Beg for It(15)

“Who says I couldn’t own a restaurant, if I wanted to?”

“You looking to buy a place?” The waitress had reappeared with two plates of pie and another round of coffee. “Eddie’s trying to sell, if you’re really interested.”

Tony grinned at her, eyeing the name tag pinned to the front of her blouse. “Hi there…Gretchen. Awesome coffee, by the way.”

“Why’s he selling?” Reese ignored Tony’s batting eyelashes, though they seemed to have caught the waitress’s attention.

“He wants to retire to Florida.” Gretchen shrugged and topped off their mugs, then stood back to give Tony a contemplative look that turned into a small, interested smile after a moment. “Says it’s too cold here in the winter. He’s had this place for about thirty years.”

“Eddie Malone.” Reese nodded. “My dad knew him.”

The waitress shifted her flirtation from Tony to give Reese a curious look. “Yeah? Who’s your dad?”

“Uh…well, he passed away,” Reese told her, which wasn’t the answer to the question she’d asked but one she accepted with a nod.

“Well, Eddie’s trying to get rid of this place. If you’re really looking.”

“I’m not,” Reese said. “But thanks.”

With another shrug, she left them. Tony gave him a long look as Reese forked a bite of orgasmically tasty lemon meringue into his mouth and pretended he had no idea Tony was trying to dig out more information from him.

“I’ve worked for you for eight years,” Tony said finally. “You can’t tell me there isn’t more to this dairy acquisition than just making a profit. I’ve run the numbers for you. I’ve done the due diligence. Sure, it’s possible that with your magic touch you could make it work, but you made them a shit offer. It’s almost like you didn’t want them to take it in the first place.”

Reese chewed pie. Swallowed. He gave Tony a bland grin.

Tony frowned. “Fine, don’t tell me. Drag my ass out here to the middle of nowhere to pursue some weirdly sudden artisanal cheese fetish. It’s my job, I get it.”

“It’s your job,” Reese agreed mildly.

“I live to serve, master.”

Reese frowned. “Don’t call me that.”

“Fine. My liege?”

Tony was joking and had no idea why it made Reese a little uncomfortable. Like he’d never spoken to Tony about where he’d grown up, Reese had never told him about the sorts of games he used to play. “Cut it out.”

Tony stabbed the air between them with his fork. “You can’t hide it from me forever.”

“I’m not trying to hide anything,” Reese began, and his words cut off at the sight of Corinne coming through the diner’s double front doors.

She wore a pair of faded jeans and a stretched out T-shirt sheer enough to hint at the outline of her bra beneath. Her long, dark hair had been pulled into a messy bun, though a few tendrils had escaped to curl and stick to her neck. She looked tired.

She was beautiful enough to stop his heart.

She saw him in the next second, and the pleased, anticipatory look she’d had when she came through the doors became immediately shuttered. She’d put on her guard.

It f*cking broke him that he was the cause of that. In the times before, all she’d ever had to do was look disappointed in him, and he’d gone to his knees for her. Literally. Once, making Corinne happy had been the only goal Reese ever had.

Tony twisted in his seat to look where Reese was staring. “You know her?”

“It’s the CFO of Stein and Sons.”

Tony’s eyebrows lifted. “She’s—”

“She’s the CFO,” Reese repeated harshly, “of Stein and Sons.”

“Ah. Look, how about I head on back to the hotel and turn in. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, I’ll go with—”

Too late. Corinne had crossed the tiny dining room to stand in front of their booth, hands on her hips. Mouth a thin, grim line. “What the hell are you doing, Reese? Stalking me?”

“I’m finishing my dinner,” he told her. “Actually, it was breakfast. Just at dinner time. Breakfast all day.”

Tony looked startled at the blather spouting from Reese’s mouth. Corinne noticed Reese wasn’t sitting alone. She shook her head and frowned, probably against the start of a tirade. She nodded at Tony.

“Hi,” Tony said. “You must be Corinne. Tony Randolph.”

Now she looked embarrassed and held out her hand. “Oh. Tony. You work with Reese. Hi, nice to meet you. I thought we were supposed to meet.”

“I changed it, I told you,” Reese said.

“I’m just on my way out. I’ll see you Monday at the meeting…?” Tony stood.

Reese watched Corinne’s gaze go up, up, up. At the small curve of her smile, no different than the looks Tony eternally garnered from men and women alike, Reese winced from the stab of jealousy. He was an idiot. She could look at whomever she wanted to. Hell, she could drag Tony off into a corner and f*ck him into next week, if they were both into it, and although before tonight Reese hadn’t thought Tony might even have considered it… Fuck.