Free Hardwired For Ecstasy by Ravenna Tate

question, feel free to
tell me to mind my own business.”
    He
smiled. “It’s not too personal at all. My family is very wealthy. You know who
Kane Bannerman is, right?”
    She
nodded.
    “His
company is over one hundred years old, and at one time, my grandfather was in
business with his. Our fathers weren’t in business together, but neither were
they rivals. In fact, my father credits his father with teaching him everything
he knows about running a business.”
    “Did
your father do what you do? Design hardware and such?”
    “No,
he worked in finance first, like Kane’s family, and then moved into designing
communications systems such as towers and routers. Do you remember I mentioned
finding people who can help us figure out whether or not it’s possible to
reverse the earth’s magnetic fields?”
    “Yes.”
    “One
of the men who worked with my father when he moved into the communications
systems field has a son who went into the same business for a while. His name
is Corbin Bertrand, and he and I met as undergrads. Corbin now is CEO of
California Systems. They keep the hothouses going so we all have food.
Obviously there’s no need for cell towers underground, so Corbin took his
knowledge of physics and applied it to something useful underground.”
    “So
he’s your physics expert, then?”
    “Yes.
We also have an engineer with expertise in both electrical and magnetic
fields.”
    “How
is that going, by the way? I mean the work on reversing the fields.”
    “We
have a long way to go before coming up with any sort of test. We might not even
be able to test it first. That’s what we have Corbin and Harold Gregory working
on. Harold is the electrical and magnetic engineer. Currently, he’s VP of
research at Air Dynamics. They built and maintain the air locks, and he’s a
friend of Viggo’s.”
    She
couldn’t help but smile. “Is there anyone in any field that at least one of you
doesn’t know?”
    His
grin sent wetness to her pussy again, and Emma squirmed in her seat. “We do
have a lot of connections.”
    His
talk about family money and one hundred year old companies convinced her more
than ever that something wasn’t right about the amount of wealth Leland had,
but she didn’t want to spoil the evening by mentioning it to Atticus. Maybe
another time. Then again, why give a shit at all? Leland was out of her life
forever, and she wanted to keep it that way.
    Their
talk had turned back to the individual businesses of the Weathermen when their
entrees were served. Emma tasted her steak, and made noises that she realized
too late were more closely associated with being in the throes of an orgasm
than with tasting fabulous food. She laughed to cover up her embarrassment.
“Sorry, but this is seriously incredible.”
    “Thank
you.” He bowed his head slightly. “I’m pleased you approve of my grilling
skills.”
    “It’s
perfect.” She tasted the lobster next and closed her eyes. “And this … I
haven’t had lobster in years.”
    “When
all this is over and we’re back on the surface, I’ll take you to Maine and
we’ll go out on a boat and catch our own.”
    She
looked into his eyes. “You believe that, don’t you? That we will be able to
return to the surface and rebuild everything.”
    “I
have to believe it, Emma. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this? We might as
well go up there now and put ourselves at the mercy of the storms. Do you know
I was reading one of the blogs the Storm Troopers keep just this morning, and
it seems the blizzards and ice storms have taken over now. It used to be the tornadoes and floods they had to fear, but now they’re all
battling ways to keep warm.”
    “Don’t
we have enough data? Can’t they come back underground?”
    “Are
you kidding? These men and women live for this. There’s a lot of lightning now,
too. More than there used to be. Corbin and Harold are very excited about that
because they say it proves the magnetic fields are