Just One Taste (Topped #2)(52)

“He’s looking for dungeon monitors and some professionals. The club has taken on a life of its own. I get the feeling if he could take it back to its roots, he would, but Big Tag is a realist. McKay-Taggart needs the connections he’s made through the club. He’s got all the high rollers in Dallas and some national connections coming in and out of Sanctum. He can use that when the going gets tough, and it always does. He’s building an empire.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be his soldier.”

He reached out and put a hand over hers. “I’m not. I’ve agreed to be a dungeon monitor, but not to professionally top clients. Javier, Althea, and Gage are all going to do that. I suspect he’s going to have a talk with the subs about the same types of jobs. I saw the new girl had already signed a contract, the one who got paired with Javier.”

“Mia?” Deena’s fingers tangled with his. “She’s nice. A bit weird though. She asks a lot of questions.”

The pretty blonde had been a mystery to Javi. He’d done everything he could to get in the girl’s panties, but she constantly turned him down. With a smile, of course. “She’s agreed to work at Sanctum full time so he’s got plenty of new recruits. He won’t be too upset about us.”

“Good, because there’s something else we need to talk about and it does involve Big Tag. And Chef. I looked into your business plan.”

It was the day for surprises. “You did?”

“Yes, and after we discuss that I have a surprise for you.” She let go of his hand and reached down into her bag, pulling out a familiar file folder. It was the same printout he’d given her days before. His business plan. He was surprised when she pulled out the contract he was set to sign with the Taggart brothers.

He frowned down at it. “Where did you get that?”

“You left it on the kitchen table along with the business plan. I assumed you wanted me to look at everything if I’m going to help you with this.” She flipped through the contract. “I made a few changes, but I think it’s sound. I want to talk to the lawyer about a couple of things. I think the royalty fee is a little high.”

He winced. “It’s Sean’s company and his brand. He and Ian are helping me start up. The fee isn’t outside the norm.”

“I know that, but I’m trying to look out for your best interests. And it’s on the high end of normal. It also ties you up for the next five years.”

Did she think he hadn’t read the contract? “I’m cool with it. I’m not going anywhere.”

“No. You won’t be for five years,” she pointed out needlessly. “According to this you can’t open another restaurant for five years. As far as I can tell, you can’t even work in another restaurant for five years.”

“I’ll be working at my own, Deena.” He wasn’t sure what the problem was and he didn’t like the tone of her voice.

“What happens if it doesn’t work out in Fort Worth?” She leaned forward, pointing to the contract. “Anything can happen. We should know that. We got hit by a tornado last year. What if that happens at your location? What if the city comes in and uses eminent domain to push you out of your location? Any of a number of things can happen. There’s no language excluding failure in this contract. If Sean wanted to hold you to the noncompete clause, you wouldn’t be able to work in the industry even if your place of business fails. You would be forced to move to another city and start all over again.”

He sighed. She was being cynical. “That wasn’t the intent of the language.”

“The intent means nothing in a court of law,” she pointed out. “This contract binds you even if something happens to Sean and someone else takes over.”

The whole conversation was making him antsy. This wasn’t what he’d meant for her to do when he’d asked her to look at his business plan. He hadn’t meant for her to go through the contract. He simply wanted to open a damn restaurant. He wasn’t going to make a federal case out of it.

She sat up straighter, obviously warming to her subject. “I also don’t like that there’s no written agreement that forces Sean to support the restaurant with personal appearances. He’s about to be on TV. Food Network is doing a special on new chefs and Sean Taggart is going to be featured. Chef is smart, funny, and quite frankly the man is gorgeous. He’s going to be very popular on that show. Six months from now, it’s not only the Top brand that will be worth money. It’s going to be Chef Taggart, and if he’s making money off your hard work, he can support it with guaranteed appearances. It would also be nice if we could get you featured on the show. You’ve got a great backstory. We can use that with the press.”

This was the part of the job he hated. He wanted to cook. That was all he wanted to do, but he could see the point. Still, it didn’t seem right to ask the man to do more than what he’d already done. “I think Top Fort Worth can stand on its own and I don’t even want to talk about the press. That will work itself out.”

She shook her head. “It won’t. I want to talk to you about bringing in a publicist. Not full time at first. I have a couple of names of people I want to interview. If we can get some solid write-ups about the way Top works, I think we can draw great crowds. I expect that you’re going to continue hiring veterans like Sean has.”