“Yeah. iPhones are so sleek and modern. They do everything the sPhone does and more. As a matter of fact, the only reason I have a sPhone is because the CEO insists on making every employee have one. If it wasn’t for that, I would definitely have an iPhone. It even sounds better than sPhone.”
“Take it back right now or I’ll fire you.”
“I even think the commercials for the iPhones are better. I bet their marketing team would be a joy to work for. They make me want to trade in my phone every time I see them on TV.”
I pulled her into my lap and narrowed my eyes at her. “Take. It. Back.”
“Make. Me.”
I laughed and sealed my lips over hers. “I will.”
Chapter 21
Jonathan
I hit the lights in my office and froze: There were hundreds of bright silver streamers hanging from the ceiling. Blue and white balloons covered every inch of the floor, and there was glittery confetti all over my furniture. There was even a huge banner strung across the windows that read, “Happy Birthday, Jonathan!”
“Angela!”
She rushed into the room. “Yes, Mr. Statham?”
“Who did you let into my office? I thought we thoroughly discussed the rules. No one is allowed in my office when I’m not here.”
“She wouldn’t take no for answer,” she whispered. “She was very firm...”
“Who is this she?”
“Miss Gracen...”
“Hmmm.” I held back a laugh. “Okay. Thank you for telling me.”
“You’re not going to write me up for this are you? She threatened me...”
“Have I ever written you up?”
“No...” She grinned. “Your eight o’ clock appointment just arrived. Do you want me to have maintenance pick up all the balloons first?”
“No, they can stay. Send the guys inside in five minutes.”
“Yes sir.”
I walked over to my desk and spotted a small white cake in the shape of the letter J and a silver envelope. I picked it up and sliced it open:
Dear Jonathan,
I know you said that you don’t normally do anything for your birthday, but I want to celebrate it with you anyway. I made us a nine o’ clock reservation at Sierra Mar, and I look forward to seeing you tonight.
We can do anything you want :-)
Yours,
Claire
I set the card down and smiled. Whenever I’d told the other women I dated that I didn’t celebrate my birthday, they simply said “Okay” and left it alone. There were no surprise balloons and cake, no surprise dinner dates. There weren’t even simple cards.
Then again, I’d always made sure I was out of the country to prevent that from happening.
“I’m sending them in now, Mr. Statham.” Angela’s voice bounced off my walls.
A young man in a black suit walked through my door, trying his hardest to step around all the balloons. “Good morning, Mr. Statham.”
“Good morning, Mr. Harris. Where’s Mr. Fletcher?”
“Right here, sir.” Another young man walked in right behind him. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. We’re happy you agreed to do this short follow up.”
“It’s an honor to be featured.” I shook their hands and motioned for them to take a seat.
I walked around my desk and sat down, leaning back as they pulled out their digital recorders.
“As you know, Mr. Statham,” Mr. Harris said, “we’re both writers for Tech-Next Magazine. We’re here to get a few personal quotes for our issue that will debut the same day your company goes public. We just had a few that weren’t answered the last time.”
“Ask away.”
“First question: When you started this company, what was your original vision?”
“I’m honestly not sure how to answer that. My former college professor—” I suddenly felt familiar hands unbuttoning my pants beneath the desk.
“Mr. Statham?”
“I’m sorry.” I smiled. “My former college professor didn’t make me outline a plan back then. He only wanted me to develop better computers and come up with new software ideas.”
“Are there any ideas that were scrapped in the start-up years and are going to be developed in the near future?”
I took a deep breath as my pants were tugged down, as Claire placed soft kisses along the inside of my thighs. “Um, no. Most of what I designed back then has already been developed, but there are always newer ideas that come our way. And...” I felt her kisses becoming more forceful, more passionate. “With technology advancing as fast as it has over the past five years, we’re looking forward to putting more products out for the public each year.”
He nodded and looked at his paper. “When your first computer took off, breaking the record for the fastest selling home computer, did you think you would stick to computers forever?”
“No, I—” I suppressed a groan. Claire was running her hands up and down my dick and I was clenching every muscle in my body—trying my hardest to stay focused on this interview and not pull her from under the desk. “I never wanted to stick to computers. At the time, I did that because home computers were what everyone seemed to want, but I was always looking ahead, wondering about the possibilities of the days when computers would be outdated.”