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To my burnout, you almost won, but not this round.
Sometimes you have to grab life by the neck and choke it real good.
Time stands still as my blouse changes from a pearly white to a deep brown before my eyes.
But first impressions are important.
Says the girl who is nearly an hour late ?
“ORO’s new chief operating officer, Luca Navarro, will be joining us today. Hope you don’t mind.”
“We’ve created a technology that uses proprietary AI to separate trash from fish in our oceans.”
“I know you’re waiting for ORO,” he says, extending a business card with his full name and phone number, “but if you’re ever interested, Plastech would love to have you on board.” I hesitate before I take the card from him. I’m not ready to give up on ORO just yet, but a new connection never hurts.
The luxury of going an entire day without unwanted run-ins or even a conversation brings a subtle smile to my face. It was wonderful.
I rush my way inside. Smack! My flesh collides with cold, hard glass. The nearly transparent entryway and the rest of the walls shake.
I’m beginning to understand why the last two COOs quit. Joanna is intolerable.
Does everyone else see it too? Or is it just me who thinks she’s disagreeable and wretched?
“Joanna, I was hired to make decisions that move your organization forward. I know we all want ORO to grow, so I implore you to trust my judgment.” “I’ve already decided for us.”
My brother, Nico, on the other hand, has been all over the world.
“I hate him,” Lily declares. “Me too.”
A quick scan across the people occupying the wooden tables confirms what I already expected. Nico is not here yet.
But when the owner turns around, the look I expect—Avery’s determined stare—is instead a stranger’s smile.
Fuck, when was the last time I felt a rush for someone? Probably with Ms. Soko in the printer room last Thursday.
Before the date, Nico told me Mira and Robyn met at a sporting event after their dates stood them up. Shortly after, they vowed never to go on first dates alone.
“You won’t get anywhere telling him what not to take shots of. He made me do a shot of wine the other night.” “It wasn’t a shot of wine,” Nico says. “It was an experiment.” “What was the experiment?” My brows furrow in confusion. “To see if you’d listen to me.”
“Arriba, abajo, al centro, y adentro.”
I pull my wallet out of the back pocket of my suit pants and pull out three crisp hundred-dollar bills. “I got dinner, big bro.” “It’s for the waitress.” I hand over the money and pull my brother into another brief embrace.
I, Avery Soko, am the head of operations and development at a conservation technology start-up.
Although my new salary isn’t even close to what I would’ve made at ORO, it’s more than enough. It allows me to be more than comfortable, and I’ll have no issues covering my share of the rent, but I may need to cut back on thrifting and toffee lattes.
And on the bright side, I negotiated abundant vacation days with my offer. I have three months of paid leave. Three.
“My sister got back to me,” he whispers. “She’s actually on the gala committee.”
“Go make the call,” Matthew says firmly. “If Ave thinks this is our way into fundraising, we need to get those seats.”
I tilt my head toward the ceiling in awe of the life-sized replica of the endangered blue whale suspended above. What if the cables break and it crushes everyone below it? That would end the evening pretty quickly.
“You’ve been thinking about me,” she says plainly. “Obviously.”
A small lock of golden hair escapes her neat hairstyle, and I want to tuck it behind her ear before fisting the remainder of her tresses in my fingers.
I don’t know why I’m desperately seeking her approval, but I can’t seem to control myself.
“Have dinner with me.” The words pour out of me.
There’s also the fact that after we ordered our drinks, he generously tipped the bartender, whose tip jar is empty apart from some loose singles. It was kind of attractive. Okay. Very fucking attractive.
“He’s right, lassie. No wonder that Navarro fella asked quite a few questions about you.”
“Plastech is lucky to have you.” The shorter companion smiles at me.
“Ave?” A deep voice tickles my ear. Him.
“Only the people I’m close to get to call me Ave.” “Well,” he whispers against my neck. His callused fingers press deeper into my flesh. “What do you call this?”
“I bet you were looking for me, waiting to fall into my arms at my dinner invitation.” “You wish.” I manage to gain control over one of my stuck limbs. “I do,” he exhales.
For weeks, I’ve dropped hints about how I miss eating breakfast with him, and Nico finally took charge, even if his approach drastically differs from mine.
So he does know how to get his hands dirty. How would those dirty hands feel on my skin? Hold up. My game must be off if the first thought I have about him doing a good deed is feel me up, you rich, sexy trash man.
“If you hook up with him on the boat, you can finally say you had your Titanic moment.” “If you’re referring to the part in Titanic where Rose lets Jack drown, then you are correct.”
When I can afford to buy myself an opulent representation of my successes, I vow to name it after a man. Maybe Alfred? Sebastian? Or better yet, I’ll buy the boat and name it after Luca Navarro, just to sink it.
“You don’t like the look?” “Suits never impress me,” I lie. Well, it use to not be a lie. The handsome linen suit covering Luca’s broad shoulders is beginning to change my opinion on the matter.
“You’re insufferable.” “And yet we still stand here, suffering.” His hands slide into his trousers as he gives me a boyish shrug.
“All my oil money, as you’re so obsessed with calling it, went right back to the families impacted by the spill,” he bites out as though the words have been festering inside of him. “What happened still haunts me every fucking day.” “Huh?” “I gave the money back. Every single cent.”
What impresses you, Avery? Because I would do it in an instant, over and over.
Cariño.”
“Oh, just kiss me, Navarro.”
The weeks of aching to feel her in my arms pour into the kiss. I am ruined. Fuck.
I’m swimming in Avery Soko. My being merely collapses before her. I relish in each fucking second of it.
“After reviewing all the proposals, I decided ORO and Plastech have a complementary garbage-elimination strategy. My foundation’s analysis shows if these two projects merge, they have the potential to eliminate the Pacific trash vortex three years after deployment. That is one point six million square kilometers of garbage gone.”
