Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,3

had managed to build three successful businesses and was now moving on to his fourth—all by his late twenties.

Some called him a genius. He just called himself very, very lucky.

“That’s not going to go over well,” Nicholas muttered under his breath as he followed Justin toward the elevator. Although they’d shrunk their staff down to this one area, Justin had explained they still were allowed to rent out the big conference room in the lobby whenever they needed it.

“What?” Justin turned to look at Nicholas as he pressed the down button on the elevator. He still looked legit confused.

“Charlie. Your HR director. She’s prepared to lead this big meeting—”

“Staff retreat,” Justin interrupted.

Biting back his annoyance at Justin’s focus on semantics, Nicholas trudged forward. “I don’t really want to just come in and take over.”

The elevator doors slid open, and they stepped inside. Justin spoke while staring up at the indicator above them that displayed the floor they were passing. “Don’t worry. I told Charlie I was taking over after she did her part. She’s doing her opening presentation right now.”

“So I’m taking over for you, really.” Nicholas breathed a sigh of relief at that. Even though he’d just met her, the thought of upsetting this woman bugged him.

“Yep. Trust me. Charlie and I have done everything we can to boost morale around here since the downsizing. They’re tired of hearing from us. You’ll bring new energy. Besides, come on. You’re a hero to most of the people on the development team, which is pretty much everyone in that conference room.”

“No pressure,” Nicholas commented.

If Justin heard that, he didn’t acknowledge it. His attention was fully focused on his phone. Typical. Nicholas estimated he got five minutes of his best friend’s time, tops.

The doors to the elevator opened, and Justin stepped out, staring down at his phone as he walked. How he avoided walking into walls doing that, Nicholas had no idea. He seemed to have perfected it to an art, though.

As they neared the conference room, Charlie’s voice carried into the hallway. Nicholas’s heart skipped a beat. It slowed his walk for a couple of seconds as he realized it had been years since just the sound of a woman’s voice had done that to him.

Nicholas allowed Justin to go in, standing outside the door, safely out of sight, as Justin had instructed. It was part of the surprise that Nicholas wasn’t all that excited about.

“Thank you, Charlie,” Justin said a few minutes later, after Charlie had finished discussing all the praise they’d gotten recently for their latest software update. It all sounded great, but Nicholas had been in this business long enough to know she was wasting her breath. At this point, it was just important to make it clear they’d continue to receive a paycheck. Sure, the success of the company was a huge factor in that, but they needed something more personal. Something that would excite them individually.

“Many of you have been in this field for years,” Justin said. “You’ve seen the industry grow and change. There’s one person who’s been an innovator in this space. He came up with the framework we use every day, sold off that company, and now he’s the head of the next big video streaming app—”

“Nicholas Shaw!” Nicholas heard someone call out.

“Exactly. You know him?”

A series of murmurs followed, then someone said, “He’s my idol.”

Nicholas looked down at the floor, smiling to himself. He felt like he lived most of his life in a bubble. He went to work every day, surrounded by his team. He met with vendors and investors and spent his weekends at his condo in Lake Tahoe.

But every now and then, something like this happened, reminding him that he’d achieved a tiny, tiny level of fame as a tech entrepreneur. His name was all over the internet in articles about billionaires under thirty and Silicon Valley success stories. He’d even been included in some hot bachelor piece at a local TV station a few weeks earlier, along with a bunch of other guys.

That had been the biggest nuisance of all. He didn’t know anyone who honestly wanted to be on a list like that. It did nothing but get you teased by pretty much everyone you knew.

“Everyone, give a big TravTech welcome to Nicholas Shaw!”

Justin’s announcement was his cue to enter. But he didn’t move right away. As the applause started up, his nerves kicked in. It was his closest-guarded secret that he was terrified of public speaking.

Closing