Love By Chance (Chance Series Book 1)

by Blake Allwood

  We also both ordered dessert and again tried to stump the service and food prep with odd requests, but the desserts came out perfectly.

  The server came back with the ticket, and the drinks hadn’t been comped. I brought this to the server’s attention, and she told us she’d see what she could do. When she came back, she apologized for the drinks and gave us new bills that had the drinks removed.

  I asked to speak with the manager, and the server was clearly shocked but cordial, answering, “Of course. Let me go get her for you.”

  When she returned with the manager, I smiled and said, “I wanted to compliment you on the excellent service from this young lady. I also wanted to say everything tonight was perfect except the drinks, which our server comped for us.”

  The manager smiled, thanked me for the compliment, and apologized for the bad drinks. She said, “I can give you a coupon to come back for drinks again in the future. Maybe you’ll have a better experience then.”

  Perfect response, I thought. Not only does it compensate the customer for the bad service, but it pulls us back in to try them again after the problem is corrected.

  We paid our bill and left, going back up to Elian’s flat. “So, what were your thoughts?” I asked Janice.

  “Overall, I’d say it is great. If I hadn’t been with you, I’d have been happy. I wouldn’t have even complained about the bad drink.”

  “If you came back, would you order another drink from them?” I asked.

  She thought for a moment. “No, to be honest, I think I would have avoided buying a drink from them again. It was really watered down.”

  “That’s the problem,” I said. “When the rest of the service is almost perfect, and the drinks are bad, most people will ignore that, but then no one will reorder drinks in the future. That is a huge part of a restaurant’s profitability. It’s also a very important part of the dining experience.”

  “What were your thoughts?” Janice asked as she lounged back on Elian’s black leather sofa.

  “I thought it was perfect, except for the bar of course,” I replied. “I’d give it a four point five rating overall score.”

  “Me too,” Janice said. Then, she jumped up and grabbed me and said, “I’m gonna go pee, then let’s go dance!”

  We partied the night away and didn’t get back to the flat until the wee hours of the morning. Janice was plastered as she promised to be, and I wasn’t far behind her. We both crashed on the queen bed in the guest room. When we woke the next morning, Janice’s face was right in mine.

  “Damn,” I said, shaking Janice’s shoulder to wake her, “Girl, you have rotten alcohol breath! Go brush your damned teeth!”

  Janice turned over and said, “Fuck you, bitch.” Then, she slowly got out of bed and went toward the bathroom.

  When she came out, she plopped back on the bed, and said, “I’m happy you made me drink all that water last night, but I have never peed so much in my life. At least I don’t have a hangover.”

  “You have ass breath, though,” I said, teasing her.

  “Fuck you,” she said again as she reached over and grabbed my mint, which was sitting on the night table. She then popped it in her mouth.

  “Hey, that was mine,” I said, pouting.

  “Finders keepers,” she responded. “Let’s go find something to eat. I’m famished.”

  The restaurant was closed until lunchtime, but we found a little bistro around the corner, ate, and gossiped for several hours. Luckily, the little bistro wasn’t very busy, and the server didn’t seem to mind refilling our coffee. Before we finally got up to leave, we left the woman a nice tip for not kicking us out.

  We slowly walked back to the flat to get Janice packed and off to Austin for her date. When we arrived, Elian was there to meet us.

  He greeted Janice with a cordial smile and asked if she’d had a good night before turning to me.

  Janice was clearly enamored by Elian’s natural sexual charm and stuttered a bit as she told him ‘yes.’ “We went dancing after we ate at your restaurant,” she said after she gathered her wits about her.

  “I was hoping you’d take advantage of the driver,” he told her.

  Janice had found her footing, and as she walked toward the room with her stuff, she said over her shoulder, “Sorry, he wasn’t really my type.”

  After she was out of earshot, Elian asked with a smile, “She is a character, huh?”

  “Oh, man, you have no idea,” I replied.

  “Next time, I want to go out with you two.”.

  After emerging again from her room, Janice hugged us both and gave me a kiss before leaving. “I love you more than sex,” she said, and then jumped into her car, and drove away down the road.

  Elian reached over and took my hand. “You miss her, don’t you?”

  I hadn’t really noticed the intimate gesture, being so caught up in the moment of my friend leaving and almost pulled my hand out of his before forcing myself to let it rest there.

  “Yeah, we’re really close. She pulled me through some rough times. I miss her a lot.”

  Elian let go of my hand and put his arm around me for a sideways hug. “I know how it feels to miss someone who makes you feel good inside. My best girlfriend is in Seattle. We’ve been friends since I was a little boy. We met before my family moved back to Lauderdale.”

  Elian changed the subject and let his arm fall from my shoulder.

  “Are you hungry? Do you want to grab something to eat?”

  I chuckled. “No, we just walked back from the bistro around the corner.”

  “Oh,” Elian said. “What did you think of it?”

  “Not much really, just the run of the mill breakfast bistro. Not very busy for a Saturday morning, though.”

  “Yep, I agree. The owner has offered to sell it to me. I’m thinking about it.”

  “It wouldn’t take much to improve it,” I said.

  Then, Elian became all business. “Shall we go back up to the flat and discuss your experience last night at the restaurant? I’m anxious to hear what you thought.”

  “Sure.” I shrugged as we walked up to the flat and sat at the dining table.

  Elian

  “So, spill. What were your thoughts?” I asked as soon as we sat down.

  “The restaurant is really nice. The ambiance is not unlike your brewery. The service was excellent, and I tried several ways to trip them up, but they held their own throughout the evening. I met the manager, and she was cordial and met my expectations. I see you took my suggestions about the appetizers and desserts, and those are top-notch. Your server even did a great job making parings when I asked her what she suggested. I could tell you’ve been training them how to make those without being obnoxiously over the top.”

  I smiled and said, “I’m glad that worked out. I was very anxious to hear how well that went for you. I was a bit afraid we would come off as pushy, putting the appetizers into the suggestions.”

  “No, not at all,” Martin replied. “In fact, it made the experience more authentic, I think… especially since you didn’t have your wait staff pushing the most expensive foods down people’s throats.”

  I smiled again. “Yes, we let the server suggest the items they truly prefer the most. I thought, since we’re asking them to pair either an appetizer or a dessert to the meals, they needed to be honest about their favorite parts of the menu.”

  “That was apparent,” Martin said. “The desserts were also spectacular. I had the banana cream pie, and Janice had the fried cheesecake with strawberries. Both were perfectly prepared. I’ve had fried cheesecake before, and they used oil from their chips, and it wasn’t very good. You must use a separate fryer for that.”

  Again, I smiled. “You are very good at this. Yes, we have a separate smaller fryer for our fried desserts. It cost a bit more, but since we are focusing on our appetizers and desserts, I thought I needed to make those perfect.”

  “Congratulations. You pulled it off,�
� Martin remarked and smiled. His face suddenly became serious. “Not everything is perfect, though. The drinks were awful. Your wait staff and manager both apologized, and I was comped for the drinks when I complained. But if you don’t remedy that, you are going to lose a lot of business.”

  “Can you tell me what was bad?” I asked.

  “I can with Janice’s—hers was very watered down. Mine was just off, but I’m not exactly sure what was wrong with it. Here is the problem you will face with your bar. Janice told me she wouldn’t have complained about the drinks had I not been there because the rest of the service and food was so nice. I’m guessing that’s the case with most of your customers, so if you have not received any complaints, that’s probably why. However, I’m guessing your bar profits are dwindling. Am I correct on that?”

  I was impressed. “Yes, we weren’t sure why, but we’ve been steadily losing business in the bar section of the business. Last week was my worst week with profits well under half of what we were making.”

  “I’m not surprised people are returning to eat, yet avoiding your drinks. That has to be cutting into your bottom line,” Martin said.

  “You have no idea,” I replied. “Are you willing to do something for me again? I have an idea to get to the bottom of this.”

  Martin agreed, and we both went down separately to the restaurant and ordered the same drink. After the drinks were served, we came back together and sat next to each other to taste the other’s drink. We’d both ordered a chocolate martini, the most popular item ordered on Saturday afternoons. When we sat across from each other with our drinks, I requested that we exchange them.

  Martin tasted mine first, and it was perfect. “Yum,” he said as he put the drink down.

  “My turn,” I replied.

  I took a drink and immediately grimmaced. “Oh, that is awful! I don’t even know what flavor is in there.”

  I stood up, waved the manager over, and asked her to taste each drink. She had the very same reaction I had when I tasted the second drink, the one Martin had ordered.

  “I think it is time to have a discussion with our bartender. Wouldn’t you agree?” I asked the manager.

  “Martin, this could get ugly. Why don’t you meet me back up at the flat? I’ll be back up to meet you in a moment.”

  Martin agreed and left.

  When I came back to the flat, Martin was asleep on the couch.

  I decided to allow him to sleep and wandered into the kitchen to prepare us both a little supper. I’d arranged for all the grocery shopping to be done before Martin got here, hoping I’d be able to impress him with my cooking skills.

  Of course, I’d planned to be cooking for three, but I’d been lucky enough to have Martin to myself tonight. My abuela had always said, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” so I’d prepared to do my best to test my granny’s theory out tonight.

  Martin

  I woke to the smell of onions and garlic frying. That was the most luscious smell in the world. I leaned up, stretching to see who was putting such an amazing aroma into the world. When I saw Elian cooking, both my heart and my groin lurched a bit. There were fewer things sexier to me than a hot man cooking in his kitchen.

  Elian was a natural. I knew his family had a knack for cooking, but I’d assumed Elian didn’t. I self-reflected, realizing maybe I didn’t think a man could be both business-minded and have the artistic techniques to create a good meal. Despite my prejudice against the businessman, the smells of onion and garlic certainly were a step in the right direction, and even if the food wasn’t very good, the beautiful man was enough to forgive a lot of missteps he might have.

  Crap! I swore in my head, catching myself thinking of Elian as beautiful. OK, truth be told, he was sexy as hell, but I quickly stamped my thoughts down. No need going there. I’m spending the night alone with this man tonight, and we have an agreement to keep things business and platonic. Remember, platonic, I reminded myself.

  I stood up and walked into the kitchen. Elian looked over and flashed me that gorgeous smile of his. “I hope you’re getting hungry. I decided to cook for you myself tonight instead of parading you through the town. Hopefully, you’ll go easy on me since I’m not a pro like my sister is.” He turned to put the marinated beef into the pan with the garlic and onions.

  “I never complain when a man cooks for me. It is one of my favorite sights in the world. I’d rather see that than a stripper,” I said with a self-conscious laugh.

  Elian cocked an eyebrow at me, then hummed a stripping song, pretending to strip and flip the meat all at the same time.

  “You are a goof,” I said, teasing him. But the silly act had done more than a little to turn me on. Had things been different, I was almost sure poor Elian would have burned his meal after I did some of the things I was imagining to his body… things that involved him continuing with that sexy little dance.

  I shook my head and turned to go back to the living room, giving myself time to clear the thoughts of bedding Elian out of my mind. As I turned, I asked, “So, what was the outcome of your meeting?”

  Elian shook his head. “The bartender was inherited from the previous owner. In fact, I think they were having an affair. When the previous owner sold to me, she broke it off with him. Apparently, he’s been using his position at the bar to get even with me. At least that is how he put it before he threw the bar towel at me and stomped out yelling he quit.”

  “He was deliberately sabotaging you?” I asked.

  “It appears so,” Elian replied. “Too bad too, cause he came highly recommended, and when he served me a drink, they were always top-notch.”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked.

  “The manager has called in a favor from a man she used to work with. He is going to cover until we can find a bartender who doesn’t want to chase off all our customers.”

  “I’m sorry that happened,” I sighed.

  “I’m just glad I had you come out this weekend. If we can fix this fast enough, I think we will save our bar business. I am going to be comping a lot of drinks for the next few weeks to build back our reputation,” Elian sighed.

  I nodded. “I think giving away a few good drinks to your repeat customers is a very good idea. Don’t be surprised, though, if you have several people decline. You may need to make sure your wait staff is telling everyone you have a new barkeep. In fact, that could be the excuse for offering a free drink.”

  “Clever,” Elian replied thoughtfully.

  I yawned big and raised my arms over my head, causing my stomach to show under my shirt. When I glanced back at Elian, his face had gone from platonic to something very, very different.

  “Um, where do you work out at?” he stammered.

  I looked at him, and with a cocked eyebrow asked, “Where did that come from?”

  Elian blushed. “I noticed your abs when you were yawning,” he replied. His face continued to turn a darker red from the awkward question.

  I was enjoying the effect my stomach was having on Elian. The man seemed unflappable, but a little skin seemed to completely undo him. Yet, watching the man’s reaction caused something to snap inside me as well. I’d been resisting my urge to kiss this guy since he’d showed up this morning, and his flustered awkwardness was the last straw.

  I walked over to where he was cooking. Elian watched me with ever-widening eyes. I lifted my shirt over my abs, and then took it completely off. “I’ve been working out; all that restaurant food was going to turn me into a slob. What do you think?”

  Elian gulped, and I felt myself chuckle low in my throat. “So, when is supper going to be done?” I whispered in Elian’s ear.

  “Um,” was all Elian was able to get out, then he swallowed hard enough for me to hear.

  “What?” I decided to play coy. “I just wanted to show you how I like to work out.”

  Again, Elian stammered, clearly having lost his ability to speak. I laughed again, enjoying seeing this
guy turned to mush over my body. I reached over and put my shirt back on, then leaned into Elian and kissed him square on the mouth.

  “It is good to see you are as turned on by me as I am by you,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean we are going to do anything, Elian Whitman.”

  As I turned to leave, Elian spun me back around and kissed me deep and hard. This time, there was no civil peck; the kiss Elian gave possessed all the past weeks of frustration and longing we’d experienced and felt for each other. If I was going to pull back, it was going to have to be soon because Elian had just lifted the kiss to another level: tongue, saliva, and pure sexuality rolled into me like a tidal surge in a category 5 hurricane.

  Within an instant, my shirt was back off, and Elian’s came off shortly after. We crossed the room, our kisses growing more passionate and desperate. Elian pushed me onto the sofa, and began assaulting my neck, then chest, and paused when he got to my nipples to nip ever so slightly. This was going to be raw sexuality, and Elian wasn’t holding anything back.

  Deep in the recesses of my mind, I could hear a faint cry from the part of my brain that told me to watch out—not to get close to a man again. Especially this man, keep him at bay. But instead of listening to that voice—which was just a little too easy to ignore—I instead responded to the need that Elian poured onto me.

  Elian

  All my hopes and wishes were becoming fulfilled, and I knew it might be too soon. I should have pulled back, but I wanted Martin so much. I wanted my mouth on him. I needed to taste him, feel him, be a part of him.

  I unbuckled Martin’s belt while my tongue assaulted his abdomen just above where his pants started. Then, I unbuttoned his pants. When I saw that he had gone commando, the lust inside me took over with such a thrilling discovery. I gave Martin a hungry expression, and he responded to me with a sigh. I put my mouth on his cock, causing him to buck up against me. He moaned as I let my tongue explore his head.