LAUREN (Silicon Valley Billionaires Book 1)

by Leigh James

  I hoped.

  Gabriel’s dark brown eyes twinkled as he smiled at me. “It’s funny that our paths have never crossed before.”

  I took a sip of water. “Not really. I don’t get out much.” Ever. I don’t get out ever.

  “So you admit to being reclusive.” He had an easy-going, confident way about him—a way that only insanely gorgeous, successful, and brilliant male Silicon Valley CEOs must have.

  I quickly scanned the menu, needing to look away from him. “It’s not that I’m reclusive. I’ve just been busy working.”

  “Would you like me to order for us? I come here pretty regularly.”

  “That’s okay. I can do it myself.” My tone sounded bristly and curt to my own ears.

  Gabriel gently pushed my menu down. “I’m sure you’re more than capable of ordering for yourself. But I’d like to order some of my favorites to share. But only if that’s all right with you.”

  “That’s fine, but I need to be back to the lab in an hour.” I looked at my watch, wishing it were already time.

  He motioned for the waiter. “Any dietary restrictions?”

  “I don’t eat beef, pork, or chicken.”

  He smiled and my stomach tied itself in a knot. “Fish and shellfish okay?”

  I nodded, trying not to be flattered by his careful attention. “Thank you for asking.”

  “You’re very welcome.” His smile broadened, and I noticed a lone dimple located on the left side of his face. For some reason, this annoyed me. A lot.

  He ordered all manner of things, some of which I’d never heard of before, and he also ordered wine.

  I stopped the server when he went to fill my glass. “No thank you.” To Gabe, I said, “I don’t drink alcohol when I’m working.”

  Gabriel motioned to the waiter and my glass was immediately filled, against my will. “You don’t have to finish it. Just enjoy it to taste.”

  I frowned at him, but he continued to smile at me pleasantly. “I’m not trying to boss you around, I swear. I just want you to enjoy your lunch.”

  I wanted to enjoy it too. But he might have been too handsome to eat across from.

  The servers placed sashimi and lobster dumplings in front of us, along with a delicious-looking salad with roasted poblano peppers and shaved Parmesan.

  Gabriel held up his wineglass, and I raised mine too.

  “Cheers to finally meeting.”

  I tentatively tapped my glass against his. “Cheers.”

  I took a sip of the wine, which was heavenly, as he started putting food on my plate. I took a bite of the sashimi and tried to ignore its simple deliciousness. I could feel myself getting wrapped up in the food, the wine, our sunny seats in the restaurant, and the man across from me. But I needed to stay focused on Paragon and all the work waiting for me back at the office.

  Gabriel was saying something about the food when I cleared my throat. “I don’t mean to be rude, but if we’re going to talk about business, we should do it soon.”

  “I’m sorry. I get a little excited about taking a break during the day. Especially with a beautiful woman.”

  I almost choked on my dumpling.

  “Once I go back to the office, I’ll be there until ten—and I’ll forget to eat dinner.”

  I finally managed to swallow. “You do that too?”

  “Of course. I do it most days.” He took a sip of wine, and I tried not to watch him, but I found myself staring nonetheless. His handsome features smoothed out as he sat quietly for a moment. It looked as if he were considering what to say next. “So…regarding why we’re here. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time. Paragon’s an interesting business.”

  I took another sip of wine. “It’s not that interesting. It’s just a laboratory, really. It’s only interesting if you’re a scientist.”

  He nodded. “I’m a scientist. And I went to school in Cambridge too. Harvard.”

  “How did you know I went to school in Cambridge?”

  He looked at me as if I might be a little bit crazy. “Everybody knows you went to MIT.”

  Everybody? Everybody who?

  “I didn’t graduate,” I said quickly. I never wanted to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.

  “Me neither. I attended Harvard. Sporadically.” He chuckled. “I came out to California to start my business. My undergraduate studies weren’t going to help me get the funding I needed to research and implement my technology. So I decided to cut my losses and come out here to see what I could make of myself.”

  “That’s exactly what I did.”

  “I know.”

  I looked at him sharply. “How did you know that?”

  “It’s this little thing called the Internet—you may have heard of it. Did you google me before you came here today?”

  “Of course.” The words tumbled out before I could stop myself.

  “Well, I googled you too. That’s how I know you’re an MIT dropout.” His eyes flickered with mischief. “Were you only looking at my pictures?”

  I coughed instead of answering. The truth was, I had only looked at his pictures and his brief bio. In addition to information about his company, Dynamica, his bio had listed his height (six foot three), his weight (two hundred thirty pounds), and his age (thirty-two).

  “Also, I know about you because people talk. Silicon Valley’s not that big—there’s a lot of curiosity about you and Paragon. I also happen to know one of the professors at MIT pretty well. You were his student before you dropped out.”

  I put down my fork before I dropped it. “How do you know that?”

  “Because I called him and asked him if he’d ever met you. I was doing my due diligence in advance of our meeting. I asked him what you were like.”

  “Which professor?”

  He speared another lobster dumpling. “Alexander Viejo. He’s engaged to my mother. They’re getting married later this year. He said you were brilliant, by the way. One of the brightest students he’s ever had.”

  I looked at him, surprised. Alexander Viejo was a famous biochemist. I’d audited one of his senior-level classes my sophomore year and found him fascinating. “He’s marrying your mom?”

  Gabriel nodded. “She lives up in Boston—that’s where I’m from, originally. My father passed away when I was ten. I’m happy that she finally met someone great…who can also consult for my business.”

  Damn. I would have loved to have Professor Viejo consult with Paragon. I cursed myself for not getting to him first.

  The waiter appeared and refilled our glasses. Despite my protests, I’d managed to finish all my wine. Gabriel had the decency not to tease me.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your father.” Dead parents were the last things I wanted to talk about, so I quickly maneuvered the conversation back to business. “What exactly is it that you find interesting about Paragon?”

  He laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

  I shook my head, confused.

  He leaned over the table toward me. “Everyone’s interested in Paragon. You have the whole industry on pins and needles, just waiting to see what you come up with. Because my business is entwined with lab technology, I have, of course, been paying attention to what you’re up to. I know that with a board of directors like yours, you’ve got to be developing something good.”

  I smiled at him. “We are. I’m not going to tell you the specifics because they involve trade secrets, but your instincts are correct.”

  “They usually are.” There was that dimple again, and I sucked in a breath. “I was hoping you’d be willing to discuss a partnership opportunity with me. That’s why I wanted to meet with you. I knew a little bit about your background, which, as we’ve discussed, is similar to mine. I’ve watched you from afar for a few years now. Even though you’re very private, Lauren, people still talk. People in the industry admire your work ethic, and they admire how you keep your technology close. I admire those things too. You’re one of a very elite group
of female CEOs in the biomedical industry. You’re building your empire on your own, and you have a great shot at success because you’re extremely intelligent and extremely driven.”

  I swallowed. “Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say. I’d been so wrapped up in my research and testing for the past few years, I hadn’t really paid attention to the outside world. I still found it baffling that the outside world knew anything about me at all, or cared.

  “Even though I don’t know specifically what you’re working on at Paragon, I do know that it’s something great. Otherwise you wouldn’t have kept it completely secret for so long—not with the list of investors that you’ve got. I can help you. We can help each other.”

  “How’s that?”

  The waiter brought more food, grilled salmon and ahi tuna, but my appetite had gone. He was offering me a partnership with Dynamica, and I didn’t do partnerships. I needed to break it to him.

  I motioned to the waiter for the check. “I’m sorry, but Paragon isn’t taking on partners. Not now, not in the foreseeable future.”

  The muscles in Gabriel’s square jaw clenched. I wondered vaguely what it would be like to run my fingertips over the small amount of stubble on his chin—but the thought was ridiculous. I needed to get away from him and back to the safety of my lab.

  “My company has the international business contacts that you’ll need when you take your technology public. If you partner with me, you’ll have access to my entire network. The reach of your invention will be global almost immediately. Think about it.”

  I would think about it, even if I didn’t want to. I’d started building a list of international distributors, but it was nothing as established as what Gabriel was offering. I sat back and studied his face—handsome, strong, and utterly convinced of what he was saying.

  “What’s in it for Dynamica? What’s in it for you, Gabriel?”

  “Money. Power. Influence.” A slow grin spread across his face. “And by all means, please call me Gabe.”

  Chapter 3

  I stalked around my office for the rest of the afternoon, feeling off-kilter. Gabe’s offer was unexpected and unwelcome. It was also, however, a great offer. If Paragon partnered with Dynamica before we launched, we could offer our technology to labs and third-party providers all over the world.

  I could curate similar contacts over time, but the partnership would make those avenues immediately accessible. The alliance’s attraction was undeniable. The financial compensation Gabe outlined at the end of our meeting was fair. It seemed like an offer I couldn’t refuse.

  The problem was, I had to say no. I didn’t do partnerships.

  I’d built Paragon by myself, from the ground up. After I’d quit MIT, I moved to northern California and used some of the money my parents had left me to secure a tiny lab space. Then I used more of it to build my first prototype. At the time, I slept at the lab on a futon. I worked sixteen-hour days, alone, fleshing out the idea for the technology. I’d known then that I would one day be successful, but I’d also known it wouldn’t be easy.

  I’d been correct—years of trial and error were ahead of me and Paragon. I’d continued my work with the prototype, but I’d finally reached the point where I needed funding to expand my research. I’d made some friends at MIT, and from time to time, they checked in on me. Some of those friends were wildly successful, some of them had family money, and all of them believed in me. They knew my single-minded determination to make my ideas work. They’d become my first investors, and they were all still with me today. With their initial investment, I’d moved into a larger lab space. I formed Paragon Laboratories, hired more staff, started the FDA approval process, and began the technical trials on my prototype.

  My mother had no taste for luxury, but she’d always loved diamonds. She admired their strength, their clarity, and their beauty. I’d named my company Paragon after the perfect diamond of one hundred or more carats. If you included all the microbes, the human body contained over one hundred trillion cells, and I planned to use my technology to help analyze them.

  But I’d always been very clear that it was my technology.

  I’d gained more investors as I’d grown, but I’d never shared the exact results of my research or the nature of my technology with anyone. Instead of filing for patent protection for the patch, which would have released some of the technology publicly, I protected it as a trade secret. Trade secrets were only secure while they were confidential—so I guarded the information fiercely. Only a core group of employees had knowledge of the most up-to-date specs, and even then, they only knew the portion that directly impacted their day-to-day functions. My investors, and later my board of directors, only had a general sense of what I worked on and how I achieved my results. That was okay with everyone because they believed in me, my commitment to the company and to the research.

  I never planned on going public. I never planned on sharing what I’d made with other companies—only customers. I’d always wanted to be in complete control of Paragon’s present and future. As its single parent, I knew no one could love it and care for it like I could.

  If I partnered with Dynamica, I would have another person to answer to—Gabriel Betts. If he became unhappy about something I did, he could criticize me as an equal. But that wasn’t what worried me. The idea of trusting him, relying on him, and the possibility that he could fail me worried me the most.

  I trusted myself because I knew I would never fail—because all my failures were leading to success, and I would never give up. But I couldn’t put that sort of trust in someone else. Not many people were as driven and single-minded as I’d been.

  The sky darkened as the options ran through my head. I had a duty to present Gabe’s offer to the board, and they had a duty to analyze it and advise me about whether to accept it. Their answer would be yes, we should partner with Dynamica and reach international customers more quickly than we’d ever planned. We’d make more money to invest back into our research, and then we’d make more amazing things to help people.

  They would say yes, and they would be right. We should partner with Dynamica.

  But I kept thinking about Gabe. His easy laugh. Those shoulders. How he’d said I was lovelier than my pictures. I imagined working with him on a regular basis, seeing the twinkle in his eyes, seeing that dimple. Having a reason to call him. Often.

  And all I wanted to say was no.

  “What are you doing home?” Hannah asked, stupefied, from across the kitchen.

  I coughed and looked at the clock. The fact that I was home from work at six-thirty on a Friday night shouldn’t be remarkable—but it was, and I knew it. I also knew the reason was going to push my sister into a state of ecstatic rapture.

  “I have a date.”

  She clapped her hands together. “Is it with Gabriel Betts? I knew it. I knew it!”

  “Calm yourself. It’s not with Gabriel. It’s with Clive Warren.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Huh? I thought he moved to China.”

  “He did, but now he’s back. He’s been hounding me to go to dinner for the past six weeks. So I’m going.”

  Hannah poured herself a seltzer and frowned at me. “Since when do you go on dates?”

  Since I can’t stop thinking about Gabe Betts. I figured that was a clear sign I needed to get out more. Or at least once. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could have a meal with an attractive, intelligent man without breaking into a cold sweat. I’d failed to do that at my lunch with Gabe. I clearly needed practice with social interaction.

  And if I happened to like Clive Warren on a personal level, so much the better. So much the better because that would put another layer between me and Gabe Betts, who seemed to pop into my every alternating thought since I’d met him.

  “It’s not really a date—not to me anyway. I want to catch up with him about his latest patent. He’s been texting me twice a week. I figured if I finally had dinner with him, he’d stop.”<
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  She raised her eyebrows. “You’re just going to get him all excited. Once he gets a taste, he’ll text you every day. He might even start sexting you.”

  My nerves started to thrum. “Ugh, don’t make me nervous—you know I don’t even know what that word means!”

  My sister’s face softened. She knew that between the two of us, she was the worldly and sophisticated one with the boyfriends and the trendy clothes, and I was the bookworm with neither. And that was the way I preferred it. “Aw, don’t be nervous. You’re going to be fine. I only met him once, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. He’s not as hot as Gabriel—hey, how did lunch go, anyway?”

  I shrugged. “It was fine. He wants us to partner with his company for international distribution.”

  Hannah’s eyes glimmered with excitement. “That’d be great, right?”

  I shrugged again. “I have to present it to the board. I have a feeling they’re going to say yes.”

  “So, what’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “You suck at lying.” She put her hands on her hips. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  I sighed, deflating. “I just don’t know if I can trust him.”

  Hannah nodded as if she understood. She was the person in the world who knew me best, so she probably did. “But you don’t have to trust everything about him. You just have to trust that he’ll perform his side of the contract. He’s probably capable of that, right?”

  “Probably.”

  “Then it’ll be okay. Plus, maybe he’ll bring his hunky self around the lab every once in a while. That wouldn’t suck!”

  I rolled my eyes. “You aren’t doing much for my nerves right now.”

  She looked me up and down and sighed. “This probably isn’t going to make your nerves any better, but is that what you’re wearing to dinner?”

  I wore a simple white sweater and black skirt, which I had paired with black tights and flats. “Yes.”