Page 29 of Sugar Daddy (Sugar Bowl 1)

Then I tell him an absolute truth. "I think you're the best thing to ever happen to me, and when you're given a gift like that, the prospect of losing it can be a little consuming."

Beck lets out a pained moan and his arms wrap around my upper back. He squeezes me hard and presses his lips to the top of my head. "Jesus, Sela. I'm not going anywhere and there's not much you could do to push me away from you. You're perfect as is and I'm insanely happy being with you, okay?"

I nod into his chest. Burrow in tighter to him.

"Just don't lie to me," he says gruffly. "Don't ever lie to me, don't ever do anything to make me distrust you, and everything is golden. Okay?"

My heart sinks.

Because I fully intend to keep lying to him until my quest is complete.

Chapter 20

Beck

Three sharp raps to my office door have me raising my head and blinking my bleary eyes. I rub my fingers over them, happy for the break from reading code.

"Come in," I say gruffly, picking up the bottle of mineral water on my desk and taking a long swig.

The door swings open and JT walks in. He looks...different. Instead of the normal custom-tailored, three-thousand-dollar suit he wears with diamond cuff links, he's got on a pair of dark jeans and a burgundy cashmere sweater. He never dresses casual for the office and it catches me off guard, because JT likes to flaunt his money, and nothing says money like Armani.

I immediately notice his eyes are clear and his pupils are normal, and I wince internally that this has become my standard practice whenever I see him. He shoots me a grin and says, "What's up, bro?"

"Not much," I say, leaning back in my chair. "Just reviewing some code for the new platform. It's a bit buggy."

"I saw the mock-ups last week," he says as he sits down in one of the guest chairs opposite my desk. He props an ankle on the opposite knee and relaxes back casually. He looks almost...carefree.

This should make me happy, but rather makes me suspicious. I wince again, because I'm supposed to be giving him a second chance.

"Good holiday weekend?" he asks, his eyes bright with interest.

"Um...yeah. Caroline and Ally came to visit for a few days, and Sela and I just hung out around the city this weekend. You?"

"I spent it up at my folks' place in Windsor. Just relaxing with them. Actually had time to read a book."

JT's parents have a winery estate in the Sonoma Valley. It actually produces, but it's more of a vacation home than anything for them, and they only use it sporadically, preferring to spend most of their time at their home in Sausalito. JT's family made their money in tech but they have their fingers in several pies.

I cock an eyebrow at JT. "You just went there and relaxed? Read a book?"

"I had some wine and cheese too," he says with a wink. "And turkey, of course."

I shake my head and try not to smile at his winsome ways. I know he's trying to show me the new JT, but it seems odd to me. It's been so long since I've seen this I'm having a bit of a hard time trusting it.

"Did Karla get that agreement to you last Monday?" he asks, his expression turning serious. "You never said anything."

"Yeah, I got it."

It's sitting in my desk right now under lock and key. Karla brought a copy to me, sealed in an envelope, as soon as I walked in that Monday morning after I met with JT. I grimace in distaste at what I'd read, but if the signature on the document is real, then that Sugar Baby clearly had a seriously kinky side that she wanted JT to indulge her in.

I didn't accept the agreement on its face. I looked up the Sugar Baby on the database--Melissa Fraye--and compared her photo to the woman I remembered that night at the mixer. It was the same. I even pulled up the scanned photo of her Sugar Baby agreement with us, and the signatures matched.

That did not ease my conscience completely though. I know way too much about computers and graphics, and know exactly how easy it is to pirate a signature off one document and place it on the other. I know I shouldn't be concerned. I know I should give JT the benefit of the doubt, but I can't help but fucking remembering Sela's words and how assured she'd sounded that morning when I came back and told her about my meeting with JT.

I don't believe it.

I don't trust him.

It wasn't consensual.

Her doubt in him makes me still doubt to some degree, and I have to marvel at the way in which I seem to trust her but not a man I've known for far longer.

A man I have far many more ties and memories with than I do a woman I've known for a little less than a month. JT and I go back for years. Our parents did business together. He came to all of my ostentatious birthday parties, and I went to his. We skied together in Tahoe on winter breaks, and backpacked together in Europe. Prep school days, Stanford. Next to Caroline and Ally, he's the person I was closest to in the world.

Beyond all of that, JT and I share a bond that Sela can't comprehend and that is deeper than even what she and I will ever have.

A sudden spark of guilt hits me hard, that at some point I had forgotten that. When JT went off track, I just let myself get consumed by my career and building this business. I ignored his partying and turned my nose up at the Sugar Babies he'd burn through. I figured it was his due, I guess, and only when it got to a breaking point did I bother to take the fucking time to do something about it.

Maybe...just maybe if I'd paid a little bit better attention, and been a friend a little earlier, I could have pulled him back from the brink a little quicker.

"Those look like some deep thoughts, dude," JT says, and I blink my eyes, bringing him into focus. His head is tilted, looking at me with amusement.

I shake my head and give him a confident smile. "Nah...just still thinking about the code I was reviewing."

Not about to tell him that I'm having a hard time buying this nice-guy act.

"Remember that time you and Barry Kratzel were building that...what the fuck was that program...the one where it would measure a woman's ability to be a one-night stand?"

I snorted and then a laugh popped out. "Yeah. We thought it was brilliant. Luckily our professor did too, but I think that was only because he was recently separated from his wife and was hoping like hell it worked."

JT laughs right along with me, the laugh lines around his squinted eyes looking natural and without the calculation that I normally see. "I tried that stupid thing out and hooked up with that crazy girl in my econometrics class. Your fucking program told me I had a 99.3 percent chance of her not caring that I didn't call her the next day."

Grinning at JT, I remember that with fondness. It was

a program I'd created my freshman year in a course entitled Reliable Algorithms. I used my buds in the fraternity to beta test it. It was an app where you could be out on a date, take a piss break after you'd had some time to talk to the girl, and answer a series of ten questions based on what you'd learned so far. It would then spit out odds on her being the perfect one-night stand. We didn't really think it had much practical application outside of drunk college students, but figured it would impress our professor.

We got an A on the project.

JT banged a girl who ended up stalking him for almost a month before she finally got the hint he wasn't interested after their one night together.

"Those were the good ol' days," JT says, turning his head to look out the window with a slightly regretful tone in his voice.

"Yeah, they were," I agree softly.

JT clears his throat and stands up from the chair, turning to look back at me. "So, listen...I've got Sam putting together a proposal for us to consider. It's for a start-up based out of Santa Clara, and they're developing software that will read facial expressions."

"I read about that a few weeks ago," I say with a nod. "It's supposed to analyze emotional responses consumers have to certain products."

"Yeah...it looks very promising. I want you to take a look at it and give me your thoughts."

I blink my eyes in surprise. JT never runs this shit past me. At first I didn't care, because he's the one with the MBA and is the king of investing, but it appears he may be truly trying to forge a stronger partnership with me.

"Sure, be glad to," I say with a smile of gratitude.

"Cool," he says, and turns toward the door. When he reaches for the knob, he turns back and says, "Are you and Sela interested in getting together for dinner sometime soon? I'd like to learn more about this woman who seems to have taken you off the market."

I study his face carefully, trying to see if there is an ulterior motive. Perhaps sleazy intent. At the very least, too creepy of an interest. Instead, he looks back at me with open friendliness and I decide to finally give one to him.

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