Page 44 of Players Like Us
Before he could say more, Dominic appeared with menus. Thank you, Dominic! His gaze held hers for the briefest second, and she didn’t miss the disappointment before he smiled.
“It’s wonderful to see you again, Rachel.”
He turned to Simon, held out a hand. “Dominic Lombardi.”
“Dominic owns Matilda’s.” Not exactly true since Neal owned half of the place, but Rachel wasn’t divulging that information.
Simon perked up, shook Dominic’s hand. “I love this place. The veal medallions are my favorite. I was telling Rachel I’ve eaten all over the world and this is on my top five.”
Would the man please just be quiet? But no, he had to go on and on about how many places he’d been and the food he enjoyed and how he met celebrity chefs. As if it mattered. Dominic remained a gentleman, smiled, nodded, inserted appropriate answers and when Rachel thought the conversation would never end, he turned to her, his voice gentle. “Give me a call tomorrow. We have a lot to talk about.”
They did? “Sure. I look forward to it.” One more look and then he pointed to the drink menus and shifted from Dominic ‘the friend’ to Dominic the ‘restaurant owner’.
When he left to get their drinks, Simon blew out a long sigh. “Wow, that guy’s impressive. Talk about style and class. I wonder if he’d be interested in talking to me about potential menu items? He seemed to appreciate my comments about the food selection and how certain ones compare with those I’ve sampled in restaurants all over the world.”
“I think he has a close-knit group of friends he relies on.” A party of one—Neal Alexander.
Disappointment flashed across his face. “Oh. Well, you can never have enough friends, can you?”
“It depends on the type of friends. Are they true friends? Fair weather friends? For now friends?”
The laugh said he thought she was joking. “You’re something else. Beautiful and sassy. You’re different from most of the women I know. Straightforward, confident, not trying to be someone you aren’t. That’s refreshing for a guy like me who’s tossed into a sea of women all trying to snag me.” He rubbed his jaw, his voice firm. “Even if they don’t get a ring, they want something and that’s why I turned to Claudia’s. It was the perfect way to avoid unwanted entanglements.”
“My understanding is that’s what Claudia’s is supposed to do. Provide companionship and a protection of sorts for men looking to avoid the unwanted entanglements.”
“That’s exactly what the place does, and it’s proven very useful. But when I met you, I realized I might have to break the rules and get booted from Claudia’s for good.” He reached across the table, trailed a finger along her thumb. “You would definitely be worth it.”
“What stopped you from doing it?” As if she would ever agree. The man might be interesting for a night, but he was a user. Rachel wished she could follow Dominic to the bar, ease onto a stool and enjoy a glass of wine and the chef’s special of the day—minus Simon Bainbridge’s overbearing presence. But she’d come for answers and she planned to get all of them before the night was over. “Simon, what happened?”
“Somebody beat me to it and booked up all of your time.” He snatched up the drink the waiter had placed in front of him, took a healthy swallow. “I know we have a post-contract no dating clause, but I figured you wanted to talk about breaking it.” He leaned toward her, his voice soft and gooey. “I miss you, Rachel. We could discuss what it would look like, but it’s going to cost me a hefty chunk of money, so...”
“So?”
A wide smile that brought out the dimples in his cheeks. “So, I’ve got to make sure it’s worth my while.” The smile reached his eyes, turned them three shades darker. “What are you offering?”
“Offering?” She gripped her wine glass to keep from tossing her wine at him. “You misunderstood the reason for my call. I just wanted to catch up, not discuss breaking the post-contract clause.”
Confusion sifted through his words, landed in a thud on the table. “This isn’t about trying to get the best deal?”
“What are you talking about?” Rachel was ready to leave and they hadn’t even ordered yet.
Simon rubbed his jaw, frowned. “Neal Alexander didn’t offer you some sort of side deal or whatever and you’re playing us against each other? I mean, I know he doesn’t go in for places like Claudia’s, but the guy sure had a thing for you.”
27
She sipped her wine, tried to make sense of the man’s words. “Why would you say that? He doesn’t have any ‘side deals’ with me.” Actually, he offered a lot more and I turned him away.
The man laughed as if he thought her response was hysterical. “I say this because he came to me shortly after we saw him at the Plaza. He was definitely into you, even tried to pay me not to see you. Imagine that?” Another laugh that ended in a long sigh. “Alexander is a real pain.”
Neal had tried to make a deal with Simon? “What happened?”
He eased back against the booth, sipped his drink. “I picked up the phone, called Claudia’s and extended our contract. Oh, he didn’t like that, tried to play it cool, like he could care less what I did with you. The tell was in the jaw twitch.” A shrug, and a nod. “Absolutely. Can we not talk about the guy? He acts like he doesn’t care about anything, but if that’s true, then why is he hobnobbing with the executives and banker types? I’ve been watching him for the past year and when we’re at the same functions, he’s not trying to schmooze or get the girl. He almost looks like he’s working a deal.” His face scrunched with disbelief. “No way that could be true because this is Neal Alexander we’re talking about. But something’s off. He’s not the same reckless, I-can-do-anything guy he was a few years ago.”
Maybe not, but he’s doing a very good job of hiding it. “Sometimes people aren’t who we think they are. Or maybe they want us to think they’re someone else because they don’t want judgment or critiques. Have you ever thought about that?”
“Thought about it?” Laughter skittered across the table, grabbed her. “Of course, I’ve thought about it, and if I forget who he is and think about this past year and the people he’s hanging around with…? I’d say the man has developed serious clout and people are listening to him and… That’s just crazy. How could it be possible?”
Rachel sipped her wine, wished she’d chosen a different restaurant. Why had she come here? Had she hoped Neal would show up and grow jealous when he saw her with Simon? Or was she trying to let him and Dominic know she wasn’t going to hide, even if Neal didn’t want to see her? It had been a foolish idea and she should never have called Simon, but she’d needed answers to her suspicions and now that she had them, she wanted to leave. “You know, I don’t think…”
