Page 3 of The Hookup
“So, uh … did Savannah have any single girlfriends? Did you meet anyonenice?”
And there it was. Marie fishing for information. While she might have been interested in the particulars of the wedding, he knew where her real interest lay. “I wasn’t looking,” he replied, gruffly. “I was there to work.”
“It must have been beautiful?” Marie persisted.
“It was.” But he was here to ensure that the drink flowed freely, and he’d done that.
As far as weddings went, this one had been spectacular. Nothing ostentatious, or over-the-top crass, butbeautiful,but he wasn’t about to tell Marie that. “You didn’t call to ask about the wedding, did you?”
“I wouldn’t waste my time. Besides, you can tell me everything when you get back. Rumor has it that a new site on Canal Street is going to come on the market in a couple of weeks.”
Canal Street?“I want it.” He had been on the lookout for a building to come up for sale in Tribeca. A bar or club there would never fail.
“I haven’t told you anything about it, yet,” Marie protested.
“You don’t have to. I still want it.”
“Even if it’s got mold and subsidence?”
“Problems can be fixed.” A bar on Canal Street would be a major achievement. Not bad for a guy who had yet to turn thirty in three years’ time. He’d already shown his father that he could cope on his own; he’d been doing so ever since he’d been thrown out of the family home at seventeen and had moved in with Travis.
Three years later, after he and Travis fell out over a girl, he left his brother’s apartment, too.
“I knew you’d be interested. I’ll look out for it and arrange a viewing as soon as it’s available.”
“Thanks.”
Marie was a godsend. Who else would he have left in charge in his absence? It was only because of her that he had been able to go to a private island for a few days, effectively becoming one of the highest paid mixologists in New York, albeit temporarily.
“Everything running smoothly?” he asked, swatting what was probably a mosquito at the back of his shoulder.
“Of course.”
“Anything else I need to know about?”
“You’ve only been gone a few days. Relax,” Marie told him. “The Oasis isn’t about to collapse. It’s in my capable hands.”
“I know. That’s why I left you in charge.”
“Be good,” she said.
“I’m always good.”
“That’s debatable.” She chuckled and hung up, leaving him with a grin on his face.
No matter what, he intended to get this new place, even if it meant he’d have to pay through the nose for it. Canal Street was prime real estate. Anything he set down there—a bar and club similar to The Oasis and The Vault—would make money, hand over fist. If he managed to get it, the Canal Street site would be another jewel in his empire and after that, maybe he would have a similar operation in Miami in the summer, and LA at the end of next year.
He looked up, startled by the sound of a kid laughing. Really,reallylaughing.
Jacob, Tobias’s new step-son, was walking along the beach with his nanny, Izzy, following behind him with a cocktail in her hand.
She smiled as she walked up to him. “They let you escape from your bar?” she asked, moving the brightly colored cocktail umbrella out of the way, before lifting the glass to her lips.
“I had to take a call.” He liked Izzy. She was cool. Easy-going and friendly, but not in an obvious want-to-get-to-know-you better way. She didn’t strike him as the kind of girl who had ulterior motives, and in his line of work he’d seen plenty of that around; sexy young women on the arms of Wall Street banker boys flashing their plastic cards.
“What’s that?” he asked, curious.
“A Mockmosa, at least that’s what the other bartender told me.”
