Champagne Brunch: The Stiletto Sisters Series by Ainsley Claire (easy readers .txt) 📗

Me: Nope. Mason is welcome, too.

Before I forget, I text Peter that I’ll need him tonight to drop me off, and I work on getting ready for the meeting. A couple hours later, I’ve got everything set up to walk my friends through what I’ve put together. It’s not super pretty, but it should work. I may or may not bring out the formal presentation, anyway. I’ll start by explaining a little and use my friends to gauge interest and see where it takes me.

Once the presentation is ready, I move on to getting myself ready, as the sweats I’ve been lounging in are not going to cut it at the bar. I shower and am putting the finishing touches on my outfit when Peter lets me know he’s arrived.

I slide into the car, and we’re off. It’s hard to park in the Tiger Den’s neighborhood, and I suggest to Peter that he just let me out. But with everything going on with Viviana’s case, even as I speak, I know he isn’t going to let me out of his sight until he drops me back off tonight at my door.

As predicted, he just gives me a look in the rearview mirror and keeps driving until he finds a spot for the car. Then he walks with me all the way inside. Only then does he fade into the woodwork, though I know he’s still nearby.

Looking around the bar, I don’t see anyone I know yet, so I order a glass of champagne just to celebrate the end of the day. I wouldn’t mind a few stiff drinks, but if I’m going to do this presentation justice, I need to be on my toes.

Jim Adelson arrives a few minutes later, and I’m a little taken aback. “What are you doing here?”

He smiles and raises his hands. “My presence is purely social. Mason thought I should come. Is that okay?”

My shoulders relax. It’s an inside joke among my friends that when Jim shows up, your detail is changing. I like Peter and would hate to lose him. “Sure, I’m just surprised to see you since you’re not single.”

He laughs. “No, I’m not.”

His wife, Kate, is pregnant with twins and due at the end of the year. He looks over my shoulder to wave at someone coming in, and before I know it, the bar is full of my friends. This could be more than I’d bargained for.

Claire arrives and burrows through the throng of people over to me. “Wow, this is quite a turnout.”

“I know,” I say, looking around. “I was expecting maybe ten people max. Not sixty.”

“Tommy is afraid the fire marshal is going to show up,” Ryder announces.

Tommy Williams owns this bar. He did well enough with his options that he could leave the company and pursue his real dream of owning a bar.

“Really?” I shake my head. “I didn’t invite all these people.” I look around and see the guys I play poker with, my Stiletto Sisters, and members of a few business groups I belong to.

“What did you want to tell all of us?” Ryder asks.

I lean in close. “I developed a dating app.”

“No way! Sign me up,” she says. “Let’s get you a microphone, and you can tell us all about it.”

After moving some things around, I find myself on a riser usually reserved for a small band.

I take a deep breath and survey the sea of faces. “I can’t believe you’re all here. Thanks for adding me to your evening agenda.” I manage a smile. “I know it’s common knowledge that my board of directors has asked me to step down for a few months while I deal with a personal issue. And, because my mother didn’t raise me to sit at home quietly—” The crowd chuckles. “—I’ve spent the last few days developing a new app.”

I look out at eager faces. “Many of you here won’t be interested, but for those of you who are single, I developed a new dating app I’m calling Flirt.”

My friends clap and celebrate, which makes me feel like a million bucks.

“It’s a bit different than Tumble, eTogether, or even Distinguished,” I continue. “But as I see it, it shares all the good features of those apps. I’m looking for a group of about a two hundred single people, open to dating, to get the app for free so I can run it through trials before I launch it nationwide.”

“How are you building profiles with your algorithm?” Claire’s brother, Landon, asks from the side of the room. Landon and Claire work together with Landon’s fiancée, Tinsley. He is brilliant—and so is she.

I smile. “Very carefully.”

The crowd laughs.

“Why just two hundred people locally to start?” Mason Sullivan asks. He’s a venture capitalist at SHN and was my financier when I developed Diamond Analytics.

“I have to finish my business plan, but I plan on launching in several cities after I know it works, and then I’ll branch nationwide before going internationally. This first round of people is just to vet the app. I’m expecting it to work, but I’d rather be sure than find out it’s a dud when it goes to millions of users.”

“My team would be happy to help you,” he offers.

My stomach does a little flip. That would mean he’s considering investing, and while I could front the business by myself, having Mason’s firm finance it would be a huge boost. Using SHN would give me access to their internal resources, which include back-office and development support.

“Let’s talk,” I tell him.

“Are you planning on leaving Diamond Analytics permanently?” Nate asks.

“No way. Diamond is my baby. Like many of us here, I’m dealing with the fallout from Viviana. This is a fun distraction, and if Flirt becomes big enough, I’m sure I’ll