Page 18 of SaaS & Class

I shook my head. “Just this one, and I’m done after this.” I spied a nearby table where people seemed to have put their empties. “Actually… I’m done with it now. The big toast is over, and my stomach isn’t liking it.”

I started toward the table, but Taal stopped me.

“I’ll take it,” he offered.

Part of me wanted to protest, but the concern in his eyes made me give in.

I sighed as I handed the flute over. “Thank you.”

I leaned against the wall again. I felt like shit, but I was putting Taal through hell. His scent had been stressed for days. I’d managed to convince myself that it was work-related, but his confession about me scaring him…

He set both mine and his champagne flutes on the table and started back, but was then intercepted by the TechSpeed CEO, Brendan Wallace, who had flown in to attend the gala dinner that formally announced the partnership between our company and the Beischel Business Incubator.

Taal was led off into the mass of people, and I hoped that he would be able to stop worrying about me for a few minutes.

I looked up through the atrium-style building. The first two floors had businesses and various coworking spaces that the startups could use, while the third had a handful of business signs, but seemed to mostly feature offices and meeting rooms.

The ground floor was packed for the party. Owners of the businesses that called the incubator home had all been invited, along with some of the founder’s billionaire friends. The TechSpeed executive team had all flown in, though I’d heard they had a late flight back booked due to leaving their postpartum omega and infant back in Valle Granja.

I couldn’t say that I blamed them for wanting to get home to their mate and baby.

The management of our branch—which, while it still hadn’t sunk in, included me—were all present, along with mentors. Then I’d noticed various members of the local press taking photos and conducting interviews during and after the speeches. Rounding out the crowd were people in suits but with serious expressions and earpieces telling me that they were security for the billionaires.

I pulled out my phone, and my thumb hovered over the icon for my preferred rideshare service. It was unfair to Taal to ask him to miss out on the rest of the party just because I felt like shit.

“Adam! There you are!”

I glanced up to see Linden McKinney, the TechSpeed chief operating officer, striding over with another alpha at his side.

I straightened, slid my phone back into my pocket, and plastered what I hoped was a convincing smile on my face. “Linden,” I acknowledged with a nod.

“Wes, this is Adam Collins. He’s our SaaS lead for the Harris Cove branch.”

I stuck out a hand, and the alpha started to accept the handshake.

“Adam. This is Wes Abrams, founder and CEO of Abramsoft.”

I froze. “Abramsoft? You mean that Abramsoft?”

Wes laughed. “That’s the one.”

“It’s… wow…”

His laughter deepened. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“Apparently,” Linden started explaining before I could ask, “Wes lives a few houses down from Alan Beischel. He also has been giving incubator businesses special discounts on his products. So he was invited to the party. When I told him what we did, well…”

Wes chuckled and turned to me. “Normally, this is when a CEO tries to strong-arm you into recommending our product over competitors, but I was actually hoping to set up a meeting to talk to you about something else.”

“What’s that?”

“While my team handles the app development these days, I like to stay on top of trends and business needs,” Wes stated. “Because of that, I think you’re in a good position to help me.”

“How so?”

He smiled. “You see pain points that don’t always come through bug reports and feature request forms.”

“Oooook…” I replied, unsure where he was going.