Before he had a chance to go in to speak to her, his phone rang in his pocket. He stood away from the window and raised it to his ear. “Griffiths.”
“Hey bud, how are the bridezillas?” Nick Katsalos said.
“I’m keeping as far away from them as possible.” Lane laughed and moved to sit at an outside table. It was the first time they’d talked since he and Yasmin had spent the night together, and dry guilt gnawed at his gut. He wanted to tell Nick what was going on, but he had to choose the right time—there was a lot riding on this. He wouldn’t give Yasmin up, but he was hoping he could keep his best friend, too.
There was a creak over the line as if Nick was leaning back in his chair. “What about the restaurant?”
“We’ve got no wedding today or tomorrow, but the new decor will be complete for dinner service tomorrow night.”
“Everything on track for the relaunch?”
Lane looked up to see Yasmin gesturing at something with her hands, and his heart squeezed. “Yep, things are looking pretty good. I’ve been checking in regularly with your dad.”
“And Yasmin hasn’t driven you too crazy yet?”
Of course she had driven him crazy, just not in the way Nick meant. More in an I-can’t-keep-my-mind-or-my-hands-off-her kind of way. “Not entirely,” he said mildly.
“Good,” Nick said, obviously not suspecting anything. “Listen, I’ve just had a call from Dad. Things are not good over in Greece, although Dad says you might already know that. Mom’s started working part time in my uncle’s restaurant and she’s saying she has no plans to come back. Dad doesn’t want to come home without her, but he’s worried about things at the Palace.”
“Things are fine. Grace has the day-to-day stuff under control, and Yasmin and I are getting set for the relaunch.”
“That’s the thing.” Nick let out a long breath. “I don’t know if there will be a relaunch. I suggested to Dad that it could be time to sell. What do you think? You’re there on the ground. Do you think we should investigate selling?”
Lane looked back through the window at Yasmin. It was then he noticed she had headphones on, and as she was laying the table with plates and cutlery, he could hear her speaking in Italian, her arms moving as she spoke. It was another thing on that list of hers, and she’d begun greeting him with a buongiorno or come stai whenever she saw him.
What would this news do to her? She’d grown to love this place again; they’d both worked so hard to get things turned around. He was certain when Nick came here for the relaunch he’d see that too.
“We’ve got things covered at the moment,” he said and stopped as he realized Yasmin had seen him. “Let’s run with the relaunch. If nothing else, it’ll give the Palace good publicity and get everyone talking about it again. If things are becoming too tough financially I’d like to help out.” If he had to buy the place for Yasmin, he would. She was special. He’d give her the world if he could.
“No, it’s not that. I can put money in if necessary, it’s just that if Mom’s not coming home there’s no point in trying to prop things up. I just wanted to make sure you were in the loop before I talk to her and we make the final decision.”
Lane scrubbed a hand through his hair and looked up in time to see Yasmin waving at him through the window. No, she wasn’t waving, she was shooing him away, as if she didn’t want him to see what she was doing. He stood, and a grin spread across his face at the beautiful sight of her.
“Have you spoken to Yasmin about it?” Now she was spread-eagled across the window in an exaggerated attempt to keep him from seeing what she’d been doing with the long table, but she was laughing, and now he was chuckling too. He couldn’t ever let her lose this place.
“No, and I’d prefer you didn’t say anything, either. She seems so positive and happy lately. Mom and Dad are relieved she’s back from all her globe-trotting, and they wouldn’t want her leaving again before all this is settled.”
Lane’s blood heated, thinking about what, exactly, was making her positive and happy. He hoped she’d stay that way for a long time too. Maybe even for the rest of her life…
He stilled, body tense.
The rest of her life?
He relaxed, fixed his gaze on Yasmin again, and smiled. Yes. One hundred percent yes.
He’d been fighting his attraction to her ever since they’d met again in the café, but now that he’d stopped fighting it, he realized what his heart had probably known for a long time. He wanted Yasmin in his life permanently. She’d told him he was an all-or nothing-guy, and she was right. Now he wanted it all with her. He wanted Yasmin in his bed every night and across the breakfast table every morning. He wanted little babies with glossy black hair, and a big, stable home for them to grow up in surrounded by her noisy, crazy family. He wanted to be the one she laughed with, the one she stretched like a cat with, the one she grew old with out on the porch.
He filled his lungs and smiled. Everything around him suddenly seemed brighter. The glass sparkled in the sun, and even Monty’s screeches sounded sweeter. This felt right, more right than anything in his life ever had.
“You still there?” Nick said.
“Yep, I’m still here.” What had they been talking about? Telling Yasmin about the possibility of a sale. “Maybe you should tell Yasmin what you’re thinking. I’m sure she’d like input into any decisions.”
“She’ll only worry. I can handle it, and besides, I don’t have time to drive up there.”
Lane frowned as he thought back to what Yasmin had said about being protected her whole life. “I think you should make time to talk to her. She’s strong enough to hear it, Nick, and I think she’ll have opinions of her own.”
There was silence at the end of the line and he could imagine his friend rubbing his forehead as he worked his way to a decision.
Lane suddenly thought of a solution. “Listen, are you going to Pete Worthington’s engagement party tomorrow night?”
“I should, but I have this deal that I’m working on.”
“He invited me, and if I bring Yas we could meet up there for an hour or so, tell her what you know, and then I can bring her back here.”
Nick made an indecisive noise. “If you think it’s that important.”
“I do.”
“I’ll think about it,” Nick replied before they said good-bye.
Lane walked to the restaurant door and opened it. To his surprise, Yasmin met him in the doorway. “You weren’t supposed to see! You won’t get the full effect until it’s all complete. Did you know about this? Did you suspect? Gosh, I can’t get anything past you.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Yas, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said and kissed her lips lightly. “I came to ask you if you’d come to Pete and Amy’s engagement party with me tomorrow night.”
The more he thought about this plan, the more he liked it. If Yasmin was to be a permanent part of his life, it was time she met his friends. They’d soon be her friends too.
She frowned. “You want me to come? We have so much to finish here and…”
“Yes, I do. We both need a break, and it’ll be nice to get out of the place. It’ll only be for an hour or two, and then we can come back and finish things off here. Besides, Nick said he was going to try to make it.”
She looked up, surprised. “He did?”
“And I’d like you to meet my other friends as well.”
She scanned his face, as if looking for more clues, then shrugged. “Okay.”
Satisfied, he stretched his neck to look behind her. “So tell me why you’re looking so guilty. What’s that monstrosity over there?”
She held her arms wide and did a dramatic, “Nooooo!”
He touched both her arms, pushed them down to her sides, and kissed her square on the lips. “I’m not going to leave here until you tell me what’s going on.”
She chuckled as he pushed a strand of hair off her face and kissed her earlobe. “Tha
t’s hardly a deal. I don’t want you to stop kissing me so I’m hardly going to agree to that.”
He wrapped his arms around her, then quickly spun her shoulders and dashed into the restaurant to get a closer look at the table.
He slowly turned to see Yasmin biting her lip.
“You think you can persuade me through stealth and trickery?”
She marched over to the table and smoothed out the cloth. “You’ve got to admit it looks beautiful. And check this out.” She lifted the cover to reveal a rustic-looking top. “It’ll be perfect for the restaurant crowd as well. Just like a big communal table at a taverna.”
He shook his head. “How many times did I say no to the long tables?”
She moved back to him and flung her arms around his neck. “Not enough, obviously.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek and then pulled back and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Don’t I get some credit for stealth and persistence?”
“You get points for being sneaky and manipulative,” he said.
“We wouldn’t have ended up together if I hadn’t been all those things.”
“True. And that would have been a travesty.” He took another look at the table. “I guess it’s worth considering.”
She stepped away from him and chewed her lip again. “I’m afraid there’s not much time to do any considering. I’ve ordered all the tables and they’ll be here tonight. Grace is coming back to dress them all like this.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, stunned. The media were coming tomorrow. What would they say about such a rustic look?
She looked at him sideways. “No shiitake?”
Under normal circumstances he’d have told her in no uncertain terms to cancel the order, that he was the restaurant expert and that she was a mushroom expert with wild taste in clothing, but there was something about the way she looked at him, something about the excitement and joy in her eyes that made him…start to laugh. All the fight left him and instead he was happy for no other reason than she was happy.
I’m a goner.
“It’ll be perfect,” she said, dancing around the table. “It’s going to give the Palace an incredible community feel. Thank you so much for agreeing to it.”
“A guy hardly has a chance when he’s bulldozed into it at every opportunity.”
“Oh, Lane, I have such an amazing feeling about this. I really think it’s going to make all the difference to Mom. What say we get the photographer to get shots of Saturday night with all the people, the new decor, and all the new food, and we can make it into a little movie for her? Don’t you think that would be a great idea?”
He caught her hands and dragged her back close to him. “Sure,” he said. “And maybe I should have a quick talk with your dad before Saturday, to see if there’s anything else he wants us to do.”
“He’d love to hear from you. Just think, Lane, in one more week, the fortunes of the Aegean Palace are going to be turned around and everything will be different.”
As she moved back to look at the table, Lane considered the prospect of the Palace being sold out from under them, and he curled his fingers into his palm. Things would be different at the Palace, he was sure of that; he just hoped it was in the way that Yasmin wished for.
Chapter Ten
It had been a tough day. Yasmin loved the new artwork she’d ordered for the foyer; she thought the pieces were lively and exciting. Lane had said they were too loud and modern. The new fountain had sprung a leak and caused the new tiles in the courtyard to begin lifting, and when she’d suggested laying something completely different, Lane had given her a lecture about sticking to budgets and being sensible. Now that they were standing at the entrance to the Bluebird Club, the venue for Peter and Amy’s engagement party, she let herself relax a little.
“Oh, wow,” Yasmin said on a long breath, “this place is amazing.”
The large double door opened into a wide atrium, and crowds were standing in clusters while waiters walked among them with hors d’oeuvres. She saw a woman who must have been Peter’s or Amy’s mom, flitting among groups of older people and beaming to everyone who came in.
Yasmin had known of many of these people when she was younger—most were Nick’s friends as well as Lane’s—but she’d never really mixed with them. Like Nick, his buddies and their girlfriends were good at both sports and academics. Most had fast-tracked finance or law degrees and were already making serious money in Manhattan. Her friends, on the other hand, were all academics or artists, perpetual college students who’d likely end up in either academia or a commune in India. For a minute she was reminded this was Lane’s and Nick’s world and that these people really were out of her league. No, not out of her league—she’d remembered Lane disagreeing with her for saying that—just on a different track in life.
Lane put his arm around her waist to guide her into the room, and her skin responded to his touch beneath the deep green silk of the dress Genie had helped her pick out. Lane looked incredibly handsome in his charcoal suit and shirt, and when he winked at her she felt her body warm all over.
When she’d written the fifth entry on her list, she’d never imagined it’d be more than a one-night stand. In fact, she hadn’t really thought about what would happen after she’d achieved it. Did she think she’d just end up saying, “Thanks very much, that was pleasant. Close the door on your way out,” and move on to the next thing on her list? She hadn’t made a plan for how to deal with the possibility of a second or third night with that person, or meeting his friends. Probably because number five was supposed to have been out of her league. She’d never dreamed whoever it was would want a second night with her. But Lane was different. And now she couldn’t imagine tonight ending any other way than being snuggled in his arms.
“I’m underdressed,” she whispered as she looked across the men and women standing in small groups. The men were in expensive-looking suits and the women were impossibly perfect, with beautifully applied makeup and chic outfits. “Look at all those gorgeous cocktail dresses. I wish I’d worn something more suitable.” The 1950s dress she and Genie had seen in a thrift store window had seemed perfect at the time, with its flared skirt and its belt in the same fabric, and when they’d found a matching bow in a dime store to go in her hair she’d felt invincible. Now she patted her hair and wondered why she’d felt so confident. She wished it was just the two of them, curled up together on the couch back at home, feeding each other halva cake.
Lane leaned in and whispered close to her ear. “You look beautiful. Interesting and unique and very, very sexy.”
“But I look too informal,” she said as she pulled at the front of her dress to cover her chest.
He grabbed her hand to stop her from pulling and waited until she met his eyes. “I’ll be the proudest man in the room with you on my arm.”
A waiter came toward them with a tray of champagne and orange juice. Lane released her hand and took a glass of champagne for himself and handed the juice to her.
“Maybe this was a mistake,” she said and turned to watch more people walking in, air-kissing each person they met.
“Griffiths!” One of the men slapped Lane on the back, and the woman with him leaned in to kiss Lane on both cheeks. “It’s good to see you out from under your rock.”
“Don’t be silly, Mike,” the woman said as she stroked Lane’s arm. “We heard you’d sold your restaurants, Lane, and that you’re opening the restaurant in the new Prescott Hotel. I know a lot of people who can’t wait for that opening, but I bet it means we’ll see even less of you from now on.”
He smiled, then turned back to Yasmin. “Mike and Rachel, this is Yasmin Katsalos, Nick’s sister.” He pulled her a little closer and his friends’ eyes flicked to Lane with the universal expression of understanding. Yasmin found a polite smile. Guess they weren’t keeping their involvement such a secret anymore.
“So what have you been doing to fill in the hours, Lane?” Mike asked.
“I’m working with Yasmin on a renovation at her parents’ wedding hall.”
“Oh, do you run it?” Mike turned to her and she had a terrible feeling he was going to quiz her about profit margins and the state of business confidence in Westchester. Her palms became damp and she smoothed down her skirt. “I guess financial expertise must run in your family.” He craned his neck to look over her head, and she took a sip of orange juice to calm her heated face. “Where’s that brother of yours?”
“He should be here soon,” she said. She hadn’t seen Nick since she’d come back from Borneo, so she was looking forward to it. Her father had explained to both her brothers that their mom wanted some time out, but Yasmin wasn’t sure if they knew the extent of the Palace’s problems. She and Nick had talked on the phone when he was available, but he hadn’t been out to the Palace. It wasn’t surprising—they’d always had a good relationship, but he was too wrapped up in his own world to make too much time for family. She was surprised that he’d give up his precious time for an engagement party.
Another couple joined them, the woman equally as manicured and beautiful as the first, the man calm and serious. The group talked about people they all knew, promotions and mortgages, baby plans and Caribbean holidays. The second couple issued an invitation to a long weekend in the Hamptons, and the woman teased Lane about the fact that he hadn’t hosted the crowd for a dinner party for a while.
A slow-burning heat rose on Yasmin’s neck. She’d felt exhausted the past two days, but she hadn’t wanted to make a big deal of it. Once they got through the relaunch, she’d have time to relax.
“What do you say, Yasmin?” Lane said, turning to her. “How about we have a dinner after the relaunch is over? We’ve probably picked up enough tips from this project to make it pretty memorable.” He nodded to Mike. “Like the party you and Rachel had last summer.” Her stomach clenched tight. The group started swapping stories about what had apparently been a legendary night, before moving on to other topics, so she got out of having to answer. Which was good, since she had no idea what she would have said. She and Lane were entertaining guests now? They’d gone from needing to keep their relationship a secret to throwing cozy dinner parties?
The Bouquet List: a Weddings in Westchester novel (Entangled Bliss) Page 12