Page 81 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
“You keep saying how it can help or hurt someone like you. You’re making it personal. Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Her brows dip low. “Not to me.”
“I never imagined I’d get a girlfriend, let alone someone like you. Do you know what happens when I go into a bar and try to pick someone up?”
Her cheeks turn a shade of red I’m not sure I like, so I quickly continue.
“The music makes it hard for me to focus on what anyone is saying, so it usually ends one of two ways. They either throw a drink in my face and storm off or tell me I’m an asshole for not listening and storm off. When I was growing up, none of the tutors knew how to handle me, so I homeschooled myself. Imagine how it would have been if there was a way to tailor my learning needs to a specific lesson plan?”
“Thane.” She approaches me slowly, then sits so our legs are touching. “You say all of this as though you’re still on the outside looking in.”
“I am. I always have been, but what you’ve created has the potential to bridge the gap between people like you and people like me.”
“What do you think you’re like?” Her lashes are damp, and my skin grows tight around my bones. What the hell have I done now?
“I’m different. I’ve always been different in every way.” I don’t have an emotional attachment to this answer. It is what it is, but Lottie wipes away a tear. I never want her crying over me.
“And I like you.” Her voice is so soft, but it crashes into me like a Mack truck hitting a guardrail.
“Then you’re likely different too.” I chuckle. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
The small crinkles appear around her eyes.
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.” Her words are hesitant. What’s going on in her mind now?
“I have. Once I saw it in action at the nanny camp event, my mind hasn’t stopped whirling with possibilities.”
“And yet, Wilder Minds hasn’t sent me an offer.” Her brows furrow, and I reach out to smooth the line between them.
My stomach drops as though I ate ten pounds of bricks for breakfast. She needs to know about LotiTech. I only created the company so she would have the reach she’ll need. Okay, at first, I wanted to own her science outright, but now that I know her? This company, her ideas, they need to stay in her hands.
“Lottie!” Kara opens the door with so much vigor it bounces off the wall. “You’re up. Are you doing better?”
Lottie looks at me as though she’s about to ask a question but then flashes a gentle smile at my sister.
“I am.” Her gaze glides back to mine. “Thane has taken very good care of me.”
And that one sentence sends my entire body floating into the stratosphere—I took care of my woman.
CHAPTERTWENTY
LOTTIE
It’s beenone week since Thane rocked both my physical and business worlds in a way that tilted my entire life on an axis with no gravity. The way he so casually threw out possibilities for my research, and honestly believes they carry merit, was one of the sexiest things I’ve ever witnessed.
I knew he was brilliant, but experiencing his mind in action is something else entirely.
If what he’s saying is true, and I have no reason to believe it’s not, then he’s also right about me not reaching high enough. But without the background in technology that he has, it’s impossible for me to implement this all on my own.
“I have an idea.” Thane barrels into my home like a comedian making a grand entrance. The door flies open, and his presence fills the room while I stare at his wild, unruly hair.
He’s changed in the month he’s been here. Subtle changes, like his posture that’s no longer always ramrod straight. His hair has grown out a little, showing the natural curl he doesn’t know how to tame. But mostly, it’s the smiles—they happen much more frequently when we’re alone, and I swear to God, my entire being falls a little more each time he graces me with one.
Setting my laptop on the coffee table, I lean back to hear this great idea. I’ve been working in my family room to give Kara and Rafe a little more space while Thane goes back and forth a hundred times a day. Plus, this way, they get to deal with the Scuttlebutts. It’s been a nice break for me, if I’m being honest.
“What’s this idea?” With him close, all the tension drains out of me, even as he paces and sort of bounces on his toes. This is what he does when he’s really fired up about something good.
