Tender is the Nerd Read Online Free

“Do you think people will care about it?”
    “Yes. Not everyone, but there’s more interest all the time. Local food sourcing has become popular. Some restaurants use the words locally sourced produce as part of their marketing strategy.”
    ”Huh. Didn’t know that.”
    “I’m picturing people using the app when they go out to dinner as well as in the grocery store. If we want to consider making the app interactive, users could send in reviews of restaurants that do a great job with fresh produce.”
    “I like that.” He took a deep breath. “Wish we’d talked about it earlier.”
    “I tried. You weren’t enthusiastic about my ideas. “
    He thought back to their preliminary discussions and cringed. “You’re right, I wasn’t.”
    “At the time I couldn’t figure out why you were being so negative about my concepts. But knowing your background, I get it. You look at fresh produce and find nothing to love.”
    “I’m not so sure. Those kiwis looked pretty cute.” That was as far as he would take it.
    “Have you ever cut into one? They’re a beautiful green inside.”
    “Never cut into one, never even noticed them until tonight. I don’t think you understand how I traditionally shop for food. I stick to three aisles. One provides me with frozen dinners. The cereal aisle gives me breakfast options and the soda display is where I find my favorite beverages and enough varieties of chips that I don’t have to eat the same kind two days in a row.”
    She groaned. “No wonder you’re stuck! If the app went live tomorrow, you wouldn’t use it!”
    “No, but that doesn’t mean I can’t create it.” And he would, by God. He’d do it because it was a good idea that would benefit a lot of people. He’d also do it because the future of BMUS was at stake. But mostly he’d do it because building a great app would make Miranda happy.

Chapter Three
    M iranda was proud of her apartment. The last time she’d had Rylan over for dinner, she’d lived in a cramped little one-bedroom near campus and had been dating Frazer. Rylan had planned to bring his girlfriend but she’d come down with the flu. That had left the three of them to feast on a family sized pizza the guys had ordered. They’d all sipped cheap Chianti and played video games until the wee hours of the morning.
    That was the night she’d begun to see that Frazer wasn’t the guy for her. Even at three in the morning after all that wine he hadn’t been able to let go and act goofy. Rylan was way more fun, but he was also Frazer’s brother.
    Although she’d ended the relationship with Frazer years ago, she still felt uneasy having sexy thoughts about Rylan. That didn’t stop her from having them, though. Watching him sitting at her kitchen table working intently on his laptop stirred her blood.
    She should concentrate on the broccoli florets, red peppers and yellow squash she was slicing for the pasta primavera instead of looking at Rylan every few minutes. She’d poured them each a glass of Chardonnay and whenever she took a sip she gave in to temptation and glanced over there.
    She could get away with it because his gaze never left the screen, not even when he picked up his wine glass. He reached for it, took a drink and set it down again with Jedi-like precision. When he licked a drop of wine off his upper lip she felt a zing of sensual awareness. But his concentration was so intense that she wondered if he remembered she was there.
    Excitement glowed in his expression and for that she was grateful. Passion for his work had been missing ever since he’d started creating the app. She should have figured out why a long time ago. Apparently she, like everyone else, had thought that his usual method of binging on fast food and soda and playing hard rock would yield results eventually. It always had before.
    The scent of onion and garlic sautéing in olive oil filled the warm kitchen and she took a deep, appreciative breath. Fusilli pasta