“She’s fine,” Chloe answered first.
“It’s all good.” When Rae shoved aside instinct and thought about it, it really was all good. She also couldn’t complain about how close Zach sat. Not that she needed him to know she was intensely aware of his presence. The faint cool scent of his aftershave. The enticing sound of his voice…
Besides, whether or not Zach was there, she loved listening to Chloe—or really anyone from their office—talk about what they were working on. There was something about their jobs that was so creative compared to the contracts she had. The same if-only that had nagged her since Friday, about working for a gaming company long term, surged back. It wasn’t an option, and she needed to let it go.
She focused on the conversation, which mostly consisted of Chloe and Jordan tossing story ideas back and forth, trying to make content work with visuals. Occasionally Zach would guide them in a direction. All three of their lunches went untouched.
“You can’t do that.” Zach interrupted as Chloe and Jordan reached an animated consensus on something. “It’s too easy. She needs to work harder to solve the problem.”
Chloe stopped, eyebrows reaching toward the top of her head. “Who’s the writer here?”
Rae rested her arms on the table. “Of course they can do that. The idea is perfect for your target market. Layla has to rely on the hero at least a little.” Layla was the main character for Cord’s top-selling title.
Zach shook his head. “Part of the point of this is to draw in new audiences. We have to step away from the sexist assumptions. Like that Layla can’t defend herself.”
Rae bit back her first response. It probably wasn’t the right time to tell him he needed to start closer to the core of their company image—like its playboy executives—if he wanted to get rid of their sexist image. “She’s already wearing skin-tight leather. It’s not about toning her down or hiding her weaknesses; it’s about making sure she comes across as confident. Self-reliance means taking advantage of everything at her disposal. In this case, that includes the hero.”
“Besides.” Jordan glanced at Chloe before turning back to Zach. “Self-confidence is sexy.”
Zach exhaled loudly. “I’m not arguing that, but she’s the one who has to save the day. Isn’t that the point?”
Normally Rae would wonder if he was just spewing rhetoric, but one of the things she adored about him when they’d dated was his ability to concede she was better at things—like math. And he’d been incredible at things like debate, history, and knowing exactly where and how to use his mouth. The memories seared her skin and made her pulse race, and she squashed them before they could do more.
She considered her words before responding. “It’s true, but she doesn’t have to do it alone. Even Superman needs help sometimes, and you want her to appear human.”
Chloe tapped her knife on the edge of her plate. “You’re ruining my character. Layla is full-on control, even off screen.”
Jordan smirked. “That’s hot too.”
Zach pinched the bridge of his nose.
“See?” Chloe looked smug. “He’s our target market; he knows.”
Zach leveled his gaze at her. “So are most of our developers.”
The programmers. Right. A walking collective of dick and fart jokes wrapped in some hard-core testosterone. Rae shook her head. “If you’re going to target it specifically to them, throw away any conversations about not being sexist, and just have her bounce around naked for five minutes. Besides,” she said, looking at Chloe, “you’re not unveiling her entire back story. You can leave things like what she does and doesn’t dominate, outside of killing Legion, to the imagination.”
Chloe’s brow furrowed for a moment, before a small smile replaced it. “I suppose. That is what fan fiction is for.”
The conversation moved in deeper, with everyone taking notes. Things finally wound down and everyone noticed their lunches again.
“You know…” Chloe locked her attention on Rae, one corner of her mouth twitching up. “Friday night could have been a disaster if you hadn’t been able to get a hold of me.”
Rae wanted to shake her sister and ask what the hell Chloe was up to. The ridiculous suggestion was a thinly veiled something, Rae just wasn’t sure what.
Zach ignored his half-eaten sandwich. “Maybe you should have called her and warned her,” he said to Chloe.
Chloe made a half-snort, half-laugh noise. “Okay, whatever. My point is what if she needs to find me again and can’t get a hold of me? Give her your number, so it won’t happen again.”
Except Rae had the numbers of about a quarter of the people in the office, including those Chloe actually hung out with after hours. Rae looked at her sister in disbelief. “That doesn’t even make any sen—”