AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The maitre’d knew Malcolm on sight, for he made a little bow to Malcolm and said, “Mr. Raines, so nice to have you back with us.”
“Roger, this is Jane,” said Malcolm. “She’ll be joining me, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“It’s never too much trouble, sir,” he said. “Right this way, sir.”
She followed the maitre’d. The restaurant seemed bigger on the inside than it’d looked on the outside, and while the tables were made up simply and the decor was plain, when she sat down she realized that the glassware was cut crystal and the tableware was, if not actual silver, a cut above her stainless-steel set from Ikea. The napkins were linen, the tablecloths the same—and apparently hand-embroidered with the restaurant’s logo.
Malcolm was watching her as she took everything in, and his smile widened when he saw that she realized what fine quality everything was. “I knew you’d be able to appreciate this,” he said, as he opened the wine list.
“This is really too much,” she said, smiling nervously. “I’m not even—”
“Jacques,” he called, beckoning over the waiter.
“How are you today, sir?” asked Jacques.
“Is Brandon doing a tasting menu today?”
“He is,” answered the waiter. “Do you—”
“We’ll do the tasting menu. Tell Norman to come and pour when he’s ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
She stared at him throughout the entire exchange. For any other man, it would have been a turn-off, but Malcolm seemed to walk the edge between rude and respectful that left her feeling confused—and, she had to admit to herself, a little turned on. “You know the staff really well,” she remarked.
He shrugged. “I’ve been coming here for ages. I didn’t want them to bother us while we’re eating.I did promise you a story of some kind, didn’t I?”
“Well,” she said. “It’s not every man that asks me to yell mean things at him after he’s helped our group’s cause.”
The sommelier came out, bearing a bottle cradled in a white towel. Malcolm nodded through the formalities involved in opening the bottle, smelling the cork, and tasting the wine, before agreeing to have the bottle served. “I have no idea what we’re ordering,” he said to Norman.
“Well, then, I hope you’ll agree with me that the wine pairs well with the food,” Norman said, as he poured out a glass for her. He left the bottle at the table, saying, “Do tell me, madame, if he is being a terrible boor. I cannot do anything about the food, but the company can be changed.”
She nodded, a what the hell was that about smile plastered on her face. She was sure he was joking, but she had no idea how seriously to take it. She hadn’t even known that places like this were capable of making those kinds of jokes.
“Norman is actually an old college buddy,” said Malcolm, reading her confusion. “I gave him a loan to start this place with his friend, and, well, he’s right—I can be a boor.”
“I’m sure he exaggerates,” she said.
“You’re very sweet to think so,” he replied. “But the world of business and power is a lot more cutthroat and cloak-and-dagger than you might realize.”
“I work in finance,” she said. “I know all about cutthroat.”
He seemed taken aback by that. “Well, well—someone in finance who cares about the environment—that’s something new.”
“It’s not as novel as you think,” she said. “If you knew the profiles of the other clients at Rigel—”
“You work at—wait, I knew you looked familiar—you’re Reid’s girlfriend, aren’t you?”
“Ex,” she corrected.
“Ex,” he said, intrigued. “Now I have to confess—this does pique my curiosity. Let me guess, you broke up with him and now you’re hoping that I’ll ditch Reid as my finance advisor—”
“Tell me what’s going on,” she said, before he could get any closer to the truth of the matter. What that truth was, exactly, she wasn’t quite sure of, now that Malcolm had shown that he was an ally, of sorts. He looked somewhat disappointed that she was changing the subject. She still hadn’t sorted out her feelings about Reid or any of that, and now, sitting across from Malcolm, his dark eyes piercing into her soul, reading her like an open book, she began to realize that maybe she should have resolved this issues before coming to Washington. Then again, there’d been no reason to think that she’d ever run into Malcolm Raines, much less be seated across from him in a swanky restaurant. She did the only thing she could at that point: rally and banter, “Or else I’ll take Norman up on his offer for better company.”
The smile he gave her was one of admiration, and he raised his glass. She did the same, and the tink they made as they brought them together seemed as good a way as any to open the story.
“So as you know, I’ve made a fortune on oil, but I also know that it’s a doomed endeavor, so I’m trying to get out of it as fast as I can, to set up the country with solar—not purely out of the goodness of my heart, mind. There’s a lot of money to be made in solar, as I’m sure you know—”
