Page 184 of With Us

“It makes more sense for Amaric.”

“Do you travel a lot?”

“I used to,” he said, rubbing his stubbly chin on my neck. “Now I let Luc handle it since I prefer to stick close to home.” He cupped me between the legs as he said it, as if being deep inside me was where he considered home.

If that was the case, the feeling was mutual.

Unfortunately, he released his hold and moved away. “If you forget anything, we can get it there.”

“Okay.”

Less than two hours later, we were stepping onto a gorgeous plane. There were a few rows of chairs which looked like the traditional airplane ones. Behind them were long booth style seats and tables. There was a small crew who greeted us, but then we were left alone.

“I’ve never flown before,” I said, my stomach twisting with nerves.

He covered my hand with his. “It’ll be fine. The flight is only a little over an hour, and the skies are clear.”

When we took off a short while later, I clutched his hand in a death grip. I refused to look out the window, instead focusing on the movie that played on the small screen. I wasn’t paying attention, but it let me pretend we were in a theater, and not however many miles above ground in a magical flying tube.

“What’re you working on?” I asked Theo, glancing over at his laptop.

He opened a few new tabs. “This company, MeatCute, was started by two classmates from Columbia University. It’s basically a dating and restaurant app in one. You fill out the personality part as you normally would, but then you also put in your food preferences. It uses their algorithm to match based on both, then suggests a local restaurant to meet at. You can also use it to just meet new friends who also want to eat a specific meal that night, not necessarily anything romantic.”

“That’s a really good idea. Why would they need you?” At his raised brow, I added, “No offense.”

“It’s hugely successful. But one of the partners let it get to his head. The problem with a lot of these startup creators is they go from broke college kid to millionaire in a few months, and they don’t know how to handle it. They get involved with things they shouldn’t, go on crazy shopping sprees, or make poor business decisions. Usually, the fad ends and they’re left with nothing because they didn’t save or invest.”

“Where’s this one fall?”

“One of the guys hooked up with a party chick and lost his half of the company for pussy and blow.” He switched to a tab of a nerdy cute guy. “Dax Miller is a smart kid. When the idea started to form between him and his roommate, he insisted they go to a lawyer to make a partnership contract in case one of them wanted out, or things went south. One of the clauses was regarding drugs. When his partner failed the drug test, he automatically forfeited his half.”

“Smart of Dax Miller.”

“Very.” He switched tabs again to an email with a lot of bullet points. “Miller wants to bring in someone he can trust, while also retaining control of his company.”

“Don’t you take control of already failing ones?” I asked.

“Normally, yes. But in this case, we want to help him out before it gets to that point. We’ve been hired more as consultants.”

“Is Luc working it, too?”

Theo nodded. “He’s already there, most likely presenting his own bullet pointed list of why Miller should let him expand MeatCute to Boston.”

“That’s areallygood idea.” As far as I could tell, from my Food Network and Travel Channel viewing, NYC and Boston both had more than their share of amazing restaurants.

“Yeah, it’d do well. Luc is always looking for a new challenge or hobby.”

The pilot came over the announcement system, making me jump and my stomach lurch. Relief flowed through me when he was merely announcing our descent.

“The city is all lit up, want to look?” Theo asked.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head as I clutched at Theo and the armrest.

I should’ve ordered a drink…

Or ten.

???

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