I turned back towards Jonathan, frowning because his eyes were still glued elsewhere. I thought about leaving, heading back to my suite and letting Damien find me there, but for some reason I sat and continued to watch Jonathan and Stacy laugh and whisper at something I couldn’t see.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?” A beautiful brunette tapped the mic onstage. “Before we give away our most prestigious award, I just want to thank you all for making the 2013 Juniper Conference a major success! Because of you, we have raised over ten million dollars for over thirty different charities!”

The audience clapped and the speaker waited for the applause to die down. “We hope that the sessions you’ve attended this week have taught you something valuable and that the people you’ve met have instilled a new sense of camaraderie and competitiveness amongst your respective companies. We usually make the closing statements on tonight, the last night of the conference, but due to an immense interest in Chef Roer’s breakfast this week, we’ve decided to hold them off until tomorrow morning. Chef Roer has graciously agreed to cook an extra breakfast for us all!”

The crowd cheered loudly, and Chef Roer stood up from his seat and waved his hand around. Once he sat back down, the crowd gradually became quiet again.

“So, before we begin our final ball of the week, I’d like to bring someone we all know and respect to the stage.” She read off a notecard. “This man has singlehandedly changed the way technology influences our everyday lives. He’s a dominating pioneer in the field, and his company—Apple, Inc. is currently valued at one hundred and fifty four billion dollars. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the ‘Developer of the Year,’ Mr. Damien Edwards!”

The crowd stood to its feet, clapping and cheering wildly. I stood up too, trying to plot my escape.

“If this is the reception I get, I can only imagine what type of response the man I’m presenting will receive.” Damien laughed and motioned for the crowd to sit down. “About eleven years ago, my company was the number one software company in the world. As a young man, I was cocky and honestly didn’t think that reign would ever end. We were ahead of all our competitors by the billions and our workforce was quadruple of the next largest company at the time. One day, I happened to be giving a tour of my company to a select group of college kids who’d been sent from Harvard to complete a summer program. One of those students, who I’ve grown to hate—” He paused as the audience laughed.

“One of those students came up to me right after the tour and said the following words, verbatim: ‘Mr. Edwards, with all due respect, your computers suck. You might want to focus on redesigning the internal instruments and building a bigger hard drive before I beat you to it.’ Of course, I laughed this kid off because at the time computers were more about functionality than style, and we offered the largest hard drives on the market...Yet, exactly one year later, Statham Industries was formed and I’ve been regretting my unwillingness to listen to that annoying kid for eleven years.” He laughed. “Ladies and gentlemen, the man I’m bringing to the stage as your unanimous pick for the ‘Developer of the Year” for the tenth year in a row, is a man who finally decided to show up here and accept it.”

I felt myself laughing along with the crowd and stopped.

“He is a man whose company is currently worth two hundred billion dollars, a man who develops the greatest ideas day in and day out, and a man who always seems to get the best stuff first. If you ever think you’re onto something, he’s probably had it in development years before the thought ever crossed your mind.” He smiled. “Please help me welcome my fiercest competitor and your Developer of the Year, Mr. Jonathan Statham.”

The response to him walking towards the stage was insane; the screams and cheers were deafening and every person was on their feet.

He walked on stage with his sexy stroll, smiling at the crowd, shaking Damien’s hand and accepting the crystallized plaque.

“Thank you all very much.” He spoke into the mic. “This award means a great deal to me, and I’m sorry it took me so many years to join you here. I promise I’ll make every effort to show up in the years to come...”

He looked at his speech. “I have a few people I’d like to thank for inspiring me. First, I’d like to thank Mr. Lowell, the only professor who openly encouraged his own students to drop out,” he said, laughing. “I’d also like to thank my parents who left old devices around the house and helped me to realize what my true talent was...My employees who make me work harder every day, my good friend and head of security Corey Walters, every corporation that I’ve ever partnered with, my worst enemy—Damien Edwards, and most importantly, the woman who has...” He paused, looking at the sheet of paper in his hands as if he couldn’t believe what he’d written. He cleared his throat. “I’d like to thank my good friend Stacy Rodriguez who manages to put up with me through it all. Thank you all very much.”

The crowd clapped and remained standing as he put the mic down and began to take pictures with the people onstage.

“He’s so sexy...” “I know! I wish I was Stacy Rodriguez tonight!” The two women behind me laughed.

My chest tightened as I watched him slip his arm around Stacy, as I watched the two of them smile together and pose for pictures.

Tears fell down my face and I made no move to wipe them away. I kept wishing that he would turn around, that he would see my face in the crowd and walk towards me, but he kept posing for pictures—laughing and shaking hands, like he didn’t care about me at all.

He pulled Stacy against his side as he prepared for another photo. The flash went off three times and she stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

I’ve had enough of this shit...

I pushed my chair up to the table and walked towards the stage, weaving my way through all the suits and adoring women who kept gushing over him. I took the steps on the right side of the stage and paused, looking at Jonathan as he bent down for another kiss from Stacy.

“Claire?” Damien grabbed my wrist. “Are you okay? Are you that ready to go? I’ll—”

I snatched my hand away from him and walked towards the center of the stage.

“And thank you so much for your generous gift, Mr. Statham. My company is so honored that you—”

“Excuse me.” I stepped directly in front of the man who was addressing Jonathan.

“Yes, Miss Gracen?” Jonathan raised his eyebrow.

“Kyle, get security.” I heard someone murmur. “This is the tenth time this week...”

I took one step closer to Jonathan and looked into his eyes. I wanted to say something, but the words were trapped in my throat and I couldn’t concentrate with everyone in the audience staring at me.

I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him as if we were the only people in the room. I heard the crowd’s collective gasp, saw Damien’s jaw drop from the corner of my eye, but I didn’t care.

I shut my eyes and kept kissing him, pressing myself against his chest—trying to force his lips apart with my tongue. It wasn’t until I blinked my eyes open that I realized he wasn’t kissing me back.

I drew my arms away and stepped back—noticing that he was still raising his eyebrow at me, confused. I looked out into the silent crowd, blushing bright red as the women began whispering to one another.

“I’m...I’m so sorry...” I stammered. “I thought that if I...that if I...” I felt the tears falling. “I’m sorry...I...” I looked around at all the people on the stage, at the angry expression that was on Damien’s face.

I turned around to face Jonathan again and shook my head. “I’ll get out of your way now...I...I really am sorry and—”