“None of your business,” I said, and grabbed a cup of coffee to fight off the headache throbbing in my temples. “What’s on the agenda today besides me kicking your ass?”
“As if.” He snorted. “Let’s play a round of golf, and then we can go to a nice dinner in Manhattan tonight if you like. Just a bottle of wine and some barely cooked red meat?”
“Sounds like a blissful day.” I took a few swallows of the coffee and put the cup in the sink. “Let’s stop by that bakery you’re always talking about taking me to.”
“Hruska’s? Oh, hell y
es. You are in for a serious treat.” He grabbed his keys. “All right. I’m laying a bet down on the table now. I smack your ass by more than 10 strokes on the green.”
“That’s a bet.” I stuck out my hand and shook his. “Loser buys dinner.”
“Deal.”
*
I pulled out my company card and waved it around in front of Logan later that evening while we sat at a table in the middle of our favorite steak house. “Good thing I have a company card.”
He laughed. “Agreed, but don’t tell them that you lost at a round of golf as badly as you did. It would be embarrassing for us both!”
“How so?” I lifted my glass as the waiter silently poured me a glass of red wine.
“Because you suck so bad at it, and unfortunately I know you.” He lifted his glass and gave me a cocky grin. “You know what it is, right?”
“No. Please do share your genius on whatever you’re talking about.” I took a sip of my wine and leaned back, my body sore from swinging the golf club.
“You suck at it because you work too much, Alfie. Your whole life has become about that business. You gotta start living a little. You’re going to look up from your desk and be sixty. God rest your father’s soul, but he did just that.” He gave me a knowing look. “You know after all that shit happened with your mom that he turned to you, and once you were grown, he turned to the business. I love that old man, but you’re going to become him if you’re not careful.”
There was no threat in his word. He loved me like a brother.
I lifted my wine glass and smiled. “Worse things have happened.”
He tapped his against mine and shook his head. “Tell me what else you do in Devon. Are you thinking about seeing Molly from afar? I think it would be good start thinking about dating again. You’ve been sleeping around and acting like a playboy forever.”
“Wait a second.” I lifted a hand, and he paled a little, as if I’d confront him in anger or angst. “Are you charging me for a therapy session? Cause if you are, I want to make sure we dig into the real shit in my life.”
He snorted. “Tell me about Molly.”
That was easy enough. “I’m falling in love with her. I’d hit my knee and offer her a ring if I thought she would take it.”
“It’s too soon for that.” He gave me a scalding look. “She just broke up with Harry.”
“Exactly.” I took a long drink from my glass of wine and let out a breath. “And yet, when you know, you simply know.”
“You think she’s the one?”
I nodded. “I have no doubt about it.”
“Shit, man. That’s big.”
“Yes, it is, mate.” I set my glass down. “I’ve been thinking about offering her a spot on my marketing team seeing that she’s not gotten a job yet, or I assume she hasn’t.”
“I think that’s a fine idea. It was her idea that you used to wow your investors. Bring her on and give her credit?” He watched me as if studying a new species. It was almost comical. Almost.
Not this again though.
“I think bringing her back to England to work in the company is the first step in my diabolic plan to win the woman’s loyalty for a lifetime.”
“And then?” He smiled and crossed his free arm over his chest.