Page 92 of Don't Game Me
He laughed at something the marketing manager said, but his eyes were on his desk, not the guy. His smile faltered, and she glimpsed it again, that broken part of him she somehow knew she was responsible for. She had to fix it.
The guy didn’t know how to love. Actually, that wasn’t true. He did know, but he just didn’t recognize what he felt.
“Jake,” she stepped farther into his office, saying his name so softly she barely heard it pass her lips.
His head snapped up like he’d been struck.
“Becca.” His eyes hit hers, guarded. “I need to get you to your meeting.” He directed at his marketing manager, “Excuse us, would you?”
“Of course.” The guy left.
“Come on,” Jake snapped, marching toward her. “Meeting is three floors up.”
She caught his arm as he stormed past. “We need to talk about things.”
He froze and stared down at her. “Now isn’t a good time. Let’s try to keep it together today.”
“Fine. Lead on to this meeting. But we’re not delaying this talk much longer.”
Jake pushed into the conference room, pissed. At himself. Her. The world.
She met his gaze with a coolness that, in the past, meant she itched to fight him. He wanted the fight, and he wanted it to get dirty to the point he’d have to make it physical. As in kissing physical.
He announced, “Guys, this is Becca Harrison.”
“She the new lead on this?” asked the pock-marked wonder kid he’d found at a tech convention several months ago. The barely nineteen-year-old could program circles around anyone on the staff. On the downside, he was arrogant as hell and lacked tact.
“Yes, she’s taking over,” Jake said.
The kid leveled a hostile, distrustful gaze on Becca. Jake held back his itch to tongue lash the kid.
Becca scanned the six guys in the room, unfazed by the hostile kid, coming to rest on the fifty-five-year-old in the far back. “Are you the NASA engineer?”
The NASA guy shifted and glanced around the room insecurely. Jake gambled on his instincts to bring the NASA expert on board. “Yes. I programmed at the command center in Houston for fifteen years before government funding cuts lead to downsizing.”
She smiled wide. “Thank God. We need someone who can deal with a crisis crunch. I’m not sure any of us in this room other than you knows the full scope of what that means. I’ll bet you had your fair share of‘get it donein zero time.’”
He grinned. “Yes.”
“We’ve got only a couple weeks to get done what should take most humans months. I’ve read all of your dossiers. We can do this. If anyone thinks he can’t, then say so now. And walk. This is going to be fun and so next level.” She rubbed her hands together, her enthusiasm infectious. “Who’s ready to start?”
Everyone around the table relaxed and chattered.
The resentful kid eased back in his chair. “Are you related to Noah Harrison?”
“He’s my brother.”
The kid laughed. “He seems to like tackling the impossible.”
She met the NASA guy’s gaze. “I’d call this improbable, not impossible. Improbable has better odds. Odds we’re going to beat.”
“Can you program like him?” the kid asked.
“He’s an idiot compared to me. That’s why they called me in.” She turned to Jake, who still felt less than optimistic. She beamed. “We’re going to get this done for you, and we’re going to kick ass.”
Becca found both of her brothers in Noah’s office at the end of the day. They stood side-by-side, staring at the jumbo computer screens on Noah’s desk. Michael had on his glasses and leaned in close to the screen. The glasses aged him about a decade, even though he hadn’t even hit thirty-three yet.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
