“So, when this is all over with JT, next on our agenda is to find a small house on a beach somewhere?”

I giggle. “With peeling linoleum floors.”

“Got it,” Beck says.

Suddenly, I sit up and turn in his lap to look at him, reality seeping back in to our discussion of happily-ever-after dreams. “What if this doesn’t work? So many things could go wrong. VanZant may not take the offer, then we’d depend on fate for him to lose. Or he could go to the police and tell him about the bribery—”

“We’re shielded from that,” Beck reminds me quickly. “Dennis said there won’t be any ties to us. It’s why we’re paying him so much.”

I disregard those assurances, because here’s the really big “if.” “We still have to depend on JT coming to you for the money.”

“Well, he can only go to me or my dad,” Beck points out. He relayed to me the entire conversation he had with his dad on the drive home last night, and it does seem his dad is on board with us. “JT doesn’t have any other close friends with this type of liquid cash to help him out and no bank will loan him money to pay off a debt. Dennis assured me the collection deadline will be short so he’ll be under pressure to act fast.”

“Maybe JT won’t agree to give up the company for your loan,” I offer, even though we’ve hashed this all out before. “Maybe he’ll opt for a beating. Or take his chances elsewhere. Or even negotiate an extension.”

“Then worst-case scenario, he’s still part of the company when we go to the police,” Beck says firmly. I know he’s frustrated over my continued worries, but he’s also very patient with me.

“It will kill The Sugar Bowl.” The bitterness is evident in my voice. “It could ruin you. Maybe we shouldn’t even do this at all.”

“What?” Beck exclaims, his eyebrows rising high. “You want me to just stay with JT as a partner and pretend none of this happened?”

“No,” I say sullenly, my gaze dropping from his. I twist my fingers together and mutter. “I know you could never do that.”

“Sela,” Beck says softly, his fingers tilting my chin up. When my eyes lock on his, he gives me a knowing smile. “I’m not going to lie…I’ve got a lot tied up in this business. I’m proud of it. It’s lucrative. But it is not my only idea. My entire self-worth isn’t dependent on it. My financial stability most certainly isn’t, as I’ve invested well and I could buy us houses on multiple beaches and we’d never have to work again a day in our lives. Worst fucking case, I can’t get JT out and the police won’t compel him for DNA and he stays free. If that happens, then we’ll move to a faraway beach and start all over again.”

Tears suddenly fill my eyes as quickly as the blossoming love in my heart starts to overwhelm me. This man…that he would do that for me?

Beck tilts his head to the side, his smile turning softer, and he wipes a stray tear that runs down my cheek. “I fell hard for you, Sela. I’m committed to you and our future.”

“So this is love?” I whisper hoarsely as I stare into his beautiful eyes.

“I do believe it is,” he tells me with a grin. “Now…would you like to go see your new car, Miss Halstead?”

I can’t help it. His attitude is infectious, and I grin back at him before backing off his lap and dropping to my knees before him. Placing one palm on each knee, I nudge his legs apart. “Why Mr. North, I would love to, but first I really would love to suck your cock.”

“Christ,” Beck mutters as his head drops back onto the cushion of the couch and he sighs with happiness. “If you must.”

“Oh, I must.”

“I’m really sorry JT couldn’t make this meeting,” I say as I shake hands first with Michael Gruber, then with Vincent Carmon, the two owners of ET Technologies.

“No problem,” Vincent responds with an affable smile. He’s the younger of the two entrepreneurs, having recently turned twenty-two. Michael’s not much older at twenty-three.

“We really wanted your eyes on this project anyway,” Michael adds. “We just don’t have your programming skills.”

It’s true enough. They would need me on this project, and I’m very much interested. ET Technologies was founded by Michael and Vincent, college buddies who dreamed up the potential to analyze facial expressions of consumers reacting to certain products. The “ET” part of their name actually stands for eye twitch, a comical play on a common facial expression to indicate unease.

JT had hit me up several weeks ago about this company, as they were looking for not only start-up capital but help with the coding and programming. They approached Townsend-North, and after analyzing their proposal, we finally had been able to set up this meeting. Of course, JT was supposed to be here, but he was a no-show, and this is both a relief and a worry.

I worry because the Mariota-VanZant fight is in five days and our plan is in full swing. VanZant accepted the payoff to take a dive, and according to Dennis, wasn’t plagued by any doubt over his decision. Seems he’s been nursing a rotator cuff injury that has been kept in absolute secrecy so as not to disturb the odds, and had doubts about being able to take down Mariota anyway. This offer was opportune, as it gives him financial stability and he can later reveal the injury that may help explain the loss and give him a future shot at a big title fight.

So because the plan has been officially enacted, and we are one step closer to stringing up JT by his balls, I don’t want anything to fuck this up. JT normally isn’t one to miss business meetings unless he’s partying hard. And thus is my worry…that perhaps he’s gone on a bender, which leaves him unpredictable. I can just see the fucker getting a wild hair up his ass and deciding to change his bet over to Mariota or something.

But I’ve got more important things to pay attention to at the moment.

“Like I said,” I tell both men as I walk them out of my office, which is where we had been meeting for their formal pitch to Townsend-North. “I’m very interested in the project. I’d like a few weeks to go over all of the materials and talk to JT about it, but I think we can do something for you.”

Both men’s eyes light up, as they can start to see their hard work and amazing ideas have a fighting chance in the competitive world of tech industry. What they don’t know is that I have no intention of discussing this with JT. My hope is that by this time next week, he’s going to be begging me for money and quickly on his way out of my life. Then I fully intend to work with these two men—both geniuses really—and help them bring this advanced technology to life.