Stephanie buzzed through on my intercom, interrupting my reverie. “Your sister’s here to see you.”
“Send her in.”
Hannah, my younger sister, bounded through the door and pulled me in for a hug. “So excited.”
“Uh. Hi.” I laughed and tried simultaneously to breathe through her tight hug. “I guess you heard about the test.”
“I ran into Eva and accosted her.” She pulled back and studied my face. “Don’t be mad, okay?”
“I’m not mad. Eva knows it’s okay to tell you. You and only you.” I smiled at Hannah fondly. Three years younger than me, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes I had, she was also highly intelligent—but that was where our similarities ended. Our co-workers found me reserved and cerebral, while outgoing and chatty Hannah charmed them. Her personality was why I’d hired her as Paragon’s director of publicity. She gave Paragon’s interviews, which were few and far between, and closely monitored any stories about us in the press.
“Are we going to take this thing public finally?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not yet. We need to do more extensive testing to confirm these findings. We need to be sure that we have enough successful clinical trials completed to obtain all the necessary FDA approvals. After that, we need to do another round of fundraising with our investors and raise the capital to bring the patch to market. Then we’ll finalize a plan about announcing the technology to the rest of the world.”
“But our secret won’t be a secret for that much longer.” Her eyes glittered. “It’s so exciting—the whole world’s finally going to know what a genius my sister is!”
“Calm down.” I patted her shoulder. “We still have a long way to go. And I’m not really keen on sharing anyway.”
Hannah tilted her head, scrutinizing me. “But that’s what you want, isn’t it? Why aren’t you more excited?”
I smiled, trying to reassure her. “I am excited. I just want to take it one step at a time. And the prototype’s been my baby for so long, it’s going to be hard to let it out into the world.” I got up and walked over to the window, looking out at the acres of carefully maintained lawns surrounding our building. “I like being under the radar. You know that. Once this goes public, everyone’s going to know who we are.”
Unlike other entrepreneurs, I didn’t crave the spotlight. I shied away from fundraisers and promotional opportunities. I’d never given an interview, and I refused to comment publicly about Paragon and the research we did.
Still, I loved running my company. It had been difficult for me to reach out to our board members and the venture capitalists that funded our research, but I’d known it was necessary to make my vision a reality. I’d built an amazing team of investors, directors, and employees. We prided ourselves on the work we did there. We all wanted to make the world a better place.
I would do anything for Paragon and for the prototype. But fame didn’t interest me, and money only did to the extent that it could fund my research.
Hannah came up beside me. “Maybe you can…relax a little now?”
I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “What on earth does that mean?” Of course, I knew precisely what she meant, but I wasn’t about to take the bait.
My sister frowned. “You could…take a vacation? Go to a spa? Go on a date?”
I snorted. “I can’t do anything frivolous like that. It would be a waste of my time, and you know it.”
“Enjoying life isn’t a waste of time. You haven’t taken a vacation in six years. You should go to the Caribbean and drink adult beverages, preferably the fruity ones with little umbrellas. And you should bring a hot guy.”
“Enough,” I snapped, then immediately felt bad. I turned to her and forced myself to look conciliatory. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so sharp with you. My baby sister.” I tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
She frowned again. “I’m serious. The phrase ‘you need to get out more’ has never been more on point.”
“This is the only place I want to be. If I took a vacation, or even if I just went home early, I’d still be wishing that I was here. This is where I’m meant to be.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Well, lucky for you, it’ll be here when you get back.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She smiled, mischief in her eyes. “Oh yes, you are. You have a lunch today, remember? With Gabriel Betts.”
“What?” I pulled up my schedule, and there it was, for today at one o’clock. I cringed. “Can’t you do it? I don’t have time.”
“I can’t do it. He wants to talk about technology, remember? That’s why we agreed that you’d be the one to meet with him.”
I held my cell phone and looked at her pleadingly. “But that was three months ago. Today of all days, I can’t leave the lab. Call him and cancel. Please.”
She grinned. “Actually, today of all days, you can leave the lab. Your prototype worked. For the first time ever. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t go to lunch. Besides, Gabriel Betts is hot. He’s a billionaire technology geek too, so who knows? You two might really hit it off.”
I glowered at her. “Stop it.”
“One o’clock at Grove in the Valley. Take a driver. Take security. You might wanna put on a little more lip gloss.” She smiled sweetly as I seethed. “He really is gorgeous. Google him and see for yourself.”
She sashayed out of the room, and I went to my computer, furiously googling Gabriel Betts, the CEO of Dynamica, a Silicon Valley-based company that produced lab-related technology that was used all over the world. I’d never met him before, but based on the pictures I found of him online, my sister was correct. He was absolutely gorgeous.
Still seething, I went to put on more lip gloss.
Chapter 2
“This is it, Ms. Taylor.” The driver pulled up outside of Grove, and a valet waited to open my door.
“Would you like me to come in?” asked Timmy, my personal security guard. I counted the rolls on the back of his beefy neck while I tried to gather my courage.
Five. Five neck rolls. “No. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be right outside.”
I didn’t doubt it. Timmy and his fleet of men protected me twenty-four-seven. At first, I’d thought it was crazy when my board of directors insisted on that level of security, but as time had gone on and the potential for our device had grown, I’d understood their concern. Only I could perfect the science behind our technology. The investment in our security team ensured my safety.
I accepted the valet’s hand. “Ms. Taylor, your table’s ready inside.”
Out of practice when it came to interacting with strangers, I smiled at him awkwardly and headed into the restaurant. Hannah had eaten there several times with one or more of her many male admirers. In her words, “the food was awesome.” I usually ate a salad from our cafeteria at my desk for both lunch and dinner, so I had no idea what “awesome” meant these days. Luckily, the smells from the open kitchen were wonderful, so I resigned myself to being pleased. At least with the food.