Page 67 of The Autumn We Fell in Love

But I can’t just walk away.

I’ve got to try and fix what I’ve broken.

Shira

Iarrive at The Wine Cellar early. So early, in fact, that I have time to slowly sip my way through a single glass of pinot noir before the investors arrive.

When the trio of men bustle in with their boisterous greetings, I stand and extend my hand, shaking each of theirs.

My hand doesn’t tremble. Not even a little.

Sure, maybe that’s thanks to the wine.

But I like to think it’s also because of my fresh desire to be my whole self, by myself.

The lead investor looks around, eyebrows furrowing. “Where’s Mr. Blush?” He leans in like we’re in on a joke. “That’s what we’re going to call your man, Mr. Blush.”

“It’ll be great for promotions,” chips in another.

“Pure marketing gold,” says the third.

“So, where are you hiding him?” asks the lead.

I smooth my hands over the table. “He won’t be coming, gentlemen. Because I realized something since our last meeting.”

“Oh?” The lead exchanges a glance with his cohorts. “What’s that?”

I mirror his body language of a moment ago, leaning close, plaster on a falsely conspiratorial smile. “That my app is freaking fantastic.”

“That it is—“ he starts, but I cut him off.

“And that you’d be lucky to be involved in our plans.”

He shifts in his seat and gives a small cough. “Well, we are very excited—“

I lift a hand. “I’m speaking.”

All three men reward me with the glorious vision of their jaws descending earthward as one.

“As I was saying, you’d be lucky to be involved with Blush — toget the chanceto be involved with Blush. So instead of jumping through your archaic and rather archaic hoops, I’m here to find out what you have to offer me and my team.”

“We’ve already discussed a generous investment sum,” the lead blusters, face crimson. It feels so refreshing to not be the one blushing for once.

“True,” I admit. “But why should I go with your particular investment sum over another?”

“Ah,” one of the other men says, nodding at his compatriots, “we may need a moment to discuss this amongst ourselves, just to make sure we’re on the same page.”

“Absolutely,” the lead says with obviously false bravado. I can see the sweat shining on the back of his neck.

I arch a single brow. “You’re not ready to discuss this with me now?”

I’m bluffing. I have no other offers. I haven’t approached any other investors.

At least, not yet. After this, I’m definitely going to. This meeting has proven Laurent right. They know how good Blush is, and they thought they could win me over easily. Now that I’m ready to play hardball, they know that they’ve got to pull out all the stops to convince me to keep them around.

I love it.

It’s fun to toy with them. Like, appropriately toy. Particularly because they likely wouldn’t have shown up so unprepared if I was a man.

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