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When I woke, I used the restroom, threw on jeans and a shirt, and slipped down the stairs to get coffee. Monica, who always worked on Sunday, winked at me as she passed by with a tray. “I’ll get your coffee and bring it up.”
“That’s okay. I got it.” I always appreciated Monica bringing me my coffee, but usually, the delivery came with a lot of flirting and promises of coming up when the shift was over. I wasn’t interested in filling the afternoon with her.
I poured coffee, and one of the cooks pushed a plate toward me. I collected that and went back to my room. Once there, I sat back on my bed and picked up my phone. I had a few messages, but the one that caught my attention was from Candy.
Sorry I didn’t say goodbye. You were busy, and I had to take care of something. Are we still on for tonight at 7?
I smiled as I read it and then replied.Glad you texted. I thought you were pissed at me. Yes, I’m up for it if you are.
I took a couple of bites of my omelet and read over the other messages until I heard a beep. I quickly flipped back to her message.Great! I have a proposition for you.
A proposition? For me? My mind went on a wild ride as I tried to imagine what that could be.You going to give me a hint on that?
Nope! I’m going to make you wonder all day. Gotta run. See you tonight, big boy.
“Big boy?” I started laughing as I typed back,Tonight.
I glanced at my watch. I had six and a half hours until I saw her again, and I couldn’t fucking wait. I finished eating my breakfast and put the plate on the side table. When I did, I knocked the photo to the ground and bent over to get it. I stared at Ryan. Is this how he felt when he was waiting to see Cara? A slightly giddy feeling in his gut and nervousness caused adrenaline to rush through his body. Did it mean something, or was I just being an idiot?
I tossed the picture onto the table and shook my head; I was a fucking idiot. It didn’t matter how I felt about her. Whatever this was between us, it would be over in days. Shit, for all I knew, after whatever proposal she wanted to discuss was laid on the table, it might be over right then and there.
Proposal? What the hell kind of proposal could she have? Did she want to set up a weekly fuck date? Okay, I could do that, but if she wanted anything else, I wasn’t sure the answer to that would be a yes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CANDY
Ihad thought a lot about making this offer.
Laney and I had talked for two hours, and I had ended up sleeping at her house and then having breakfast with her and Evan when he got home from work. Laney had asked me a lot of questions. I didn’t have all the answers, but I knew how much the property was valued at and that it did good business, especially regarding alcohol sales. There were only a few establishments that were open late that served alcohol. That alone made it a moneymaker.
Laney had used a few of her contacts to do a little research on the tavern as an investment property, and after Evan had gone up to bed, she sat down and said, “If you don’t want to go into business with him, I will.”
I stared at her. “Seriously?”
“Yes, the investment opportunity for this, if treated correctly, would be enormous. This area is growing by leaps and bounds. If the initial investment included updating the kitchen and dining area, perhaps adding an outside patio, or even two—one for dining and one for the bar—you could easily double its profits in about two years.”
“You’re not making this up?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s a great investment. In fact, I’m tempted to jump on it before you do.”
“How much are you suggesting that I invest?”
“Well, you already told me that you would be making a one-hundred-thousand-dollar investment, but to do the upgrades suggested, and the addition, I would suggest another one hundred grand.”
“Whoa, two hundred?” I winced. “I’m not sure if I could do that. I could easily do one, but two is a lot, which would cause me to take out a loan.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
“No, but I don’t like debt, Laney. I have worked hard to make sure I don’t have any.”
She tapped her finger for a moment. “What if I covered the other one hundred?”
“So, we would both be partners in the tavern?”
“Yeah, we could write it up as a sixty-forty split. He gets sixty, as he is putting in the majority of the investment, and we would split the forty.”
“You are serious? You would make that investment?”
