Maksim’s warning hits the mark. I want to snarl at him, tell him to shut the fuck up and mind his own damn business.
But for once, the words don’t come.
Because I know, deep inside, that he’s right.
“Boss!” Tikhon swoops in again, out of breath. “You won’t believe the idea Mia had!”
“It was just a thought!” Mia protests, hands up as if to fend off praise. “There’s no need to bother?—”
“Sure is!” Tikhon pulls out a tablet and shows me the specs of another prototype. “I was working on a fitness smartwatch, but there’s already tons of those out there, so I ended up scrapping it. But Mia pointed out that, if we could make an ingestible chip that monitors vitals, that’d be super useful in hospitals.”
“Hospice, most likely,” she corrects. “Short-term patients are already monitored, but long-term ones?—”
“They could stay home!” Tikhon pipes up. “Be with their families! And if anything’s wrong,PING! Signal straight to thecaregiver’s phone. If we can make them accurate enough, they could even call 911 on their own.”
It’s… a surprisingly good pitch. One that could make us billions.
“Make it,” I command.
“Hell, yeah!” Tikhon moves to high-five me, then thinks better of it. He offers his hand to Mia instead. “Great knowing you, Mia. Gotta dash. Be sure to drop by!”
Once we’re alone again, Mia slumps into my shoulder. “He’s… interesting.”
“Hyperactive.” Her warmth seeps into me. I clench my fists, force myself to ignore what her proximity does to me. Even like this, she’s gasoline for my fire. “But that’s why I hired him.”
“He gets the zoomies more than Eli.” Her lips twitch with amusement, but not mockery. “I could see him doing this, when he grows up. Tinkering in a lab, making the world a better place one gadget at a time.”
“‘Gadget’?”
She cringes. It’s fucking adorable. “Blame it on the spy movies. My brain’s fried.”
“We should unfry it, then.” I hand her a champagne flute from a passing tray. The second her lips touch the glass, I regret that action. I watch her throat bob with her first sip of bubbles and my cock hardens. “Let’s go.”
Mia follows without question. Puts her arm through mine without hesitation. Like a lamb that has no idea it’s being led to slaughter.
But that’s not where I’ll lead her. I’m stronger than I was twenty years ago. Now, I can protect her.
“Well, well, well.”
Or so I tell myself.
Mia freezes. Her arm goes limp in mine.
I turn.
And there, smirking like the cat that just caught the canary, is Bradley Baldwin.
36
MIA
It’s him.
He’s here.
Again.
For me.
