7. Natasha
NATASHA
As soon as this dinner was over, I was going to kill Stacy.
Actually, I wanted to drag her away to the bathroom and do it there before the appetizers turned up.
I’d already had to endure that godawful play.
Was getting me roped into eating dinner with my grumpy boss and his friends really necessary?
It was bad enough that I had to pretend to be his girlfriend whenever Dee was around—despite how much I liked and admired her. I didn’t need to be sharing meals with Trent during my downtime too!
“Ooo, love this place,” Stacy said as we walked through the doors of Temple Gardens, a pricey open-air bar and restaurant just down the street from the Glenhaven.
I’d eaten here once before, and though the food was delicious, the menu prices made it a special-occasions-only choice.
But I’d just started a new job that paid me more than I’d ever made before, so perhaps tonight counted as a special occasion, even if I was spending it with my nemesis.
“Have you tried their spicy mozza sticks?” Dominic asked.
He had a warm smile, but still carried an air of confidence and authority.
With sandy hair greying at the temples, slicked back away from his chiseled face, he was giving silver fox vibes.
Actually, all of Trent’s friends were ridiculously good looking.
Vincent gave off retired rockstar vibes, and with Aiden’s blond curls and tall, well-built frame, he could have stepped out of some Norse myth.
Come to think of it, I was pretty sure I’d seen his face on some magazine covers.
What did Trent do? Troll for friends on ?
“Yes! So good. I would sell my soul for some of those,” Stacy said.
Dominic grinned. “You and me both.”
“Are we eating inside or outside?” Trent asked, sounding a little irritated as he approached the hostess. Well, I could assure him of one thing—I was even more irritated.
“Outside,” Vincent said. “It’s a nice evening.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. It was warm, even for mid-September, all the guys still in their shorts and t-shirts from their squash game.
I tried not to stare at the way Trent’s shirt pulled against his broad chest. He was just sweaty enough for his shirt to cling to his well-defined biceps in a very distracting way.
Bosses should not be allowed to look like that.
Especially grumpy jerks.
“If you follow me,” the hostess said, leading us across the restaurant and passed the bar decorated with so much plant life it looked like it had sprung up in the middle of a rainforest.
“Cora would love this,” Dominic said, elbowing Aiden.
He nodded. “I’ll have to bring her back here.”
The hostess stopped in front of a large table. I sat down with Stacy to my right. Dominic sat next to her, and the rest of the guys sat on the other side of the table. Trent ended up in the chair directly across from mine.
I picked up my menu so I wouldn’t stare at his undeniably beautiful face.
It was too tempting, though, and I snuck a couple glances as the waitress appeared for our drink order.
Except for Dominic, who got a mocktail, the guys all ordered alcohol.
Then Aiden and Dominic started asking questions about the drink menu, inquiring as to the types of alcohol used.
I didn’t know if they were trying to show off or if they were genuinely interested, but I tried not to roll my eyes.
I did think that eating with four guys, three of whom I’d never met before and one of whom I couldn’t stand, was going to be horrendous.
I shot Stacy a look that hopefully said next time listen to me.
But she merely beamed in my direction before ordering a flowery-sounding cocktail Dominic talked her into trying.
Ugh. This was about to be the longest dinner of my life. I was tempted to down my meal as quickly as possible so we could get out of here, but I knew it would be a wasted effort. Stacy had never finished a meal quickly in her life because she liked to talk too damn much.
I sighed. If I was going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, I might as well make the best of it. “I’ll take a Whiskey Sour, please.”
“Nice choice,” Aiden said. “You a big whiskey connoisseur?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I said. “I’ve just never been a fan of beer. I sort of picked my poison in college and stuck with it. But I can’t say I’ve ever been in the position to be picky about the brand.”
“Don’t get this guy started on alcohol,” Vincent said, smirking. “He and Dominic will talk your ear off.”
“Oh?” I asked. Were they the kind of assholes who liked mansplaining every topic under the sun, whether they knew anything about it or not?
“I’m the co-founder and CEO of Elixir,” Aiden said.
“Like…the entire alcohol brand?” Stacy asked. “Like with the big office in midtown? That Elixir?”
Aiden chuckled. “Yeah. Dom’s the other co-founder, not to mention our chief marketing officer.”
I flushed, a little embarrassed by my assumption. Okay, in this case, maybe they did know what they were talking about. At least them interrogating the waitress about the drink menu made more sense now. “Guess we’re talking to the drink experts, then?”
“If you want a real drink connoisseur, you should talk to my other half, Cora…She’s got quite a following for her mixology videos on social media.”
“She’s definitely what I’d call an expert,” Dominic said.
“Really?” Stacy said excitedly. “I follow a couple of mixologists on Snug. I wonder if she’s one of them.”
“You ever heard of the Masked Mixer?”
“Shut up! Seriously?”
Aiden grinned, glancing at me. “She has a video with her take on a Whiskey Sour. If you like to experiment with your drinks a little, she could blow your mind.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the way he talked about her.
“Okay, I can practically see their eyes glazing over,” Trent muttered. “We know you think Cora’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.”
“She is!” Aiden nudged him playfully as our drinks showed up. The waitress took our food orders. When she’d disappeared, Aiden clinked his Old Fashioned against my glass.
“Besides, who wants to talk about alcohol?” Vincent said. He nudged Aiden. “Boring! The ladies like talking about fragrances.”
“Oh, here we go,” Aiden said, rolling his eyes.
“Dare I ask what you know about fragrances?” I laughed.
“I’m the CEO of Summit Fragrances. It’s a family business—like Trent’s, but mine’s been around a bit longer,” he said. “We’re getting ready to launch our latest perfume. I’m calling it Violet after my daughter.”
“Oh, you have kids?” Stacy beamed. She’d always loved children.
Vincent pulled out his phone, bringing up photos. “Just the one so far, but she’s amazing.” He scrolled through images of a beautiful baby girl, and my heart melted a little at the adoring look on his face.
“She’s adorable,” Stacy gushed.
“How old?” I asked.
“Almost six months. We think she’s just about to start crawling.” He beamed proudly as he flipped to another photo. “Oh, this is Violet with Hailey. Dominic’s daughter.” The little girl in the picture looked to be around five years old.
“Looks like you’ve got a little built-in babysitter,” I said.
“She’s convinced Violet’s her doll,” Dominic replied. “I can hardly get her to leave when we visit.”
“That’s too cute,” Stacy said.
I glanced over at Trent as Stacy started talking to Dominic.
Trent wasn’t saying much, mostly just rolling his eyes at his friends, but there was something more open and relaxed about him here.
I never would have guessed he was capable of relaxing.
It looked good on him because, damn it, everything looked good on him.
The way his dark hair hung across his forehead, it took everything inside me not to reach across the table and brush it out of the way so I could see his eyes better.
Even out of his suits, he was sexy as hell.
He caught my eye, his eyebrow arching, almost in challenge, lips tilting up in a hint of a smirk.
I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. It would only fuel the blush hovering beneath my skin.
“What?” he grumbled.
“Nothing.”
“Why are you looking at me?”
“I’m not. You’re looking at me.”
He huffed, narrowing his eyes almost playfully.
My heart lurched. I needed to stop having these thoughts.
This was my boss. Not to mention the grouchy, yelling jerk who had gotten me fired.
But he was also the devoted grandson who’d given me the job of my dreams and who seemed to have a genuinely nice circle of close friends. This was all so confusing. Couldn’t I just go back to hating him? That had been so simple.
“I’ve got the parma chicken club,” the waitress said, returning with our food. Thank God.
“That’s mine!” Dominic said, raising his hand.
The waitress divvied up the meals, and we settled in. I stuffed my face with my chicken burger. I was hungrier than I’d realized, and it was easier to focus on my burger instead of Trent.
“So, is business how you all met?” Stacy asked. “Is there like a club for CEOs or something?”
Dominic laughed. “There are a couple, actually. But no, that’s not how we met. We went to college together—Cornell University. The four of us linked up in a brand management class.”
“And I brought along my roommate, Paul,” Vincent said. “He’s part of the group, even if he couldn’t make it tonight.”
“It’s great that you stuck together after college,” I said. “I feel like so many friend groups fall off when everyone goes their separate ways.”
“Well, we had plenty of reasons to come together since we always spend the holidays and special occasions with Trent and his grandmother,” Aiden explained.
He then went on to spin a tale of winter break their freshman year when family dramas and a baggage handlers’ strike had left Aiden and Vincent with nowhere to go for Christmas, leading them to all come with Trent to Dee’s house in Jamesport.
“She eventually met Paul and Dominic too,” Vincent added, “and from that point on, she basically adopted us. She calls us her Lost Boys.”