24. Nate

TWENTY-FOUR

NATE

Leaning against the wall next to my office door, I smirk.

I know I should feel bad for putting Blake through the stress of thinking he's late on a project, but the kid needs to learn how to relax. He was my intern for almost a year before I hired him on as my assistant, but he still walks on eggshells around me.

Maybe I've been too easy on him.

Overcoming this difficult situation will be good for him.

Really, it's a win-win all around.

Blake gains confidence.

Rosie gets a gig.

And I get to see Rosie.

And since Blake was too flustered over the whole company picnic thing, he didn't question the fact that Rosie's business card was stapled to the paper with all the details about time and place.

I push off the wall and head back to my desk.

There's a chance Rosie will look up Catch Tech, the company name. And if she does that, she might click on the Who We Are section of the website. Which could lead to her reading the name of the owner and CEO.

My name .

I drop heavily into my chair and have to grip the edge of my desk to stop myself from rolling back.

I started this company a couple of years ago after I retired my cleats and moved to Minnesota.

Tech has always been my thing.

Fucked around with it in college, got a degree in computer science while I played with Maddox at HOP University, and closely followed popular tech companies during my playing days.

Now I own Catch Tech, where my team helps other companies develop apps that mimic and interact with their websites.

Among other things.

Those other things got me into trouble a few times in my twenties, but I keep those activities to a minimum nowadays.

I grin, thinking about Tony.

It was good to see him at Maddox's party. Even if he is the one who got me into the less legal side of the World Wide Web.

But what's a little hacking between friends?

"Why are you smiling like that?" A feminine voice sounds from my doorway.

"Thinking about Tony Stoleman," I tell Hannah.

She snorts as she steps into my office.

Hannah, wife of my best friend, is the person who runs my accounting department. And her presence reminds me that I have actual work to do.

Leaning forward in my chair, I rest my elbows on the desk and focus my mind on the present.