“What’s wrong, Espie?”
“Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing.” She weakly forces her mouth into some semblance of a smile. I swallow the persisting knot in my throat, but it doesn’t budge, and I crack the door wider, so she can come in.
She follows me to the seating around in front of the fireplace that I lit absentmindedly when I first arrived back in my room. Just to do something with my hands, I suppose.
With my eyes so focused on the flames, I barely notice Espie place the mug down on the table beside my chair and sit on the one beside mine.
“Thank you.” I force out of my mouth like I’m in a trance.
“You should drink it.”
“What is it?”
“Herbal tea.”
“What kind of herbs?”
“Lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, and a hint of ginger. All from my garden.”
“That’s your garden out there?” She softly nods when I look over at her, thoroughly impressed.
“It was my mother's, and she passed it onto Olive and me.” She scrunches her nose, pursing her lips as she looks back at the fireplace. “Olive isn’t into it much, but I’ve always enjoyed it.” I don’t answer. I just process the little I can with so much weighing on my heart and mind. It’s comfortable, though— the silence between us.
Reminds me a little of the ease I feel when I’m with Tito. Even thinking about him sends pangs of anxiety through me. Perhaps Espie's presence would be better used somewhere else. But I won’t tell her that. She’s only trying to help. Instead, I sit and let the stress eat away at me, thinking of every possible scenario in which something could have gone wrong. Even with giving 110% to the perfection of our tech, there’s always room for error in man-made devices. Then there’s the FBI, who has been mysteriously quiet since I risked everything delivering them those useless prototypes. Useless to them, anyway.
Just before I can really hit the point of a meltdown— chest tightening, eyes burning, heart rate inconsistently beating in my ears— the lock of the front door downstairs clacks. This echo moves me before I’ve even considered what it could have been, but Espie trails after me silently in the same manner.
We make our way to the top of the stairs before the door opens, and the team comes in like a tornado. Loud chatter, incoherent and disordered, competing with the anxious thoughts in my mind. The only thing that could silence them all now, is seeing Tito walk through the door. Everyone files in, and the door closes without him.
“Where is he?” I turn to Espie, who searches the crowd of chatter that Vince is now approaching. The door swings open just as Vince begins to ask a question, and in walks Tito. Completely fine, wide grin as he shuts the door behind him. The room roars with cheers, and I feel so relieved that my eyes begin to tear.
Espie joins in the clapping as I bolt down the stairs and push my way through the thunder of it all until, eventually, the final two people in my way, part for me. Tito locks eyes with me and grabs me tightly, lifting my feet off the ground.
“We did it.” I think I hear him say in my ear, and I bury my face in his shoulder before I realize we’re still in the center of the room. He must realize this at the same time as me, and he sets me down gently as the crowd moves in, giving him slaps on the back and congratulations. The room gets more crowded as the cheering carries on.
“Alright!!” Vince shouts, a large grin that looks better on him than the serious work mode I usually see him in. The room quiets almost instantly, and he continues. “This is our first big win! This last week before Italy, Tito will get his team to prepare for the presentation, and then by the weekend, we should have an answer from the elders.” Cheers erupt again, and he shushes them again by raising his palms and pushing them down. The lower the volume of the room, and it’s silent again.
“Tonight is a win, but we can’t be so hasty in our celebrations just yet. We still have a lot of work to do. Everyone, rest up, and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” The group disperses at his words, breaking apart into small conversations, and Tito wraps his arms around my waist from behind.
“Hey.” I try to scold him, but my grin gives me away.
“My room.” He whispers in my ear, discreetly kissing my neck and turning me on with full-body chills. I grab his hand, and he leads me up the stairs. Mostly we’re running and laughing stupidly between one another. Espie is still at the top of the stairs, and as I pass her, I make sure to thank her again. She nods with a smile and slightly furrowed brows. I don’t have much time to process what’s going on in her head because Tito pulls me into the room and closes the door. He pushes me up against the wall in one swift maneuver, kissing me with such intention and longing that I feel like my skin’s on fire.
I grip him tightly, kissing his soft lips back. We’re suspended for moments untouched by time. The space between us dissipates with every touch until he pulls away.
“Was it your code?” He asks breathlessly, admiration in every corner of his bright-green eyes.
“What?” I breathe back with a questioning grin.
“The code that made our drone a defensive shield for the controller.”
“Oh!” I recall it now. “We’ll, yes. Seeing that the material was bulletproof, I just thought it might be a nice addition. It moves fast enough to take a couple of shots without bursting apart and—” He kisses me again, shutting me up and redirecting all of my thoughts back to him.
“You’re brilliant.” He says between kisses that grow with such passion, I feel like we’re falling.
We’re perfectly blissful. Exactly like this for the entirety of the week. We work tirelessly on furthering every tech device until they each have multiple functions. We spend the night talking about a new tech idea in between having the most incredible sex. I've nothing to compare him to, but I really don’t think it could get any better than this.
I barely heard from the FBI until Thursday morning. I’m tangled up in Tito’s arms. Our naked bodies stuck together under his sheets. We left the window open last night to get some fresh air, and there’s a damp draft in the room now.