Page 131 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

I smile at her. She’s so cute—and beautiful, kind, and perfect. “We don’t hate him.”

“Good,” she says with a sigh of relief. “Because he just made me really rich.”

We laugh as we position ourselves in the next flank, ready to fight our way into the next elevator.

“Good morning ladies,” Mason says, standing next to Lake. He puts his arm around her waist, and they give each other a quick kiss.

They’re out with it. They’re a couple, and now everybody who saw this kiss knows.

The doors slide open. I watch everyone file into the elevator and nearly get left out because I’m still processing how I feel about how honest Lake and Mason can be about their new relationship and the fact that Hercules and I have to hide.

After my lunchwith Mindy in marketing, there’s still no sign of Hercules. And I haven’t been identified as a mole and escorted out of the building. Maybe it wasn’t my question about our families that spooked Hercules. Maybe he freaked out because I told him I loved him.Stupid me.

My watch beeps, letting me know that it’s time for my meeting with Mason. There’s no better time than as soon as possible to pitch my ultimate idea to him. I don’t want Hercules to fire me before I’m able to plant the bug in Mason’s ear. It’s the least I can do to make up for deceiving everyone I’ve come to know and like and—in Hercules and Lake’s cases—love.

I knock on Mason’s door. He’s on the phone when he waves me in.

“Uh-huh, right. Thanks, Herc,” he says and hangs up.

My hand flies to my chest as I forget to breathe.

“Lark, sit. We’ve got some news.” He’s beaming.

I take a seat. “I’m all ears.”

“Shop-a-Lot’s going live on May 31, and presales are through the roof. Everybody wants to know how we did it, even Max Grove at GIT.”

I nearly choke on my own spit going down the wrong pipe and break out into a coughing fit. “Max Grove?” I say in a strained voice.

“Yeah… He wants to meet you.”

I shake my head adamantly. “No. Not me.”

He laces his fingers behind his head and smiles like he’s died and gone to heaven. “We’re not meeting with him. He can kiss our be-hinds.”

I nod. That’s a wise decision. All my brother wants to know is what I’ve given them and how fast he can steal it anyway. Max can’t help himself. That’s how he operates, and I’m starting to wonder why.

“But,” I say because I don’t want him to write off GIT completely, “I want to show you what more we can do to really have GIT eating out of our hands.”

His eyes narrow curiously. “Oh yeah?”

No one knows my brother like I do. Max will be pissed that I didn’t come to him first, but he will not turn his back on this new software. He knows better.

“Oh yeah,” I say, grinning confidently.

Masonand I are in a tech-bay, and I’ve just demonstrated how our compression technology makes TRANSPORT better by creating a personal-trainer RLHI who just took us through five minutes of prerunning stretching.

Mason had to sit to process what just happened. “How the hell were you able to break into their software to this degree? You did it before, but not like this.”

I lift my chin higher. “I can break into anybody’s software—even the government’s.”

He tilts his head and studies me. I think he’s trying to figure out if I’m full of crap.

“Listen,” I say because I think I have him where I want him—with his ears open and ready to bring the training modules to life. “I heard that the Groves and Valentines have a feud. I tried to bring it up with Hercules, but it didn’t go so well.”

“Oh?” he says, raising his hands as he shows me his palms. “Are you two seeing each other?”

I’m caught off guard by his question. I didn’t expect him to ask me that. “Yes. Maybe.” I figure this is no time to lie.