Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
IRIS
As I step into the restaurant, my stomach fills with nerves.
First dates never get easier, but I have to keep trying. I need to keep trying. I can’t keep waiting for Max to wake up and realize what’s in front of him. I want to get married and have kids. If I want that to happen, it’s not going to be with him. He has made that much clear.
“Hi, welcome to La Perina. How can I help you?” the hostess asks.
“Hi, I’m supposed to be meeting someone,” I tell the woman.
“Iris?” a man says, cutting me off.
I turn and smile. “Pete?”
He smiles back as he approaches. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” I say as he leans down and kisses my cheek.
“I got us a table over here,” he tells me.
“Lead the way.”
I follow him to the table, and like a gentleman, he pulls out my chair for me to sit.
“Thank you,” I tell him as I take a seat.
“Of course,” he says as he rounds the table and sits.
For a moment, I take him in. His hair is a dirty blond, and his eyes are blue. He’s tall, and despite the fact he’s wearing a suit, I can tell he’s thin in build by the way it hangs on him.
He’s one hundred percent not my type, but still I try.
Because your type is an emotionally unavailable billionaire who will die alone.
I push thoughts of Max away and smile.
He runs his hand through his hair nervously. “Thanks for agreeing to meet.”
“Of course,” I say as a server comes up.
After placing our drink order, I turn back to him. “So tell me about yourself.”
“Well, as you know, I’m thirty-six, and I work in tech. I’m from Portland, Oregon, and I’ve lived out here for seven years.”
I remember that from his bio on the dating app. I also remember that it stated he was a widower, his wife having passed when they were young.
I can’t imagine what that must feel like. Loving someone and losing them so unexpectedly sounds horrifying.
And yet he’s putting himself out there and trying to move on. He’s stronger than me.
Again, Max fills my head when I try to imagine it. Even when he isn’t here, he is invading my thoughts.
“I’m quite a bit older than you, right?” he asks.
“Just a few years,” I tell him.
“Is that an issue for you?”
I shake my head. “No, as far as I’m concerned, age is just a number at this point. As long as we get along, I’d consider that a win.”
My words put him at ease, and he relaxes.
“Are you from Boston?” he asks.
“I am. I love it here.” I give him a genuine smile.
It’s the truth. I was born and raised here. It was hard for me to make the move to NYC.
The server comes over to take our order, and I quickly scan the menu and pick the first thing that sounds good.
“Did you ever think about leaving? Seeing what’s out there?” he asks when the server walks away.
“Actually, I travel a lot for work, and to be completely honest, I’m not currently living here in Boston,” I admit.
When I started on the dating app, I decided I didn’t want to date any New Yorkers. I wanted to date someone from my hometown. It’s where I hope to settle down one day.
“Oh, where do you live?” he asks.
“My office is based in New York City, but I come back here to visit all the time.”
“Oh.” He sounds disappointed.
“Is that an issue?”
He shakes his head. “No, not at all.”
“Are you sure?” I push.
He forces a smile. “Yes, of course. Now tell me, where have you gone?”
Leaning back in my chair, I tell him all about the places I’ve been with The Williamson Group. By the time I’m done, he’s shaking his head with a smile.
“Man, I can’t compete with that. I’ve been to Canada and Mexico, and that’s it. Well, besides all fifty states.”
“Hey, all fifty states is an accomplishment on its own,” I point out.
“True.”
The conversation turns again, and while I’m having a good time, I know this isn’t going anywhere. There is no spark between Pete and me. He feels like a friend, and that’s it. He’s nice enough but not my type. Not the kind of guy who I want to settle down and build a life with.
“Iris!” a little voice shouts.
I turn to look right as a little body slams into mine, making me rock in my chair.
“Ari,” I say, full of shock as I stare down at Max’s niece.
“I didn’t know you were joining us for dinner.” She smiles.
“Oh, I’m not. Are you here with your mom and dad?” I look up, expecting to see Mason and Olivia, but instead find Max, scowling.
“No, silly, I’m on a date with Uncle Max,” she tells me.
“Well, that’s sweet. I’m here on a date too,” I tell her, not looking away from her uncle.
I’ve known Max for a decade, and not once have I ever seen him look as annoyed as he currently does. I bite my tongue, stopping myself from asking if everything’s okay.
I’m off the clock. I don’t need to make sure he’s perfectly fine every moment of the day anymore, even if we are best friends. I need to start that separation of us if I have any chance of finding happiness.
Still, sometimes it’s hard to kill old habits.
“You have a boyfriend?” Ari asks.
I hum as I tilt my head from side to side. “Pete is a friend I’m having dinner with.”
Pete clears his throat, making me look his way.
“Oh, sorry. Let me introduce you. Pete, this is Ari, my friend’s daughter, and her Uncle Max, who’s a dear friend and my boss.”
I don’t miss the way Max’s eye twitches at the word “boss,” but like always, he stays composed. He shakes Pete’s hand when Pete reaches for him.
“Nice to meet you,” Pete says.
“You too.”
“Have you and Iris worked together very long?” Pete asks, trying to get to know him.
“You could say that. Ari, let’s leave Iris to get back to her date.” Max sounds bitter, but I don’t know why.
Internally I flinch at the word “date,” feeling like I’ve done something wrong.
I’m a single woman, I’m allowed to go out with men. I remind myself.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Max says as Ari pulls out of my hold.
“See you then.” I smile at them.
As Pete sits back down. I watch as Max and Ari walk across the room, hand in hand, and can’t help but wish I was going with them.
“Are you okay?” Pete asks, pulling me back to him.
“Of course.”
“Your friend, he’s a chatty one, isn’t he?” Pete jokes.
“If only you knew. Now enough about them, where were we?” I ask, trying to get this date back on track.
Without thinking about it, my eyes move back to Max and find him already looking at me from across the room, and I can’t help but wonder, what is he thinking about? And why is he looking at me like that?
MAX
As I step off the elevator, the floor is quiet. I make my way to my office here at The Williamson Hotel and pause when I see that Iris’s is still shut. I look at my wrist to check the time.
I beat her in.
That never happens.
Is she okay?
Did she make it home safely after her date?
Shaking my head, I head into my office and sit down behind my desk. Instead of firing up my computer to see what’s on the schedule for the day, I spin and turn to look out the window. My thoughts are already consumed with her.
Iris.
When I met her a decade ago, I instantly became smitten.
The way she spilled her guts to me in the middle of a busy coffee shop was adorable.
When she walked away, I kicked myself for not getting her full name and number.
I wanted to know more about her. I wanted to take her out and see where things would go.
That all changed when, not even an hour later, she walked into my office.
I hired her without thinking twice. As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted it. I wanted her for myself but couldn’t.
I won’t mix business with pleasure.
Not like he did.
My father made it no secret when he was alive that he liked to fuck his assistants, and I refuse to be like him. Especially where Mason and I have worked our asses off, trying to clean up the messes our parents left behind.
Still, that didn’t change the fact I wanted her.
I still want her. A fact that isn’t well hidden. Something that the guys have teased me about. Hell, my brother even gave me his blessing and told me to take the chance, but after this long, I can’t.
Iris means too much to me to ruin it all now.
Friends. We’re only friends, and that’s all we’re meant to be.
Even if I want to beat her date to a pulp just for being seen with her in public.
I don’t deserve someone as good and pure as Iris. Neither does he, though.
A knock on the door has me looking over my shoulder. Iris is standing in my doorway, her blond hair pulled back from her face and wearing a white blouse tucked into some wide-legged black slacks and heels that I would bet money have red bottoms.
“Hey, is everything okay?” she asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
She raises a brow. “You’re sitting in the dark, and you didn’t even turn on your monitor.”
I look up at the light on the ceiling and see that it is, in fact, off.
Shit.
“I got distracted by the sunrise. I miss watching it here in Boston.” It’s not a complete lie.
I miss my life in Boston. I have considered more than once moving our home base here and leaving the New York office as a satellite office. I haven’t had the time to really flesh it out, though.
She hums as she walks into my office and takes a seat across from me, setting her tablet in her lap.
“I love a good sunrise,” she muses.
I know.
“What’s up?” I ask, changing the subject.
“I wanted to go over the schedule with you,” she says as she wakes up her tablet.
“You know that’s not your job anymore. We’re equals,” I remind her, making her blush.
“Old habits die hard. Besides, you know I’m not sold on Chad.”
Chad is the assistant that took over for her and who works for the both of us.
He doesn’t do a bad job by any means, he’s just not her.
He doesn’t do things the way she would do, and he’s the type of person who needs direct orders.
He doesn’t see that something needs to be done and jump in without being asked.
“Do you ever miss it?” I blurt out.
Iris looks up with a line between her eyebrows. “Miss what?”
“Being an assistant.”
She rolls her eyes as she relaxes into the chair. “Let’s be real, Max, I was only your assistant for the first year. After that, I was helping you run the hotel.”
“You were, and you know how thankful I am that you stepped up when you didn’t have to.”
It’s no secret that I hate people. I don’t like unnecessary chatter that could have been in an email. I don’t have the time or the energy to listen to people bitch because their feelings are hurt. Iris saw that firsthand and stepped up.
She started doing the tasks she knew I hated, and in return, I paid her for it.
“Anyway…” she says.
For the next twenty minutes, she drones on about our jobs. What hotels need visiting, what the board is pissed about today, and what The Williamson Foundation, our charity, is up to currently. Everything she says goes in one ear and out the other.
I’m too busy fighting myself. All I want to do is ask her about her date. I want to know if she went home alone or if Pete joined her.
Pete. What kind of name is that? The guy looked like a man-child.
Iris sighs, pulling my attention back to her.
“What’s wrong?” I ask without thinking about it.
“You’re distracted. I was trying to discuss work with you, and you were checked out. I asked you if I should dye my hair pink and green, and you nodded,” she says, making me wince.
“Sorry, I was thinking about the game tonight,” I lie.
Her eyes light up. “It should be a good one tonight. The girls and I were already talking about it in our group chat this morning.”
I smile. Brantley owns the Boston Foxes, which means we get tickets any time we want. I never miss a game when I’m in town nor when they come to a town near us. Especially because I know how much Iris loves watching them.
She’s a true Boston girl through and through.
Tonight is extra special, though. For the first time in a while, all of our friends will be there.
That means we get to see Adrianna driving Eli up a wall.
Olivia and Ari giving Mason a heart attack as they talk about all the different players and who Ari likes best at the moment. Girl dad problems, am I right?
Then there is Brantley himself. He will be there with his girlfriend Chloe as she causes chaos to add to his stress. He loves it and her, though.
I only wish I could pair myself and Iris like that. Sure, we go together as best friends, but no one talks about how in love we are.
I want that.
Iris looks at her watch. “I need to get to my office. I have a call with the manager down in Jamaica about some numbers.”
“Have fun. I’ll be here.”
Iris stands and walks to the door, pausing about halfway. “Before I forget, I need to apologize.”
“For what?”
She shifts awkwardly on her heels, something that is completely unlike her.
“Did something happen last night? Was the date okay?” I ask, hating the bile in my throat.
She nods. “It was a little awkward. I don’t think Pete is the man I will marry.”
Thank fuck.
“You deserve the best, Iris. Don’t settle for less.”
Iris smiles as her shoulders relax. “Thanks, Max. See you later.”
I watch as she walks away, taking a piece of my heart with her, even though she doesn’t have a clue.