Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
He went over to the pantry and brought me a tall glass bottle. “What else?”
“Dump the gnocchi in the water and keep an eye on them. Let me know when they float to the top.”
He did what I asked, watching the little pillow-shaped blobs so diligently I had to smile.
“So what’s the worst part?” I asked, adding the garlic, onions, chopped zucchini, and the kernels from two ears of corn to the pan.
“Huh?”
“You said being able to pay people to do things you don’t want to do is the best part of making lots of money—so what’s the worst?”
He thought for a moment. “People assume things about you. Like that you’re greedy or a scammer or you cheated somehow. Especially with crypto, because it’s not easy for the average person to understand.”
“Like me. I don’t get it at all,” I confessed with a laugh, stirring my veggies.
“Oh shit—I didn’t mean that to sound insulting,” he said quickly.
“Relax.” I touched his arm. “I know what you meant. And it’s true—if you’re not in the banking industry, crypto is not easy to understand. And when people can’t understand something, especially when it relates to huge sums of money, it seems sketchy.”
“There are sketchy people in crypto. And U.S. regulators love to find them and shut their operations down. But I’m not one of them. And HFX isn’t perfect, but the industry is moving so fast, it’s hard for regulators to keep up. If they wanted to work with us, they could—we could find the balance between growing the industry and preventing crimes and enforcing laws they want in place. But they’re often more interested in playing gotcha.”
“It probably sells more newspapers,” I said, adding the tomatoes to the pan.
“And gets them re-elected.” Hutton frowned at the boiling water. “I have to testify in front of the House Committee on Financial Services.”
My eyes widened. “The House, meaning U.S. Congress?”
“That’s the one. I haven’t said anything about it because I was hoping to delay it. Or better yet, avoid it altogether.”
Grabbing the bottle of wine from the island, I poured us both some more and handed Hutton his glass. “When will it happen?”
He took a long swallow before answering. “In about three weeks. July 28th.”
“Holy shit. Alone?”
“No, there will be five other CEOs there.”
“Well, that helps, right?”
“I guess. Unless everyone else sounds like they know what they’re talking about and I sound like a fucking idiot.”
“You won’t.” I reached over and rubbed his shoulder. “Can’t your partner testify instead of you? Wade?”
“He’ll be there, but Wade doesn’t do what I do. He’s East Coast old money, a member of the club, knows all the right people—but that’s not necessarily helpful in this situation. Wade had the capital to invest at the start and he’s good with people, which is why we’re a good team, but he doesn’t know the back end like I do. The things are floating, by the way.” He pointed at the gnocchi.
“Good. Got a colander?”
Hutton hunted around until he found one, and I drained the gnocchi before adding it to the pan with the vegetables. “So do you have a choice whether or not to testify?” I asked.
“Not really. I mean, I could cash out of HFX and abandon the algorithm I created along with the company I co-founded. But that would look fucking terrible. Like I was a criminal or had things to hide.”
“So you have to do it?”
“I have to do it.”
“Well, I think you’ll be great,” I said, putting a smaller stainless pan on the stove to brown some butter for the sauce. “I have full confidence in you.”
He laughed. “Are you forgetting who I am?”
“Not at all! I know exactly who you are. You got this.” I patted his chest, although he was going to think I was insane if I kept touching him. I wasn’t normally so physically affectionate, but he’d been so good to me tonight, and he looked so cute, and his body was so warm and firm. I wondered what he looked like with his clothes off. He worked out every day—it had to show, right? He was lean, but he probably had nice muscles. Those masculine lines and ridges.
My face heated as I imagined his body above mine. The lights off. The door closed.
Stop it, I scolded myself, turning away and taking a quick sip of cool wine. He rescued you tonight because you’re friends. Because you used the code. Because you begged. You’re not here because he wants you in bed.
But when I glanced at him again, he was definitely looking at my bare legs.
When the brown butter basil gnocchi was done, we sat down at the table by the window to eat.
“So were you shocked when you got that text from me with the encrypted message?” I asked.
“Yes. I’m ashamed to say it took me a minute to recognize it.”