Chapter One
A fter a frustrating week , Miranda Travers was ready for a glass of wine and a serving of her very own pasta primavera, although she’d have to do a little grocery shopping first. Hoisting her tote bag over her shoulder, she walked from her office into the silent hallway. Everyone at BMUS – which stood for Beam Me Up Scotty and was pronounced beam us – had left for the weekend. Or so she thought until she noticed the light shining from under Rylan Krause’s office door.
Apparently he was staying late to work on the veggie app and didn’t want company. BMUS was preparing to roll out its first product, an app with massive nutritional info on fruits and vegetables. Market testing had been promising. The app would be a boon to the newly health conscious population and should be a moneymaker. Investors were counting on it.
She’d been hired as a nutrition consultant and her data plus Rylan’s software should produce a wonderful product that would spotlight BMUS as a tech startup to watch. But Rylan was blocked and she didn’t know anything about the coding process so she was no help.
The other three guys in the office, all tech geeks in their own right, had offered suggestions that sounded good to Miranda but hadn’t worked for Rylan. His brother Frazer, the team’s hardware expert, had finally advised leaving Rylan alone to figure it out for himself. CEO Tony Bainbridge, who’d sunk his entire trust fund into the company, had agreed with that strategy. So had Garrett Upton, in charge of cyber security. The four had been friends at Caltech and knew each other’s quirks, but waiting for a breakthrough had to be tough. The future of the company depended on the app’s success.
Miranda thought the pressure was part of Rylan’s problem. She knew him fairly well, too, because she’d dated his brother in college. She broken up with Frazer after about six months and hadn’t been terribly surprised when he’d calmly accepted her decision. His controlled behavior had been a big reason she’d ended things.
They’d remained casual friends, which had led to him recommending her for this consulting job. But while Frazer wasn’t a very emotional guy, Rylan definitely was. He would be affected by knowing he was now the key player in this game.
Although she couldn’t help him write code, she tried to suggest things that might lower his stress, like substituting classical music for the hard rock he listened to. He’d laughed and then politely ignored her suggestion. Her gift certificate for a massage had gone unused. His diet was atrocious, but his high metabolism kept him from getting fat so he shrugged off her concerns about that, too.
Like the rest of them, she’d decided to give up and let him soldier on by himself. Yet she felt a pang of sympathy as she gazed at that closed door. She’d tap on it and say goodnight except he probably had his ear buds in and wouldn’t hear her.
So she continued on down the hall. She was almost through the outer office door when she heard the sharp tinkle of glass shattering. The sound came from Rylan’s office and she imagined all kinds of horrible things including that he’d passed out from exhaustion and had crashed into something as he fell.
Throwing down her tote, she grabbed the emergency first aid kit their receptionist, Dulcie Hilgendorf, kept in her desk. The sound of Rylan swearing a blue streak was encouraging. At least he was conscious. She flung open the door and found him kneeling on the carpet.
“Miranda!” He leaped to his feet. His beard had grown in the past few days because shaving was optional when he was struggling with a concept.
And he was definitely struggling. His short dark hair stood out in all directions and his glasses were smudged. A plaid flannel shirt hung tails out and unbuttoned over his white t-shirt and jeans. The t-shirt was snug enough to emphasize his nice pecs, although she had no idea why he’d have them. She’d
A fter a frustrating week , Miranda Travers was ready for a glass of wine and a serving of her very own pasta primavera, although she’d have to do a little grocery shopping first. Hoisting her tote bag over her shoulder, she walked from her office into the silent hallway. Everyone at BMUS – which stood for Beam Me Up Scotty and was pronounced beam us – had left for the weekend. Or so she thought until she noticed the light shining from under Rylan Krause’s office door.
Apparently he was staying late to work on the veggie app and didn’t want company. BMUS was preparing to roll out its first product, an app with massive nutritional info on fruits and vegetables. Market testing had been promising. The app would be a boon to the newly health conscious population and should be a moneymaker. Investors were counting on it.
She’d been hired as a nutrition consultant and her data plus Rylan’s software should produce a wonderful product that would spotlight BMUS as a tech startup to watch. But Rylan was blocked and she didn’t know anything about the coding process so she was no help.
The other three guys in the office, all tech geeks in their own right, had offered suggestions that sounded good to Miranda but hadn’t worked for Rylan. His brother Frazer, the team’s hardware expert, had finally advised leaving Rylan alone to figure it out for himself. CEO Tony Bainbridge, who’d sunk his entire trust fund into the company, had agreed with that strategy. So had Garrett Upton, in charge of cyber security. The four had been friends at Caltech and knew each other’s quirks, but waiting for a breakthrough had to be tough. The future of the company depended on the app’s success.
Miranda thought the pressure was part of Rylan’s problem. She knew him fairly well, too, because she’d dated his brother in college. She broken up with Frazer after about six months and hadn’t been terribly surprised when he’d calmly accepted her decision. His controlled behavior had been a big reason she’d ended things.
They’d remained casual friends, which had led to him recommending her for this consulting job. But while Frazer wasn’t a very emotional guy, Rylan definitely was. He would be affected by knowing he was now the key player in this game.
Although she couldn’t help him write code, she tried to suggest things that might lower his stress, like substituting classical music for the hard rock he listened to. He’d laughed and then politely ignored her suggestion. Her gift certificate for a massage had gone unused. His diet was atrocious, but his high metabolism kept him from getting fat so he shrugged off her concerns about that, too.
Like the rest of them, she’d decided to give up and let him soldier on by himself. Yet she felt a pang of sympathy as she gazed at that closed door. She’d tap on it and say goodnight except he probably had his ear buds in and wouldn’t hear her.
So she continued on down the hall. She was almost through the outer office door when she heard the sharp tinkle of glass shattering. The sound came from Rylan’s office and she imagined all kinds of horrible things including that he’d passed out from exhaustion and had crashed into something as he fell.
Throwing down her tote, she grabbed the emergency first aid kit their receptionist, Dulcie Hilgendorf, kept in her desk. The sound of Rylan swearing a blue streak was encouraging. At least he was conscious. She flung open the door and found him kneeling on the carpet.
“Miranda!” He leaped to his feet. His beard had grown in the past few days because shaving was optional when he was struggling with a concept.
And he was definitely struggling. His short dark hair stood out in all directions and his glasses were smudged. A plaid flannel shirt hung tails out and unbuttoned over his white t-shirt and jeans. The t-shirt was snug enough to emphasize his nice pecs, although she had no idea why he’d have them. She’d
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