I tilted my chair onto its back legs and stared at the ceiling.
The garage was too quiet nowadays with Ryan off at Becker. I had cut my customer list to accommodate the reduction in personnel, and then I had cut it more to account for the hours I gave to design. Used to be, this would’ve put me out on the street, but now Myka’s salary was enough to keep us afloat.
Okay, it was enough for a fucking mansion in the Wilton Hillside. This was a point of contention between us. I was down for a bigger place here in the Back 40, but Myka wanted to hang out with the rich assholes in Hightower. We were probably gonna compromise on Spark Lakes, the well-off but not ostentatious neighborhood. Neither of us would be completely satisfied, but at least the dissatisfaction would be distributed equally.
Contract workers of Myka’s status bounced when they fell. After unshackling from Cadinoff, Myka had gotten a job at Mayha Inc the following week. Mayha was the big information broker, so Myka did informational analysis or something like that. If I were an all-powerful god, Myka wouldn’t be working for another mega-corp. But I wasn’t a controlling asshole, and she could take whatever job she wanted. Not everybody had to abide by my contrarian principles.
This doodling wasn’t working. I switched the display to one of my favorite engineering vids—Kichiro Walton assembling an old Yearspan engine over the course of a day using only authentic parts. I’d watched this a million times, but I was always dazzled with Walton’s brilliance. Maybe some of that brilliance would rub off on me.
I was distracted by a movement on the exterior cam. Myka was home early.
Only seconds passed between her appearance on camera and her presence beside me. She pulled up an extra seat—the one that jiggles on a busted leg—and flashed one of those perfect Myka smiles.
I paused Walton. “What’s up?” If anything, Myka was more likely to work late. She wasn’t the coming home early sort.
“Just wanted to see you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Here I am.”
“I have a present for you.”
Oh shit. Was it an anniversary? Or some gift exchange holiday? She was born on Relga 2, and they had some weird holidays—
She put a hand to my knee. “It’s a ‘just because’ present.”
I exhaled with relief. “Okay.”
She pulled out a data tab. I tried to guess what this was, but my mind was blank. Something about Ryan? Or my parents? Or maybe some engineering project somewhere? Myka worked in information, this could be anything.
“Go on.” She nodded at the tab port on my design table.
I plugged it in and waited the second required for the contents to appear.
Then, schematics. Notes. Research papers. Scribbles and a strange design labeled with a woman’s name and one scrawled with Ryan’s itchy handwriting—
“This is my engine.” The Henderson Helios. I’d given it up for her, but now it was here. Why? “I don’t understand.”
Myka looked at the design over my shoulder. “When I took the Mayha job, I made my employment contingent on the acquisition of these solar engine plans.”
I was usually quick to grasp things, but this right here? Wasn’t sinking in.
“It’s not fully yours.” Myka spoke quickly. “Mayha is getting half ownership and profits. But they won’t lock down the design, your name will be on it, and you’ll have a big corporation to fight for that in court.”
I sputtered in an unflattering way. “How?”
“Corporate espionage. You don’t want to know the details.”
I ushered myself past it. Gift horses and mouths. “Myka, this is…I don’t…” What were words? “I don’t have anything to give you. This is a lot.”
Understatement. This was my dream project. The one I’d been trying swerve from, leaving it as “the one that got away”. And she’d set this up back when she’d gotten the Mayha job? We still hadn’t been certain about a relationship then. Working out the kinks and all.
Dammit, Myka, why did you keep being decent?
She scooted onto my lap and blocked me from the table, her weight settling against me. Automatically, I gripped her thighs and back. I had to crane my neck to see her when she grinned. “I have an idea of how you can repay me.”
Her mouth was against my ear, breath teasing down my neck. Her touch was a hairsbreadth away, and I pulled her closer still until her breasts pressed against mine. Thank the gods Ryan was gone. I whispered in her ear. “Anything.”
Her hand trailed down my side as she nipped at my earlobe. “Get me a puppy.”
Then we didn’t talk for a while.
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About the Author
Beatrice grew up immersed in science fiction and space operas. When the opportunity came for her
