It wasn’t just work stuff, either. I’d almost cancelled on dinner plans with my mom, but Ariana had convinced me to go since it was a night when Alec was out of town anyway. And one of the things I’d procrastinated was my conversation with him.
I knew he wasn’t pissed about me dating his sister-in-law since he’d sent me a text the morning after our date at the conservatory. Although Alessia had been successful in convincing him that our relationship was a good idea, of course he’d still given me a hard time. It was how all of us guys were with each other. But it’d been obvious that he didn’t mean his threats to kick my ass for messing with his sister-in-law since they were only half-hearted.
With a short gap in his team’s schedule followed by a couple of home games, he was home for most of this week. I’d sent him a text this morning asking if he was available for lunch, and we’d arranged to meet up at a family-owned Greek place his parents used to take all of us to for breakfast a couple of times a month when we were younger.
As soon as our waitress walked away after taking our order, I leaned forward and said, “I’m sorry for putting this off for so long. I should’ve called you the night I met Ariana and let you know I was interested in her. She’s your family now, and that’s a line friends aren’t supposed to cross. Not without at least talking about it first.”
He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his water. “If you were one of my teammates who’s horny as fuck and with a different woman each night, it’d be a different story. But I’ve known you since before either of us was interested in girls, and I’ve never known you to dick one over. Ariana could do a hell of a lot worse than you. I’m cool with the two of you as a couple.”
The first part of what he’d said had me issuing a warning. “You’d better keep your horny teammates away from my woman.”
“Your woman,” he chuckled. “I guess you can’t poke fun at Andrew and me anymore, now that you seem to be just as bad as we are.”
“Fuck off,” I growled.
He slapped his hand against the table and laughed harder. “Seriously, man. You might even be worse than us. I didn’t say I was going to introduce Ariana to the guys from the team. Hell, I didn’t even think about it. But here you are, looking like you’re ready to tear me apart for it.”
I’d seen Alec with his wife enough times to know he was full of shit. “It bears repeating; fuck off.”
He grinned at me, not taking offense. “I like seeing this side of you come out. No holding yourself back with Ariana like you’ve tended to do with girlfriends in the past.”
“It’s not even an option when it comes to her. My reaction to her is like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I’m all in. I have been since the first night.”
“I’m not going to judge you for it. Not when I married Alessia the night I met her.” He tilted his glass in my direction. “Compared to me, you’re moving slow as fuck.”
A year ago, any mention of marriage would’ve sent me running. Six months ago, I’d sworn I wouldn’t get into a relationship with someone unless I could see a future with them. Two weeks ago, I met that woman. “Not by much. She might not be wearing my ring yet, but Ariana is mine.”
“If that’s the case, there are a few things I should fill you in on.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting him to say, but it sure as fuck wasn’t that there was a bookie in Vegas who was trying to use Ariana’s mom’s gambling addiction to get close to my woman. “Please tell me you’re fucking with me.”
“Trust me. I wish I could,” he sighed. “I’m not sure how our women turned out so amazing with the shit hand they’ve been dealt when it comes to their parents.”
Ariana had told me about her dad abandoning them when she was in high school and how her mom kind of checked out. And I was aware of her mom’s gambling problems. I had been even before I met her since Andrew had grumbled to me about his brother’s bone-headed move in paying a visit to her bookie to pay him off. “I thought you took care of the problem when you were in Vegas? Paid off the debt, talked their mom’s bookie into dropping her, and got her into some fancy rehab program?”
“I thought it was taken care of, but it turned out that we would’ve been better off with her mom still having access to her old bookie. I figured if I cut off her access, it would be another way to make sure she stuck with it once she was done with the program. But it ended up making the situation worse because it opened her up to a play from this jackass who set his sights on Ariana and doesn’t mind playing dirty to get what he wants.”
I didn’t like the situation. Not at fucking all. And it had less to do with being a territorial motherfucker when it came to Ariana than being worried about my woman’s safety. “Where is she now?”
“At my place with Alessia.” I must’ve looked like I was about to lose my shit because he put his hand on my forearm. “Calm the fuck down. She’s safe, man.”
Knowing there was a threat to her safety out there, even if it was half a country away, made me antsy as hell. “We should take our food to go and head over there.”
“This is going to sound ridiculous coming from me, but you’re overreacting. Ryan was at his place when I left, just down the hall from the girls. He’s been sticking close to home ever since Tamara left town to get ready for the Olympics, so he should still be there when I get back,” he tried to reassure me. “And it’s not like you can be with her every second of the day anyway. You’ve got a job and she was talking about needing to get back to work if she’s going to take over our apartment when we move into the house.”
“There’s no fucking way she’s going move into your place by herself with this shit going on. At least the hotel has around the clock security. Or even better, she can just stay with me.” I’d never lived with someone before, but it was something I’d already been thinking about with Ariana. “And she sure as hell isn’t going to start cocktail waitressing again anytime soon. I could have the bouncers pay closer attention to her than they do anyone else, and shit could still go down. It would be way too easy to get to her at any of the clubs or bars, even the restaurants.”
Alec leaned forward, shaking his head. “Let me make sure I understand how you think you should handle this. You want to go over to my apartment, interrupt Alessia and Ariana’s plans for the day, tell her she’s moving in with you, and forbid her from starting a job that she’s done for the last two years even though she’d be working for the same company as you?”
“Fuck,” I groaned, slumping in my seat. When he put it that way, my reaction sounded batshit crazy. Knowing that didn’t make me change my mind about anything I’d said. I just needed a better approach for it all. I didn’t want to risk sending Ariana running in the opposite direction—not that she’d get very far since I’d just chase after her. “When is your house going to be done?”
“It’s a damn miracle, but the builders called this morning to let me know they actually plan to be done on time. We close on it in two weeks, and I’ll get us moved in the next day. I want to make sure we’re comfortable there before our little lentil makes an appearance.”
Only Alec’s ridiculous nickname for his unborn child could pull a laugh out of me when I was trying to prioritize Ariana’s situation and figure out my game plan. “If you keep calling her that, she’s going to come out thinking Lentil is her name.”
“He,” Alec bit out. “Quit calling my little lentil a she. You and Ariana are going to jinx me. Can you picture me as a daddy to a little girl?”
It wasn’t hard to do considering two of his best friends in high school had been girls. Josie and Cee-Cee had already broken him in when it came to teenage girl antics. “Your little lentil princess is going to wrap you around her tiny finger the moment she’s born.”
“Fuck yeah, she will.” He groaned when he realized he’d just called the baby a girl too, and I grinned at him. But my smile was quickly wiped off my face when he brought the subject back to the problem at hand. “Ariana’s not go
ing to leave Chicago until after the lentil is born, and you have time before you need to tackle where she’s going to live until then. The job is what you need to figure out first.”
“You’re right.” An idea formed in my head, and I wanted to move on it right away. When the waitress dropped off our meals, I told her to box mine up to go.
“Where are you off to next?” Alec asked.
I tossed some bills onto the table to cover the bill and tip right before the waitress brought over my boxed up meal. “Your brother is in the office, and I want to talk to him about the role I’d like Ariana to take with Rourke Hospitality. I hope you don’t mind me bailing on you.”
“Not at all. I’ll finish up my lunch and head back home to hang out with the girls,” he reassured me as he dug into his food.
I hurried out, determined to get Andrew’s sign off on my idea before I broached it with Ariana. And then I was going to need to talk to her about keeping shit from me.
Chapter Thirteen
Ariana
Walking into Mark’s office a few hours earlier than when I’d planned to see him tonight, I was worried. I’d gotten a bad feeling when he called to change our plans because he’d sounded so abrupt on the phone. And Alec hadn’t made me feel any better about it. He had a weird look in his eyes when he got back from having lunch with Mark, and then he awkwardly patted me on the shoulder as I’d left their apartment.
I’d worked myself up, fearing the worst, by the time I laid eyes on him. “Are you dumping me?”
“Fuck no,” he growled, jumping to his feet. He rounded his desk and pulled me into a hug. “Why would you ask me something crazy like that?”
I looped my arms around his shoulders and tilted my head back to look up at him. “Your call seemed so rushed, like once you’d gotten me to agree to come to your office you couldn’t wait to get me off the phone. Alec seemed off after your lunch, and when he said goodbye it felt like he was sending me off to my doom. I figured something was wrong, and I couldn’t figure out what it was, so…”
“So you assumed the worst and freaked out?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I answered sheepishly. “I always used to be a go-with-the-flow kind of girl, but when it comes to you I guess I’ve picked up the worry wart trait from my sister.”
He cradled my face in his palms and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. “Leave the worrying to me, gorgeous. I’ve got you covered.”
I leaned my head into one of his hands. “No can do, baby. This relationship is a two-way street. Being concerned about you is a part of showing you that I care.”
“I fucking love the sound of that.”
“Good.” I beamed up at him. “If not, you would’ve had to figure out a way to get over it because my feelings aren’t going away. They keep growing bigger and stronger each day.”
“So do mine, gorgeous.” He kissed me again before letting go of my face and wrapping his arms around me to hold me close. “Keep that in mind when I explain why I wanted to talk to you, okay?”
I nodded, but my stomach twisted into knots. I figured as long as we weren’t breaking up, I could handle whatever it was that he wanted to say. But my nerves were getting to me since this was the first time he’d given me a warning like that and he had a serious look in his dark eyes.
“I don’t want you to work as a cocktail waitress at any of Andrew’s clubs or bars.” I jerked back in surprise, but he didn’t let go of his hold on me. “Don’t fly off the handle until you give me the chance to explain.”
I took a few deep breaths to control my temper. “I’m not sure what there is to explain. If you don’t want me working here, then the decision is pretty much already made. It was going to be hard enough to have my boyfriend as my boss as it was. It would be impossible working for you if you’re not happy about it.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to work here. Quite the opposite actually,” he insisted on a squeeze. “What I’m trying to tell you is that I want you to take on a bigger role with the Rourke Hospitality.”
I shook my head, not sure if I’d heard him correctly because what he was saying made no sense to me. “Wait. What?”
He led me over to a chair in front of his desk and took the one next to it when I sat down. With his hands wrapped around mine, he explained, “When I first started working for Andrew, I was fresh out of grad school. He’d recently bought his first bar, but the manager was shit. I didn’t know anything about running one, but we figured I couldn’t do any worse than the guy he’d had to fire. And more importantly, Andrew knew he could trust me.”
“That makes sense since you guys have known each other forever,” I agreed.
“I hired a guy who’d managed bars for years, and he taught me the ropes. We made a success of the first place, and then Andrew bought another. And another after that. Rourke Hospitality has grown a ton since we first started out, and so have my responsibilities—even with Andrew pitching in after he retired from hockey.”
I understood all of that, but I wasn’t sure what it had to do with me. Luckily, Mark didn’t leave me wondering about it for long.
“We’ve built a great thing here, but we could use more help at the top. The problem is finding the right person. It needs to be someone we can give the same amount of trust that we do with each other. And that’s where you come in.”
Holy shit. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” Mark chuckled.
“Yeah, you guys can trust me one-hundred percent, but it isn’t the same as when Andrew hired you. I don’t have a degree or anything like that. Just my high school diploma.”
“Give yourself more credit. You’ve been working in the business for five years. That’s plenty of experience.”
It’d been that long since I got my first job, but I still didn’t agree with how he was describing it. “I’ve only ever waitressed in a restaurant and served cocktails in a club.”
“Which makes you perfect for the position I have in mind.”
I couldn’t help it. An inappropriate giggle bubbled up as I thought about the sexual position he’d had me in just that morning. He lifted a dark brow, and it only made me laugh harder. “Sorry,” I gasped once I got myself back under control. “Sometimes I have the sense of humor of a teenage boy. You said position, and my brain immediately headed straight for the gutter.”
“No apologies needed. I love hearing you laugh.” He brushed a finger along one of my cheekbones. “And judging by how deep you’re blushing; you need to clue me in on which position it was that popped into your head because I want to make sure we use it more often.”
My pussy clenched as though I was curled up in a ball on his mattress right then, with his body wrapped around mine. “The one from this morning.”
His eyes filled with male satisfaction at the memory. “With how hard you came around my cock; I’m not surprised to hear turtle does it for you.”
I’d been hesitant at first since I couldn’t move with my knees pressed against my chest and my hands stretch out in front of me on the mattress. But my willingness to give it a try and trust him with my body had paid off. “It was hot as hell to meekly lie there and take it while you fucked the hell out of me.”
“Damn,” he groaned, shifting in his seat and adjusting his pants to make room for the hard length pressed against his zipper. “Working with you is going to test the limits of my self-control. It’s a good thing I already let Human Resources know about our relationship.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, Andrew asked me to let them know when he and I first talked about us. It’s part of our fraternization policy.”
I probably should’ve been bothered by him making that decision for me, but it’s not like I could deny that we were in a relationship. And it wouldn’t be good for one of the head honchos to break a rule like that one and then try to enforce it with everyone else. “Okay.”
“Being out in the open about our relationship is one thing.” His gaze darted to t
he door he’d shut behind me when I arrived. “Sex in the office is still frowned upon, but what Human Resources doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”
I wiggled in my seat and crossed my legs, as though he had x-ray vision that would allow him to see the damp spot on my panties. I made my voice stern as I said, “We’re not having sex in your office.”
“Not today maybe, since we still need to talk about your new job. But it’s bound to happen sooner or later, if we’re in close proximity to each other.”
The potential for office sex and nooners definitely went in the plus column. “How much time would I be spending with you if I took this mysterious management job that you think I’m perfect for? And what exactly would I be doing?”
“We’d work very closely since you’d be taking a bunch of duties off my plate. Although I mainly deal with the management team, a lot of my time is spent making sure things run smoothly for the staff in our various bars, restaurants, and clubs. Most of those employees are wait staff and bartenders. They’re people you could relate to because you’ve walked in their shoes and worked alongside them for years. You know the issues they face, and you’d probably come up with better solutions to them than I ever could. They’re the backbone of our Rourke Hospitality, and they deserve the best support team we can give them. Which is why we want you to accept the newly developed position as our Front of the House Supervising Manager.”
“You want me to go corporate? Work a desk job here?” I’d never thought about applying for office jobs because I didn’t think I had the necessary qualifications. But with a little guidance, I thought I could excel at what Mark had described.
“You know how crazy my hours can be, combining time in the office with rotating through our locations.” I nodded and smiled, since I had his odd hours and time spent at the clubs to thank for meeting him in the first place. “Your job would be similar, and at least in the beginning we’d follow the same schedule.”
Chased Into Love Page 8
