A tiny woman in a black pantsuit bustled up to them, interrupting June. She was barely five-foot-one in heels, her dirty-blond hair like a lion’s mane around her shoulders. “Annika!” she exclaimed, holding out a minuscule hand. Annika took it gently, and almost gasped in pain at the woman’s bear-trap grip. “I’m Emily Dunbar-Khan. I’ll be interviewing you today. Are you ready?”

“Hi, Emily,” Annika said, setting her tea down on the table and sliding off the stool. Her mouth felt parched, but there was nothing to do about that now. At least the interview wasn’t being taped. You couldn’t see nerves through a photograph. Or so she hoped. “I’m so ready. Thanks for bringing me on!”

“Of course!” Emily smiled at June. “By the way, thank you. When Megan told me you’d called her with the idea, I lost my shit. It’s such a dynamic point of view! A woman-owned app all about giving people their happily-ever-afters goes head-to-head with a wildly popular app that’s all about breaking people up.” Emily clutched her tiny hands to her heart. “Perfection.”

Annika smiled, though she didn’t like the thought of Make Up being contrasted with Break Up’s “wild popularity” as some tiny, loser app.

“You’re welcome,” June said, glancing at Annika. “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time your article comes out, Make Up’s much more than ‘wildly popular.’ It’s going to take the tech world by storm.”

Annika gave her a grateful look, but Emily just laughed. “Sure, sure, we’ll see what develops.” She turned to Annika, her eyes gleaming. “Let’s go.”

chapter fourteen

Annika took a seat in one of the chairs lit up with LED lights. The chair next to her was empty, and she managed to avoid craning her neck to look for Hudson. There was no reason to make him think she was eager, because she wasn’t. She was cool. She was collected. She was going to pretend this was an interview for a college lit mag instead of Time.

“So Callum’s going to get a couple of pictures of the two of you.” Emily gestured to a blond young man with a goatee who was wielding a giant camera. “And then we’ll do the interview. Sound good?”

“Sounds great.”

The reply came before Annika could say anything, and she turned to see Hudson striding confidently toward her, adjusting his cuff links. “Hey, Emily,” he said, as he got closer. “Good to see you again.”

“Hudson. Always a pleasure.” They shook hands, but Hudson didn’t flinch at Emily’s superior grip.

He turned to Annika before he sat, a small smirk at his mouth. “Ms. Dev. You look positively ravishing today.”