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threshold, his bunny-suit hood blowing back in the air curtain, leaving his neatly-styled hair mussed. He ducks but doesn’t have a hand free to fix it—he’s juggling his open palm screen, a larger hand-held screen, and an insulated cup that’s steaming something into the air.
    Wyatt’s my assistant. Actually, he’s my father’s assistant, but I inherited him, along with a controlling share of Sterling Cybernetics, a seat on the board of Lifetime, and a host of other things I don’t want, but can’t give away. He’s my age, ridiculously overqualified for his job, and just the kind of man I’d date, if I actually dated. And if he wasn’t my employee.
    He knows all my secrets except one.
    “Alexa,” he says, chastising me from the door. “You didn’t tell me you were coming in early.”
    I give a one-shoulder shrug, but my insides clench. “How did you even find me down here?” He worries about me, which is generally fine, unless he’s tracking me now. That would be a serious problem.
    Wyatt gestures with his palm screen before closing it. “I get an alert every time you swipe into Sterling?” His look says this is something I should remember, and he’s probably right. A lot of things have been slipping through my mental cracks lately. As he picks his way through the boxes of electronics strewn across the floor, I give Miral a slant-eyed look. She drops the bag with my suit discreetly to the tiled floor and slides it under the bench with her foot.
    I turn back to Wyatt as he arrives at my side. “Had a late night.” It’s a reasonable excuse for my scattered state. Also true. “If that’s a coffee, I’ll give you half my shares of Sterling for it.”
     “Half?” He scoffs to me while giving Miral a charming chin-lift hello. Wyatt has two degrees from Ivy League schools, a natural talent for politics, and an easy-going nature that makes people like him anyway. He showers me with that sexy smile he has, the one that makes the women in the office fan themselves when his back is turned. “Half is only twenty-four percent, and with Saffron Industries holding twenty-eight, and Triton Electronics and Origin Entertainment in merger talks, I’d be a fool to give it away for less than thirty-two.”
    It’s early, but I can still play. “Triton and Origin will get shot down by the DOJ, and Saffron is about to break into holo-imaging and leave hardware behind. Twenty-nine. But I’m keeping my car and my driver. And access to the lab.”
    “Thirty, no driver, and you pick up your own dry cleaning from now on. That guy at the InstaPress is hot for me.” He makes a face of mock horror.
    I grin. “Everyone is hot for you.”
    He feigns an elaborate I know, right? look. I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have survived the last three weeks without Wyatt. He kept Sterling running while I wrestled with the abyss. Plus he’s gorgeous and brings me my coffee.
    He hands me the cup, and says, “Double latte, that dark roast you like, plus a shot of espresso.”
    I sip it, and the aroma alone calms some of the shakes inside me. “I need to give you a raise.”
    “You gave me one yesterday.”
    “That was brilliant of me.”
    “It would have been, if you’d thought of it.” He misses my smirk because he’s already pulling up something on his screen, moving on to whatever he has lined up for me today with his usual efficiency.
    “You have two interviews this morning,” he says. “One with the LA Times, the other with Cybernetic Life. Both are holo so you can take them in your office. I’ve blocked some time for lunch, but after that, the board wants you at one.”
    I take another sip and sigh. “Tell them I’m busy.”
    “You’re not busy.”
    “I’m extremely busy.”
    Miral flicks her hands at us. “I am extremely busy. Take your corporate nonsense out of my lab.” She slips her goggles down over her eyes, turning her into a petite, telescopic-eyed menace.
    Wyatt sighs. “Miral, tell her she