Page 71 of Written By a Woman

“Oh,” for some reason, I pictured CTO being more…involved. But a job that’s basically just meeting with people all day every day does sound draining. Unfulfilling, even, “That’s why you want to step down? Why did you even take the position in the first place?”

“Yes,” Zaid nodded, before he squinted and tapped on the large iPad-looking screen on his car. A moment later, the storage compartment in front of me popped open, “We wanted Sun Steer to look organized. Like we had more money than we did so other people would want to invest. Having managerial positions like CTO filled, helped establish that image. I accepted the position under the condition that it would be temporary until someone better suited came along. Could you grab my sunglasses out of the case and hand them to me?”

“Sure,” I reached forward to grab the glasses case and handed him the sunglasses, putting his regular glasses safely in the case instead and pushing the door closed, “Freaking space car.”

“What was that?” Zaid asked.

“So do you think the next CTO would be someone from outside Sun Steer?” I focused back on the subject.

“Most likely,” Zaid confirmed.

“Maybe I should tell Leo to apply again,” Mary shifted in her seat to lean forward again, making me turn to look at her, “Since you losers considered him over-qualified for the role he applied for last time.”

“That’s because he was, from what Nikhil told me,” Zaid’s brow furrowed again in thought, “Now that you mention it…your cousin isn’t a bad person to consider as my replacement…”

I widened my eyebrows, “Oh god, yes, please hire Mary’s hot cousin.”

Zaid’s lips flattened a little as he turned to give me a heated look with a lifted eyebrow, “Mary’s hot cousin?”

I lifted a shoulder, trying not to be too aroused by the sight of Zaid in sunglasses, driving, “He’s very pretty to look at. I wouldn’t mind filing reports for him, if you know what I mean.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively, making Zaid shake his head at me.

“Maybe we should hire someone else then,” Zaid’s lips twitched like he was enjoying teasing me about this.

“Signe,” Mary’s hand smacked my arm, “Keep it in your pants. I’m trying to get my cousin a job here.”

“Sorry, sorry,” I held my palms up defensively, “I won’t say anything else about—what the hell are you doing?”

Zaid had just flicked the handle that shifts gears on his car again, and after a low beep from the car in response, he took both of his hands off of the steering wheel to reach into his glove compartment and pull out a bag of peanuts. In the middle of the freeway.

He lifted an eyebrow at me when I immediately grabbed either side of my seat and held on for dear life as Zaid seemingly forgot he was driving.

“I put it on autopilot,” Zaid chuckled a little at my nervous reaction as he tapped his index finger on the wheel before using both of his hands again to dig into his bag of peanuts, casually tossing a few in his mouth.

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool,” I felt my hands clench in response as cars zoomed past us on our left, and we zoomed past cars on our right. I glanced down at Zaid’s feet and noticed that neither of them were on the pedals.

“Signe, calm down,” Mary squeezed my shoulder, weirdly, not helping me calm down.

“I’m still aware of the road, Signe,” Zaid’s voice was low and calm, but I could see his jaw twitch like he was enjoying seeing me like this, “I have to grip the steering wheel every couple of minutes to reassure the car that I am paying attention.”

“But…” I slowly tried to pry my hands off of my seat, and settled for one hand releasing its grip instead, “the car is still doing this by itself?”

“Yes,” Zaid nodded, “If it makes you feel better, the auto-pilot technology is fascinating, because—”

“I believe you!” I blurted before holding my breath as our vehicle turned on the blinker all on its own and proceeded to change lanes on the freeway to pass a car going five under the speed limit.

“Do you want me to turn it off?” Zaid asked. He reached out a hand for me before stopping halfway over the console. He quickly put the bag of peanuts down and flipped the car out of autopilot, putting both of his hands back on the wheel.

“Signe, the technology is mostly safe, and as he said, he’s still paying attention to the road.”

“Sorry!” I slammed my hands over my face, feeling more embarrassed that I freaked out so easily over the thought of something like an autopilot, “It’s just my first time in a space car. I wasn’t prepared for the hands-free experience.” I mumbled behind my palms.

Zaid just released a low laugh at my words.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t use autopilot.”

I parted my fingers to look at him in the driver’s seat, one of his arms resting against the car door while the other gripped the steering wheel confidently, his eyes on the road behind his dark sunglasses.

He looked like a movie star.

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