by Karen Rock
Niall flinched at her choice of words.
Gianna glanced at him, her straight, dark eyebrows meeting over her nose. “You agree?”
He thought of the funds they’d need for marketing and promotional events, advertising, development and the long list of business expenses ahead.
“Yes. Spec investors are still risk adverse, and although Kayleigh’s idea is unique and marketable, her lack of a track record, along with mine, makes us a hard sell.”
“I’ll go to the next meeting if you think that will help.” Gianna pulled on black-framed glasses that dwarfed her thin face.
Kayleigh shook her head before he could respond. “Better if you keep coding. We need to stay ahead of GSI.”
Gianna nodded. “Niall, why don’t you bring me up to speed on your program, and I’ll start today. Once I finish inputting the coding, I can begin some of the design work. We’ll need a great logo, splash screen, tab icons...”
Kayleigh stopped picking up the empty cups and plates on the coffee table. “I have preliminary sketches for those, but what are we supposed to pay you with?”
“Brownies?” Gianna’s eyebrow quirk didn’t seem to amuse Kayleigh. He knew they were hemorrhaging funds. Paying for another worker would only strain things further....
Kayleigh reached for Gianna’s shoulder. “You should get another job. Or ask for your old one back.”
He marveled at Kayleigh’s unselfish offer. If they stood any chance of beating GSI to the patent office, they needed Gianna. Badly. But he’d give her the same advice and admired Kayleigh for putting her friend first.
Gianna rested her hand atop Kayleigh’s. “I’m joining you, and you can pay me when you get financing. Until then, I have some savings squirreled away.”
Kayleigh sighed and hurried to the kitchen, her arms full of dishes. “All right. But I hope you won’t regret this,” she called over her shoulder.
“I’d regret it if I didn’t help.” Gianna took off her glasses and peered up at Kayleigh when she returned.
Kayleigh studied her then smiled. “Will you two be okay if I leave and make a phone call?”
Gianna had already sat down beside Niall on the couch and waved her away with a casual hand flip. “We’ve got this, oh, mighty leader.”
* * *
KAYLEIGH SMILED AS she eyed the two people who had come to mean so much to her. Her best friend and her... She turned on her heel and headed for the bedroom, shutting the door behind her with the back of her foot. Better not to give Niall a label. Nothing fit anymore.
She flopped onto the Amish quilt covering her four-poster bed and punched in the number she’d vowed never to dial again.
“Kayleigh!” a hateful voice crowed, the smug tone making her clench the thick fabric of her bed cover. “I knew you’d call.”
“I bet you did, Brett, after you stole my app idea.” Too fired up to remain stretched out, she sat cross-legged in the center of her bed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice turned questioning and innocent, but she wasn’t falling for it.
“I’m contacting my lawyers about the Must Traits app as soon as we hang up.” Though who that was and how she’d afford them, she hadn’t a clue. Only she wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.
Brett made a clucking sound. “Kay. We both know that the app was on GSI’s software, worked on by one of our former employees. The IT department will back me up on that.”
She gasped at his distortion of the facts. “That’s a lie.”
“It’s the truth, and I’m prepared to swear to that in court.”
Her skin felt as though it were covered in fire ants. How dare he? Brett was disgusting. Somehow, this betrayal hurt more than the cheating, though how that could be true seemed strange. Had she ever loved him? It was hard to imagine given all she knew about him now.
At the scratching on her door, she let in Pringles, who streaked across her room and leaped for his favorite nap spot, one of her pillows. She stretched out beside him, feeling the cat’s claws dig into her stomach, a low rumbling burbling from its throat.
“It will come to that if you keep going ahead with this,” she warned. “The app is my intellectual property, and you have no right to it.”
“We once said we’d share everything.” He sounded wounded, and Kayleigh felt like choking. Brett was playing the victim?
She squirmed onto her stomach. “That ended when you cheated on me. I’m going to make this work, Brett, no matter how many stunts you pull.”
“It’s not just me, Kayleigh. GSI loves my compatibility-app idea. They’re putting all of our resources behind it, and we expect to have the patent shortly.”
Worry tiptoed across her shoulders, but she forced herself to stay—and sound—strong. “It’ll be too late.”
Brett laughed. “You forget whom you’re dealing with.”
She slid off the bed and stomped to the window, contemplating the attached three-story homes on her block, the children jostling for control of a soccer ball, the old woman straining to wheel an overloaded shopping basket behind her, a couple of men haggling over the price of a car, their gesticulating hands waving in the air. These were her people. Brooklyn. They were tough. They were fighters, and she was, too.
“You’re forgetting whom you’re dealing with.” She took a deep breath and tried to keep the shaking out of her voice. “Or maybe you never really knew her.”
“I know I still love her.” Brett’s sigh came through the phone, his gentle tone disingenuous. “And I would do anything for her.”
Kayleigh picked up her family picture and traced Chris’s smile. “Prove it,” she implored, knowing it was useless. “Stop writing my app.”
“I can’t do that, Kay. The company’s invested too much. But if you come back to GSI, I’ll give you your old job back and make you the team leader.”
Her blood stilled, and she shivered at this tempting offer.
“Imagine it,” he continued, his voice strengthening when she didn’t interrupt or protest. “The chance to see the app produced by a top team that you’d control. No more risk. A sure thing. I even believe it will win a Shorty award, and I’ll let you give the acceptance speech.”
She wavered. High Dive Enterprises was one more funding refusal away from folding. If the start-up failed, she would let down Chris’s family, a possibility that looked increasingly likely. Should she let pride keep her from being the provider she’d vowed to be? Her eyes met Chris’s in the photo. It would be selfish. He would have wanted her to take a risk, and she’d done that. But he wouldn’t want her to go all in on a bad hand.
“What about Gianna? Would she have her old job back, too?”
“There’s no real harm done there.” Brett’s irritated tone belied his words. “I haven’t sent her resignation letter to Human Resources yet. If you give the word, I can tear it up, and both of you can come back to GSI tomorrow. It would be as if none of this had ever happened.”
Her knees shook as she made her way back to the bed. If none of this had ever happened, Niall wouldn’t be a part of her life again. And she couldn’t bear the thought.
“As for the two of us,” Brett said, “I won’t push anything. We’ll take it one day at a time with no expectations. No pressure. Please consider it, Kay. We need you. I need you. Why do you think I haven’t filled your job yet? I knew you’d come back.”
She felt herself weaken further. Gianna had quit out of loyalty to her, putting her own career in jeopardy. Did she have the right to turn down this chance to put their universe to rights? She thought of Niall and imagined not seeing him. Pain ripped through her when she imagined her life without him. But perhaps it would be for the best. He’d be happy to disappear back into his quiet life. She’d be letting him off the hook and making his world righ
t again, too.
Yet it all felt wrong. She knew what the logical thing to do was, but her gut said otherwise.
After a long moment, she spoke again. “No deal. Be prepared to pay your programmers some overtime. With Gianna on my team, we’ll have the app submitted for patent very soon.”
A stunned silence followed her pronouncement, and she could imagine Brett adjusting his tie, a nervous tick that betrayed him.
“I hope you’ll reconsider.” Fury coated his voice. “You won’t hear a better offer, or have another chance.”
She strode to the window fan and let the air blow her hair off her flushed face.
“I don’t need another chance or your offer. I’m counting on myself.” She nearly said goodbye, then changed her mind. “Oh, and, Brett?”
“Yes, Kay?” Hope buoyed his voice, making him sound like his old self. A man she no longer cared for, if she ever had.
“See you at the Shortys. Bye.”
She clicked off and blocked his number before he could call her again. After making her way back to the bed, she absently ran her hand along the cat’s spine. What had she done?
The door creaked open, and Niall’s handsome face appeared. “You okay?”
She brushed dampness from her cheeks and forced a smile. “Fine. Peachy. Couldn’t be better. Really.”
He was at her side in two strides.
“You’re not okay,” he said, a fierce note in his voice. “Were you talking to Brett?”
She almost laughed. He knew her so well. “Yes.”
Niall sat next to her. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” She put her hand beside his on the quilt, his nearness lending her strength. “He offered to give me my old job back. Gianna, too. Said I’d be the team leader on Tingle.” Her nose burned as she imagined Niall telling her to do it.
He stiffened. “And what was your answer?” His tight voice was flat, and she couldn’t tell if he cared.
“To look for us at the Shorty Awards.”
His bark of laughter sounded relieved. Was he happy that she’d resigned him to more weeks spent working on this project with her?
“Good one.”
When her eyes wandered upward, they met his. The affection she saw there nearly undid her. It’d been a heck of a day. “I’m sorry that I shot him down without checking with you first.”
He brushed an eyelash from her cheek, his fingers lingering on the side of her face, his touch tender, before he quickly withdrew his hand. “Why?”
She shivered at his gentleness. “You only did this as a favor to me, and if you want to back out, well, I have Gianna, so it’s not like you’d be leaving me in a lurch. In fact—”
He pressed a finger to her lips, stopping her nervous chatter. She was all too aware of being here, alone, with him. She’d thought of it far too much, and the reality was making her head spin. Her surprised gaze caught the admiration glinting in the depths of his brown eyes.
“I told you before, Kay. I’m all in, and I’m not going anywhere. Whatever happens, I’m seeing this through with you to the end.”
Gianna entered the room and sat on the bed beside them. “Count me in, too.” The cat climbed onto her lap, surveyed the group, then meowed, making them laugh.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard the part about Brett offering me my old job back. Kay, I wouldn’t work for him again no matter how much he paid me.”
She took Kayleigh’s hand and twined her fingers in it. “The place wasn’t the same without you. You were the heart of that division, just like you’ll be the driving force of High Dive Enterprises. I believe in you, Kay. This isn’t just a friend’s loyalty. I’m betting on a winner. You.”
Kayleigh fought back the rush of happy tears. With Gianna and Niall beside her, she felt capable of anything. Perhaps going with her gut, instead of logic, was the right move. She peeked at Niall from beneath her lowered lids, taking in his firm jaw and the angular planes of his face. Would it work out if she applied that strategy to their relationship and went for it?
She shook away the thought. Better to focus solely on business. The stakes were never higher or more important.
“So what are you two slackers doing in here, then?” she joked, though her voice cracked at the end. “Get to work.”
Gianna leaped off the bed, tucking the cat against her chest. “Yes, Captain.” She used Pringles’s tail to salute then left.
Niall chuckled and stood. “Gianna’s got a handle on her end of things, so I’ll head out and work from home. Are you sure you’re okay?”
She got to her feet and peered up at him. “Better. Thanks for coming over.”
“I’m always here for you.”
She almost sighed at the earnest look in his eyes.
“You always have been.”
His hand slid from her shoulder to her fingertips, the feel of his touch lingering long after he disappeared out the door. Her toes dug into the rag rug beside her bed, and she fought not to run after him. She wanted him to stay, but what excuse could she give him? Give herself? Her feelings were a tangled mess—all the more reason she needed to shut them away before they caused either of them harm.
Despite her resolve, however, she couldn’t deny it anymore. She needed him...and not just as a business partner or a friend.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“THAT WAS QUITE impressive, Ms. Renshaw.”
Kayleigh returned the CEO of ForwardTech Ventures’s smile and clicked off her presentation. She sat back in her conference chair, her spine rigid against the plush fabric. Cautious optimism mingled with relief. At least she’d done her best. After finance-meeting reactions that had ranged from indifference to skepticism, disapproval and, the worst, discouragement, this was the most promising response yet. And she desperately needed it to be. As her start-up’s last real hope for financing, ForwardTech had to invest in Mesh.
“Thank you, Mr. Cantwell.” She peeked at Niall out of the corner of her eye and glowed at his knee nudge and approving grin. Though things had been awkward since last week’s kiss, their push to finish coding ahead of GSI had kept them too busy to address it. And maybe it was for the best. With their worries over getting the patent ahead of their competitor and securing the funds they needed to go forward, romance had to be on her back burner, no matter how much she thought of him. And that kiss.
Niall leaned forward, the gold buttons on the sleeves of an unfamiliar navy jacket gleaming. Was the suit new? She’d never seen him look so dressy, or handsome, in a crisp white dress shirt and crimson tie that set off his dark coloring.
“Let’s talk numbers. Here’s a rundown of the expenses that details High Dive’s projected costs.” Niall slid a folder to the executive.
When Mr. Cantwell snapped his fingers, the dim lights in the glass-walled room brightened, and the screen on which Kayleigh had projected her PowerPoint rose. Impressive. ForwardTech might be a small finance firm, but they invested in innovative technology. Would they see the same potential in her product?
When her leg began to jump, Niall’s warm hand folded over her knee, and her worries faded to the background. They exchanged a small smile, his “we’ve got this” expression making her want to laugh. He’d worn it whenever they’d teamed up to play Capture the Flag at camp. But that was the overconfidence of kids. In the adult world of business, it was too early to tell if they’d succeeded.
She gazed over Mr. Cantwell’s bent head and out the large windows comprising the far wall. Pigeons took flight from a stone gargoyle adorning a building across Broadway. The muffled sounds of the Financial District traffic reached this fourth-floor suite and she marveled, as she always did, at the electric pulse of this city, its people. They flowed through its arteries, carrying information, products, finances and services to
keep this metropolis thriving. It humbled her to imagine that, if things went well here, she’d be contributing to that system, diving into the flowing course instead of watching from the sidelines. A thinker and a doer.
As the waiting continued, she contemplated the arch of Niall’s strong neck, the way his hands moved when he talked. She breathed in his spicy cologne, another change from his usual soapy, masculine scent. It was different, but she liked it. And, now that she thought about it, weren’t his bangs shorter? Had he gotten a haircut? Why all of these improvements? Not that she disapproved.
At last, Mr. Cantwell pulled off half-moon glasses and ran a hand through his thatch of gray hair. He was a fit man for his age, mid-to late fifties, she’d guess. In his expensive Italian suit, shiny loafers and a diamond-studded watch, he practically screamed success. She pushed back her shoulders and discreetly held her arms out from her sides, needing some air beneath the jacket that topped her sleeveless red sheath dress. It felt as though her entire future, along with Josh’s, Sam’s and now Gianna’s, hung between them, a fragile entity that would disappear at his rejection.
His neutral expression gave nothing away. “I read over the market research and business plan you’d sent earlier and conducted some of my own research through private channels.”
She felt a rush of excitement in her chest, followed by a knot in her stomach. Mr. Cantwell was taking their idea seriously if he’d invested his own time before meeting with them. Perhaps he had already made up his mind and planned to invest? She didn’t want to jinx herself with the thought, so she pushed it away. Niall’s warm glance showed he was as hopeful as she. This was it. She sensed a decision. Please, please, please let it be a yes.
“And what did you find?” she asked, keeping her tone businesslike despite her quivering insides.
“My daughter-in-law works for a company you’re familiar with, Ms. Renshaw.” He carefully closed the folders but made no move to slide them back. A good sign. He wanted them. Maybe. Perhaps planned to use them as they forged a deal? She tamped down her rising excitement.
“Which is...?” Cut to the chase, Mr. Cantwell, she silently added. Good news was coming. She could practically smell it like an overdue thunderstorm.