The Offer She Couldn't Refuse

by Marie Ferrarella

  She could understand that. But what she couldn’t understand was what had happened between them after the banquet. “Then last night was calculated.”

  It would seem that way to an outsider, he supposed. While his job—his career—was important to him, seduction was not an option. For him that would be going more than the allowed amount of steps beyond persuasion.

  “Not calculated,” he corrected. “Just something nice…very nice.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  “I expect you to know the difference between a lie and the truth.”

  That was just the trouble. She didn’t know the difference, not in his case. What she wanted to be the truth could very well be the lie.

  Every shred of common sense she had told her she was crazy, yet she really wanted to believe him. Maybe she was spending too much time beside a hot oven, she thought. It had obviously vaporized the part of her brain where common sense took refuge.

  Demi heard her grandfather laughing as he coaxed Theresa to make a move on the board. Demi retreated to a safer subject than the one they were debating. “Why did you bring her here?”

  She was on the defensive again. He heard the challenge in her voice. “Because she asked to come.”

  The tender feelings that had been forming vanished. Another insult to her intelligence. Did he actually expect her to believe that?

  “Oh, she said, ‘Take me to Aphrodite.’” Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

  “No. She asked to come with me to work. Said she wanted to be with me. Since I was coming here after I checked in, I didn’t see the harm in it.”

  All right, she’d give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. But that still didn’t change the bottom line between them.

  “And why are you still coming here after I said no? How many times do I have to tell you that Aphrodite is not for sale? Not to you, not to anyone.” Frustrated, she demanded in a voice that was controlled only insofar as she didn’t want Theresa to suffer the ignoble pain of hearing someone yell at her father, “Do I need to get a dog to get you to leave me alone? Or a bouncer?”

  “I don’t want to bother you, Demi,” he told her simply. “I came back to Aphrodite for the same reason most of your patrons return. The food. The atmosphere.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes on hers. “I wanted to introduce Theresa to something a little more sophisticated and tasteful than Bingoland.” He paused, and then grinned engagingly. “Thanks for curbing that temper of yours around her.”

  She knew of several women in her acquaintance who would have killed to be the recipient of the grin he was aiming her way. But she wasn’t one of them. And she didn’t want him getting any wrong ideas as to why she was being civil to him.

  “That wasn’t for you, that was for her.” She glanced back at Theresa. Her head was bowed, inclined toward Theo’s. It brought back warm memories. She’d sat like that with him more than twenty years ago while Theo had taught her the finer points of the game. “Why should she get caught in the cross fire?”

  “No cross fire, Demi,” he promised her. “I’m here strictly as a patron, nothing more.” And that was the way it was going to be until she trusted him. Until she saw him not as the enemy, but as a friend. Someone who could offer her a better life.

  But there was more, Demi thought, trying not to let herself be carried away. There was a lot more. And not just because he represented Winfield, Inc. Jared Panetta represented the first stirrings she’d felt since…

  She’d never felt stirrings like that, Demi realized. Having a social life had never been a high priority on her crowded agenda. She’d been too dedicated to the family business to think about dating and wrestling with boys whose hormones had gone into overdrive.

  Even if she had, the men in her family would have scared away any potential applicant for the position just by the nature of their very existence. She smiled to herself. The wall formed by the combined forces of her father, her brother and her grandfather had not been one that was easily scaled. And none had tried.

  She eyed Jared skeptically, although maybe, just maybe, there was a little room to be won over. “So, you’ve given up the idea of getting me to sell to Winfield?”

  To say yes would have been to arouse her suspicions further. He played it honestly. “For the time being. Let’s just say it’s on the back burner.”

  It was an analogy she could readily appreciate. “Things on the back burner have a habit of being forgotten and getting burned.”

  He shrugged as if that really didn’t concern him at the moment. “Right now I would really like to sample that dish I was serving to everyone at the party last night. Is there any left over?”

  He’d cleared away a number of servings of the individual lamb pies. People had been too full to eat any more. But she might have resurrected what was left into a subsequent meal that was on today’s menu, bearing some resemblance to its former state.

  Food was something they could talk about with relative safety. “As a matter of fact, there is. I’ll bring you some.”

  Turning, she hurried to the kitchen. It was as good as any excuse to retreat.

  7

  “We’re back,” Theresa announced with glee as she hurried to Theo’s booth.

  After nearly a week of coming here every afternoon with her father, Theresa no longer felt she had to hang back on ceremony the way she’d been taught. It wasn’t as if she were going to one of those places where she had to be on her very best, special behavior. Thriving in the warm atmosphere, Theresa had made herself at home at Aphrodite.

  Jared smiled to himself as he watched his daughter run across the room. He was beginning to really see what the attraction was. He found himself looking forward to coming here, too, if only to watch Theresa.

  And perhaps to see Demi again.

  No reason why he couldn’t enjoy himself as he was laying his groundwork, he reasoned.

  Theo had looked up when he heard Theresa’s announcement. The smile on his face was broad as he welcomed the sight of the little girl rushing toward him. Though he remained seated, he caught her in a quick, one-armed bear hug.

  “Ah, I knew there was a reason Alex began shaking in his shoes.” He nodded sagely, his eyes bright with pleasure. “Ready for another lesson, little one?”

  Theresa nodded vigorously. She was already scooting up on her knees in the seat.

  “All she talks about at night is you and this game and the restaurant,” Jared told Theo as he approached the booth.

  That much was true. Theresa had no grandfather to call her own. She was too young to remember his father, and Gloria’s father had died years ago. Jared had little doubt that Theresa had drafted Theo to be her surrogate grandfather.

  “So, you could not wait to be here, eh, little one? As it should be.” Theo ran his wide hand over the little girl’s head.

  The gesture was surprisingly gentle. Jared could easily picture that same hand delivering a punch that would send an opponent crashing to the ground. The man might be short in stature, but even at his age, he looked as strong as a bull in his prime.

  “Everyone who comes here wants to become part of our little family,” Theo confided to her.

  Theresa’s eyes were huge. “Can I be part of your family, too?”

  Jared heard the eagerness, the hunger in her voice. It was worse than he’d thought. With Gloria out of Theresa’s life and his brother and sister living in different cities, he was the only family that his daughter had. It wasn’t just a matter of thinking of Theo as her surrogate grandfather; she was lonely for a family. He hadn’t known, until this moment, just how lonely she was, or how much she wanted to feel a part of something.

  Guilt, never far from the scene these days, rose its head to take another bite out of him with its sharp teeth. Guilt at having been oblivious to Theresa’s feeling this way. Guilt at orchestrating something so temporary that affected her so much. This would all disappear from Theresa’s life shortly. Winfield allowed his re
staurants a free hand, but only up to a point. Once Aphrodite was sold, there would be no need, or time for that matter, for Jared to continue coming here. And Theo and his friend wouldn’t be at the last booth playing “chest” any longer. That, too, would have to stop.

  How was that going to affect Theresa?

  “But of course,” Theo was saying to Theresa. “You can be my official great-granddaughter. Now come,” he coaxed, nodding at the board, “let us show this old man he is no match for us.”

  “Tomorrow, I will bring my great-grandson,” Alex grumbled. He appeared to settle in for a showdown that was never really going to materialize. Neither man doubted that the game, in one form or another, was destined to go on forever.

  Theo laughed. The loud, booming sound drew several pairs of eyes their way. Theresa looked pleased at being at the center of attention.

  “It is a deal,” Theo told Alex. “But it still will not help you.” He looked at the child by his elbow. “You will come tomorrow?”

  “Yes.” The declaration burst out of her mouth. Realizing she couldn’t agree without her father’s permission, Theresa looked at Jared.

  How could he say no, even if he wanted to? The look in her eyes completely undid him. Jared nodded.

  Funny how things were turning out. He’d originally brought Theresa with him to spend a little time with her, but also with any eye out to impress Demi because he knew how much family meant to her. He’d wanted to come across to Demi as someone more than just the man representing the company that wanted to take over her restaurant. He wanted her to see him as a human being.

  Now, instead of winning her over to his side, the reverse seemed to be happening. He was being drawn over to Demi’s side. Downright charmed by her side. It was easy to see why Winfield wanted this place despite its present cash-flow problem.

  The money problem could easily be solved. It was in part self-made. If Demi just didn’t carry so many people on the books, this place could become a gold mine.

  God, he was beginning to sound more like Winfield every day, Jared thought. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. He would have once. Would have felt that it was a good thing and been proud of it. Now he just wasn’t sure.

  Theo, his hand hovering over Theresa’s as she made her decision and picked up the queen, raised his eyes expectantly to Jared’s face. “Well, why are you still here? She is in the office.”

  He was being rather bluntly dismissed. Jared didn’t mind. He was only getting in the way here, he thought. “Thanks. Don’t make any trouble,” he told Theresa fondly.

  Theo laughed again. “Making trouble, that is for Demetria to do,” he called after Jared.

  Amen to that. Demi certainly meant trouble when it came to him.

  He didn’t want to get tangled up with her, Jared thought. Especially not emotionally. He worked best when only appearing to be the personification of friendliness while managing to reserve a small piece of himself, keeping it on hold. He couldn’t seem to do that here.

  Usually, he came, made a good offer, waited until all systems were smooth and running, and then left, always proceeding on to the next deal that was to be made, the next restaurant that Winfield had set his sights on acquiring. He remembered all the acquisitions in detail, but they were the sort of details that could be found on a ledger.

  Not the kind that existed in the heart. Certainly not the kind that could take his breath away and make him daydream at the oddest times.

  Like now.

  She was alone in the office.

  Jared leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb and just watched her quietly for a moment, enjoying the fact that she seemed oblivious to his presence. Even watching her chew the top of a pencil, lost in thought, made his pulse quicken. It wasn’t a good sign.

  She sensed him before she even looked up from her accounting book.

  It was the scent of the cologne that gave him away. This time, she knew she wasn’t imagining it, as she had last night, wrestling with her pillow and the sleeplessness that refused to give her any peace. It was far too strong, far too lethal to just be her imagination.

  “So, you’re back.” Again, she thought. Demi closed her book firmly as she turned the chair to face the doorway.

  Jared noted the way she kept her hand over the book. She still saw him as the enemy, he thought. And maybe he was.

  What bothered him was that for reasons that were apart from his job, he didn’t want to be.

  He nodded in response. “Theresa wanted another lesson.”

  “And you dropped everything to bring her.”

  Her mouth mocked him, but he felt himself getting lost in it anyway, remembering the feel, the texture, the taste of her lips pressed against his.

  “Very selfless of you,” she concluded.

  Not waiting for an invitation, Jared came in. He leaned a hip against the edge of the desk and looked at her. She looked tired, he thought. And more tempting every time he saw her. He didn’t know what to do about that.

  “Not entirely,” he allowed. “I wanted to come back, too.”

  He was good, she thought. He knew just how to add enough honesty to make himself sound believable and aboveboard. “For another crack at wearing me down?”

  Back to thrusting and parrying, he thought, amused. Jared spread his hands wide. “For another serving of dessert, another helping of scintillating conversation.” He shrugged, nodding toward the kitchen and what was beyond. “It’s like you said, this place really does grow on you.”

  She believed he meant that. Demi studied him in silence.

  Maybe that was something she could work with, she thought, her enthusiasm building at a surprising rate. If he kept showing up on her doorstep like this, she could turn the tables on him, show him just how special this place was to everyone, especially her.

  If she really thought about it, Jared wasn’t an extension of the monster she saw herself fighting. He wasn’t Jack Winfield. He was different. Jared had proven that to her by the way he behaved toward his daughter.

  They’d been coming here for almost a week and by now, the act would have worn a little thin if it were an act. But it was clear to her that Jared put being a father very high on his busy list of things to do. That put him one up on her own father and humanized him in her eyes.

  That, and the kiss they’d shared that night.

  “Yes, it does grow on you.” She looked at him pointedly. “Which is why I’m never letting it go.”

  “Keeper of the flame, eh?” His smile teased her. Before she had a chance to retort, he nodded at the book beneath her hand. “You still do the books by hand?” In this technically oriented age when computers were dialing phones for people, he found that almost impossible to believe. And yet, somehow it fit.

  Before answering, Demi opened the side drawer and dropped the ledger in. Very deliberately she closed the drawer again and then locked it.

  “Yes.” Her eyes held his, a defiant light rising in them again.

  He didn’t feel like going a few rounds with her. For a while at least, he wanted to see what it felt like to be on the same side and just steep his senses in her. It didn’t look as if that was going to happen just yet.

  “Still don’t trust me, do you?”

  He had no idea how often she caught herself wishing that she could. Deep in the recesses of the night, as she lay awake thinking about him, entertaining impossible thoughts.

  But she had never been a fool and she wasn’t going to start being one now. “Should I?”

  Jared shrugged. Maybe he wouldn’t trust him, either, in her place.

  But he wasn’t the enemy and he didn’t want her to think of him that way. Still, proclaiming as much would only accomplish the reverse, and he knew it. Jared curbed his impatience, an impatience that surprised him by its very existence.

  He took the conversation on a slightly different track. “Why don’t you use a computer?”

  That was simple enough to answer. “Because ther
e’s no money for things like that. I use it only for the very essentials. Hardware in our case refers to a new pot, not a new monitor.” She rose and pushed her chair against the desk. “Every penny we make goes back into the business.” Maybe that was the way out. “Why don’t you tell Winfield that this is not a money-making restaurant and he’s just wasting his time and yours by looking into it?”

  It was true. You had to love Aphrodite to put in the amount of time required to run it. Men like Winfield didn’t love places, they loved profit. Which made his interest in it a mystery to her.

  “Just why does he want this place, anyway?” she asked Jared.

  Was it his imagination, or was the room getting a little smaller, a little more crammed as he stood here beside her? It certainly felt that way to him. He supposed it meant that hormones could be held in abeyance for only so long before they took on a life of their own.

  He tried to concentrate on her question. It was a logical one, in light of her situation. “It has a great location, an excellent reputation and fantastic food.” He could swear to the latter himself.

  The location was purely happenstance. When her grandfather had chosen it, there were only a few houses in the area. The word mall hadn’t even been added to the vocabulary yet. It was just a matter of pure luck that Aphrodite wound up on the outskirts of one of the major malls in Southern California, or the West Coast for that matter.

  But as far as reputation and food went, well, that was where the work came in. She took personal pride in as well as responsibility for both.

  “If Winfield could buy the restaurant, he’d certainly get the location, and some of the residue reputation would follow, but as for the food, well, a deed wouldn’t entitle him to any of the recipes. Those are all family secrets and they stay within the family.”

  A self-satisfied smile curved her mouth, making it more tempting than he thought he could successfully resist. But he did his damnedest.

  “The only way anyone gets their hands on them is by marrying into the family,” she said.