Chapter 5 Ruby
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a pedicure right now, or just a warm bath to soak my feet in. The balls of my feet were absolutely killing me, but the wine was helping. I’d only taken two sips, but I already felt warm and soft all over.
The sound of the door opening caught my attention. Grant was here already. I’d so hoped he would be a few minutes late, but of course he wasn’t.
“Good evening,” he greeted me as he came in.
“Hey,” I said lazily. I didn’t make any attempt to hop down from the barstool.
“Thanks for making time this late in the evening. I won’t be very long. I want us to go through—”
“No, no, no. You ambushed me after work. We go at my pace,” I said.
There was a twinkle in his eyes. “Is that so?”
“I need to finish this glass first.”
He looked at my wine intently and then hopped onto the stool right next to mine. I leaned over the bar and grabbed a fresh wineglass, setting it next to him. He took my bottle and poured himself a glass.
“Oh, you’re taking me up on my offer for a drink this time. ”
“It was four o’clock when I was here last time,” he reminded me. “Not exactly happy hour.”
“You’re right.”
“Tell me about the wine.”
“It’s a merlot,” I explained. “One of our very best. We opened it tonight for some clients. They didn’t finish it, and”—I shrugged—“sometimes I do this. When there’s a glass or two instead of throwing it away, I—”
“Put it to good use,” he finished for me.
I laughed. “Exactly! Thanks for not judging.”
“Why would I judge?” He held up his glass, expertly swirling it and inhaling the aroma before taking a sip. His eyebrows shot up. “This is very good. Maybe one of the best wines I’ve had.”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I just figured I wouldn’t find something like this in a—” He stopped abruptly.
“In a restaurant like mine?”
He cleared his throat. “This wine is high-end.”
I raised a brow. “Did you even bother to look at my website properly?”
“No,” he admitted. “I only glanced at the pictures to get an idea of the layout. I didn’t look at anything else.”
“Well, I worked in the wine industry and have taken several sommelier courses, so I know my wines,” I explained.
“If I’m honest, I think that’s how I even built up my clientele.
I mean, the food is delicious, don’t get me wrong.
Richie is amazing in the kitchen, and I’m lucky to have him.
But this neighborhood needed a space that also offered good wine.
I always thought my parents’ restaurant needed better drinks. ”
“This is a family business?” he asked, focusing those gorgeous blue eyes on me. Hmm, was it possible that he was in a better mood today, or was the wine already softening him too? He didn’t seem as belligerent as last time.
“Not in the way you think. My parents owned a restaurant while I was growing up, and I always wanted my own. They sold it when they retired. I was in the corporate world back then.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You opened this place recently? Daphne mentioned something about it, but I don’t remember.”
“Two years ago. And I broke even last year.”
“That’s impressive,” he said and tilted slightly toward me.
Oh, yes, sexy man. That’s it. Just come a little bit closer. It had been so long since I’d been kissed.
Damn, I had known this man for a hot minute and was already dreaming about him kissing me. That wasn’t right. It’d just been far too long since I’d been kissed. That was all, I was sure of it.
“It typically takes up to seven years.”
“Yes, I know. I read all the statistics before I started my business. Quite frankly, I’m not even sure how people survive those seven years. Anyway, this place means a lot to me. It’s like my home these days.”
I wasn’t totally sure why I was telling him all of this. I was always an open book, and all of my employees knew my life story. But Grant wasn’t exactly inviting in that sense.
I tipped my glass back and got up from my seat. “All right, I’m ready for the tour whenever you are.” I narrowed my eyes. “You barely touched your wine.”
“I just wanted to taste it. I drove.”
“Oh, right.”
“Besides, I want to be razor-sharp.”
“So you can make sure my tiny restaurant doesn’t get invaded during the engagement party.” I put my hand to my mouth. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. But I can’t possibly take this seriously. I’ve had many events here, and nothing’s ever happened.”
“Let’s not go through that again,” Grant said.
“Okay. ”
“Actually, if you’re open to it, I can just go look around myself.”
I raised a brow. “Really? That’s possible? Because I would love you forever. My feet are killing me.”
He looked down and then patted the stool. “You sit right here, and I’ll be back as soon as I’m done. I won’t be more than fifteen minutes.”
“Take your time. I’ll catch up on my online shopping.”
“Perfect.”
I watched him head straight to the kitchen. Damn, his walk was sexy—all swagger and sex appeal. Yum.
The second he was out of sight, I took out my phone.
To my astonishment, Grant was back before I even managed to finalize my shopping cart. I had a bit of an Etsy addiction when it came to decorations. I simply liked homemade stuff.
“I’m done,” he said.
“That was fast. So, what’s the verdict? Can you secure it 100 percent?”
He tilted his head. “Let’s go over this tomorrow.”
“Why not now?”
“Because you’ve had a glass of wine and are exhausted.”
I smirked. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
“Ruby, it’s after midnight. You’re in a restaurant. You’ve been on your feet for many hours. If I’m honest, I’m tired too. I just really wanted to take a look at this place without anyone around.”
“Then just give me a hint. But please let me down very, very gently, if you have to.”
“We’re having the party here. It’s important to Daphne and Roger.” His shoulders seemed to drop a bit as he said it.
“That just means you couldn’t convince them otherwise, doesn’t it?” I challenged, and he started to laugh.
So he could laugh, huh? That was good to know.
“You’re right. So we’re going to have the party here.”
“Music to my ears.” I clapped my hands together. “Well, all right, then. I’ll be heading home. We can talk tomorrow or whenever.”
“Where did you park? There aren’t any other cars out front.”
“I walk to the restaurant. I live two streets away.”
He stared at me. “You walk home every night at midnight?”
“Yes.”
He looked at my purse, which I’d set on the bar top. “Do you have pepper spray in there?”
“Yes, I do, actually. I’ve carried one with me forever, but I’ve never had to use it.”
“You own a car?”
“Yes, but I’m not going to drive for only, like, thirty seconds. Besides, it does me well to stretch my legs a bit after being on my feet all day.”
“I’ll walk you home.”
My eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I will walk you home,” he repeated as if I hadn’t heard him, but I did. I just couldn’t believe it.
“Grant, come on. I walk home by myself every night.”
“Not tonight.”
I just stared at him for a second. “You’re serious.”
“Yes. Besides, we can talk some more on the way.” He waved me forward, and we both headed to the exit.
“About what? I thought you said we were too tired.”
“I am, but I just had an idea. Do you have an event here soon?”
“Yes, actually, this weekend. We almost always have events starting in June.”
“I’d like to attend it.”
I looked up at him as I closed the door of the restaurant, setting the alarm. “I’ll need a good explanation for that.”
“I want to get an idea of the comings and goings during a party. Sometimes it’s hard to see weak spots until there are a lot of people inside and far more commotion than usual.”
“Sure, suit yourself.” I yawned. “That way,” I said, pointing to my left. There was only one car parked on the street—a Lexus—so I assumed it belonged to him. “You’re coming back to your car on foot?”
He cocked a brow. “Obviously.”
“Do you have pepper spray on you?” I challenged.
“No, but I’m 6'3" and pack a lot of muscle. I can take care of myself.”
Well, I couldn’t argue with that. He truly was a delicious wall of muscles.
A thought hit me, and I tipped my head back with a groan.
“Oh, shoot, I told my brother I’d call him after I finished tonight.
I’ll have to message him when I get home.
He’s been on my case forever for not making time to meet him, and he’s right.
” I looked up to find him watching me with a smile. “What?”
“You talk a lot.”
“No one told you that’s not a polite thing to say?”
He shook his head. “No. Though I know it’s not polite to ask about a woman’s age.”
I laughed. “Well, I own up to my age too. Thirty-four and proud. Never understood people who want to freeze time at a certain age. It’s a privilege to get older.
Not everyone gets to live a long life.” I was still thinking about how to catch up with Mateo.
“Anyway, I do have to figure out a way to spoil my brother and spend some quality time with him.”
“You’re close to him, then?”
“Oh, yeah. Very. My mom was a teacher before she started working with Dad in the restaurant. She said she’d never met siblings who didn’t fight, but my brother and I truly didn’t.”
“That’s not my experience.”
“You have two brothers, right?”
He narrowed his eyes, and I realized he didn’t like that I knew that about him. After all, he hadn’t volunteered the information.
I licked my lips. “Daphne told me.”
“What else did she tell you? ”
“That you own a security company.”
I decided not to say anything else beyond that. The information she’d shared with me had been truly personal. If I were in his shoes, I’d be pissed that someone had blabbed about me.
“So, are you close to your brothers?” I asked, hoping that would distract him.
His eyes were still dark and uneasy, but he nodded. “Yes. I run my business with them, so we see each other often.”
“You know, I’d love for my brother to run the restaurant with me, but I’ve got no chance of convincing him. He likes his IT job, but it’d be great to have someone else to chat with about the ins and outs of the restaurant.”
“How about your parents?” he asked.
“What about them?”
“Do you talk to them about it?”
“Sometimes, but they’re retired and not really in the loop. All right, here we are,” I said, pointing to my house.
Grant immediately looked around. He was sweeping the perimeter, I was sure of it.
“What’s that?” he asked, looking to the left and pointing all the way to the back.
“That’s my shed, which also doubles as my reading and painting area.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, my house is small, so I had to get creative.”
“And you’ve got cameras everywhere?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, wondering how he would react if I told him that there were times when I didn’t even lock my shed. I knew that was actually stupid, and insurance wouldn’t pay anything if there was a break-in, but sometimes I truly forgot.
“I don’t know. Would you like to come in and check?”
I was, honest to goodness, simply teasing.
“Yeah, I would, actually, but not tonight. It’s too late.” My eyes bulged, and he grinned. “You were bluffing, weren’t you? ”
“Yes. God!” I started to laugh.
“Well, I was joking too. Although if you want, I can drop by when I come for the weekend event.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I assured him. He was going to throw a fit when he found out that my “security” was simply my key.
“Okay, then. Have a great night, Ruby.”
“Same.”
After he left, I closed the door and smiled to myself. This evening didn’t go that bad. In fact, it didn’t go bad at all.
I couldn’t believe I was already going to see him again on the weekend. I was strangely looking forward to it.