The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)(24)
“Good to see you, Tristan. I’m still noodling on our conversation from this morning.”
“Excellent. Let it marinate some more. As long as you need. I do think it can be good for both of us.” The tall, salt-and-pepper-haired man turned to Steph and dropped a chaste kiss on her cheek. “And welcome back, Miss Steph. What a pleasure to see you again, too.”
“Thank you so much, Tristan. I see you’re as busy as ever,” she said, flashing a quick smile to the man she’d known for years—a local friend of her stepdad’s.
“I can’t complain one bit,” he said, handing them menus, then bowing briefly before he scuttled away.
“Can’t complain my butt,” Eli muttered.
She arched an eyebrow in question.
“He complains about everything,” Eli whispered.
“Are you doing business with Tristan?” Steph asked.
Eli flicked open his cloth napkin and waved it once, before spreading it across his lap. “Potentially. He wants me to back a new venture of his, but then again, doesn’t everyone?” he said, with an it’s-good-to-be-the-king look in his eyes.
“I don’t know. Does everyone?” she asked drily, her lips quirking up as she teased him.
“Some days, my dear, it seems that way. Everyone lining up to ask for a little of this, a little of that,” he said, rubbing his thumb across two fingers.
“Do you ever say yes?” she asked as she spread a champagne-colored napkin over her lap.
He lowered his voice to a thread. “Rarely. I’m actually trying to be retired. To devote my energy to my charitable endeavors.”
She furrowed her brow. Two things didn’t add up. She’d never known him to be terribly interested in charity, plus, he was still working. “But you run a nightclub,” she said, zeroing in on one logical fallacy.
“The club is hardly work. That’s nothing but passion. I’m usually there in my office every day at this time, and it feels like pure pleasure.”
“The club is doing well, I hear,” she said, damn curious if the missing money had funded his passion.
“It is. You should come by and see it. Dance a little, feel the Sapphire energy. It’s wonderful. Come by tonight. Jane Black is in town, and she’ll be singing a few of her hit songs. I know you love her music.”
A ping of excitement zipped through her. “I do love Jane Black,” Steph admitted begrudgingly, because these moments made her mission tougher. He knew her likes, he knew her dislikes, he knew her.
“I know you do,” he said with a smile. “So stop by. I’ll make sure you’re on the VIP list. I have to head over to Little Cayman tonight, so I won’t be there, but my manager, Ferdinand, is. If you need anything, he’s the man with the snake tattoo on his left arm.”
“Duly noted. Sounds like he’d be hard to miss, then. And I’m glad the club is doing well,” she said, though that wasn’t entirely true. If it were doing well at her mom’s expense, glad wasn’t the right word. The word rhymed with glad, though, and had an as hell following it.
“It’s a dream nightclub,” Eli said. “Plus, it feeds my charity work. I donate all my profits.”
“You do? That’s really great,” she said with a brief smile. She’d never known this side of him, the charitable one.
“Indeed. I have many causes I support, but for now, look at the menu. Everything is amazing, as you know.”
A few minutes later, a waiter arrived with glasses of water and to take their orders. Eli chose a mimosa and eggs benedict, while Steph opted for eggs and toast.
“You should get a quiche. Or a salmon omelet. Don’t get something you can eat at a diner,” he said.
“I wasn’t aware that eggs and toast were gauche diner food. But I’ve filed that away now,” she said, tapping her temple as the waiter left.
“That’s not it. I just want you to enjoy yourself. You should always enjoy yourself when you’re with me,” he said, tucking his hands under his chin and shaking his head in admiration. “I can’t believe you’re really here. You’re sure you’re not just an apparition? A figment of my happy imagination?” he said, waving a hand like a magician with a scarf.
My God, that’s what the man was—a damn wizard. So charming. So ebullient. Pretty much the happiest person you’d ever meet in your life.
“It’s really me. In the flesh,” she said, gesturing to herself like she was posing for a selfie.
“I’m simply delighted. Do you have any idea how happy it makes me to hear from you?”
“A lot?” she asked playfully, letting herself enjoy this moment.
“More than I can even measure,” he said, reaching for his glass. “Tell me everything. How is your company? Is that jerk who tried to hurt your tour business suffering?”
“I don’t know. I don’t talk to Duke, so I don’t have a good sense on a scale of one to ten of his daily suffering.”
“Let’s hope it’s a ten,” he said, narrowing his eyes and brandishing his teeth, as if he were ready to gnash Duke to a bloody pulp. “I wish you’d have let me help you with that fiasco.”
Steph gaped at him, staring at him like an oddity. “You didn’t offer,” she pointed out incredulously, because she wasn’t going to let him play revisionist historian.