“Yeah.” A slight frown marred Penny’s pale skin. “But if it’s not… go easy on them, okay?”
As I patted a stray hair into place, I glanced at her reflection. “Of course. It’s not like I’d give them a scathing review if it doesn’t work out. I know it’s still a prototype.”
“Good.”
“I don’t do that,” I insisted. “At least not much.”
“I know.”
But there was an extra line across Penny’s forehead. “That’s all ancient history,” I assured her, dropping the pretense that I didn’t know what she was talking about.
She nodded, and to my relief, the worry line disappeared. It was true that I didn’t normally trash talk others online, but every once in a while, someone got under my skin, and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Probably because my job was all about talking. Making videos. Recording podcasts. Doing livestreams several times a day. When someone rubbed me the wrong way, sometimes I couldn’t help but speak up.
But that wouldn’t be the case today.
4
LILA
Brad was waiting for us in the hallway. He smiled as we approached, rapping twice on the sturdy door before opening it and ushering us inside.
His partner got to his feet as we stepped inside the room. I gawked for a moment as I looked up at his tall form. Was the entire company made up of hot nerds? This one had no-nonsense gray eyes and full lips that were pressed together in a stern line. Despite his rather tense posture, his hair was one hundred percent hippie. Dark brown strands were pulled back into a low ponytail at the back of his neck, and a long beard completely obscured his neck and jawline.
He had on a pale blue button-down shirt that was tight enough to show the contours of his muscles. Evidently, these men hadn’t gotten the message that tech geeks were supposed to be thin and scrawny.
“I’m Lila.” Despite my awe at his looks, my voice was strong and steady. I was in work mode now.
“Colton Douglas.” He had a slight accent, possibly Scottish? It wasn’t hard to understand him, though. Maybe he’d moved here when he was a child.
“Hi, Colton.” If I’d known there were tech start-ups full of men like these, I might have done something different with my computer science degree.
“And this is Ms. James’s assistant.” Brad’s voice sailed over my head, and I looked around to see him give a meaningful stare at his partner.
“Penny,” I supplied, in case he’d forgotten her name.
“Nice to meet you.” Colton gave Penny a warm smile, but then he looked back at Brad.
I couldn’t help examining every aspect of the sleek room, even though It was time to get our equipment set up. Normally, I shot livestreams myself and Penny filmed, edited, and produced the longer videos that were prerecorded. But this was a special event today.
Grinning, I allowed myself to zero in on the reason why. “Is that it?” I’d spotted the gleaming black chair the second I’d walked in, but I hadn’t wanted to be rude and skip the introductions.
“In the flesh, so to speak,” Brad said. “Ladies, I present to you the Massage-Mate 3000.”
“Why 3000?” Penny asked as she stared at the stainless steel and black leather.
“Because it took us 3000 tries to get it right,” Brad said with a warm chuckle.
I walked over and ran my finger over the chair’s arm. Though I was a fan of any kind of technology that made people’s lives better, the kind I liked most was the tech that could make you feel better.Physicallybetter, that was.
At my apartment, I had at least three different massagers, designed for feet, hands, and lower back. None of them looked anywhere near as high tech as this chair did, though.
My fingers glided up the smooth leather until I reached the headrest. It looked as if it could give way, allowing a person to lean their head back. The whole chair looked like it reclined, even though it was nowhere near as bulky as those coin-operated massage chairs they used to have at shopping malls when I was a kid.
Curious, I moved to the side of the chair. A black curtain was directly behind it, stretching from wall to wall. I reached toward a slit in the black fabric.
Then Colton was at my side. His strong fingers grasped my arm and pulled it back. “I’m afraid I can’t let you back there, Ms. James. As we told you, this is only a prototype. Certain aspects of the mechanics and the compartment that houses them are unfinished.” His accent seemed a bit stronger—as was his grip on me.
His explanation made sense, but somehow, I got the impression that wasn’t the only reason he didn’t want me to look behind the curtain.