Page 9 of Open To Negotiation

“Valeria,” Noah walked over, leaned down and kissed both of her cheeks. The other men followed suit as Noah turned to me. “This is Quinn, Quinn this is Valeria, Pedro’s wife.”

Valeria didn’t hesitate to lean in for a kiss on both my cheeks as well before her hands landed on my cheeks. “Beautiful girl.”

“Thank you.” I stood there awkwardly as she held my face in her hands. After a moment of evaluation, she smiled at me again, nodded and dropped her hands. I felt like I had just passed some kind of test.

“I told these men not to bother me with floozies so if you’re here that means you aren’t one.” I didn’t know the right response to that comment as one of the men coughed, like they were trying to cover a laugh.

“Well, considering I just met them I doubt they were certain about that…”

“No, no, dear. With some people you just know. When I met Pedro I just knew.”

“That he wasn’t a floozy?” Noah did let out a laugh this time and I earned a smile and a wink from Valeria, unbothered by my interruption.

“The man was a dork and wouldn’t stop talking about the proper way to chop onions, but his soul spoke to mine.” She reached over, patted my shoulder twice and then turned away from me, not giving me a chance to ask any questions.

Valeria herded us to a circular table in the back as the guys talked amongst themselves. She walked away with a pat on Noah’s face. She didn’t leave us any menus, and I tried not to fidget in my seat.

“Even if you did order food she would bring out whatever she wanted anyway,” Theo’s voice was low as he spoke to me. “We’ve tried.”

“She hasn’t done us wrong yet,” Noah said, rubbing his hand on his flat stomach in anticipation of food.

“I take it you guys are here often?” I looked around at the dark restaurant.

I loved the place. It was warm, the tables were close together but not so much that you felt like you were on top of each other and the music was quiet so you could still hear conversation at your table. No one else in here was in a suit, the vibe relaxed, like no one was rushing to get back to the office.

“We’re here about once a week,” Oliver said. I was momentarily distracted as Theo rolled up the sleeves on his dress shirt, revealing muscular forearms covered in tattoos. His ink was all done in black, but I couldn't make out the specific designs without staring at him for too long.

“Wait.” I looked over at Oliver with a frown, no longer distracted by Theo. “I thought you were just in town visiting.” That’s what Richard thought anyway. Right? I needed to ask more questions before taking these meetings.

“Nope, we relocated here just over a month ago,” he replied.

“Oh.” I bit my lip and pulled on the sleeve of my blazer. I hated being uninformed, I should have gotten their names and googled them before coming here. Normally it didn’t matter who I was meeting with. I guess it still didn’t. “Did your company move you here?” Oliver and Noah shared a look and laughed.

“Dick Walters didn’t tell you who we are?” Noah asked between laughs.

“Uh… No…” I looked over at Theo since the other two men were looking at him.

“Have you heard of Knight Enterprises?” The way he said it was like he expected the answer to be yes, like I just hadn’t put the pieces together before.

“Are you going to be mad if I say no?” He looked me over for a moment, like he was trying to tell if I was lying. I held his gaze and waited.

“Huh,” Oliver said just as Valeria and two other waiters came walking up to our table with enough food to feed a small army.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile to the server as food was placed in front of me.

Once it was all down, they walked off without an explanation. “Did she know you were coming? That was so fast.” I looked at the mass of food around us.

“Noah called ahead. I have another meeting at one that I can’t miss,” Theo said, looking down at the watch on his wrist. I wasn’t one for watches, but that thing looked fancy. The other two men wasted no time digging into the plethora of tacos in front of us.

“So you aren’t going to tell me what Knight Enterprises is?” I asked as I grabbed a taco from the plate in front of me. I took a bite, closed my eyes, and let out a moan. I knew a good taco, but this might be the best I’d ever eaten. The way the spices on the meat melted together with whatever sauce was on it was perfection.

I opened my eyes again and swallowed my food to see Theo’s eyes locked on my face. I licked my lips to get the sauce off them and noticed a slight tick in his jaw.

“Spectacular, right?” Noah asked around a mouthful of food.

Theo cleared his throat, moved his eyes from mine and looked back at his plate. “Knight Enterprises is our company.”

Was his voice gruffer than it was before?