t find one, and she’d left her purse on the kitchen counter.
Curious, she climbed from the bed.
Nathan had hung the white fluffy robe from the footboard on her side of the bed, and she put it on, tying the belt around her as she left the room.
A light was on in his office, and she knocked on the doorframe before entering.
The television was on, the volume low, and he was on the exercise bike, slowly pedaling. He wore shorts and no shirt. Perspiration dampened his hair and he looked devilishly handsome.
“Come in,” he said, smile wide, inviting.
A cup of coffee sat on his desk, abandoned.
“You can have it.” He obviously noted her forlorn expression. “But there’s a fresh pot downstairs that may appeal to you more.”
It seemed bizarre, waking up in her boss’s house, talking about coffee in her robe.
“How did you sleep?”
“I woke up nude.”
“That’s unusual, I take it?” He grinned. The bike beeped, and he pedaled even slower, obviously cooling down. “Can’t say that I’m sorry you slept so well.”
“Are you taking credit for it?”
“Total and complete,” he said shamelessly.
She picked up his cup and sat in his chair. The coffee was tepid, but strong and rich. “What time is it?”
“A little after five,” he said.
The machine beeped again, and he pushed a button to stop it before dismounting. “I need to do a couple of things before I shower,” he said, coming closer to her.
She nodded and stood. “I’ll grab a fresh cup then get ready to go.”
“Bring me a cup back?”
“So you’ll give me a crappy cup of coffee but you won’t drink it?”
He touched her nose and emotion cascaded through her. Damn, she liked his gentle teasing almost as much as she appreciated the fact he’d gotten up early enough to make coffee, which was something she rarely managed.
Downstairs, she fished her phone from her purse and dropped it in the deep robe pocket. He’d he set out a cup for her. She liked the way he always seemed to be thinking about her, but she told herself not to get too accustomed to it.
After rinsing his cup, she filled both. She found an unopened container of cream in the refrigerator. She knew he didn’t drink it, which meant he’d taken time to pick it up for her.
Cups ready, she climbed the stairs and heard music coming from his office.
He was sitting at his desk, and he had his wrist cocked as he looked at it.
“What are you watching?”
“Nothing yet. It’s the way the watch starts up when you turn it on.”
“It sounds like the score from a movie or something.”
“It’s Julien Bonds’ theme music.”
“I had no idea.” It probably shouldn’t surprise her, but it did.
She extended Nathan’s cup to him, and he accepted with a smile.
“I found the cream in the fridge,” she said.
“I suspected you were resourceful enough to do that.”
The words “Good morning, Nathan!” blasted from the watch as the theme music faded.
She watched, stunned, as a small image of Julien Bonds floated above the screen. “Hologram?”
Nathan nodded and sipped.
“Is it real time? I mean, are you interacting with it?”
“No. You might as well enjoy it. There’s no way to make him shut up once he starts.”
“Your software update is complete. Do I look better? Sound better? Tell the watch what you think about the new voice synthesizer. It will relay it to me. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I want to be perfect more than I want you to stroke my ego.”
“I wonder about that,” Nathan said.
“You may want to amp up the workout a bit today, Nathan.” Bonds flexed his arm. “It doesn’t appear you walked your suggested ten thousand steps yesterday.”
Nathan pulled her into his lap and she had to readjust quickly to avoid spilling her coffee.
“And we’re unsure whether or not you got enough sleep.”
“Who’s we?” she asked. “Does he mean the royal we?”
“It could mean his engineers or the program. Or you could be right. It might be the royal we.”
“As a reminder, for this to be as effective as we want, please wear your watch in the evenings, even when you sleep. In fact…you took it off around eight-thirty last night. Were you doing something you don’t want us knowing about? At any rate, as for business… Press reports for Donovan Logistics have been mostly complimentary. I’ve attached all relevant search results from the past twenty-four hours to an email and they’re flagged in suggested-read order. I’ve included a rumor from an online source that states OneTech is being acquired. They quoted an anonymous source. And Donovan Worldwide was not named in the piece. Be sure to eat right today. Pizza is not a sustainable choice. At least order a vegetarian one.” The image gave a little wave before vanishing. Then screen went blank.
