Wes: Tell me you’re joking.
Me: From my lips to God’s ears, Wes. The resort even had to evacuate temporarily while the fire department got it under control.
Wes: Holy fuck, man. Is everyone okay?
Georgie was sliding out of her heels and contorting her body to try to unzip her dress, and I had no doubt she was going to need my assistance soon. My fingers to the keys of my phone, I shot off one last text, eager to get this conversation over with and move on to the only good thing we’d been able to count on so far—really hot sex.
Me: Everyone is good, man. Not exactly the night we planned, but it’s all over now. Talk to you later.
I dropped the phone on the table by the door to our new suite and unbuttoned the top of my shirt.
Then, I put all of my focus and attention on the most important thing—romancing my beautiful wife.
New York, late Thursday night, May 25th
Drinks flowed from the bar.
Patrons danced and sang along to the live band.
And the beautiful women inside the establishment appeared ready and waiting for ole Thatcher to make his move.
There was no doubt about it; the Raines Law Room was hopping. But while I waited anxiously to hear how well all my plans for the lovebirds in Cabo had turned out, it all became white noise.
In no time at all, I excused myself from a conversation with a flirtatious, redheaded woman in a tight black dress and headed out of the bar to make a quick call away from the jovial commotion.
The second I stepped outside, warm night air brushed across my face, and I pressed my back up against the brick of the building as I hit dial on the call.
It took three rings before a greeting filled my ears.
“Mr. Kelly!” Haruto exclaimed into the receiver. “How are you?”
“Well, Harry, I’m a little concerned. I expected I would have heard from you by now about how the dinner went. Did they love it?”
“Ah, yes. Well…see…”
His hesitant, filibustering words urged my chest to expand with irritation, but I quickly forced a calming breath into my lungs. I refused to let myself go verbal Hulk Smash on my beloved Haruto. Not only had he agreed to take on the task of flying to Cabo last minute to help my best friend and his wife have an awesome getaway, but his restaurant in NYC was one of my favorite places to eat. And my father had always said,Never shit where you eat,son. You never know when you’ll accidentally take a bite.
“Come on, Harry. Lay it on me. How’d it go?”
“Well…there was a fire,” he replied, almost as if he weren’t telling me some of the worst news I could get. “It was crazy, Mr. Kelly. I’ve never seen my grill have flames that high.”
Afire?Fuck. That was not at all what was supposed to go down when I secretly hired Haruto and his assistants to bring their romance A game to Kline and Georgie’s Cabo getaway. Kline was going to eat my goddamn balls in milk and call them cereal if he found out I was the culprit.
“Harry, when I said give them an exciting dinner show, the exciting part was more figurative than anything else.”
“Mr. Kelly, you’re a very funny man,” he replied on a soft chuckle, his voice unconcerned with the fact that his hibachi grill set my best friend’s suite on fire. “And don’t worry, I was prepared to give Mr. and Mrs. Brooks an exciting dinner experience, but what can I say? Accidents happen sometimes.”
“Accidents, Harry? A burned plate of rice is an accident. A fucking fire is a cause for alarm.”
“Oh yeah, it was a very big fire,” he added. “Mrs. Brooks’s eyes looked like flying saucers.”
Fucking great.
“Listen, Harry. Tell me you didn’t tell them it was me who hired you.”
“Oh no, Mr. Kelly. I did not. Your NDA was very explicit.”
Thank fuck I’d had the foresight to make them all sign the damn thing. It probably wasn’t great for Antonio that he was getting pegged as the source, but it sure took the sweat off my balls. Kline rode a pretty firm line with me. He was much more forgiving of other people.