The Allure of Dean Harper (The Allure #2)(46)

Chapter Thirty-Eight


Dean





I pushed my bike in through the back door and unclipped my helmet just as my front doorbell rang.

“I’m coming!” I yelled, annoyed at whoever kept ringing the bell. It was 8:00 PM on a Friday night; chances were I was about to be confronted by a Mormon missionary.

I propped my bike in the hallway and brushed the sweat from my brow just as Lily yelled through the door.

“Dean, hurry up! I know you’re home!”

Lily?

I unlocked the door and pulled it open to find Lily standing on the other side with her hand poised, ready to keep knocking.

“Cool it, will you.”

She groaned and pushed past me, nearly knocking me over. “Why don’t you answer your phone?! I’ve called you ten times in the last twenty minutes!”

She was sweaty and breathing hard. Her cardigan was tied around her waist and her cotton dress was wrinkled. She bent over and rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

“Did you run here?” I asked, furrowing my brows.

Her bright eyes landed on me with fury. “Of course I ran here! Hunter needs to be fired immediately!”

I held up my hands. “Slow down. Slow down. What’s going on? Did he do something to you? Why aren’t you on your date?”

She rolled her eyes and turned to the entryway table. She dumped her cardigan and her purse there and then reached in for her phone.

“I had to stand him up! I was on my way to my date when I noticed a restaurant under construction.” She unlocked her phone and scrolled through pictures until she landed on one she was satisfied with. “This is the menu that was posted on the side of the building,” she said, shoving the phone into my hand.

I zoomed in and squinted, trying to make out the small letters.

“Recognize anything? Oh, I don't know, maybe the entire thing?!”

I shook my head. “Are you certain? Maybe it just looks similar.”

She laughed, clearly past the point of reason. “Scroll down and look who’s listed as the general manager. Take a look at how loyal your employee is.” She threw her hands into the air and stomped around the entryway. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to drown him in the paella dish he STOLE from us!”

My hand clenched around her phone as I processed the information she’d just dumped on me. Hunter was working with another team, developing another restaurant across town with the menu and the vision we’d worked so hard to create.

It had been too easy for him to betray me. He had detailed summaries of everything from menu choices to color schemes. He had contact information for every single one of my contractors, vendors, and recruiters.

My blood started to boil. He thought he could get away with this? He thought he could sit in my office and feed me bullshit about a tough real estate market and expect me not to find out what he was really up to?

Lily’s hand came into my line of sight and I realized she was trying to pry her phone from my grip before I crushed it.

“What are you going to do about it?” she asked, her voice much calmer now that I was the one losing my temper.

“I’ll handle it,” I said with a shake of my head.

She frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

I was already moving toward the kitchen, headed for the house phone hanging on the wall by the door. “I’m going to call my lawyer.”

Her jaw dropped. “That’s it?”

I was already dialing his number. “Intellectual property is tricky when it comes to restaurants that haven't even opened yet. He hasn't really broken any laws. Pursuing a civil case is the only way we can handle this. Just give me five minutes.”

She took a seat at the kitchen table and crossed her arms, clearly annoyed with my lack of retribution. “He’s such a slime ball. Y’know he hit on me again in Vegas too. He tried to get me to sneak off to a hotel room with him. God, I wish I’d punched him in the face then.”

“Lily, calm down. We’ll figure it out.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip, too worked up to keep still.

“Dean,” Mitch said, answering just before the call clicked over to voicemail. “This better be damn important. I was about to enjoy a meal at one of your damn restaurants.”

“We have a situation.”

He sighed. “Ah, hell. Hold on, let me go outside.”





Chapter Thirty-Nine


Lily





I paced back and forth in the living room of my apartment. It was a small space, but I made do, huffing and puffing with annoyance as Jo sat watching me. I could feel her eyes volleying back and forth across the room, trying to keep up with my pace.

“If Dean says he’s going to handle it, you should trust him,” Jo said.

I shook my head. “No. His lawyer said that there wasn’t much we could do. Dean didn’t have that menu copyrighted. Trying to sue Hunter would cost Dean a fortune in legal fees and probably wouldn’t result in any sort of solution.”

“Maybe Dean could confront Hunter himself?”

I shot her a glare. “What? Like an old-fashioned duel?”

I was way past that point. I wanted Hunter to pay. I could handle his flirting and general incompetence, but this? It showed that there was more to the sweaty doofus exterior. He’d been playing us all along.