Page 7 of Tech Bros

I squint my eyes at him. “You’re not flirting with me, are you?”

He laughs. “By complimenting your software? I don’t know. Is it working?”

“I don’t know.” I sit back to take him in again. Yes, he’s different but still all too familiar. I’m not getting butterflies or anything, but I am flattered. I’m glad we did this. It feels healthy.

“Well, if you’re free at all coming up…I’ll be around until next Thursday. And LA isn’t that far.”

My lashes start fluttering again at a ridiculous rate. I rub my eyes to make them stop, surprised at the swell of emotion surging up my chest. “Thanks.”

“It’s wild to me that you’re still someone’s assistant,” he says.

“It’s more of a mentor-mentee situation. He’ll promote me eventually. That was the agreement when I took the job.”

“If you’re as good at workforce management as it sounds like you are, I could use someone like you. Glenda’s not my biggest fan.”

I grin. “You haven’t tried your charm on her?”

Hunter laughs, and it lights up his whole face again. “Falls a little flat. I’m just saying, if you get sick of waiting for a promotion here, give me a call. Maybe you could help me keep my dad’s legacy from going up in flames.”

I frown. “Is that an actual offer?”

He stares at me. “Yeah.”

Okay, wellthatgives me butterflies. Four Points Freight has a ton of potential. It was a solid company before, but it could grow and expand into something Hunter and his late father would be proud of. It’s not exactly a job in tech, but it’s the kind of opportunity that could change a person’s life if they know how to leverage it.

“Wow,” I say softly.

He holds up both hands. “No strings. But I do mean it. We might be able to do great things together. And honestly—I could use a fresh start at that place.”

I nod, understanding. A legacy must be a lot to live up to. If his company were in San Francisco, this would be a no brainer.

Still, it’d be stupid to turn him down outright. God only knows when Isaac is planning to promote me. “I’ll definitely think about it.”

He looks shocked. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really.” I check my buzzing watch and see that it’s time for the finance department’s weekly update, which I always attend to take notes for Isaac. “I need to get back to the office.”

“You still have my number, right? I have yours, assuming you haven’t changed it.”

“I haven’t,” I tell him. “Also, you know where I work now.”

“True.”

I stand, and he does the same.

I try not to cry when he hugs me goodbye, which is to say?—

I tried.

I liketo leave the office early on Friday. While my roommate and I work at the same company, we don’t go in or leavetogether. He prefers to work earlier hours—showing up at the office at seven and leaving by four. I keep Isaac’s hours, obviously, which is more of a nine to five gig. I managed to ease my boss out of the office at four today, though, to get ready for his date.

I even withheld my usual Friday afternoon BJ to keep him horny and moving along. The man is an animal, but he’s also..lately…kind of vulnerable? I’m not sure that’s the right word to use for a man like Isaac who’s all power, intelligence, wealth, and prowess, but there’s been a definite vibe shift over the last few months.

In the beginning, I fell hard for his particular alpha male spell, but I quickly realized I wasn’t his type. I’d call Isaac a serial dater. And the men he dates? Architects. Investment bankers. Runway models. Not fresh out of grad school assistants ten years his junior like me. I had to put my expectations in check quick after the first week when I realized that whatever was going on in the office wasn’t going to translate to anything out of it no matter how much I liked him.

I distinctly remember the date he had the weekend after we hooked up the first time. It was with a man named John Buckingham. A corporate lawyer with one of the most impressive LinkedIn profiles I’ve ever seen. I got the message. I was good enough to fuck, but I wasn’t what Isaac was looking for.

Granted, at the time, I was still a cam boy and hooking up with Grindr guys on weekends, but as I’ve gotten more serious about my software, and sex with Isaac has turned into a regular thing, my life has gotten a lot smaller.