Chapter 19 #2
“I think we both know you’d get weird if I asked for something frivolous and expensive. I’ll buy my own Manolos, thanks.” She brushed past me toward the register, already reaching for her purse until I stopped her with a hand on her wrist.
“Let me. All of today is covered, whatever you want.”
The cashier looked ready to swoon over that declaration, but she wasn’t who I wanted swooning for me. Clover was a tougher nut to crack, but I was determined to figure her out.
“Forest will love these, thanks.”
“What would you like for dinner? I know an incredible Japanese place with an omakase menu that’s to die for.”
“I can’t have shrimp, so probably safer to avoid. Are you too fancy for a burger?”
I couldn’t quite remember the last time I’d had one. “Avery forced a love of them on me when we became friends.”
“That sounds like something he would do. Did you force anything fancy on him in return?”
“Duck confit crepes. It took him a while to appreciate, and he cried while feeding the ducks at the park after the first time he tried it, but it’s one of his favorites now.”
She tilted her head, her blue eyes piercing straight into my soul. “I’d be down for fancy crepes. I’ve never had duck confit before.”
“Then you’re in for a treat.”
I called ahead to the restaurant, and they confirmed they’d make sure a table was open for us.
Clover was thoroughly baffled when we arrived.
The valet took her car, and they swept us right inside to a private booth, servers already approaching the table with food by the time our drink orders were taken.
“Parker, what the fuck is happening?” she hissed quietly.
“Excellent service.” I sipped my sparkling water while she nervously sucked down half of her sweet tea. “They know what I like when I come here.”
Clover’s eyes were enormous as the various plates landed on the table and I showed her the best way—in my opinion—to assemble the crepes. Her muffled groan at her first bite shot straight to my cock.
“You like it?”
“Oh my god. This is fucking bomb.” She polished off three more before she surfaced to breathe. “I can see why you enjoy this place.”
I smiled, warmed that, at the very least, she had good taste. “One of my favorites. Tell me about yourself. Where did you go to college?”
“University of Washington. I didn’t go far for my bachelor’s, but I have options on both coasts for law school.”
“Law school?” That wouldn’t have been my first guess. I hoarded the details she revealed, intending to keep each one to myself as I formed a picture of this beautiful omega.
“Yep. I have offers from Harvard, Yale, and UCLA, but I’m struggling to choose which would be best for me.
Obviously, UCLA would mean I can stay where I am, but I do like the look on people’s faces when you bring up the Ivies.
Just like yours now because you didn’t think I could get into those schools, right? ”
I quickly corrected my features, but it was too late. “I—”
“I know what I look like, Parker. I also know that you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance. Graduating summa cum laude is a point of pride for me, and being a blonde gal with big tits doesn’t affect my brain.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay, fair. I’m sorry. That’s great you got those offers, and you should be proud. I got a business degree at Stanford, though I only graduated magna cum laude, so you’ve got me beat there.”
She puffed up like an unfairly gorgeous peacock. “Business was top of my list for what I figured you studied. What about the others?”
“Avery did business too. Logan didn’t get a degree, he just took classes that caught his interest. Mostly the same for Hunter since his music career took off when he graduated high school.”
“I thought the record label was newer?” Clover asked as she assembled another crepe.
I was more surprised than I should’ve been. “Do you actually not know who he is?”
She tilted her head like a confused pup. “What do you mean?”
“He’s Hunter Hartwell. The rock star?”
The blatant shock on her face told me everything I needed to know. She had no idea who the fuck we were, and she wanted us anyway. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be formulating ways to take advantage now that she’d been told, but for the moment, some of my worries were assuaged.
“Are you shitting me right now?” Clover yanked out her phone, and I watched her search his name and scroll.
“Well, now I feel stupid. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him and got sidetracked on figuring out why.
That’s so cool! I definitely had his debut album and didn’t realize what he’d gotten up to after he stopped performing and recording.
I guess a record label feels like a natural progression. ”
“I thought so too. He has a knack for scoping out talent.” We kept talking while working our way through the rest of the food.
I gave sparse details about my childhood, and she returned the favor as we sized each other up.
She lit up when she talked about her fathers, about Meadow—whom I vaguely knew through Hunter’s contacts—and her nephew.
Every word weakened my resolve against her as she made it blatantly obvious why my pack mates had been drawn in.
Fuck me.
I couldn’t help staring at the way her lips formed her vowels or the sparkle in her eyes when she got excited about a story. I nearly perished when I said something that made her laugh and she gently shoved me, the brief contact making me forget what I’d even said to begin with.
“Can I ask a question that’s almost guaranteed to make you be weird about it?”
What on earth could she possibly ask? “Um, sure?”
“What do you do with your money? Like, what’s the point of having that much? I’d be building libraries and hospitals and providing free school supplies to all the kiddos if I had bank like you guys do.”
“We do a fair bit of that through registered charities,” I replied carefully.
“Yeah, but philanthropy on that scale usually turns around and benefits the donors as much, if not more, than the recipients. It’s like an emotional get-out-of-jail-free card so you feel like you’re doing something good while still helping yourself.”
“Something wrong with helping yourself and doing good at the same time?”
Clover shrugged. “Have you ever looked at someone struggling and fixed the issue for them simply because you could?”
“I…no, I guess not.”
“That’s what I would do if I was rich. I know it’s not a fix for everything, but you’d be surprised how little money is actually required to change someone’s life.
” She glanced past me as our server appeared to bring us fresh drinks.
When she departed, Clover focused back on me.
“Bet you five grand would give her peace of mind, cover her rent for a while.”
“Are you asking me to give her five thousand dollars?” Why would she want me to give a random person money? That wasn’t the modus operandi of a gold digger.
“No, I’m just saying. You probably come across a ton of people whose lives could be made better by what you carry around in your pocket, and I want to plant the seed that there’s nothing stopping you from improving lives.
Because you don’t really get to see your donation dollars at work when you give to big foundations, right?
You could get those warm fuzzies immediately if you sacrifice the tax write-off. ”
When our server came by again to check on us, I was still ruminating on Clover’s words. “What percentage of your tips do you keep?”
The server blinked at me. “Ninety percent, sir. Ten percent is split with the rest of the staff.”
“Would I be out of line to ask how much your rent is per month?”
Clover’s eyes were hot on me, but I remained focused on my task.
“Um, it’s, uh, seventeen-hundred for my one-bedroom apartment.”
“Thank you. Please bring us the bill when you have a moment.”
“What are you doing?” Clover asked as the server scuttled away.
“Taking your advice.” I did a quick mental calculation before adding twenty-three thousand dollars as the tip on the bill. I added my credit card and passed it all back to her. “The service was impeccable, thank you.”
The server promptly burst into tears when she saw the amount. I’d calculated to cover a year of her rent, taking the tip-out portion into account. The manager overheard the fuss and hustled over like lightning.
“Is there a problem?”
The server hastily shook her head, clutching the bill and my card to her chest.
“No problem. We had a wonderful dinner, and I wanted to show my appreciation. Please ensure she receives her appropriate share.”
The manager’s eyes bugged out of his head when he saw the amount and quickly ushered the server away to process it. When my card was returned, the server was still in tears.
“I don’t know how to thank you.” She sniffled. “But I’ll say it anyway. Thank you so much. You don’t know what this means. I—I’ve been so stressed about money. This will make such a difference. Thank you.”
I hadn’t anticipated the pride flowing through my chest like warm honey or the high of being faced with tearful gratitude.
“You’re more than welcome,” I assured her. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”
By the time Clover and I departed, the whole staff knew what had transpired. When we got outside, I whispered to her, “Now what’s to stop them from expecting that every time I go there?”
“Nothing, but it wouldn’t hurt you if you did that for every server you ever have,” Clover pointed out. “You changed her life, and it’s natural for people struggling to want the same for themselves. How did it feel?”
“Incredible.”
Clover beamed. “And it was so easy for you to make a difference. I’m not saying you should shell out thousands to anyone you pass, but I’m not dissuading it either.
” She hooked her arm around mine, and I stared at it for a moment, potent desire sliding straight through me as her scent sweetened along with her smile.
“Should I be getting you home?”
“Not quite yet,” she replied, and I felt like I’d won the fucking lottery. “You’re nice to be around when you’re not being a dick, and I’d like to see how long it can last.”