A Reckless Note (Brilliance Trilogy #1) - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,27
low, for Alexander’s ears only.
I push to my feet and when Kace turns, he’s between me and Alexander, his lashes half veiled, his jaw hard. There is something between him and Alexander, something that isn’t even close to good. I open my mouth to speak and then press my lips together. I can’t assume this reaction has anything to do with me. Kace and I are not dating. We barely know each other. In fact, he hasn’t even asked for my phone number.
I turn away from him and grab my purse, glancing at Crystal. “Thanks for the drinks and everything.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” she promises.
“Sounds good,” I murmur, and Kace sits back down, effectively clearing my path to Alexander.
As silly as it may seem, it feels like a reminder that it’s always about the moment with Kace, only the moment. And another moment is over.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I follow Alexander to a small table still in view of Kace and Crystal, where we sit down. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asks.
“No, thank you,” I say. “I’ve had my share. I’d rather talk about wine than drink it or anything else right now.” I glance left as Mark and a several others join Crystal and Kace.
“He’s not what he seems,” Alexander says, obviously catching my quick look in that direction or maybe it’s more about whatever Kace said to him.
“And neither are you,” I rebut, not about to start dissecting people for being something they don’t seem when I’m not what I seem, either. “Ed says you know him.”
“I do,” he agrees, and when the waitress joins us, he pauses to order a whiskey before glancing at me. “You sure you don’t want anything?”
“Not if you want to actually talk, but again, thank you.”
He nods and even before the waitress leaves us alone again, his gaze lands heavily on me. “I want something from Ed. We have a deep history. You’re caught in the crossfire.”
This, I know immediately, is bad news for me and my sale. I already see it coming. “We aren’t getting that wine Ed wants, are we?”
“No, but I came with a peace offering.” He reaches into his jacket and hands me a notecard. “Bottles I want. I’ll pay you five percent more than he does in commission.”
Suspicion flares hard and fast. “Why?”
“Because I’m not the asshole you think I am. Because I know this is how you make your living and I sincerely feel bad that you’re stuck in the crossfire.”
I’m not that easily sold and I make sure he knows. “In exchange for what?”
“Nothing at all. Do I want to take you to dinner? Yes. But this deal is not contingent on you saying yes, now or ever. I like my wines. You’re obviously resourceful. This is quid pro quo in a strictly business sense. What do you say?”
I grab the list and scan the bottles he’s listed. It’s a big list and while I don’t know many of the bottles by name, I have no doubt they’re all high-dollar.
“I’m not the bad guy here,” he adds. “I’m not. Ed—” he cuts his stare and then glances back at me, “it’s personal. Really, deeply personal between he and I.”
There’s a cut of emotion—of loss, I think—in his stare and with it, a shift in how I feel about this man. I don’t ask for details. I long ago learned that when I ask intimate questions of someone, they then ask intimate questions of me. “And you think buying the wines before he does beats him?”
“No. No, I don’t.” He doesn’t offer more, but he doesn’t have to. I get it.
“It’s part of a bigger plan,” I say.
“Possibly,” he replies noncommittally.
I glance down at the list again and back up at him. “You want me to work for you so I won’t work for him?”
“I’m not asking you to drop him as a customer.”
“But you’ll outbid him.”
“All’s fair in love and war, but I’m not big on innocent victims. I want you to make the money back he promised you.”
Maybe he means that. Maybe he doesn’t. I don’t know. What I do know is that I recognize in him something I should have recognized in Gio six weeks back: a hunger for revenge. I’m just not sure why that flared in my brother now, after all this time. Sofia, I think. This has something to do with Sofia. “Do you know a Sofia?”