Doubt is unpleasant, but certainty is absurd.
        —Voltaire.

Raymond opened the power plant bay doors and hit the lights. In the gloaming darkness, Evelyn could hear the waves lapping against the shore. A glowing white moon loomed large, surrounded by an ethereal light. Millions of stars were sprinkled behind the waxing gibbous moon in a multitude of little white pin pricks.

"Look what I found." He pulled a bottle of vodka embossed with a crystal skull and two shot gun glasses from his jacket where they'd been hidden. "Iordanov Decadence Vodka." He held up fresh fruit he'd found in the refrigerator. "I also found these cherries."

Evelyn accepted a glass and took a sip. "Mm, this is much better than that gawd awful Red Bullet. Where did you get the alcohol?" Her eyes shone in the dark as they reflected the moonlight.

He smiled, conspiratorially. "I broke into Satoshi's secret stash."

Evelyn took a sip of her Vodka and tonic and smelled the sea over the top of her glass. "Tell me what happened after you had that fight with your father."

"I left the house and couch surfed for a few months. I worked at a copy shop for a while." He grinned. I had an old beat up VW Bug. I enjoyed my newfound freedom for a while. Then I moved in with a bunch of fellow techies and started tinkering with old IBM computers. I found a niche revamping them for corporate customers." He sighed. "My father passed away a year later and cut me out of his will. He never saw CENTIEN'S success after I brought my first operating system to market."

The carefully curated mask slipped from Sinclair's face. "All my life, I've succeeded because I was a rebel. Fighting anyone who told me, That's impossible." His foot scuffed the sand. "Maybe I lash out at the interns because I know I've become replaceable at best, an obsolete dinosaur at worst." He smiled ruefully. "I know it won't be long before my successor's running CENTIEN. That's why I've been hard on you, Evie. I saw so much of myself in you. I thought you would learn to fight back and stand up to me. Unfortunately, when it happened, I couldn't handle it. I was frightened...I drove you away."

Without his cocky CEO smile, Sinclair reminded her of a vulnerable little boy.

"I never learned to socialize as a child," he admitted.  He focused on the rhythmic sound of the ocean. "I have no personal life. What happens when it's time to hang up my crazy hat and retire? I've never been one to stand in the shadows." He stood there, feeling awkward and looking lost.

She looked at his hands gripping the shot glass. She imagined them holding her own hand and picking her up. Gently, but firmly, pulling her to him for a first kiss and caressing the back of her neck, then burying into her hair. Taking off her clothes and gripping her hips.

"My father was right about me. I was a disappointment as a human being. When I was a kid, he always told me to stop crying and man up. Years in the gym and lap pool have filled out my scrawny physique." He pointed to his face. "Contacts replaced my thick-lensed Mr. Magoo glasses, but inside I'm still an awkward nerd." He laughed, mirthlessly. I'm a fraud."

Evelyn's eyes glimmered in the dark. "I don't know what I ever saw in you." Her hair swirled in the light breeze. "No. That's a lie." She shook her head. "I knew exactly what you were." When he lowered his guard and opened up like this, she couldn't find anything about him that made her uncomfortable. She climbed down the steep, jumbled path to the beach.

"Evie, wait." He followed her down the sandy path.

He found her sitting on the hard-packed sand, polishing off her drink. She looked up at Raymond and smiled, holding up her glass for another shot. She liked the air of authority in his voice when he had handled the black hawk attack. He made her feel like he'd take care of everything including her. She giggled as the alcohol loosened her inhibitions. "So, you're a high-tech vigilante." She was beginning to like this pitiful, needy version of him. Even his hatchet-like crooked smile. The physical flaw only made him more attractive to her.

He sat down beside her. She opened her mouth to tell him what she thought of him. He moved forward and took her in his arms and kissed her for a long time, before he slowly pulled away.

His kiss said, I'd like to make love to you, like to spend nights with you, like to touch and hold you.

When they broke apart, Evelyn fell back in the sand with a soft thud. She was speechless, but her eyes never left his face. And the next minute, she launched herself on top of him, kissing his face and neck. "I love you," she said. She began to unbutton his shirt and kiss her way down his chest.

"Evie," he groaned. To her delight, she found once Raymond had his clothes off, he fulfilled all her sensual desires.