I dragged my eyes away from the dark beauty long enough to focus on Jacob again.
“What did you think? Do you think they guessed what we were fishing for?”
Jacob shrugged. “I think they’re excited about anything that might make living with diabetes easier. But I also think they’re under the impression that we’re just working on another type of pump. And that’s not terribly impressive anymore.”
“We can’t exactly tell them what we really have until the patent comes through next week. If word got out, do you realize how many people would be threatened by what we’ve done? We’re ten steps ahead of everyone else working on the artificial pancreas.”
“I don’t suppose it matters. We’ll have the patent soon.”
“We’ve got everything in this new device. If anything goes wrong—”
“You’re paranoid, brother,” Jacob said. “Nothing’s going to go wrong.”
The waitress returned with my drink. I slipped a twenty into her hand and winked, but forgot about her the moment she walked away. Business was all I’d been thinking about lately, and it still weighed heavily on my thoughts. When Jacob suggested we start a biomedical company as partners five years ago, the idea had been to focus on developing new medications for some of the biggest offenders of public health in the modern world—Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, breast cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
Jacob had a degree in biochemistry. But my degree was in both business and technology. So it only seemed natural that we’d go in two different directions while working toward the same purpose. He oversaw the development of new drugs. I oversaw the development of smart phone apps, games, and computer software designed to help patients understand and keep track of their diseases. And various medical devices. We’d begun developing a new generation of pace makers, a device that, when implanted in the brain, can help reduce the tremors that come with Parkinson’s. We were looking at creating devices that can infuse chemotherapy at home, at a slower rate, to reduce side effects.
And we had the artificial pancreas. This was my pet project, something that had the potential to radically alter the way in which diabetes is treated, especially in newly diagnosed children. There were already several models in the works from rival companies, but their pancreas required the use of three different devices: two insulin pumps and a constant glucose monitor. Mine was consolidated into one device that performed the duties of their three. Once we had the patent, we could go public.
There was a lot riding on this. Success was the only option.
Maybe Jacob was right. Maybe I was paranoid. But, as the saying goes, just because I was paranoid didn’t mean someone wasn’t out to get me. Or, in this case, my device.
I downed half my drink in one swallow, then stood.
“I think I deserve a treat,” I said.
Jacob’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t say anything as I wandered over to the dark beauty at the bar.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
It wasn’t the most original line and not one I might have used under other circumstances, but it seemed appropriate here. She looked up, a soft smile parting her full lips nicely. She had amazing blue eyes that seemed to look through me for a moment. But then they settled politely on my face.
“That’s nice of you,” she said, her voice just the right kind of husky, “but I just received a fresh one.”
“Then can I buy the next?”
A soft laugh, her eyes moving over me in a way similar to the way the waitress had looked at me, but with a little less raw hunger. This lady was subtler. More of a lady.
“How much do you think I drink?”
“I don’t judge.”
She laughed again as she turned back to the bar, lifting the clearly full glass of red wine to her lips. “You’re funny,” she said, as though she was surprised by that.
“If you think that’s funny, you should get to know me a little better. I can be an absolute riot.”
“I was actually just on my way out the door.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest. “You’ll break my heart.”
She turned my direction again, but her eyes moved to the table where Jacob waited alone.
“It looked to me like you already had some company.”
“Him?” I glanced over my shoulder. “That’s just my brother.”
“Brother?” She studied Jacob a minute, then focused on me again. “You don’t look that much alike.”
“It’s an interesting story. If you want to hear it, you should come join us.”
I bowed, making a show of it that caught the attention of a couple of other people around the bar. A group of women laughed, one of them saying, “What a gentleman.” A group of guys on the other side just shook their heads, clearly deciding it was a failed come on. I wasn’t so sure. If I hadn’t gotten her attention, I’d surely gotten the attention of a couple of the other women.
I wouldn’t be going home alone tonight.