Page 70 of A Minute More

“Seth’s dad lets me use this room for my projects…”

“What? What projects?”

“I built a thing…god, this sounds dumb…but I built a robot.”

“What?” I ask, so damn confused. A robot? What the hell?

He clears his throat and then steps up to me, holding out a controller. “I built this, Wesley. Want to see how it works?”

There’s a bashful look in his eye, almost as if he’s prepared for me to mock him. But I would never. I’d never do that.

“Yeah. Fuck yeah. That’s badass, Simon. A motherfucking robot.”

His cheeks burst into color and he nods, flipping some switches and turning some knobs and I watch as a machine moves out from the corner of the room.

I was expecting a cyborg so I was a little surprised when a small robotic car rolls toward me.

“You built this all by yourself?” I ask and Simon nods.

“Yeah. I’ve always liked this kind of stuff…tinkering with things. My dad was an engineer, my mom an English professor. I probably got my love of how things work from him.”

He shows me what the robot can do and fuck, I’m more and more impressed with each thing. I don’t even know how he came up with half of this stuff. Did he watch YouTube and put it together or did he come up with this all on his own?

“I plan on building something even better next time. This is rudimentary…”

“No, it’s not. It’s genius. Damn but you’re smart, why the fuck are you at that sandwich shop when you could be working at NASA?”

He clears his throat and turns away from me. And that’s when I remember that he got that job because of me. Because he liked what he saw.

My hands move around his waist, and I press my lips onto the skin of his neck.

“But now you have me, you can have me any way you want. So why don’t you leave the shop and pursue your dreams?”

“I have one dream but that’s what it is, Wesley. A dream. Something I’ve conjured up and is out of reach.”

I’m not sure he didn’t get a poetic way of speaking from his mom after all. Damn, but his words come out so nice.

“And what is this dream?” I ask, wondering why he doesn’t just apply to a college and get shit moving.

He doesn’t answer me and then flicks some more controls. I watch as the robot extends up and swivels and my eyes are riveted.

“Shit. You’re turning me on,” I joke and Simon laughs softly.

“That wasn’t why I brought you here.”

“Yeah, so why did you?”

“So you could know a little more about me.”

I love it, the little glimpses he gives me into who he is. It’s like a slow unwrapping of a present, the suspense, the excitement. What will I do when I know all the parts of him?

Fuck, I’d be in love.

“So why don’t you go to Harvard? Seriously, Simon. The world needs your genius.”

“I am going…well, not to Harvard. I can’t afford it, but a state school.”

“Iowa state?”