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“I’m convinced you’re bat-shit crazy,” said Jax.
“I am,” Harper admitted. “But are all three of you good with it?”
I glanced at Preston, then at Jax. Together, we gave the weirdest triple-shrug in the world.
“So you’re going to be our girlfriend, then?” Preston asked. “All three of us?”
Harper paused, touching a finger to her lip in contemplation.
“Sure. I’m your girlfriend.”
“A girlfriend comes with responsibilities,” I offered.
“I know.”
“And benefits,” Jax growled.
Harper’s faint smirk turned into a grin. “There had better be benefits,” she agreed. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”
Somewhere between my legs, something stirred. I had a good feeling I knew exactly what it was.
“So we’re okay then?” she finally asked. “I can stop obsessing over this and get back to work?”
We looked at each other one last time.
“Sure,” I told her. “We’re golden.”
“Good,” smiled Harper, extending an arm toward the door. “Now please, and I mean this in the nicest possible way…” She smiled sweetly. “Get out.”
~ 34 ~
HARPER
I worked continually for four straight days, then nannied for three nights. Aside from handing off the babies, I hardly even saw the guys. I barely saw my pillow, too.
But they were all still in, and that was all that mattered.
In the meantime, I got shit done. I worked out my last major programming bugs, as well as some of the minor ones, before moving onto the physical product. The new circuits I ordered came in, and they were working even better than expected. I made a shit-ton of wiring harnesses. Connected haptic patches to an actual, wearable suit. I sat in front of my soldering rig until my back locked up, then walked around the block to stretch it out and clear my mind.
It was during those crisp winter walks that I thought mostly about the guys. They sent me daily text messages of encouragement, offers of help, and individual promises to take me out on dates once I’d finished my beta testing. I got a few strategic pics of Adrian winking at me with his shirt off, some heavy nerd-flirting from Preston, and even a few lines of late-night dirty talk from what I suspected was a semi-drunk Jax.
As much as I loved all the attention, I loved even more that they were respecting my work. It helped that I was in the home stretch, of course. I’d made contacts within the major VR corporations, and some were already expecting my prototype. I gathered all the data I could, on every aspect of the product. I collated it all into neat folders, so I could work it into whatever final presentation I would ultimately be giving.
During my work stretches, I tried not to think about potential competitors. It was hard, though. Telengard sent me near-daily updates now on the YouTube channel, in which the kid was still traveling down many of the same development paths as me.
The closer I got to launch, the more nervous I knew I would get. And the knowledge of this made me even more anxious. More paranoid…
I needed a break.
I needed release.
Luckily, I knew where to get both.
~ 35 ~
HARPER
“Oh my God, he’s adorable!”
