Daniel noticed Samiah visibly stiffen at the suggestion.

Shit. Had he really messed things up so badly that she didn’t even want him around her?

He considered coming up with an excuse so that he wouldn’t ruin her day by invading her space, but they couldn’t avoid each other forever. Their team was set to meet in an hour to discuss progress on the Leyland Group project.

“Sure,” Daniel said. “Give me a sec.” He saved his work then went over to Amy’s, trepidation traveling along his spine as he approached. Samiah remained stoic, her expression unreadable.

“Daniel, this is Tomeka Sanderson,” Amy said. “She’s shadowing Samiah for the day and wants to create video games when she graduates from college.”

“That’s a pretty cool job,” he said. “Which games are your favorites?”

As the girl rattled off an extensive list of popular video games, Daniel tried to get a read on Samiah. She didn’t seem angry, which was a relief. Neither did he sense any acrimonious vibes from her. She seemed…indifferent.

That wasn’t good. Not at all. He’d rather her curse him out or slap him in the face, anything but apathy.

It was no less than he deserved. He’d spent these past few weeks shamelessly flirting with her because she was so fucking smart and beautiful and funny, all the while knowing that nothing could ever come of it. He’d strung her along. Which made him a class-A piece of shit.

He quickly guided Tomeka through JavaScript, then returned to his desk, not wanting to subject Samiah to his presence any longer than necessary.

Their avoidance dance was prolonged yet again after the status update with the Leyland Group project was postponed to Monday. Daniel had remained at his desk all afternoon, his head bent over the keyboard as he counted down the minutes until he could leave. Computer monitors throughout the office systematically went dim as, one by one, his coworkers closed up for the night. Some would be back bright and early tomorrow morning, despite it being the weekend. He would do the same. Maybe tomorrow would be the day he breached Trendsetters’ security and found the break he needed in this case.

He got up for a bottle of water and noticed a glow coming from Samiah’s office. She’d switched the glass-paneled walls to frosted, but he could see her outlined behind the desk.

Should he go to her? Did he even have the right? Why would she entertain anything he had to say after the way he’d blown her off? And why should he try when he knew he could be gone at any minute? It was selfish, bordered on cruel.

Yet, none of that mattered.