AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sets his mug down and leans in closer, his tone lowering as he speaks again. “I’ll come clean, Sofia. It’s a sweeter deal than I’m used to offering, but I like you. Usually, I wouldn’t dream of offering so much on a first offer.”
“Oh,” is all I can manage to say.
“In fact,” he says, “I was hoping once we were done talking business, you’d agree to go to dinner with me.”
“Done with business? Like on a date?”
He nods, and his eyes tighten a bit at the corners as he waits for my answer.
“I’m sorry, David. But I can’t go on a date with you. Does that change your business offer?”
His face falls for only one second before he recovers and smiles wide again. “No, Sofia. I’m a man of my word when it comes to business. But can I ask why you won’t go out on a date with me?”
“To begin with, it’s a terrible idea if we’re considering being business partners—”
“I can assure you our contract would protect you in any possible outcomes on the personal front.”
I smile at him. Before Bren, I may have considered something with this handsome restauranteur who knows my business inside and out. In the end, I shake my head. “I’m sorry,” I say.
“Can I ask what else is stopping you besides the business angle—for which I have already provided a solution?”
I chuckle. “Oh, you are a smooth one, aren’t you?” David only shrugs as he throws me a sexy smile. “I mentioned my circumstances have changed. That’s why I’m considering selling part of the bar.”
“Right.”
“I’m expecting a baby,” I say. Without realizing it, my hand drifts down to my lower belly protectively. I smile at him, not breaking eye contact. “I need the hard cash to buy a home. My apartment is hardly suitable for a child.”
As prepared as David was for this meeting when he first sat down with me, he can’t hide the shock plain on his face as his jaw drops before he shakes his head and chuckles nervously.
“So, you see? Dating won’t be on my radar for a long while.”
“I understand. And if you don’t mind me asking...the father? Is he in the picture?”
My smile erases from my face. “No,” I say, resigned.
“I see. Well, none of what you’ve told me changes things. I’m still very interested in being in business together.”
“Good. I need to give my bar manager a raise because he will be taking on more responsibility, and we’ll need at least another part-time manager. We were going to start interviewing in a few months, but if you’d like someone from the Price Group to be involved in the process, I would be fine with that.”
“Oh, I definitely want to be involved,” David says with a smile so devious it sends goosebumps down my arms. Somehow, his words don’t seem to apply to the topic at hand.
“I’ll be in touch after my lawyer reviews your proposal.” I stand up and shake his hand. “Oh, and David? Make it a good offer. I need this to work.”
* * *
Back at home,I go to bed, my laptop in hand, to look at houses as close to the bar as possible. When I get tired, I lie down and stare at the ceiling as music blasts from the laptop.
The first song in Brenner’s first album is “Industrial Thoughts.” It is a vicious heavy metal song, but his voice as he sings manages to carry some soul that seems out of place. “Do you hear that, Spawn?” I say as I rub my belly. “That’s your daddy’s voice. He’ll sing you a lullaby every night.”
We listen to the entire album that night, and I whisper a promise to my child that one day when Spawn is old enough to understand, he or she will know who his or her father is.
* * *
Spawn isabout the size of a bottle of Jägermeister—at twenty-one weeks—by the time I finally close on the house and start moving in.
The one-story cottage-style house is small but picturesque. Nestled in the Brookside neighborhood center, it is farther than I would have liked from the bar, but the place is perfect for us.
The outside isn’t anything to write home about, but the inside is updated and clean, so I don’t have to do too much work before Spawn comes. It only has two bedrooms, but we don’t need more. The best features are the farmhouse kitchen sink, hardwood floors, the walk-in closet in the master bedroom, the fenced-in yard, and the walking distance to shops and a park. The outside I can fix later with a coat of paint and some flowers. Spawn will be happy here.
