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And pregnant.
Preferably the old-fashioned way, and not artificially inseminated in some exam room at the fertility clinic. She didn’t want to go that route; not when all tests indicated she should be able to conceive.
So when she walked into Flannigan’s and saw the silver fox sitting at the end of the bar, she decided maybe she wouldn’t get her order to go after all.
Chapter One
Maverick
“Hey Dan,” his younger brother called to their bartender as he waited on a pretty blonde at the middle of the bar. “Her drink’s on me.”
The woman mouthed, “Thank you,” and gave a come-fuck-me smile.
Maverick sighed and murmured quietly, “That’s the third girl tonight whose drinks you’ve comped, Derrick.”
Derrick pulled the small red straw from his mouth with a grin as he kept his eyes on the woman.
“What’s the point of owning a bar if you can’t buy a beautiful woman a drink?”
“Co-owning a bar. And I don’t know… to make money?”
“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the place is packed,” he said as he slid off his barstool. “You’re welcome. Excuse me; I need to make sure my customer’sneedsare being met. You should try it. It might make you less grumpy.”
Maverick pinched the bridge of his nose. He had no desire to talk to anyone, customer or otherwise. He was asilentpartner for a reason. While he was skilled at a few things—namely flying jets and making money—his brothers were the ones who had perfected the art of schmoozing.
Which was probably why they had sex a helluva lot more than he did these days.
But Derrick might be on to something. When was the last time he’d even had sex? It’d been a while. Maybe he should try harder to get laid. But as Mav surveyed the crowded bar, none of the younger women appealed to him. He didn’t want to be the lecherous old guy hitting on twenty-somethings, and he’d yet to find a match closer to his age that was worthy of a second date on that ridiculous dating app he’d signed up for.
Maverick took comfort in the fact that even though his three younger brothers might be getting their dicks wet a lot more than he was, he made way more money than all of them combined. In addition to investing in each of his younger siblings’ businesses in exchange for part ownership of them, he also had an extensive real estate and stock portfolio, plus a few other companies he’d invested in.
His son, Nick, had just pitched him an idea for a lawn care and snowplow business he could do part-time while he finished his degree in landscape architecture and planning. Maverick had pretended to be considering it, but the truth of the matter was, he’d do just about anything for his kids. That Nick had the foresight to come up with the idea and the initiative to make a business plan for it had sold him almost immediately. But still, he needed to play the part of stoic, considerate businessman, so he hadn’t said yes—yet.
Derrick, the baby brother of the family, had done almost the same exact thing when he’d had a chance to acquire Flannigan’s a few years ago. His business plan for the neighborhood pub trying to emulate the famous Boston bar on television had been spot-on. His brother had been killing it—and Maverick’s bank account appreciated it.
While it probably was true that usually you could go to Flannigan’s and everybody knew your name, that wasn’t the case tonight. The bar was packed for a Tuesday, but every TV in the place showing the Bruins playing in Montreal probably had something to do with that. It didn’t hurt the team was in the running to make the playoffs. Derrick’s now-empty seat was the only one available in the place.
So how Maverick zeroed in on her in the lobby, he had no idea. But he’d been unable to take his eyes off her from the second she strutted through the door.
He was mesmerized—that was the only reason he could think of why he was taking a play from Derrick’s handbook.
Holding out his credit card, he called Dan over.
“You leaving already, Mav?” the man asked as he took his card.
He shook his head. “See that woman who just walked in?”
The bartender turned and looked in the direction of the entrance. “The hottie in the black skirt and pink blouse?”
“Yeah. Everything she orders tonight is on me.”
He glanced back at the woman, then again at Maverick.
“What if she’s meeting someone?”
Shit.
“Hadn’t thought about that.” He scrubbed his hand across the stubble on his chin.
