Page 27 of The Nerds and the CEO

In the main office, he heard the various voices wishing each other a good night, and the shuffle of people leaving for the day.

“Promiscuous Perks.” Emily interrupted. She stood in his doorway, watching him. “Is that what PP stands for?”

Fuck. She shouldn’t care what it was. If he’d kept his cool earlier, there wouldn’t be anything for her to question. He drummed his fingers on his desk and grasped the first answer that came to mind. One as close to the truth as possible without giving anything away. “We have a client who runs a string of porn websites. The developers think it’s funny, because we’re all a bunch of six year olds. They made up a nickname for his customization.” He was a horrible liar. Worse, something gnawed behind his ribs for being dishonest withher.

“What does that have to do with the failed beta on Monday?” she asked.

“Monday night was a fluke. Nothing to worry about.”

“Right. Because you didn’t roll out a beta, because you have a tight deadline and you promised your board and investors you were dedicating all of your resources to meeting that schedule.”

She was hitting closer to home than he cared for.

“Exactly.” He tried to meet her gaze but couldn’t. He settled for focusing on something behind her, and prayed she wouldn’t notice.

“And if I go ask Justin, he’ll feed me the same story about what PP stands for?”

Why wasn’t she dropping this? “He’ll tell you the same thing I did.”

“Because in the amount of time it takes me to find his office on the top floor, you’ll let him know I’m on my way and why?”

“Because he already knows.”

Justin was a better liar than Antonio was. If she decided to go up there, she’d run into a brick wall. Especially if she and Justin let themselves get as distracted as the last time they were in a room together. Antonio bit back a scowl at the thought.

She pursed her lips. “You can’t do something that’s going to threaten your stance with the board.”

“I agree. We’re not doing anything.”

“No, you’re not. We’ll have the UI conversation when I’m done talking to Justin.” She turned on her toe and headed toward the elevators.

Antonio thought about chasing her down, but a niggle of relief kept him in his chair. If she knew, there was no more need to hide this secret. No more waiting for the other shoe to drop and wondering when she’d find out and tell Grant.

He clenched his fist hard enough his knuckles ached. She was going to tell Grant.Fuck.

Chapter Nine

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