Nerdy coder girl? Check.

Massive debt? Double-check.

New job working for three Silicon Valley billionaires at a crypto-currency startup?

Ugh. Triple-check.

Jude Cauthon is nerdy and sweet and awkward in all the right ways. As the Chief Technical Officer of the company, he spends long hours showing me the ropes at the company, with plenty of late nights with just the two of us huddled around his computer screen. And after one especially productive evening at the office? We can’t stop thinking about each other.

Owen March, on the other hand? He’s the cocky know-it-all CEO who struts around like he's the second coming of Jesus. Sure, he's young and smoking hot and has enough confidence to lead an army into battle. And yeah, his smoldering emerald gaze sends shivers up my spine every time he glances in my direction. But soon his teases and taunts take on a playful edge, and I begin looking forward to the hacker pranks we've been pulling on each other…

Then there's Furio Rossi, the Italian billionaire who just invested in our company. He's the tall, dark, and handsome descendant of Roman royalty, and he kisses my hand and fawns over me like I'm an angel sent from heaven. And when he invites me to Italy to audit one of his tech companies, I wonder how deep his affection goes.

Can we get this tech startup off the ground and turn it into a billion-dollar company?

Or will all our hard work--and the love we've found along the way--be for nothing?

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KABHI JOH BADAL BARSE

Kabhi jo baadal barse

Main dekhoon tujhe aankhein bharke

Tu lage mujhe pahli baarish ki duaa

Tere pahloo mein reh loon

Main khudko paagal keh loon

Tu gham de ya khushiyaan

Seh loon saathiya

Koi nahi.. tere siva mera yahaan

Manzilein.. hain meri to sab yahaan

Mita de sabhi aaja faasle

Main chahoon mujhe mujhse baant le

Zara sa mujhme tu jhaank le

Main hoon kya?

Woo.. aeee.. aeee.. aaa.. sathiyaa..

Ae ae… aa….

Pahle kabhi, na tune mujhe gham diya

Phir mujhe, kyun tanha kar diya

Guzaare thhe jo lamhe pyaar ke

Hamesha tujhe apna maan ke

To phir tune badli kyun adaa

Yeh kyun kiya?

Wo o wo o.. Wo o wo o..

Kabhi jo badal barse

Main dekhun tujhe aankhein bharke

Tu lage mujhe pehli barish ki duaa

Tere pahloo mein rah loon

Main khudko pagal kah loon

Tu gham de ya khushiyaan, sathiya..

Pehle kabhi, na tune mujhe gham diya

Phir mujhe, kyun tanha kar diya

Guzaare thhe jo lamhe pyaar ke

Hamesha tujhe apna maan ke

To phir tune badli kyun adaa

Yeh kyun kiya?

Kabhi jo baadal barse

Main dekhoon tujhe aankhein bharke

Tu lage mujhe pehli baarish ki duaa

Tere pahloo mein reh loon

Main khudko paagal keh loon

Tu gham de ya khushiyaan

Seh loon sathiyaa..

aa.. sathiyaa.. sathiyaa..

hmm Koi nahi.. tere siva mera yahaan

Manzilein, hain meri to sab yahaan

Mita de sabhi aaja faasle

Main chahun mujhe mujhse baant le

Zara sa mujhme tu jhaank le

Main hoon kya?

Kabhi jo baadal barse

Main dekhoon tujhe aankhein bharke

Tu lage mujhe pehli baarish ki duaa

Tere pahloo mein reh loon

Main khudko paagal keh loon

Tu gham de ya khushiyaan

Seh loon sathiyaa..

Amber

“Happy birthday, dear Michelle,” everyone sang together,“happy birthday to you!”

We cheered and raised our glasses as my sister blew out the single candle on her cupcake. I smiled and gazed around at the view surrounding us. We had rented out the rooftop patio ofMarcello’s, one of the nicest bars in San Francisco. The view was spectacular: we were surrounded by towering skyscrapers all lit up at night, with the burnt red beams of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance to our left, and the Bay Bridge’s slate-gray towers looming over the bay to the right.

I sighed and soaked it all in. It wasn’t often that my sister and I got to enjoy this sort of thing.

Michelle’s friends took turns standing up and giving toasts. Her childhood best friend. Her coworkers. Finally her boyfriend Phil got up and droned on and on like he wanted to show everyone else up, giving a speech that was far too dramatic and emotional for someone who had only been dating my sister for a month. It was like he was trying to filibuster the damn party.

When he was done, the rooftop music was turned up and everyone fell back into their previous conversations. My sister slowly made her way toward me.

“You’re the best sister in the world, you know that?” she said.

“I do know it,” I replied while hugging her. “But feel free to tell me as often as possible. Also, you still haven’t told me what you want for your birthday.”

“I don’t need a gift!Thisis plenty.” Michelle gestured around the rooftop bar. “Are you sure this wasn’t too much?”

“It’s exactly asmuchas it should be,” I said. “Although I did cancel the party clown and magician at the last minute. They would have really messed up the vibe of this place.”

My sister chuckled and said, “I meant the cost. Are you sure it wasn’t too expensive? Renting out the entireMarcello’srooftop bar…”

She wasn’t wrong: renting this space for four hours cost a metricshitloadamount of money. It was a lot, even for San Francisco. My bank account was pretty much wiped out.

But money was just a number on a page, and I loved Michelle more than anything in the world. I would do anything for her, and give her anything she wanted. Especially since we didn’t have anyone else. Just each other.

“It’s not every day my baby sister turns twenty-one,” I said, sidestepping the question of cost. “I had to be here when you had your first drink.”

Michelle winced. “I don’t know how to break this to you, Amber, but this isn’t my first drink.”

I made a joking gasp. “You mean you’ve been drinking underage at college?Like acriminal?”

“Don’t call the cops on me,” she replied. “I’m too pretty for prison. I wouldn’t last a week!”

“I’ll say,” her boyfriend, Phil, said while sidling up next to her. His arm slipped around her waist and he said, “This is really great, Amber.”

“Thanks,” I said with the most diplomatic smile I could manage. Phil was three years older than Michelle and worked as a network engineer for Western Digital. Even though he was a glorified I.T. guy, he acted like his job gave him the equivalent status as a foreign diplomat. He had the same pompous, haughty demeanor, too.

“I would love to contribute,” he went on. “Let me know how much my half of the costs are and I’ll Venmo you.”

“That’s not necessary,” I said, holding up my smile like it was a shield.

******* tech-bros, always throwing their money around.

Before he could open his mouth and protest more, I added, “I’m starting a new job tomorrow. Shelly and I won’t have to dip into savings anymore.”

“A new job? Outstanding.” He glanced at my sister. “You didn’t tell me she was starting a new job.”

My sister’s eyes never left mine. “This is the first I’m hearing about it, too.”

“I didn’t want to upstage your party,” I said.

“Where are you working?” Phil pressed. “Cisco? Facebook?” His eyes widened. “Tesla?”

“It’s a startup called Advanced Crypto Solutions,” I said.

Phil nodded thoughtfully. “I heard about ACS. They’re leasing a big new space on second street.”

“That’s why I rented the hotel rooms I did,” I said with a smile. “Tomorrow I’ll only have to walk a few blocks. Better than the commute in on the CalTrain.”

Just talking about tomorrow filled my body with a shiver of nervousness. Ineededthat job, and didn’t want to think about what would happen if it didn’t pan out.

Shut up, brain. You can worry and over-analyze things tomorrow. I gulped the rest of my champagne to make sure my brain complied with the command.

“Well, at least let me pay for the hotel rooms,” Phil said.

I was getting sick of his persistence, so I dryly said, “I doubt they take Bitcoin.”

“Everyone takes crypto thanks to my Coinbase card,” he replied smoothly. “It acts like any other credit card, but with a pass-through to my crypto accounts. In fact—”

“I know all about that,” I replied. “I have the same card. Not to mention I wrote a point-of-sale program on top of the Litecoin blockchain years ago. Before BitPay stole my idea.”

“BitPay. Sure. Of course,” he said with a patronizing smile.

“Less talk, more dancing!” my sister said. “Come on. You too, Amber! If you don’t start shaking your booty I willliterallylight you on fire.”

I got another champagne from the waitress and then joined them over near the railing. For a while, we danced and drank and forgot all about the other problems in our lives.

When we emerged from the group to get two new drinks, my sister said, “Any new investment opportunities lately?”

That was her code for asking if I had any men in my life. She was getting her degree in finance and thought everything was funnier in economic terms.

“None with an attractive return-on-investment,” I replied.

“Good!” she replied. “Because that guy at the bar has been looking at you like you’re a juicy REIT with a high dividend.”

Adjacent to our open rooftop section was an enclosed bar. A dozen or so people were inside, watching one of the bar TVs or mingling. The man my sister was talking about looked like he had just come from the office. A starched white dress shirt, blue tie, and blazer. Expensive-looking leather shoes and a matching brown belt. He was peering down at his drink through thin spectacles as if there was a puzzle contained within the ice. When he glanced up and saw that we were watching him, he quickly turned away from us and toward the bar.

“SEE!” my sister hissed.

“He’s not my type,” I replied.

That wasn’t really true. I didn’t have a type. In fact, I hated theideaof a “type.” Pigeonholing yourself into dating only a specific kind of person was dumb.

But the guy at the bar did look like the kind of dude I wouldn’t be interested in. He was giving off a stuck-up vibe. I mean honestly, what kind of guy wore a tie and jacket to a hip restaurant on a Thursday night? Someone who was trying to show off, that’s who.

“Not your type? He’s like a cute librarian boy!” Michelle said.

“Hard pass.”

“Come on,” Michelle begged.

“I’m here for your birthday,” I replied. “Not to try hooking up with a random stranger.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she groaned. “You like to get to know a guy first. Whatever. Just go get to knowcute librarian guy.”

“Shelly…”

“Earlier, you asked what I wanted for my birthday.” She pointed. “This is what I want. I’ve just decided. I want you to meet a guy. And maybe hook up with a guy.Tonight.If you don’t go talk to cute librarian guy right now, I’m going to throw you off this roof into the traffic below. And then call a dozen Ubers to come run over your body.”

One thing I could always count on from my sister was a graphic threat of violence. It had been our fun little thing since we were children. By this point, the more graphic the threat, the more it meantI love you.

The guy at the bar glanced at us again, then quickly turned back to the bartender.

“Comeon,” Michelle whined. “You haven’t dated anyone in… five years.”

I was grateful she didn’t come right out and name the event from five years ago, but the indirect mention still made me wince. She was right. Ever since five years ago, everything had changed. My life had become too crazy to worry about boys or dating or anything else frivolous.