The Dating Plan(7)
“This is pitch number five,” James said quietly. “But it’s the first sex toy made of slime.”
Liam had made up his mind after the word slime, but this was supposed to be a learning opportunity, and after bumping into Daisy, his head wasn’t fully in the game. He handed the reins to James. “First impressions?”
“Honestly, it sounds kind of exciting,” James said. “Biodegradable sex toys? Do you know how many of those things wind up in landfills?”
“We call it King Kom.” The inventor handed the sample to James. “I’ve tested it extensively. Six hours and I was still going strong. Eight hours and it just melted away.”
While the inventor set up his slideshow and James examined the product, Liam flipped through the conference brochure searching for Daisy’s company. Although Daisy had made it clear she didn’t want to see him again, he was desperately curious about her life. What did she do at Organicare? No doubt something high level. She’d been a straight A student, and one of the smartest people he’d ever known—capable of work way beyond her grade level. Hell, the only reason he’d graduated from high school was because of her.
Although he had been capable of doing the work, he just hadn’t been interested. He’d had too much on his plate, dealing with his dysfunctional family, to waste time adding up numbers or drawing diagrams of food chains. But any time he had “accidentally” left an assignment on the Patels’ kitchen table, he’d found it completed and tucked into his backpack, all ready to be handed in. Daisy had never mentioned it directly, and he’d never thanked her, but it was clear she had understood that admitting he needed help was a weakness he couldn’t afford to show. The feelings of unworthiness that he had tried so hard to keep buried could never have been spoken out loud.
Turning his attention back to the pitch, he asked James, “What do you think?”
“Um . . .” James cleared his throat. “It’s . . . uh . . . Interesting . . . uh . . . Slimy.”
“‘Interesting’ isn’t good enough. If you think it’s worth going through due diligence, you have to try it out. Would you use a kombucha slime ring in the heat of passion?”
James grimaced. “No, sir.”
“That’s a problem,” Liam said. “The dude wants five million for a five percent stake in his company. That means you have to think of five million reasons why it’s a good idea before we can put the proposal to the partners, and one of those reasons has to be that you believe in it and you’ve seen it work.”
“It’s pretty much all I can see.” James tucked the ring back into its plastic packet.
“Do you believe in King Kom?” Liam persisted. “Would you be happy to go to trade shows and Costcos extolling the virtues of the product to convince distributors to put it on their shelves? Are you ready to save the environment one King Kom slime ring at a time?”
James paled. “Not when you put it that way.”
After the slideshow presentation and a show-and-tell of the various products, Liam thanked the inventor and offered the usual platitude. “It’s an interesting concept. We’ll be in touch.”
“We’ve got the guy with the instant sobriety pill next,” James said after he’d gone. “I’m looking forward to this one!”
Liam checked his phone while the next inventor set up at the front of the room. He could still smell Daisy’s perfume on his shirt, a soft, sensual floral scent that brought back memories of the evenings he’d spent with the Patels when things were too difficult at home. What were the chances of running into her again after all these years? Granted he had only been back in San Francisco a few weeks, but with almost eight million residents in the Bay Area, the chances of seeing her again had been slim.
And yet, fate had brought them together again. She was everything he remembered and much, much more, from the softly rounded curves to the beautiful oval face, and from her keen intelligence to her sharp wit. He’d spent years resisting the siren call of his best friend’s little sister, but now that he’d found her again . . .
Don’t go there. With a shake of his head, he pushed those thoughts away. His father had made sure Liam knew he wasn’t good enough for anything or anyone, much less a girl like Daisy. Even though he’d made something of his life, inside he was still his father’s son—unworthy and unwanted, a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. Daisy deserved so much more.
And then there was the fact that she hated him.
“He’s ready,” James murmured, pulling him out of his reverie.
“This pill is the miracle cure everyone has been looking for.” The inventor handed Liam a small plastic packet. “You drink all night, take one of these, and boom, fifteen minutes later you’re legal to drive.”
“This could be our unicorn,” James whispered as the inventor scribbled chemical formulas on the whiteboard at the front of the room.
Every junior associate wanted to find the elusive unicorn—the product or company that was an instant success. Even Liam, Evolution’s most successful senior associate of all time, had only ever found one.
“Possibly, but I recognize his name. He has a reputation in the industry for falsifying his results.” Not only that, the moment the inventor had opened his mouth, Liam’s instincts had screamed a warning. In the end, investment decisions came down to people, and no idea was worth the headache of trying to work with a difficult CEO. Ideas were easy. Running a business was hard, and running a business with a venture capital firm breathing down your neck took a strength and commitment not many people had.