the idea that the two young women were just flying by the seat of their pants.
“These cupcakes were made exclusively for me,” Grant told him. “It’s not going to turn into anything regular at the bakery.”
As much as he liked the idea of Jocelyn having a side hustle, he did not like the idea of her making pussy cupcakes, or breasts or butts for that matter, for anyone else.
That was as stupid as his sudden desire to start her a 401K. She wouldn’t even have to know about it. He could just contribute to it monthly. He’d have to have Cam look into the legalities of paying that out to her when she retired, but he was sure it could be done. Almost anything could be done with the right lawyer drawing things up. And Cam was one of the best.
Grant shook his head. He could not start Jocelyn Asher a secret 401K.
“Okay, well, good,” Aiden said, looking confused. “I guess.” He took his seat behind his desk and shuffled some papers to the side.
The guys had gotten into the habit of convening a short meeting every morning. Or they’d revived the habit, actually. They’d worked together in the same space for the past nine years. Their company, Fluke Inc., had taken up the entire thirty-ninth floor of their building in downtown Chicago. They’d each had an office, and there were two big conference rooms as well as various other rooms and offices for their product development team. But every morning they’d come together, just the five of them, in the smaller of the conference rooms to touch base and start the day together.
It had almost started by accident. They’d never made it a formal meeting. But it seemed that they needed to physically see and talk to one another before going their separate ways for the day.
They grounded each other. Even though when the five of them got together the ideas and brainstorming and crazy plans flew, they also kept each other anchored. The morning meeting was their way of just being them. Giving each other shit, catching up on things outside of work—women, parents, hobbies, and such—and just remembering where they’d started before they went out and met with their young, energetic, wildly creative development team, or made marketing calls, or fought a copyright infringement, or the many other tasks they each handled to keep the company safe and growing.
They’d all found each other in college. The online game, Warriors of Easton, had become a huge phenomenon almost overnight, launching five young guys to millionaire status and pseudo fame—at least in certain circles—so quickly that it had taken them a long time to really come to grips with their new reality.
They’d been busy and in demand and very wealthy, and it had all happened by accident. None of them had known that the game would take off the way it did. They’d simply been drawn together, like pieces to a puzzle, each fitting in their space just right to make the big picture come together. They’d sensed a chemistry between them, and that had turned into friendship, and that had turned into “Hey, what the hell, let’s see what the world thinks of this” and… nine years later, they were millionaires, with a huge fan following and a solid friendship that would last the rest of their lives.
Then they’d bought Hot Cakes.
The factory in Aiden and Cam’s hometown had gone up for sale and the town, and the three hundred or so people who worked for the company had feared that it would be bought out and changed by a much bigger company, or that it would close. Aiden had wanted to step in to save it, and as always, the other four had his back.
So they now owned a snack cake factory in a tiny town in Iowa, and frankly, they were all realizing they weren’t nearly the master businessmen and managers they’d all thought they were.
But they were trying. And learning. And so far, anyway, they hadn’t fucked anything up.
“I thought Cam was coming in today,” Dax said, tossing a handful of gummy bears into his mouth one by one.
Grant had no idea how the guy could eat candy this early in the morning. But his grip tightened on the bakery box as he realized that the cupcake he’d greedily shoved in his mouth had more sugar than those gummy bears did. And he didn’t regret a thing.
“I am. I had to flirt with Piper,” Cam