We are delighted to share an excerpt from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake’s Start Us Up, which releases on August 8th!
SYNOPSIS
Three young women make a pact in high school—to always be friends and to one day make it big in Manhattan.
She’s a high-tech boss who lost it all…
Ivy Jensen was the darling of the tech world, right up until her company fell apart completely after she trusted the wrong person. Her reputation in tatters, she finds herself back in the tiny apartment she grew up in, living with her mom. When a group of angel investors offer her a meeting, she knows she has to come up with the new big idea or her career is over.
He’s an up and coming coder…
Heath Marino has always been fascinated with writing code. He’s worked on a dozen games and apps and is considered one of the industry’s more eccentric talents. But now he’s back in New York to spend time with his grandmother. She was known as one of the city’s greatest matchmakers, and he wants to know why. Surely there’s some kind of code in his grandmother’s methods, and he’s going to find them.
When Ivy meets Heath it’s instant attraction, but she’s got a career to get back to and he just might be her on-ramp. It could be a perfect partnership or absolute heartbreak.
EXCERPT
“I think you need to start dating again.”
The words hit me like I suspect a baseball bat to the head would. They make me a little nauseous, and when I really think about the implications of following through with that particular suggestion, the world threatens to go fuzzy.
It’s like my body’s instinct is to shut down to protect itself.
“Ivy, are you okay?”
I look over the brunch table at my two best friends in the world and roll my eyes. Anika Fox asked the question, but I turn Harper Ross’s way since I’m sure she’s the one who made the suggestion that threatened to send me into a spiral. “Seriously? Do you remember what happened the last time I gave dating a shot? Should I call up any of the numerous articles detailing my downfall, or would you like an oral report on the current condition of my life and career?”
I don’t have much of either one, and a big part of that had been my choice in romantic partners.
Anika leans forward, avoiding her half-empty mimosa glass to put a hand on my arm. “We know what happened.”
That’s the trouble. She knows. Harper knows. The server probably knows. Everyone knows. My story is out there all over every tech journal and permeating the Internet like viral video gone wrong. My life dissected and turned into a cautionary tale.
Tech Goddess Brought Down by Dumbass Man Who Can’t Do Math
They’ll put it on my tombstone someday. Except I won’t have one. I’m totally choosing the cremation route, and hopefully someone throws a handful of me in Nick Stafford’s face and he chokes on me.
After all I damn straight choked on the ashes of the company he single-handedly burned to the ground.
“That’s exactly why I think you need to try again.” Nothing deflects Harper when she gets an idea in her head. That stubborn will serves her well as a woman in the male-dominated industry of construction. “It’s been six months and you’re back home. You’ve done everything you need to concerning the dissolution of the company, and it’s time to move on with your life.”
She’s right about one thing. “I agree with you. Not about dating, but about moving forward when it comes to work. I’m going to Cecelia Foust’s cocktail party tonight.”
More words that threaten to shake my carefully constructed calm, but this is something I’m going to do.
Anika’s brows rise, and I can see she’s barely managing to avoid rolling those blue eyes of hers. “Cecelia? Really?”
I’d gotten a last-minute invite to the party that would be filled with some of the world’s wealthiest angel investors. Walking into that party was going to be rough, and it would take a whole lot of bravado I wasn’t sure I had anymore. After all, I’m the fallen freaking angel of the tech world, but I keep telling myself if Jobs could get fired from Apple and turn around and build Pixar and then march back in and take over Apple again, then I can figure out how to climb the mountain after a fall.
Besides, I owe CeCe. I’m calling her Cecelia like she hasn’t been important to me since I was a teenage girl. The truth is I’m as freaked about seeing CeCe as I am about facing a bunch of investors who know I got my ass handed to me. I’ve been avoiding CeCe, and when I got that invite, I realized she was done with letting me hide away.
