Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 41137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
I understand Howard’s general idea, but I never thought it would work. I thought it was too unwieldy, and after we made all those changes in the code, it would be too complicated to run smoothly.
Maybe with a team of like fifty engineers trying to streamline everything, but not with just five of us. Really, just two of us, since Parker, Coop, and Alan are practically useless.
The more we go through this, the more positive I am that it’s the very implementation itself that isn’t working. I’m frustrated by the time Jason dismisses us, and I stay behind to test out a few things.
The guys all slowly filter out, although Howard throws me an annoyed glare. I bet he’d stay and pester me if he didn’t have class during the next block.
I feel Jason come over and look down at my screen once the others are gone. “What is it?” he asks softly.
I glance up at him. “Howard’s wrong.”
I don’t need to say anything more. He sits at the computer next to mine and starts to go through all the code, running the program, testing it the best he can.
And when he’s done, he leans back in his chair. “Shit.”
“I know. I just noticed it today. The others think it’s network lag.”
“Makes no sense. This stuff is all hardwired. And if the hardware isn’t keeping up…” He trails off.
“Defeats the purpose,” I say softly.
“Right. We’re supposed to be more efficient, not less.”
“So what do we do?”
He sighs, shaking his head. “This is fucking annoying, but it’s what happens in this sort of thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“We scrap it, go back to the original plan.”
I stare at him. “Scrap… weeks?”
“Scrap it,” he says, nodding.
“Jason, wait. We can’t do that. There has to be another way. I mean, Howard’s gonna…” I trail off, eyes wide.
I don’t know why I’m defending Howard. I don’t care about him, not really. I care more about this project and all the work I’ve done.
The idea of getting rid of weeks of work drives me insane. I can’t imagine how Howard will feel when he realizes he wasted all of our time.
He’ll flip his shit.
“Look, this is what happens,” Jason says, smiling sadly. “When you’re building something that’s never been done before, you take risks, you go down blind alleys, you make mistakes. Unfortunately, you guys are only working on this temporarily, so for you it’s like… like you never did it.”
“Exactly,” I say softly.
“But you did,” he points out. “You took a good idea and proved that it won’t work. That’s a good thing. It’s not the result we wanted, but we’re after truth. And sometimes, the truth sucks.”
“This truth really sucks.”
“I know,” he says, laughing. “But what else can we do?”
“You’re right.” I lean back in my chair. “Shit.”
“Come here.” He motions for me. I get up and walk over to him, and he pulls me against him.
I kiss him softly as he smiles down at me. “Be honest with me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“How important is this project to you?”
“It’s really important,” I say. “Honestly. I’m invested.”
“Good.” He kisses me again and I feel his hands reach up into my hair. “You know, I said something to you the other day, in your apartment.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What?”
“I said you’d have to be punished. Do you remember that?”
I bite my lip. “I remember.”
He smirks and pulls my hair, tipping my head back. I gasp as he kisses my neck, his hand reaching down to undo the button on my jeans. He unzips my fly, pushing me back, pushing me up against a wall.
“Here?” I gasp, eyes blinking at him.
“Here,” he says, sliding his hand down the front of my jeans. My heart’s beating fast with excitement and desire. It’s sudden, but it’s intense, and I kiss him again, biting his bottom lip.
He grunts, sliding his hand down my panties. I gasp as he teases my pussy, fingers rolling over my clit, sending shivers down my spine.
“Who else… uses this space?” I manage to gasp.
“I don’t know,” he admits. His smirk is delicious, driving me wild. “Want to find out?”
“Shit,” I moan as his fingers slide inside of me. His lips bury mine, and I can’t argue, can’t fight.
Not that I want to.
Pleasure rocks through my body. I writhe against him as he slides his fingers in and out of me, teasing my clit, sliding them inside, pulling them back. His lips feel warm and hard against mine, his tongue against mine. I’m moaning as he kisses me, as his fingers work my pussy.
He turns me around suddenly, tugging my jeans down over my ass. I’m pressed up against the wall and I hear his belt buckle jingle, his fly unzip.
I look over my shoulder as he slides his cock from inside his boxer briefs. “Jason,” I gasp.
“I’m going to fuck you right here, little Clara,” he whispers in my ear. “Right where anyone could come and catch us. Hear me, Clara?”