Chapter 2
The silence lasted so long, she started to fidget. He was going through the pages of her briefing again, making notes in the margins.
Darcy was a lot of things, but patient wasn’t one of them. She liked computers because she understood them. In fact, she worked long hours because human relations were just too irritating in general. She had several friends that she did things with occasionally, but not on a regular basis. Her time was mostly spent at work, tweaking lines of code and reviewing data. Those people she socialized with were also in the industry and they talked shop most of the time.
Darcy crossed and uncrossed her legs, wishing she could get some sort of feedback from this man. She still couldn’t get over the fact that this virile, sexy man was the one and only Michael Attracelli. She remembered reading about him in the technology magazines when she was in college. Granted, only six years had passed since she graduated but she’d always thought of him as being somewhere in his sixties or seventies, considering the amount of work he’d done and the influence he had in ATI.
“Hiccup”
Darcy looked around, shocked that the sound had come from her. Had she really done that?
“Hiccup”
“Excuse me,” she said, her face turning red when Michael looked up from reading the briefing, eyebrows raised.
“I’m sorry,” Darcy said, desperately trying to smother her hiccups. But they were coming fast and furious. “I guess I’m just hungry,” she said as an explanation for her hiccups.
Michael was instantly contrite, looking at his watch. “I’m sorry; I’ve kept you too late. We can go over this another time,” he said.
“No, no! Please, I have plenty of time.” This might be her only chance to convince him of her idea and she didn’t want to lose the opportunity because she’d skipped lunch again.
Michael sat back and watched her. “You don’t have a husband and kids waiting for you at home?”
Darcy shook her head. “No, but I guess you do,” she said, gathering up her papers.
“Nope,” he said and stood up, reading the briefing as he walked over to his desk. He pressed a button which was obviously a speed dial to a Chinese restaurant. “Hello Chiang! How are you?” Michael asked when the phone call was answered.
“Fine, fine,” the voice said over the speaker phone. “Working late again tonight?” the voice asked.
“Yes. Can you send over my usual?” Michael asked.
“Of course,”
“And what would you like?” Michael asked, looking over towards Darcy.
Darcy blushed but spoke up. “Hello Chiang. This is Darcy. And you know what I like,” she said.
She watched as Michael smiled.
The voice over the phone chuckled. “You want two broccoli and chicken meals or you both want to share?”
Michael laughed. “I guess we can share if you toss in some extra egg rolls,” he said.
“You got it,” Chiang said. he said.
“I charge you, Mr. Attracelli. You pay for the lady,”
Michael chuckled. “Deal. gentlemanly behavior, Chiang.” Charge it to my account. Thanks for the tip on the
“I could give you lots of tips. Number one, take her out instead of working so late,” he said. “But you won’t listen to me, will you? That’s why I have six kids and you have none.”
Darcy smothered a laugh, watching Michael shake his head. “You have a good point. I’ll talk to you soon,” he said.
There was silence in the office when Chiang hung up. “You have good taste,” Darcy said.
Michael laughed and came back over to his chair. “I guess you work late a lot too, huh?” he said, sitting down opposite her.
Darcy relaxed slightly, or at least tried to appear relaxed. She didn’t think she could relax when he was looking directly at her with those sexy blue eyes of his. “Enough to have a standing order at Chiang’s,” she said.
“I guess so. Just out of curiosity,” he started, putting the briefing down for the moment, “Who were you waiting for earlier tonight?”
Darcy had been afraid he’d bring that up. “I, um…well…I was expecting someone,” she glanced at his curious face, “older,” she finally said.
He blinked. “Older?” He didn’t say a word for a moment. “Why older?”
She smiled wanly. “I just thought that, well, with your experience and reputation, that you should be older. You’re not very old, I’m guessing. Probably about thirty six or thirty seven?”
“Thirty four, but I’m flattered that my age isn’t showing,” he said and smiled at her guess.
“You’re only thirty four? But you’re in so many journals! You’re quoted in several newspapers daily, it seems.”
Michael shook his head. “I’ve loved computers my whole life. Besides, when you have family connections, it helps.”
Darcy grimaced. “I guess so.”
“Now you think I’ve gotten to my current position through nepotism,” he chuckled. “I can’t have you think that. I worked my way through college, I promise. I got a lot of recognition for building a search engine that fanned out in a different way than the others that were available at that time. Once you come up with an idea that is internationally recognized as better in the IT industry, you’re name kind of becomes a household name.”
Darcy was instantly intrigued. “How did you come up with the idea?”
He gave her a half smile. “Like most inventions, I suppose. It was an accident. I was trying to come up with something completely different but stumbled onto a formula that would help speed up search engines and make them more efficient.”
“What happened to your idea?”
“Nothing. I published the idea in a journal and got a lot of recognition. But then some friends of mine at Standford developed the spider search and Google started. The rest is history.”
“You went to Standford?” she asked curiously.
“Yep. Where did you go?” “New York University.”
“Good school,” he said.
“How have you managed to go so far in such a short time since then?” she asked.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t follow the rules, I guess. I like to think in different ways and usually, that works out. If you come up with ideas someone else hasn’t thought about, and it is financially feasible, most people will go with you on the idea.”