She reached for her phone. “I’ll text it to you right now, and then I’ll be wearing these shoes when you come get me,” she said in a come-hither voice that made him want to come hither that instant.
He wasn’t going to be able to get up for a long time because he was so fucking hard. Good thing his phone rang, and Tanner’s named flashed across the screen. Perfect boner killer when he needed it.
“Let me grab this for one minute,” he said to Shannon, then answered the phone. “Hey, Tanner. What’s up?”
The man wasted no time with hellos. “Here’s the deal. You need to meet the leader of the neighborhood association. Let him know Mr. Late Night Funny Guy can be a real businessman. Can you get to New York this weekend? I set up a meeting Sunday night.”
He cursed silently. Saturday night was his big date with Shannon. No way was he backing out. Not after the time he’d missed taking her to Alvin Ailey in college, and not when he was trying to do everything right now. But he could catch an early Sunday morning flight. “I’ll be there in time for a seven p.m. dinner.”
“Fine. I’ll send you details,” Tanner said in a gruff tone.
“Hey, I put in a few calls to the parks department in the city. I made a donation to have some of the parks there revitalized, like you suggested.”
“Good. Keep that shit up. You got a long row to hoe.”
After Brent hung up, he gestured to the phone. “The neighborhood association in New York is being difficult about my plans to open a club there,” he said, then caught her up to speed on the situation as he paid for lunch.
“Hmm,” Shannon said, tap dancing her fingers on her chin as they walked out of the restaurant.
“Hmm, what? You coming up with a perfect plan for me or something?” he joked.
“Actually, I was thinking. Even though your meeting is Sunday, I could record a rehearsal in San Francisco next week when I’m there with the dancers. You can show it to them after so they can see it’s more Cirque du Soleil than Scores.”
He stopped in his tracks, and raked his eyes up and down over the woman at his side. This time, though, he was admiring her business savvy. “That’s brilliant.”
As they left, he vowed to do whatever he had to in order to keep her in his life. Work had won his heart ten years ago. He had to show her that she was more important than work.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A pink and purple illustration of an animal stared at her.
“I don’t even want to ask why you’re buying that,” her grandmother said with a laugh, pointing to Shannon’s purchase as the cashier at the party store rang them up.
“It’s a surprise for someone,” Shannon answered with a wink and snatched the little gift and tucked it into her purse.
“That’ll be fifty-seven twenty-one,” the cashier said, bagging up the balloons, streamers, cups and party favors that Victoria had picked up for the birthday party she was throwing for her great-granddaughter’s third birthday—the grand-daughter of Shannon’s aunt.
Before her grandma could stop her, Shannon slid her credit card through the machine to pay.
“You didn’t have to do that,” the older woman said.
Shannon flashed her a smile as she tucked her card into her purse. “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.” She scooped up the bag and headed to her car. They’d attended a sunrise yoga class, then stopped at the store on the way home, and now Shannon needed to return to the studio for a few hours before her lunch date.
It was definitely a date.
“Might that someone you’re surprising be your old beau?”
“Beau. Boy. You’re so old-fashioned, Nana,” Shannon said as she backed out of the lot and turned onto the main drag.
“Well?” she asked pointedly. “Is he?”
Shannon shrugged, but her lips curved into a grin. “Maybe.”
Victoria patted her knee as they slowed to a stop at a red light a few blocks from her home. “Excellent. So what are we going to do about your brothers then?”
“What about them? The fact that all three are total pains in the ass?” Shannon teased.
“Not that. The fact that they’re all single. Maybe we need to set up a matchmaking service for those boys.”
“Good luck getting the three cavemen married off,” Shannon joked as the light changed, and she turned left onto Victoria’s street.