The Start-Up Read online

  All eyes turned to her. She hadn’t prepared for being the spokesperson for Luv Maite. A prickle of heat crept of her neck. She took a big gulp of the sultry red wine.

  “Luv Maite will be a revolutionary dating app,” Fi began.

  “Tinder, Bumble, Hinge… What is revolutionary about Luv Maite?” Travis asked.

  Fi’s heart hammered away in her chest. She took a deep breath to compose herself. She decided to talk about Luv Maite from her heart. “The revolution is in the data. Luv Maite mines a person’s data from their online presence and uses machine learning algorithms and models to match them with possible mates.” She smiled. “Love mates. The ‘ai’ in the word ‘maite’ is for ‘artificial intelligence.’”

  Sonia beamed a smile at her. “Clever!”

  Travis huffed, “Doesn’t anyone go out to meet people anymore?”

  Fi shook her head. “That’s just it. No, they don’t. They rely on dating apps to meet people.”

  Sonia peered at Fi and seemed to look right through her. “Is that how you meet men?”

  Fi’s eyes fell to her plate. After a few moments, she met Sonia’s gaze and said, “No, it’s not. Swiping left and right arbitrarily based on a person’s photo and few scant details about their life isn’t for me.”

  “How did you meet your boyfriend?” Travis said.

  Fi laughed, “I don’t have a boyfriend.” She grabbed her wine holding it for emotional support more than anything else. She hadn’t expected the dinner would be a foray into her nonexistent dating life.

  Sonia ribbed her husband. “Travis! Excuse my husband, he can be a little probing.”

  Travis kissed his wife on the cheek. “I think you usually call it nosey.”

  “Yes, nosey!”

  Fi laughed, “It’s okay!” Her voice quieted. “That’s exactly why I believe in Luv Maite. All those other apps are great if you’re looking for a quick hook up.”

  Blaine coughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Fi stopped talking and looked at him. “Are you okay?”

  He gulped down water. “Yes! Go on.”

  Fi continued, “Luv Maite will actually help people connect on a deeper level based on likes, dislikes, personality, and preferences.” She held the wine glass up to her mouth. “It might even help me.” Those last words shook her. She believed in Luv Maite and data science revolutionizing how people connect and interact because she was lonely. So lonely. She hadn’t admitted it until just then.

  She blinked some tears away and gave a smile. Blaine put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

  Sonia reached across the table and took her hands in hers. “I do wonder how younger people meet nowadays. Travis and I met in college. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to date now.” She squeezed Fi’s hands. “It’s hard being so beautiful and smart. Intelligence is often overlooked for beauty, but you have both. Whether it is with data and algorithms or meeting someone in person…” Her eyes flicked over to Blaine, who listened raptly. “You will meet someone.”

  Travis held up his wine glass. “You will! To Luv Maite! Fi, your explanation convinced me! I’m ready to invest.”

  Sonia raised her own glass. “So am I. Why should you have all the fun?”

  Travis gave a hearty laugh. “To Luv Maite!”

  As they clinked glasses, Fi was awash with pride. Her soppy spiel had convinced them to believe in their scrappy little company. All she did was talk about it without pretense and through her perspective. She hadn’t been prepared either.

  The universe gives you what you give it. She’d pushed all negativity aside and focused on the truth. She loved the the product they were making and truly felt it could help others find their way out of loneliness. Because of her unprepared teary speech, they were getting a handsome investment from the Whartons and Luv Maite was one more step closer to being in reach for millions of other users.

  Fi felt really part of something for the first time her life. Blaine leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Beautiful job, Fi. You’re just… beautiful.”

  Fi looked into his eyes and didn’t break his gaze.

  Instead of waving off his compliment, she said, “Thank you.”

  The universe gives you what you give it.

  Chapter 10

  He never suspected a beautiful and intelligent woman like Fi would have trouble dating. She was gorgeous. He imagined guys constantly asked her out. Then again, he rarely was in contact with women like her. What would he know about a gorgeous accomplished woman?

  What she said about the other dating apps being useful for quick hook ups rang true for his own dating life. On the drive home, he kept trying to think of at least one relationship that wasn't superficial. It bothered him that he couldn't think of one. He strained to even think of one woman he'd been with that intrigued him as much as Fi did. He couldn't come up with one name.

  "Having you along for this dinner was the best decision I've ever made as a CEO," Blaine said. His tone was upbeat and playful, but he really meant it.

  From the corner of his eye, he could see Fi blushing. She was hopelessly adorable.

  Blaine was used to saying things to women just to get his way with them. He could charm the pants off of anyone. What he said to Fi, he meant.

  "You're being sweet. It was obvious Travis was already interested in investing in Luv Maite. Besides, it wasn't me. The product sells itself!"

  Her passion for Luv Maite shone through. He loved that. Finally a woman who wasn’t only passionate about designer shoes or the latest episode of the Kardashians.

  He drove her to her place in Berkeley with an ache in his chest. He didn't want the night to end. On any other date Blaine went on, his dates usually didn't end after dinner. They usually went on as long as he wanted them too, which was the next morning.

  He glanced at her again from the corner of his eye. She sat in the passenger seat with a smile on her face. She had won the Whartons over. More so, then he could have ever done. Her honesty and charm had been the determining factor. He watched with his own eyes as she convinced them to put their money into Luv Maite. What floored him was not her finesse with a VC, but that she seemed to be speaking from her heart. She believed in what he, Crawford, and Adam were building. She believed in them.

  She had won him over, too.

  "You can pull up right here, and I'll just hop out," Fi said, unbuckling her seat belt.

  He couldn't just drop her off in the middle of the street. He wanted more time with her. "No. I'll just park and walk you to your place,” he insisted.

  "You really don't have to," she said.

  Blaine asserted, "It's the least I can do for my fake date."

  She smiled. "Okay."

  When he parked, he hustled to get to the other side of the car to the passenger side to let Fi out. This was something he'd never even done before. A biker rode up the street right as he tried to get out of the car. He slammed the door shut just in time. By the time he let the biker pass and gotten out, Fi was already standing on the sidewalk, looking up at the stars.

  He stood next to her. "Beautiful," he said, looking down at her face tilted up to the luminous sky.

  She answered, "It is a beautiful night, isn’t it?"

  Blaine wasn't talking about the Berkeley sky. He was talking about her. The curve of her chin as it sloped down the nape of her neck was overwhelmingly alluring. He wanted to kiss her.

  His self control was never tempered. Although they'd talked about not dating until Luv Maite was on the solid ground and agreed that Fi was out of the question, he couldn't help himself. He was mesmerized. So mesmerized, he stared at her openly as she scanned the dark heavens above. He was in a trance.

  He grabbed her waist and pulled her into him. She melted in his arms. A small gasp flew from her throat. A gasp of pleasure. Blaine was an experienced enough man to know the sounds of attraction and lust. He pressed his lips to hers and closed his eyes, gently parting her mouth with his tongue. Her mouth ta
sted like the floral white wine and lemon tart they'd had at the restaurant. He could eat her all up.

  She kissed him back and leaned her body even closer to his. He thought that was his green light. This was usually the universal sign that his night was going to be a good night. He let himself go and stroked her beautiful chin with his thumb. He could feel the heat of their bodies pressed so tightly together.

  His mind was racing, but his body was racing ahead of him. His cock was hard and ready right there on the street. He thought to himself, this fake date was going to end in all the countless real dates before him. He was ready to go for it and deal with consequences later. He couldn’t stop now, not when she felt so good in his arms.

  Then, she pulled away.

  He opened his eyes and saw the look of horror on her face. She clamped her hand around the mouth he was having so much fun kissing. "I'm so sorry! We shouldn't..." She stepped back away, flailing her arms. "We can't."

  He grabbed her hand, trying to pull her back into the moment just seconds before. "We can. We just did."

  She shook her head. "No. It's wrong. I love this job." She ran up the walkway to her apartment building. "This was all a mistake!"

  Chapter 11

  The first time Fi had ever felt comfortable as an engineer, she had to do something stupid like kiss the CEO. Technically, he kissed her, but it wasn’t like she didn’t like the kiss or that she didn’t kiss him back. In fact, it was the best kiss she has ever experienced in her life.

  She’d been with Trey for five years, and he’d never kissed her like that. Her relationship with Trey had been a disappointment in general, not just with kissing. At the end, after five years of Fi slogging through his bad moods, criticism, and disparaging comments, he’d cheated on her. His reason?

  She wasn’t good enough.

  Not good enough kisser. Not a good enough engineer. Not a good enough girlfriend in general. They’d gone through school together at Berkeley, and then worked together at Gipton. They didn’t work on the same team, but Trey convinced her that she was lucky to have landed such a prestigious job.

  Why did she stay with such a scoundrel? A man the undermined her, cheated on her, and made her feel so insignificant?

  They’d met when she was young and inexperienced. Trey was her first boyfriend. She didn’t think she could do better. Even worse, she believed a lot of what he told her.

  It was a shock that she’d gotten a job at Gipton when she was not a computer science major, but she’d worked hard to learn how to program on her own time. She was just as surprised as he was when she actually received a job offer. She thought he would be happy they’d be working at the same company together. She’d thought he’d at least congratulate her.

  “You’re not even a real engineer,” he said.

  “Well, they think I am,” Fi responded.

  “Maybe, but you can’t possibly be a good one,” he said back.

  Maybe she wasn’t a good engineer. Maybe she was a bad girlfriend. Maybe she wasn’t a good kisser. Maybe she wasn’t pretty enough.

  Although they’d been broken up for over a year, his thoughts still affected her. Could he be right?

  What was horrible was that if she hadn’t caught him cheating she would likely still be with him. It took such a hurtful act of betrayal for her to finally stand up for herself. He hadn’t started out being so negative in the beginning, but the last few years, every interaction with him had been brutally negative.

  “He’s probably jealous of you and your success!” Tessa had explained to her. “He was intent on bringing you down.”

  She’d considered this and convinced herself that it was true.

  But still... The doubts clouded her confidence.

  Blaine has said it was an amazing kiss. He’d felt it, too. When was she going to chalk up Trey’s insults to being manipulation to destroy her confidence?

  She went to work on Monday with a pit in her stomach. She waited all weekend for one of the guys to call her and tell her she was fired. No one did. She had second thoughts about showing up to work though.

  Was it obvious she shouldn’t go? She wasn’t sure.

  Tessa encouraged her to go into work like nothing happened. That’s exactly what she did. Or tried to do.

  Except when she walked in, the guys were talking about her. She froze in the foyer, listening. She didn’t know what to do.

  “Hiring her was the biggest mistake we’ve made as a company! I knew this would lead to disaster! I knew we couldn't trust her!” Crawford screamed. “You’re such an asshole, Blaine! Didn’t they teach you in business school at Stanford that making out with one of your employees is a big liability?”

  “Fuck you, Crawford! You know what I think?” Blaine screamed. “I think you’re jealous. I think you like her, and you made this stupid no hands off rule because you want her, but obviously she’d never pick you. She’d pick me!”

  Adam piped in, “So, naturally, she’d pick you, huh?”

  Blaine growled, “What the fuck? You are into her, too?”

  As Fi listened, her insides twisted. That night she stayed over working late with Adam hadn’t been a completely harmless endeavor. She enjoyed his company. He seemed to enjoy hers. At one moment, when she was on her computer and he was right behind her looking at her screen, he leaned in close to point to something on her screen. She jolted from the warmth and closeness of him. That one subtle movement, in turn, made him jump. As he pulled away from her screen, his face brushed closely to hers. So closely, his lips brushed her cheek all the way up to her ear.

  It was an embarrassing moment for both of them. Fi couldn’t tell if it was intentional. Perhaps, it had been an accident.

  Nonetheless, it was electrifying.

  Adam’s handsome face clouded over perplexed. He returned to his side of the table to his computer. “Ya… So, try that out. Tell me what you get,” he stammered out.

  “Sure. Okay,” she’d answered.

  After that, they both returned to the comfort and solace of their machines, wiping away the delicate moment between them. Besides, it was likely an accident. Adam was clumsy. Always knocking into things. His lips grazing her cheek stirred emotions in her that he likely had never intended to procure.

  Crawford growled, “For fucks sake! Did you fuck her that night she stayed over?”

  Adam answered, “No!”

  “Are you telling the truth?” Blaine asked.

  “Yes! Nothing happened. But… What if I like her? So what?”

  “See what I’m telling you? We shouldn’t have hired a hot piece of ass. The two of you clearly can’t control yourselves.”

  Hot piece of ass? A dagger shot into Fi’s heart. That was as good as compliment she’d ever get from Crawford who hated her from the beginning, but it wasn’t a compliment. She wasn’t a hot piece of ass. She was putting in good hard work for the company. She cared about Luv Maite and wanted it to be a success. He couldn’t reduce her to just a ‘hot piece of ass.’

  Gathering courage, she stormed into the room. “I’m sorry,” Fi said, looking imploringly at their faces. “It shouldn’t have happened.”

  Blaine broke in. “It’s my fault. I take responsibility for the kiss.”

  “I kissed you back,” Fi replied.

  She turned to Adam. “It’s my fault. I take responsibility for… what happened between us.”

  Blaine exploded. “Something happened between you two?”

  “What? Is that so hard to believe?” Adam retorted.

  Fi explained, “Something sort of happened. Maybe. I’m really not sure.”

  Adam chuckled, “You know, I wasn’t sure either, but… I don’t regret it.”

  Blaine threw his hands up. “I’m confused. Did or did not something happen?”

  “Can you please explain exactly what happened?” Crawford asked.

  Adam huffed, “I kind of kissed her cheek.”

  “And my ear,” Fi added.

  Crawford bl
urted out, “So what was your plan, Fi? To fuck all of us?”

  Fi was stunned. That had never been her intention. Her crushes on all three of them couldn’t be helped. She was speechless.

  Blaine raised a finger. “Just to be clear, nothing has ever happened between the two of you?” He asked pointing to Fi and Crawford.

  Crawford answered, “God no!” He had a look of disgust on his face.

  “Okay. Please tell us how you really feel,” Fi said annoyed. “I’m not that awful.”