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The door of the kitchen swings wide, admitting a red-faced Leonard.
“I could’ve sworn you said we were eating downstairs.”
Darcy slowly spins on her seat, shaking her head, even as a smirk tugs at her lips. “And when, pray tell, do weevereat in the pub, brother dear?”
She spears him with a no-nonsense look as poor Leonard blushes red right up to his receding hairline.
“Hi, Leonard.”
His face breaks into a smile when my welcome lands on his ears. “Good to see you’re doing well, Reyna.” His eyes twinkle as he takes a seat beside Bailey. “And I hear congratulations are in order.”
It’s my turn to blush. I nod as I slowly eat my stew, even as my stomach screams for me to throw out my manners and shovel faster.
“Thank you.”
“And please tell him that the car is ready when—”
Darcy breaks him off with a stern tone. “Oh, sweet baby Jesus, for the love of all that’s holy. Ever heard tell of asurprise, you great big eejit?”
Leonard’s eyes are wide, his hand clamped over his mouth in terror, but before I can question him further, Darcy swings around to me with an eye roll.
“Some people just sound better with their mouths closed, am I right, or am I right?”
CHAPTER28
REYNA
Having whiled awaytwo hours in the apartment over Molly Malones, I bid a smiling farewell to the wonderful Irish family who’s clearly taken me under their wing.
Bailey, ever the personal assistant, makes short work of calling Ford, who said that he was on his way back from a personal errand to pick Alex up in Tribeca but would pick me up first.
By the time I bid Darcy and Leonard farewell and made it onto the pavement outside the pub, the familiar black town car is waiting right where he’d dropped us only a few hours earlier.
“I’ll be waiting to hear about the bid for the studio over on Staten Island. Just give me the nod, Reyna.”
I smirk. “It might not be that one.”
He narrows his eyes playfully. “The heart wants what the heart wants, Little Miss Sunshine.”
My mouth tugs up in a smile at that as Bailey lightly squeezes my upper arm before I slip into the back seat of the waiting car.
Ford slides out into traffic, navigating the lanes with ease until we enter Tribeca, when he flicks a quick glance over his shoulder. “Stay in the car. I’ve got to run inside really quick.”
“Inside where?”
He shifts slightly in his seat, his shoulders tensing, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say I’ve made him uncomfortable with that simple question.
He clears his throat. “Ah, it’s Vaughn’s club. He’s meeting Grayson there.”
My brow furrows deeply. “He’s meeting hisgrievingfriend at aclub?” I can’t keep the incredulity out of my tone. “That makeszerosense.”
Ford expertly parks the car along the side of a brightly lit street opposite a teeming club, with an entry line no less than half a mile long.
“I’ll be right back.” Ford exits the car, sticking his head back inside for a split second to emphasize his next words. “Stay. Here.”
The door shuts with a light click, and he jogs across the road. But instead of going to the door that’s being manned by a burly security guard, he moves into the shadows and opens a door that I’d have mistaken for a wall had I not seen him surreptitiously slip inside.
His instruction knocks around inside my brain for all of a hot minute before curiosity gets the better of me.
